You with Your Young Reader

One-Year Bible Reader for Parent and Child

Leon D. Engman

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781666711943
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Here is a way you can change the world for good! Build your child's reading, thinking, and conversation skills with the Bible. You with Your Young Reader is a year-long adventure, a guided trek through the whole Bible story and its inner conversation. Read from your child's favorite Bible translation. Enjoy a reading plan that is flexible for busy dads and moms with three fifteen-minute readings per week. Discover an ancient formula--a simple method for reading together--a year that will bond you forever with your young reader!

Week 1

Reading 1

BIBLE STORY	BIBLE CONVERSATION
The creation account is the beginning of the Bible, the Law of Moses, and the history of humans.	A long time later, God reveals more about the creation and before.
Genesis 1:1—2:3	John 1:1–5, 10–14
How are people and animals the same and different?	Who is the Word?
Why do we think about our beginnings? Do animals? Why?	How many titles and names for Jesus are in John 1? (Take a quick look and count.)
Who already exists at the beginning and who does not? What difference does that make?	How do we become a child of God (John 1:12)?
What parts of this creation account describe the way we still live today?

Leader Notes

The seven-day creation account is a patterned, literary tapestry. It is more of an art piece than a science text, on purpose. It accounts for the totality of human existence, space, time, and life inside the thin blue band (what the atmosphere looks like from space) around the planet we call Earth. It begins human history and sets a frame for all our interactions with God, nature, and other living beings. The main point is that everything we know, understand, and are is from God. The creation is an act of his love that brings life and order from chaos. This account is not about how God created but why he created good things. Everything he created—animals, stars, moon, sun—has been worshipped by people. This account is about how all these things are less than the creator and not worthy of our worship. We are higher in value than the idols we worship because we are made in the Creator’s image.

Questions about cavemen and dinosaurs are good questions. The Bible does not address those directly, but it does not push them out of possibility either. It intentionally leaves some doors ajar. We explore those topics in other realms, but the Bible focuses on things it considers central to its message.

John the apostle (not the baptizer) starts his Gospel with “In the beginning.” It is a clear reference to Genesis 1. He wants us to know that this Jesus is not just an afterthought. He is behind everything since before the beginning. He is now revealed as the center of God’s plan for bringing all people back into relationship with himself.

Week 1

Reading 2

BIBLE STORY	BIBLE CONVERSATION
After laying out the greatness of creation, the writer begins th...