5 Steps to Launching a Bible Study for Kids

Eric Geiger: Kaye, my wife, teaches third grade at the public school in our neighborhood—the school our daughters attend. Kaye has always viewed teaching as an incredible opportunity to love and serve kids and their families, and this year she sensed the Lord leading her to start a Bible study before school for kids who wanted to come. It has been amazing. Each time they meet anywhere between 40 and 50 kids come to the Bible study. Because the study has made such an impact and because of my love and respect for those of you who serve kids, I thought it would be helpful to hear from Kaye on five steps to launching a Bible study for kids before or after school.

The rest of this post is from Kaye (the greatest wife in human history):

1. Find a location close to school.

I spoke to an attorney friend who confirmed that any on-campus Bible study in a public school must be 100 percent student led. Of course this was highly unlikely with 5–11 year olds, so I looked for a location close to the school so the kids could walk to school together after the study. Because the Bible study is not on school grounds, I am able to lead it. A friend of mine, whose student I taught and who loves the Lord and kids, offered her home. Since school starts at 9 a.m. for us this year, we decided to meet before school every other Wednesday. We walk together to school after the study, escorted by adults.

2. Get a posse.

There is no way I can effectively care for all these kids, so I enlisted three other school moms that I knew would love the opportunity to love these kids and help them study the Bible. All it took was asking!

3. Choose a study for kids.

The kids love having something to take home and it shows the parents what their kids are studying. We started with Armor of God for Kids and now are using The Gospel Project for Kids. Both studies have been great for the kids and they have learned so much.

4. Get the word out.

To start the study, we personally invited kids we thought would be interested and then really encouraged those kids to invite their friends. It was truly beautiful to watch our children invite friends who do not go to church to come and learn about Jesus.

5. Communicate to parents.

We told those who were interested to contact one of the adult leaders. Each semester we send a message to the parents to let them know what we will be studying with a link to the study. We want the parents to know exactly what we will be doing; we don’t take it lightly that they are entrusting their kids to us.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” I am so grateful that Jesus is letting me be a little part of what he is doing with the kids in our school. The Word of God is piercing hearts and changing lives. If you are considering starting a Bible study for your school, take Nike’s advice and “Just do it”!

Eric Geiger serves as one of the vice presidents of LifeWay Resources, leading the resources division. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Creature of the World and Simple Church. This article was originally published on EricGeiger.com.

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