Intro to The Bible | Sunday School Solutions

by Aubrey Kyle

While it may be common knowledge that a Sunday school teacher should teach children from the Bible, many don’t realize that they need to teach children about the Bible as well. Children these days do not know basic concepts of how the Bible is set up, or what the different sections of the Bible teach. However, you can easily teach these things to the children in your Sunday school class.

This is the first of an 11-part series on how you can teach basic Bible concepts to children. This series will begin with a simple introduction to the Bible then go through each division of the Bible and how each division can be explained to children. Having a visual representation of the different sections of the Bible as you teach them can be helpful for children. One way you can do this is by buying cardboard “books” to decorate and label with the different sections of Scripture.

While it may be common knowledge that a Sunday school teacher should teach children from the Bible, many don’t realize that they need to teach children about the Bible as well. 

Children hear the Bible called several different names—the Holy Bible, Scriptures, God’s Word, etc. Explain to the children in your Sunday school class that all of these names refer to the Bible. Remind them that God, who wrote and gave us the Bible, cannot lie because He cannot sin. For this reason, children can know for sure that everything in the Bible is true and can be trusted. Make sure children know they can trust the Bible and remember it is true, no matter which name they hear being used for the Bible.

Explain to children that the Bible teaches both what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. You can use a Bible timeline to show this. This timeline can be found in the Good News Club® Starter Resource Pack for 2017-2020 available from CEF Press®. The timeline starts with Creation, shows key moments in the Old Testament, goes through the life of Christ and the expansion of the Church, and ends with the return of Jesus.

Help children learn to navigate the Bible by explaining how there are 66 books in the Bible, either in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, has 39 books that talk about how the Savior, Jesus, would come. The second part of the Bible, the New Testament, has 27 books which tell how the Savior came, about His life, what happened after He died and rose again, and what will happen still in the future. Children can find the list of the books and what page they start on in their Bible’s Table of Contents.

Explain to children that the Bible teaches both what happened in the past and what will happen in the future.

You could provide the children with a bookmark that lists the books of the Bible. Child Evangelism Fellowship® has one available through CEF Press that lists the books by Old Testament and New Testament. It also includes the division the book is part of.

Help children understand how each book is set up with chapters and verses. Explain that each verse has a reference, or address, to help them find it. Just like their home address starts big with the city, narrows it down to the street, and then the house number, a Bible reference has a book, chapter, and verse. Allow time for the children to practice finding different verses so they can start to become comfortable with how the Bible is set up.

This may seem like basic information, but many children know none of it. Take time in Sunday school to teach these concepts of the Bible to children, and be sure to look out for part two of this series to learn how to teach children the Pentateuch, or Law, division of the Bible.