4 Bible Storytelling Tips to Capture a Child’s Heart

Children love to hear stories. From bedtime, to bath time, to every in-between time, stories entertain and spark imagination. And what better story to teach kids than the story of the Gospel and God’s work throughout history? Thankfully, Bible story books are everywhere, while it’s amazing how the plan of salvation is so clearly pictured throughout all of Scripture. The Bible is full of incredible parallels, with so many discipleship lessons we couldn’t exhaust them in a lifetime of sharing the gospel with children.

But are we truly helping our kids to understand these lessons? If you find that, with each Bible story time, your child’s attention is caught throughout the story but then wanes at the end when you try to talk about what we can learn from it, here are 4 Bible storytelling tips to help teach kids the important lessons, without resorting to preaching at the end.

1. Ask the Holy Spirit for Guidance

First up in our Bible storytelling tips, before you crack the spine on any Bible story, pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you and bring things to mind, and then listen for His response. The standard, most obvious lesson to be learned from a story may not be the one you or your child need to hear right now. Often, when we want to just get the story read so we can tuck the child into bed or move on to the next thing, we forget to pray for this time to be maximized in its effectiveness. But no amount of planning is a substitute for listening to the Holy Spirit, which is why one of the best Bible storytelling tips you can have is to simply let God guide you while sharing the gospel with children.

2. Make the Story Relevant

Next on our list of Bible storytelling tips, keep in mind what your child is currently facing in life and how God can speak to them directly about it. How many times, as adults, have we opened God’s Word and found exactly what we needed on a particular day? Just like how that’s been your experience with God, so too can it be true for your child while sharing the gospel with children. When a kid sees firsthand how God can work in this way, they begin to look forward to a lifetime of daily personal devotional times where they get to hear from God through His Word.

If you want Bible storytelling tips on how to make the story relevant when sharing the gospel with children, be sure to ask them questions about how the story made them feel, how it might apply to what’s going on in their life, or any other relevant tie you can find to see if God is impressing something on their heart.

3. Always Include Gospel Elements

Third in often-overlooked Bible storytelling tips when sharing the gospel with children, is to look for places in the story where you can include the elements of the gospel message—even if that’s not what the original story is about.

These gospel elements are:

• God’s love;
• Sin which separates us from a relationship with God;
• Jesus bridging that separation; and
• Our need to respond and decide to follow Him.

Even if the story seems to be about another biblical theme or Christian living principle, these gospel elements can often be pointed out and snuck in to make Bible storytelling even more impactful when sharing the gospel with children.

For example, in the story of Noah’s ark, God created people in His image to be and do wonderful things. That’s a demonstration of God’s character and love. The sin of people broke God’s heart, however, and destroyed relationship with Him—that’s the gospel element of sin being introduced. God provided one way for them to be saved in the ark, of course, showcasing the gospel element of God providing salvation through His one way,  Jesus. While Noah’s response to this one way allowed for his salvation; demonstrating the gospel element of our need to respond with faith as well. Do you see the gospel picture in that story? It’s in nearly every story in the Bible! Even saved children need to hear the gospel illustrated in as many ways as possible. Some of the best Bible storytelling tips include sharing the gospel with children, again and again.

4. Point Out One Christian Living Principle

Last but not least in our Bible storytelling tips, for the saved child, identify in the story at least one Christian living principle that can be illustrated throughout as you tell it. For example, in the story of Noah, we could see God’s provision time and again during very difficult circumstances—something that can be especially helpful to point out for a child who is struggling with hard situations in their life. If the kids you’re reading with aren’t going through a difficult time, you could point out the principle of obedience in Noah’s obedient response to every detail of God’s instruction to build the ark. Noah chose to cooperate with God’s plan and God used him for it. Even so, Noah was completely unable to gather the animals on his own, so God did that for him—demonstrating the principle of trusting God to accomplish what seems impossible.

These kinds of Bible storytelling tips can be game changing if you make the life application during the story, not at the end. If the Christian life principle can be illustrated more than once in the story, pause and ask your child if they see what God just did there and can make the application themselves. Another added bonus to pausing to discuss stories with your child as you tell them, is that it will help you build relationship with your kids and make them feel more involved.

For more Bible storytelling tips or extensive training on how to draw out gospel elements and discipleship principles in stories while sharing the gospel with children, check out your local CEF chapter’s training offerings by going to chapters.cefonline.com to use the chapter lookup, or visit Children’s Ministries Institute at CEFCMI.com for online or in-person campus trainings. May you make the most of every story time with these Bible storytelling tips while sharing the gospel with children, cherishing the dear kids God has given you the privilege of influencing!