Well hello!
It’s been a minute, but I wanted to post an update here about something my kids and I are creating together while we’re safer-at-home.
It’s a podcast for kids about the Bible, called Ask Away. We tell Bible stories and then kids send in their questions about the story, and we talk about them! We’re just getting started, it’s a ton of fun, and you can listen on all podcast platforms.
During this time, we found ourselves talking about the Bible more, a story or two a week, maybe. But our best conversations were the ones where my kids interrupted to ask questions, make observations, or point out what seemed strange. This became our jumping off point.
I’ve spent many years writing kid’s curriculum for church, and the more kids lead with their questions, the better. I can tell you that of the questions we’ve gotten so far, only about 25% of them have ever been in a lesson I wrote before.
Beyond that, I’m concerned about the theology that undergirds many of the most popular kids-church curriculum kits. What is out there often wants to cram their heads full of Bible facts, or wants to use the Bible to make sure my kids act like good kids. But God’s story is so much bigger than that! I keep looking for places that tell kids the stories of the Bible without being afraid if kids explore and question those stories. I look for spaces that believe that God is real and Jesus is the center of God‘s work in the world, while also believing that God’s work in the world includes justice and equity; that science is real, but God made everything and is a great scientist; and that God invites us into the redemption of all things, which is about more than a ticket to heaven.
