God’s Word for Families
By Pentecostal Publishing House
Reviewed By: Amanda Medrano
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If you are in the thick of parenting and looking for ways to instill God’s Word in your children’s lives, I cannot recommend God’s Word for Families enough! Our children are facing the world in ways we never imagined, and there is a real enemy fighting for your child’s heart. As parents, we can’t rely on Sunday school alone to teach our children the Bible; it needs to be integrated into our daily lives. God’s Word for Families is a great tool designed to help families do this!
The book opens with a page of Family Covenant & Goals where your family will agree to commit time to prayer and devotion, create family goals for the year, and write down prayer focus for the year. My kids loved getting to sign their names on the Family Covenant & Goals page and create their own goals. The next few pages guide parents on how to use the devotional and gives a breakdown of how each day works.
On Sunday of each week, you will get an Introduction to the lesson for that week.
Monday’s activities will go into depth of “Why do I need to know this?” and the ‘Truth about God’ for that week is introduced.
Tuesdays are a chance to dig a little deeper into the lesson and discover things like ‘Fun Facts!’ and ‘Did you Know?’. This is really great for your kids who are curious and your analytical learners.
Wednesday’s lessons are the shortest of the week, designed to accommodate the mid-week service many churches have. This day includes simple activities like scanning a QR code to listen to songs and discussions/questions to do in the car.
Thursdays are all about applying the week’s lesson to your life and answering the question of “Where does this apply?”
Fridays and Saturdays kick off the weekend by giving ideas of how we can apply our week’s lesson in real-life scenarios.
The Saturday lesson will always include some sort of Family Project idea which suggests things like making family meals, completing a craft, or taking a trip to the pet store.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the very last portion of each week called “The Big Picture: Discipleship” which is written for the parents. This part gives a brief reminder to us as parents how we can further instill the Word into our children and offers encouragement along the way. I think this part is really helpful to parents and is often a great reminder of how important this work is.
Audience:
Children in general. The participation material (questions, reading, sharing thoughts, etc.) is geared more towards school aged children, but I would encourage parents to include younger children as well. You can change the level of discussion questions based on your individual family.
Usefulness Rating:
This book is very useful and easy to incorporate into your daily life. The week’s lesson is introduced on Sunday and then each day of the week has a follow up activity to reiterate the lesson/theme. It’s a great, practical tool to help you guide your child(ren) through the Bible!
Entertainment Value:
If you enjoy watching your favorite Bible stories come alive through figurines being baptized in a sink, dancing around your living room with a stick of streamers or writing your own songs on the fly, this book is 100% for you! Along with more serious activities like scripture reading and discussion questions, the book has some really great hands-on activities. Your family will have opportunities to write songs, act out lessons, partake in family outings, etc. Some of the activities may seem silly on the surface but each one is designed to reach children of various ages and learning styles. I believe these family memories will have a lasting impact on our kids!
Good for Groups:**
This book is geared towards families of all sizes!
**Our local church has used God’s Word for Families as the kid’s version of Ladies on Track since the beginning of 2022. Each family is incentivized to participate and post pictures in a closed Facebook group to earn a special recognition charm at the conclusion of each month for their involvement. So while the book is actually used and implemented by individual families, it is a great tool for children’s ministry departments to use to encourage and equip parents to teach their children God’s Word.
Visit Pentecostal Publishing House To Purchase
For more information about this book or other reading suggestions, feel free to contact me directly.
