My 5 favourite Youtube channels for pre-schoolers learning about Jesus

Maybe you’re at home ill or isolating, or you want your kid’s screentime to be full of christian content, or you’re in a foreign country and you want your preschoolers to hear Bible stories in their heart language, or you want a video to recommend to a freind with small kids, or your’e a Sunday school teacher looking for inspiriation for your lessons. If any of those apply then here are my 5 favourite youtube channels for 0-4 year olds!

JoJo Teaches

Bible stories, bedtime stories and devotionals told to you in a quiet and calming aussie voice. Simple illustrations and easy activities help littlies to engage with stories about all your favourite Bible heroes (at the time of writing we’re up to Joshua). Find all her videos here.

Cheeky Pandas

Nothing outside of Cbeebies has felt this Cbeebies to me, and a lot of that is down to hosts Martha and Marcel but also to their extensive guest list, who all share part of how God has changed their life. If, like me, God Suit On is the soundtrack to your life you’ll enjoy the songs in each episode and I love that the actions are performed by a guy! Check them out here.

Crossroads Kids Club

It’s not secret that I’m a massive fan of the Bible story animations they make: but did you know they also have songs and stories for very little children? I love the Twos videos: fingerpuppet telling the story or bopping along to a little song! Find them here.

Miss Kelly Children’s Ministry

If you like action songs, you’ll love Kelly’s videos: I really apprieciate how her actions are doable for non-dancers and I so apprieciated that she covered, Big House, a ‘grown up’ song that was crying out for actions. Watch the songs here.

CJ and Friends

It’s a dance party with CJ and friends, whether you want to learn some basic ballet, be inspired to rock along with the songs for older kids or learn the actions to more classic songs for little ones. Join CJ and her friends here.

My favourite books to point pre-schoolers to Jesus

As a nanny, babysitter and a friend of small children, I love an easy book with great pictures that the kids love to read. As a Sunday school teacher I love a book which contains the gospel message in a way that is easy to understand. As a book lover I really enjoy a book that’s clever in it’s simplicity, that I could read multiple times and is stunning to look at.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but if there is something below you haven’t read, then I suggest you give it a go.

The Big Picture Story Bible

This children’s Bible is fantastic for Playgroups as there’s very little writing on each page and it’s bigger size makes it easier to show the pictures to a group. I should admit my bias because I’m friends with the author and illustrator but Dave and Gail did such a great job of highlighting the common themes of the Bible and connecting the stories together.
Plus Gail wrote a book of crafts (designed for and used with 4-5 year olds) in which there are crafts for every story in the book.
Buy the Big Picture Story Bible and Big Picture Bible Crafts

The Jesus Storybook Bible

This is my favourite kids Bible. I love to read it to kids and it’s my go to for when I want to see how a story can point us to Jesus. Even when the story isn’t in the Bible it’s helpful to remind me of how that works.
It’s also beautifully written, simple and poetic at the same time. And the illustrations are gorgeous and a little bit whimsical. I only wish there were more stories in this.
There are so many ways to accompany this with a colouring book, an audio version and even Christmas tree decorations.
Buy the Jesus Storybook Bible

Tales that Tell the Truth

This is an ever increasing series of individual Bible stories all of which are suitable for the older end of the pre-school age range. I’ve highlighted the 4 stories which also have board book versions; perfect for small children with destructive tendencies! A lovely range of different perspectives on some familiar and some less familiar true stories.
There are even some Sunday School lesson plans making this series perfect for your book box at church.
You can see all the books in the Tales that Tell the Truth series here.

Love Came Down

John 3:16 is probably the most famous verse in the Bible. In this little book Bethan Lycett has explored the different aspects of it - from the world that God has made to the son he sent to rescue it - in a fun poem for kids. It’s a great introduction to the gospel and there’s an activity book and a board book version as well.
Buy the Love Came Down books

Baby Believer Primer

I have to be honest and admit I haven’t read these books… yet, (getting English language christian books here can be a bit of a nightmare.) But I really wanted to iclude this series because I love this idea of teaching the basics (shapes, numbers, letters, animals…) through the lens of Bible truths. These stunning books do exactly that.
Being able to peek inside on the @catechesisbooks instagram account has conviced me that they’re such high quality and theologically sound. The Holy Week book, for example, is dual purpose; helping kids recognise their emotions and connecting those emotions to the Easter story - one of the saddest, happiest and most surprising stories ever!
Go to the Catechesis Books website.

5 Reasons Timelines are Fantastic

1. History made visible
   There’s a reason that history teachers use timelines in their classes. It’s because it’s hard enough for us to remember our daily plans without writing them down, let alone the passage of a hundred or a thousand years. A timeline shows us what happens, in the right order, and gives us an idea how long ago.

2. The Bible made visible

   The Bible isn’t exactly in historical and a timeline can help sort out which prophets spoke when, but more excitingly you can see the whole picture of salvation unfold, and you can see where the story you’re reading fits in this big picture.

3. History is connected

   It’s amazing what you can fit on a timeline if you want to, although it’s not possible to put all history on it. I would recommend adding either big categories (Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Empire) to it, or specific events (Stonehenge built, Alexander the Great lived). Details like these, especially if they connect to what they’re learning in school, emphasise the historicity and reality of what happened in the Bible.

4. The Bible has patterns

   One exciting thing you could do with your Bible timeline is to highlight some of the themes which run throughout the Bible. Imagine if you could see every rescue highlighted in red and each sacrifice in blue on the wall of your Sunday School room!

5. Walking through the Bible

   Probably my favourite thing about the timeline is that you can add to it as you go along, each time you read a story with your class you can find it on the timeline, you can add the connections to history outside of the Bible at the start of a new term, you could add picture or key words as you go along, and you can always use it to help remind your class of what happened before and what is still to come.

A picture timeline of key moments from Genesis.

This pictoral timeline can’t contain all of the information that a classic one could but it is great for knowing where your story fits. You can see how to make it here.

Why are young people leaving the church?

I’ve been uploading the first youth group series to this blog over the past couple of months, and I’m glad we started by Exploring Ephesians. But there are more aspects to running a youth group then just having a good Bible study series…

Claire Williams at Get Real has identified 4 reasons why Millenials and Gen Z are leaving the church, and even more crucially directs us to some ways to combat these. I would 100% recommend watching her Youtube series and having a conversation with your Youth group leaders and young people about

• Disillusionment,

• Deconstruction,

• Disengement, and

• Decollonisation.

These do also mesh quite nicely with the themes of mission, unity and christian living which we find in Ephesians, so do have those conversations!

Here are some easy questions to follow up the videos:

• Is this an issue which young people, in your experience, do care about?

• Is this something you personally feel strongly about?

• Where do you as a youth group or Church fail to connect well with this issue?

• What is a first step you can take to engage with this?/What would an ideal way of connecting with this look like?

• Ask God to help youbuild relationship with young people in and outside of your church.

Why I'm pro having kids in Sunday School...

Firstly check out last week’s post: Why I’m pro having kids in Church Services for the other side of this argument. I think it’s fairly obvious that I’m pro Sunday School: I blog about it!

Sunday School can reach kids in a way church for all cannot
Imagine giving a sermon, you’ve explained the passage and now you’re thinking through the application: If you’re retired, in work, unemployed, at school, studying, married, single, a parent, at home and if you’re just three years old! That’s a lot of ground to cover and the worst at picking up what applies to them are the youngest – because of that they’re also the most likely to walk away with the ‘I just need to be a better person’ message. It’s also a great place for them to learn Bible study skills, practice reading the word out loud, see how their differences can be useful in building one another up. It’s also a great place for them to get to know adults (other than their parents) well; I visited my old church after 9 months away and my Sunday School class and youth group were the most delighted to see me, because they knew me.

It’s easier for kids who don’t come from Christian families
If you’re brought to church by some neighbours or as a friend of a child from a church family – the whole thing is often a bit weird! Sunday school can be easier because a) it’s more like school which is a familiar situation, b) there are fewer people to get to know, c) leaders can explaining what’s going on and what’s going to happen next, d) there’s more opportunity to be taught and less opportunity to do the ‘wrong’ thing. It let’s the parent’s know that the'ir kids are being cared for, and taking home crafts and worksheets gives them a chance to tell their parents what they’ve been learning.

It gives parents the opportunity to really be in the service
I have mentioned having kids in the service to a parent and they replied, “I know that if my kid was in the service I’d hear about 65% of it – on a good day” another Dad nearby heared 65%, scoffed, and said “more like 30”. These are good parents with good kids who aren’t looking for Sunday School to be entertainment but parenting is hard. If you have to curb the wriggles, explain words, pick up the coins dropped next to the collection bag, help them find the right page, pick them up to see song words, change a stinky nappy etc. it can be somewhat distracting and it multiplies with every child you have. Having children in Sunday School doesn’t relieve parents of the burden of teaching their children but it gives them a time to recieve teaching as well.

There are people who were made to teach kids
There are people teaching in Sunday Schools because they’re filling a need and want the kids to know Jesus. And I am grateful for those hardworking self-sacrificial people: if that’s you the church needs you and you’re great! There are also people who thrive on the challenge of prepping a lesson, thinking of crafts, drawing pictures and, in short, teaching children! Those people are also wonderful and useful and Sunday School is a great opportunity for them to use their gifts.

It makes inclusion so much easier
Smaller groups and separate environments make it easier to accommodate the necessary changes you may have to make for kids with Special Educational Needs. Making time and space for kids to move around, people able to seat visually or hearing impaired kids where they can best access the teaching. there needs to be time for them to integrate and get used to normal church but Sunday School is the best place to learn their needs and take care of them.

It’s a chance to train up future leaders
In a Sunday School you do weekly evangelism, Bible study leading with up front leadership thrown into the mix. It requires good planning and creative thinking, careful anticipation and on-the-on-the-spot thinking, boundless enthusiasm and careful consideration plus a tonne of prayer. All these skills are super useful in any context and, for young leaders especially, learning and practicing those things with children is a less intimidating crowd.

Now that you’ve read both sides of the argument let me know where you fall or how you’ve worked out a happy middle to give your kids the best of both worlds.

Tips for Inclusion

Why I'm pro having kids in the service...

On reading that title you’re probably either thinking: “Yes, obvs” or “What?! Are you crazy?!” I’m super interested in knowing which category you fall into – leave a comment and let me know!

It’s good for everybody.
I took part in a webinar last week on Youth and Children’s Ministry After Covid; in this transition many churches are not able to run their kis work in parallel because there isn’t the space. But having kids in the service has made churches think about making services accessible for everybody. Adding more visual elements can also help second language speakers and the hard of hearing. Breaking up the sermon helps anybody who has a shorter attention span, and asking questions helps everybody to spend think about applying what they’ve heard. You can find loads of ideas for getting kids involved in church life here.

It’s a family affair.
Families are among those who come to church and the church itself is a family. One marked by a deep Jesus-like love from each member to each other person, regardless of race, background, language, relationship status, gender or any other category we’re put into. Yet we’re often happy to divide based on age. Having that wide variety of people together in one place, with a shared purpose, is a part of being a family.

Young people learn what it means to be in church.
Stand up to sing; sit for everything else; listen to the sermon. They’re pretty basic things but they need take time for people to become comfortable with it. But unity doesn’t mean uniformity and there needs to be place for those who fidget (me), take notes (also me), and those who can’t stand up or who will stand on the chair to see. It’ll mean patience from everyone while normal is learnt, and maybe doing things a bit differently but it helps to make the service accessible for all.

It encourages teaching and communication between parents and child.
During a service this might look like a brief explanation of what something means, who is talking, why we do this; as well as reminders not to distract others, or help to find the right page in their Bible. After the service it’s asking the questions like: what surprised you in the Bible passage today? What was your favourite song? Why do you think Jesus said that? Is there anything we talked about you’d like to pray for? What do we need to change about our lives? Asking questions like this teaches a child that God is not simply for an hour on Sunday but for the whole time – it widens our perspective too, particularly if we encourage them to ask us their questions too. If parent and child are hearing the same thing it can be talked about the rest of the week.

It challenges church leadership.
It is too much to expect most children to sit quietly through a 30 minute sermon aimed at adults. I’m not actually advocating that: I’m in favour of changing up how sermons work. Here are some ideas I’ve seen that work: Use powerpoints as a visual focus for those who find it tricky just to listen; divide the sermon into 3 ten minute sections or two of 15; have sermon sheets for kids who can read and refer to them; ask questions kids can answer; have a signer (totally fascinating ); and apply it to all ages not just kids. Other tricky things, get kids involved in them (check out these ideas). Explain what you’re doing and why; if you have to give a reason – especially one a 3 year old can follow – it also stops you doing things just because you’ve always done them.

It eliminates the need for Sunday Schools.
I’m a Sunday School teacher and I have been for 16 years – I love it – I blog about it and yet… It would be so nice to hear the entirety of a sermon series; it would be great not to spend a small fortune on snacks; not to half-watch tv because I’m simultaneously cutting up crafts; not to spend my days googling colouring sheets and then editing them or drawing them when I can’t find what I want; to read the Bible without automatically planning how I’d teach it. It’d be a major save on resources and people with the skills and desire to teach children would have opportunities do that during the week.

We can learn from them.
Just going to leave this here:
”Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Then having little children around and seeing how they receive the kingdom of God is a good idea.

Let me know what you think in the comments: What have I missed? Do you agree or disagree? and come back next Friday find out why I’m pro kids in Sunday School.

How to engage children and young people in serving

How to engage chidren and young people with the sermon

Time-travelling Moses?

I love science-fiction, I love the possibilities and the questions it raises. I love that God used rules and patterns to make the universe and that he gave us science and maths to understand it. And I love that he breaks his own rules to do strange and wonderful miracles - to do the real things that fiction only dreams of.

I don’t believe this to be true, I don’t think it needs to be true, and I certainly wouldn’t teach this - but indulge a bible-loving science-fiction fan and imagine this:

In Exodus 34 we see that when “Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him.”

In Mark 9 we see Jesus transfigured, his goodness and holiness shine out of him, also on a mountaintop, and Moses and Elijah come and talk to him. So, what if when Moses’ face glows after he’s talked to God, it’s because he was brought to his future to talk to God the Son?

Demon possession in the Bible

I was preparing for the Digital Sunday School lesson on Mark 5:1-20 about how Jesus frees the man possessed by the legion of demons. And while the main points are clear and wonderful - Jesus is the Son of God, he is so good he can overcome evil, and no-one is beyond the reach of Jesus - it does raise some hard to answer questions about demon possession or evil spirits. I’ve done my best to summarise answers to questions kids might ask here - this isn’t comprehensive but some key points. I’m using the language of demon possession here but in the lesson I talked about evil spirits living in the man; I’m using them interchangeably.

What is demon possession?

Yikes - what a question! So, as best as I can understand it, everybody in the world is under the influence of Satan, but thankfully, with the Holy Spirit’s help we can resist him. This influence come in the form of temptations and I’m sure he contributes to the brokenness of the world. However, there are many examples (in the Gospels particularly) of people who had demons living inside them. The effects are different for each person - including deafness and speechlessness, seizures, a lack of self-control and a propensity for self-harm, it’s all harmful, isolating and dangerous. While some of the symptoms of demon possession are disabilities or mental health problems, the gospel writers make a distinction between healing those whose illnesses (including those with the same symptoms) are a natural result of a broken world and those who have evil spirits in them.

Why do some people get demon possessed?

This isn’t a question the gospels answer other than to say that spiritual forces are real. I do just want to mention here that it’s not only evil spirits or demons who can live in people but if you ask him to the Holy Spirit, God himself, will live in you - and he is your surest defence against all evil (including your own).

Does it still happen today?

It definitely seems to be true that when God walked this earth as a human, Satan sent his demons into this world in a higher number than we’ve seen before or since. But we do see the early church dealing with them too (Acts 16 and 19) and Paul attributes the power of other gods to demons as well (1 Cor 10:20), so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to assume that they still exist on earth although they’re not as prevalent and possession by one rarer still. With Jesus you have nothing to fear from them though.
Our expectations should be set in line with the Bible and not with horror movies or medieval art. A part of that means we need to be careful not to diagnose demon possession where illnesses and mental health problems are the cause, nor to claim demon possession where people’s sinful hearts lead to harmful behaviour. Instead remember that our prayers, our love and reminders of God’s greater love will help in every situation.

How can the possessed be set free?

Jesus sets many people free, he is God and has all his goodness and power that no evil can stand against. This is as true for demon possession as it is for the power of sin to rule our hearts. Ask him for help and love as he loves - remember and remind “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Here’s a more in depth article I found helpful:
Miracles then and now - David Wenham for the Gospel Coalition

and here’s one specifically about the pig-incident in Mark 5:
Why did demons ask Jesus for Pigs? - John Piper on Desiring God

Why did Jesus get baptised?

This question is a big question! Whether you’re teaching about baptism as a practice in the church, or you’ve come to it in one of the gospels, it is clear that a lot of the reasons we would get baptised cannot be the reasons Jesus got baptised. There isn’t space to cover everything about baptism here, but we’ll answer the question by talking about some of the reasons Christians get baptised, why these reasons don’t apply to Jesus and how they relate to why Jesus did it.

What is baptism for?

• Death, burial and resurrection: Baptism is mostly something the church does to show that someone has become a Christian. Once someone has trusted in Jesus to forgive them and chosen to follow him, they get baptised. This is a way of showing everybody that they’re with Jesus now: just as Jesus died, was buried and rose again, someone being baptised goes under the water, stays for a moment and then comes up again. This shows everyone that we’re one with Jesus now; dead to our old lives and sins and having a new start in a new life with Jesus. (See Romans 6:3-4 for what Paul says about this)

• Washing away of sins: There’s another reason why water is used to baptise people and that’s because we also use it for washing. When John the Baptist baptised people in the river Jordan it was to show that they’d repented. Repenting means to turn away from our sin and turn back to God. It’s to show that you haven’t obeyed him in the past but will, with the Spirit’s help, obey him in the future. (You can see this in Matthew 3:1-12 where John the Baptist preaches. Verses 2, 5-6 and 11 make it the most clear.) Being ‘washed’ in the water during baptism shows that, because Jesus was punished for our sins on the cross, our sins have been washed off us and we can be clean and right before the perfectly clean and holy God.

(We’ve been talking mostly about the kind of baptism where you go into a lot of water and then come out again, sometimes because of technical difficulties or tradition people will simply have some water poured or sprinkled on their head. This still represents all the same things.)

What’s different about Jesus’ baptism?

• No death, burial and resurrection yet: Jesus can’t have been baptised to show that he was now one with Jesus; because he already is! Baptism didn’t start to show us being joined with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection until after he’d already done those things. Jesus was baptised years before he would die and people would make the associations between how baptism works and his salvation.

• No sin to wash away: The Bible is very clear that Jesus was tempted, that there were bad choices he could make and that they looked good to him, but that he never gave into temptation, he always did as his Father wanted and made good choices. (Hebrews 4:15 tells us this and Peter who knew him very well for three years says this about him in 1 Peter 2:22). Because he is completely God as well as being completely human, he is the only human who has ever been sinless. So, Jesus didn’t need baptism to show that his sins were washed away because he didn’t have any sin to be washed away.

So why does Jesus get baptised?

John the Baptist recognises that Jesus has come from God and that he doesn’t need to repent so he says: ‘I need to be baptised by you why do you come to me?’ John is asking the same question which we’re asking now. Fortunately Matthew wrote done Jesus’ reply “Let it be so now, it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” When we look closer into Jesus’ answer we can see three reasons why he got baptised:

• A new start: Jesus was getting baptised just before the Spirit would lead him into the wilderness where he would be tempted by the devil and then after that he would start teaching about God’s kingdom. Jesus says about John baptising him “Let it be so now” because this is the right time for him to be baptised. Although he doesn’t need to die to a sinful life he is about to have a new start as a teacher and miracle worker. Like Christians being baptised today, Jesus’ baptism also showed others that it was a new start for him.

• In obedience: When Jesus is baptised it is out of obedience to God. Like the other people who heard John and got baptised, Jesus wants to demonstrate to others that he has turned to God and is following him whole heartedly. The difference being that Jesus was never turned away from God in the first place; he dudn’t have any sin to wash away. In being baptiised he fulfils all righteousness, by doing everything that is necessary to be right with God and obedient to him. (If you want a more in depth look at this Jonathan Pennington’s article explains this well)

• An example: Since Jesus was baptised to fulfil all righteousness then Christians should be too. And in this, as in everything else that Christians do, we’re not asked to do anything that Jesus hasn’t done himself. When we’re baptised we follow in his example, doing what he did, showing what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

(We’ve talked a lot about baptism being something that ‘shows’ others what we believe. There are some places however where being a Christian is really dangerous, in places like that a baptism might be done in secret in the middle of the night, in a river far away from others, or in a very cold weather when not many people are outside. Even though fewer people will see these baptisms, just other believers and maybe not many of them, these are still important in showing God, the church and the person being baptised what has changed inside them.)

I read my Bible every day for a year... here's what happened.

Why did I want to do this?
Reading the whole Bible is the best way to understand what it is I believe and to get to know Jesus better. It is hard however to read it and see it’s full glories when you’re always preparing a lesson or a study. Also I wanted to remind myself that even as a teacher I don’t know it all and still need it for myself.

How was it?
I used the Read Scripture app which was perfect for me in terms of reminding me every day to read, but it also allows you to choose to read at your own pace and includes videos from the Bible Project which highlight important themes and structures. It was super helpful and I only missed three days out of the year but I definitely still struggled with actually reading it well not just reading so that I could get it done (especially the genealogies!) it was tricky not to be legalistic about it and to enjoy reading it - it certainly wasn’t a daily struggle but often a joy.

Read Scripture

What’s the end result?
I’ve enjoyed it, and it has definitely benfited my relationship with God. I’m excited about reading the Bible again, not only to teach others but to learn from it myself. I’m desparate to spend more time in a passage than was on the reading plan this year, and to study the books that are less well known to me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been excited about reading although I’ve wanted to do it more regularly.

Is it recommended?
I will do it again, but not next year. It helps me to keep a perspective on the stories I know well, that they fit into a wider context and that I don’t know them perfectly and as deeply as they can be known. But I equally find that reading such big chunks in one go means that I don’t see the details or spend as much time in a passage at as I’d like. If it’s not something you do regularly I would definitely try a one or two year reading plan.

P.S. I’m not quite finished with my year yet, but yesterday was the last day of my Bible reading plan which means I have read the whole Bible in within a year and that I’ll be reading a psalm a day until the 31st.

P.P.S You can find the Read Scripture app in the Apple Store and on Google Play.