There are a lot of children's Bibles out there, and we know it can be hard for parents to find one that is thorough, theologically accurate, age-appropriate, and fun for kids and parents to read together. To help out families in our church, we have selected two of our favorite Bibles for young children. The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones and The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm are two books that we stand behind, and we will soon have these available for purchase in our church's resource area.

Neither of these books is a full Bible, in that you cannot pick them up and look up Psalm 23 or 1 Corinthians 13. However, both authors have done a tremendous job of contextualizing and summarizing the ENTIRE Bible - the complete story of redemption. They present the Word of God to children in a way that is easily understood without compromising any of the deep truths of God. They also do an amazing job of showing how the Old and New Testaments both point to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Jesus Storybook Bible, pictured above on the left, is the Bible that we hand out at each of our Parent/Child Dedications at our church. The tagline of the book is "Every story whispers His name," and Lloyd-Jones has done an amazing job of compiling stories from the Old And New Testaments, showing how each of these stories tell the story of Jesus Christ. Of these two books, this one is more episodic. While the stories are in chronological order, there is no direct link from one story to the next. It is more of a compilation of stories from the Bible. Each story is beautifully illustrated and will help your children learn more about how the whole Bible is about Jesus. It also helps children make connections between the Old and New Testaments. For example, it shows how Jesus rejected the temptation of Satan in the desert, while Adam believed the lies of Satan.

In The Big Picture Story Bible, David Helm has made an intentional effort to paint the Bible as one large story, so that children can easily see the complete history of redemption. Instead of compiling one story after another, Helm has organized this book into chapters, and each chapter leads into the next one. The chapters have descriptive titles, such as "The Very Good Beginning" and "God's Promised One is Announced." The title is an intentional double-meaning in that the book has beautiful, large illustrations on each page, and it also does an amazing job of giving kids the "big picture" of the Bible. For example, Helm teaches children that the Babylonian exile is like when Adam and Eve were removed from the Garden of Eden, because God's people were removed from what He had given them because of their sin. This is also the only children's Bible I have seen that explains what Jesus meant when he said that he would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days.

Both of these Bibles would be a great way to start a weekly family worship time. Pick a night of the week, have a meal together, read a story or a chapter out of one of these Bibles, and pray together. You and your children will greatly benefit from growing together as a family while growing closer to Christ.