Show Them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids

by Jack Klumpenhower

Before teaching any particular story, I usually read not only the passage itself but the surrounding chapters. If I haven’t recently read the book of the Bible it’s in, I might read that entire book. This, of course, is in addition to being generally familiar with the entire Old Testament. It’s the only way I can properly see what God’s doing in a story. I know—that sounds time-consuming. I’m about to make it worse. To connect the Old Testament to Jesus, you have to know all you can about Jesus too. This means knowing the New Testament even more thoroughly than the Old. It means reading through the Gospels and Epistles regularly, even when the passages you’re teaching come from other parts of the Bible. It does take time—but not that much compared to other things. I try to read through one of the Gospels or an epistle or two in one sitting every month. It takes less time than a movie, and I always notice new things to admire about Jesus.