Written by Bonnie Homan
This article was written in May 1995. Does it still apply today?
Last summer, Professor Beverlee Haar came to Jordan Lutheran School for a course in early childhood education. This was an intensive workshop in two-and-a-half days. I felt like my head was spinning from all the invaluable information we received. The greatest and newest piece of information for me was about telling Bible stories. It was completely different than the way I had been teaching Bible stories for the last 20 years. I had always used props such as flannel board items, puppets, pictures, and books. Professor Haar suggested telling the story without anything except one’s knowledge and verbal skills. She also advised us to start the story with “A long, long, time ago . . .” I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
It took me a while to reflect on a new approach, but the most important question I had to ask myself was, “Why am I here?” Isn’t my first and foremost purpose to bring our young lambs to know and love Jesus? Why am I hesitant? I knew that telling the Bible story without visuals would mean extensive research so that I could be an expert for each Bible story. I also realized that telling a story with only myself made me a bit uncomfortable. I asked my pastor what would be my best study guide to the Bible, and he suggested Franzmann’s commentaries (Werner Franzmann. Bible History Commentary, v 1-2, Milwaukee: Northwestern, 1980, 1989).
I planned my first lesson and digested as much information as I could about the lesson. I knew that it was time to put it all together. I gathered my 15 preschoolers at my feet for “Jesus time.” I started with “A long, long time ago . . .” and proceeded to tell the story of Jonah in the fish. I was amazed at how intently the children were listening. They seemed to hang on every word. I then followed the story with an art project. (We made a fish, of course.)
The feedback from the parents quieted the rest of my fears. The parents who came to school the next day said, “My child recited the story from front to back. What did you do differently?” This was enough to make me a believer in this new approach to my Bible stories.
Here is the procedure outline:
- Research the story until you feel like an authority. This does take time, but it is well worth it. I have even bugged my pastor for some answers.
- Take one story and present or review it three different ways during the week:
- Tell the story the first day without visuals or props.
- In the next class period, review the story with props or read it from an age-appropriate book. I find that the Archway Books are excellent for keeping the children’s interest, and the children enjoy the rhyming style of these books.
- On the last day, have the children tell the story.
I have continued to use this method the entire school year. It has taught me beneficial story-telling techniques and has also given me a better background and knowledge of some familiar stories that I used to take for granted. The best part is that telling the Bible story without visuals helps me put aside time to feed my own soul, and then it allows me to directly share the excitement of God’s Word with others.
At the time of this writing, Bonnie Homan was the director of early childhood at Jordan Lutheran School, West Allis WI.
We would like to hear from you. How do you teach Bible stories to your students? Have you tried this method? What were your results?
Amen, Mr. Bergemann!
Many of the ideas in this post are very good. A teacher of Bible stories should know those stories well. Reviewing the story the following day with a different presentation approach also seems wise, as does having the children tell the story themselves on the third day.
Unfortunately, I also see this post as reinforcing a teaching style which is detrimental in today’s anti-Christian atmosphere. Today more than ever, the world openly and pervasively mocks Bible stories as fairy tales which only fools believe. Our teaching methods should adapt to address these attacks.
The words, “A long, long time ago” are often the opening words of a fairy tale. Why would we use words from fairytales in our Bible teaching? Why connect the Bible to fairy tales? Even the word “story” should be avoided. We are teaching “historical accounts” as recoded in Scripture. Today, the term “story” is associated with a fictional account in the minds of many.
The spiritual world is true reality, as are historical events like creation, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel. Can we better connect our students with that reality, as we teach historical accounts from the Bible?
When we teach Bible history, do we teach it more like American history, or more like a story? Do our students think of Adam, Noah, and David as real historical people like John F Kennedy, Neil Armstrong, and Albert Einstein? Do we have a fairytale-like drawing of Noah’s Ark on the wall where a dozen animals barely fit into the ark, or do we describe the immense scale of the ark accurately?
In today’s society, we should be increasing careful to describe Bible history as true history. We must avoid any implication otherwise.