Sunday Snippet: Church History for Kids…

I must say from all your comments in our GiveAway last week I realized that it wasn’t just me who wanted to take a look at Church History, so I decided to do some research. The Father person has a couple of very serious looking books in his collection that are fatter than a shoebox and frankly I can not bring myself to be excited about them. Most church history books are to be honest dry and dull and I couldn’t get my kids to read them, let alone myself if I tried. So I raided the kids bookshelf for some Bible History inspiration. Let’s just say these ones cracked the nod, so here you go, some church history inspiration for you:

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Brandon and Mindy Withrow has written a great series for kids that I fully intended to read-a-loud to my kids. I read a chapter or two and then they vanished as my kids devoured them before I had the chance. The books are a little bit harder than first chapter readers. My nine year old loved them the best, my new reader struggled a bit but was prepared to work his way through the chapters because his curiosity was more than peaked!!!

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Each book contains a timeline of people and events, relevant maps and a bibliography. The books tell the story of church history by using biographical chapters and you will learn the christian history stories by reading about great christians throughout history. These men and women portray the story for us, starting with Paul and working your way through the series right up to the 1900’s.

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It is a five volume series, following a biographical timeline:

  • The Ancient Church: Peace and Peril. Paul, Polycarp, Justin, Origen, Cyprian, Constantine, Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine, John Chrysostom, Jerome, Patrick and Benedict.
  • The Medieval Church: Monks and Mystics. Gregory the Great, Boniface, Charlemagne, Constantine Methodius, Vladimir, Anselm of Canterbury, Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Catherine of Sienna, John Wyclif and John Hus.
  • The Reformation Church: Courage and Conviction. Erasmus and Luther, Menno Simmons, John Calvin, Katherine Parr and William Bradford.
  • The Awakening Church: Hearts and Hands. John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards, Elizabeth Fry and Sojourner Truth.
  • The Modern Church: Rescue and Redeem. Niijima Jo, Pandita Ramabai, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Janani Luwum.
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You may not have heard of all these men and women – I certainly haven’t but after reading about them you will certainly remember them and the role they had in church history. The biographical chapters cover not just the victories but the struggles and persecutions of christians through time. I think my kids were inspired by the strengths and bravery that these men and women portrayed. There is also have digging deeper issues in each book, for example you can read more about the crusades and scientific revolutions.

If you are looking for a quick overview of church history for you and your kids, then these may well be the answer. I have a feeling I missed out on a lot on not reading them aloud… So I am off to dig them out and re-borrow the ones we borrowed and and read then for myself.

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