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“Let’s eat Grandma.”
“Let’s eat, Grandma.”
Commas save lives.
As a bit of a WordNerd, I chuckle to myself every time I see that on a t-shirt.
But it also makes me think. A comma — such a little thing — really can make all the difference. It’s about nuance. But it’s also about context.
What if we had the full story about Grandma?
“It was Mother’s Day. Although I have the sneaking suspicion that what my mother would have lovedwas a few hours to herself to sip a quality cup of coffee and find a sunny spot where she could read a good book, what we always did instead was have a family dinner with my grandparents. After all, Grandma was still a mom. So, like clockwork, we showed up at my grandparents’ door after church, casseroles in hand. We knocked on the door, Grandma answered with a smile on her face, and we said, “Let’s eat Grandma!”
When you get the full story, comma or no comma, you know Grandma’s going to be just fine.
So when getting the full story makes a life-or-death difference for Grandma, why would we think giving our children the partial story of the Gospel is sufficient for them to have a lifelong relationship with Jesus?
Enter Bible Lite strategy. It’s been having a “moment” for a long time, and we’re realizing it’s doing more harm than good.
What is the Bible Lite Strategy?
The Bible Lite Strategy is an approach to teaching the Bible to kids that emphasizes virtues, values, morals or good character from Bible stories in a way that’s unrooted from the Gospel.
It isn’t always inaccurate, but it is incomplete.
This approach to teaching the Bible has become quite common over the past two decades. Now, are churches and kids ministries including it in their philosophies, saying they have a “shared commitment to the Bible Lite strategy?” Surely not. It’s unlikely that people choosing to lead kids in church would make an active decision to disconnect virtues from the Gospel and increase confusion. Yet, it’s happening nonetheless, and it’s become a dominant form of Bible teaching in the Children’s Ministry wing of many U.S. churches.
How would you know Bible Lite if you saw it?
Let’s take Nehemiah’s story as an example. Nehemiah is exiled in Persia, along with many of his fellow countrymen. But rumors of the crumbled, abysmal state of his home, Jerusalem, impact him to the point that he prays to God. King Artaxerxes notices his sad countenance and allows Nehemiah to leave his post as the Persian King’s cupbearer and return to rebuild his city’s walls. He arrives home, rallies his brethren, and the walls are ultimately rebuilt.
What we know about the story is that the Lord led the King Artaxerxes to allow God’s people to return home to rebuild. And that Nehemiah prayed right before he asked the king’s permission to return home. And only then did he go home and rally his countrymen to help build the wall.
But from a Bible Lite perspective, here’s how Nehemiah’s story might play out on a Sunday morning:
It’s large group time, and a killer video of “Nehemiah building the wall” plays. The kids are into it. You build on it by reenacting it with some brave volunteers. And as you land the plane, you say to the kids something along these lines:
“Nehemiah wanted to build a wall, but he couldn’t do it without his friends. When we all work together, we can do anything God has for us to do.”
But is teamwork really the key to success? Because now I’m sitting here thinking about some times when my teammates and I rocked the “working together” category … and we didn’t succeed. Did we fail God or something?
See the problem? It is so subtle we often miss it.
Being a team player is an important character trait, and something you’ll likely be called upon to talk about in a job interview at least once. Encouraging it is not a bad thing. But good character is not the goal of a Christian; it’s the byproduct of a life surrendered and cultivated in Jesus Christ. Our goodness is not what victory in Jesus is made of. Our living in God’s goodness is.
Let’s go back to the previous phrase about Bible Lite strategy, “It may be accurate, but it’s incomplete.”
While it may be accurate that Nehemiah’s team worked together — and I’m sure it helped accomplish the goal faster — teamwork is not the point of Nehemiah’s story. Instead, it’s a God who loves, restores and can rebuild from the rubble – and Who’s kind enough to include us in the process.
Because of the way the story is told in a Bible Lite approach, it actually diverts kids’ attention to the virtues themselves (being a team player) rather than pointing them to the One who has the power to cultivate those virtues within them. The consequence? It erodes the biblical foundation for children — the future of the church. Here’s a handful of the soundbites this teaching philosophy has produced:
| Bible Lite | Gospel-Centric |
|---|---|
| Just like Noah obeyed God, you can obey God. | As Jesus works in our lives, like He did in Noah’s, He can help us obey God. And you can pray for an obedient heart. |
| Esther made the right choice, and you can make the right choice too. | When we trust in the Lord, like Esther did, God gives us His courage. |
| Like the little boy who gave his fish and loaves, you can also give to Jesus. | Let’s be honest: sometimes sharing is hard. God is the giver of all good gifts, and He can work in us to help us become generous with others. There’s no limit to what He can do through you. |
| The virtues-based teaching statements above emphasize character formation in a way that is not only disconnected from the story of the Gospel, but is also placed in front of the cross. | In contrast, Gospel-centric teaching states that God can and will form His virtues within those who place their faith and trust in Him because of the work of Jesus on the cross. |
Over recent decades, the Bible Lite Strategy has become a tremendously popular and appealing way to teach the Bible to children — and perhaps all with good intentions. The statements on the left side of the table are simple, but are overlysimplistic to the point of leaving out important information, which can lead a child to confusion. They are relatable messages that may resonate with kids. But if what’s resonating isn’t taught through the lens of the Gospel, then what are we doing? These overly simplistic statements may shape temporary moralistic behavioral change, but they are incapable of forming heart change. Only the power of the Spirit at work through the Gospel can do that.
Mark Sayers, Australian pastor and author of books like A Non-Anxious Presence and Platforms to Pillars, describes the dominant culture around today’s children like this:
“Post Christian Culture is an attempt
to advance the goals of Christianity without Christ.
[It’s] the kingdom without the King.”
The Bible Lite Strategy perpetuates this “kingdom without the King” story when we teach younger generations virtues like justice, kindness, love, mercy and peace with an approach that insinuates that good people can behave virtuously if they just want to badly enough, while failing to make a clear and direct connection to the power for change in our lives — the grace of God in the person of King Jesus Himself.
Instead of the story being, “The more you get to know the kindness of Jesus, the more Jesus can shape you to be kindlike Him,” it becomes, “Be kind because that’s what a good person does.” Similar stories, different root systems. One is human moralism, the other is the Gospel.
So if relatable, virtues-based aka Bible Lite strategy isn’t the best way to teach the Bible, how do we right the ship?
- Teach virtues as a result of what God has done for us in Christ as opposed to what we can do to gain favor. Virtues are the byproduct of a life transformed by the Gospel.Teach the Gospel with boldness and clarity, allow the transforming power of Jesus to work in the lives of your kids.
- Pause and pray. Ask God for wisdom. Seek understanding first. What did this mean and what was the story intended to communicate to the original audience. Then ask, How does this apply to my five year olds or my fifth grader today?
- Ask kids what they learned about God through the true story of the Bible. Always look for ways to connect the story to what they’re learning. Keep reinforcing the bottom line. Our Brite™ curriculum team does a brilliant job of this. And if it seems kids didn’t understand what you were trying to teach through the lesson, reframe, repeat and keep trying.
- Pick up a copy of The Story We Tell Our Children to do more of a deep dive into this important conversation. If you’re looking for more tools to help you grow in your ability to disciple well and proclaim the Gospel with clarity, bookmark ChildDiscipleship.com and visit again! Resources are released weekly, so check back often.
Matt Markins serves as the President and CEO of Awana, a global leader in child discipleship. As a researcher in child discipleship and children’s ministry, Matt has commissioned 13 research projects since 2013, including a study conducted by Barna Group, called Children’s Ministry in a New Reality. He’s a board member at large for the National Association of Evangelicals and is the author or coauthor of several books, most notably The Faith of Our Children: Eight Timely Research Insights for Discipling the Next Generation, RESILIENT: Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church and Forming Faith: Discipling the Next Generation in a Post-Christian Culture. He’s also the cofounder of the Child Discipleship Forum and D6 Conference. Matt and his wife, Katie, have been involved in children’s ministry for more than 25 years and spend their time in Nashville with their two sons. For more information go to www.ChildDiscipleship.com and www.Awana.org.
