Memorizing the Books of the Bible

By Matt Raley

We all know that Genesis is first and Revelation is last. But where is Haggai? And how do you say it?

Memorizing all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments is a big accomplishment for our children. It’s also an important achievement for Tiffany Good, who has been teaching our 1st-5th graders. She shows us what is possible when children are focused and well-taught.

But memorizing the books of the Bible is more than a feat. It shows our children many things that they need in order to understand who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

For instance, it teaches them that the Bible is not one book, but many. From now on, when they open their Bibles, they will know that it was written by many authors over many centuries, all inspired by the same God.

Even more, memorizing the books shows children that there are groups of books that belong together. They connect to the story of redemption in different ways. Some groups in the Old Testament are history, others are poetry, and others are prophets. In the New Testament, there are Gospels about the life of Jesus and epistles written by the apostles to the first churches. Our children now have access to all this knowledge.

Thanks to Eileen Parmer and Travis Weaver, our whole church is learning the story of redemption together. Our curriculum for Sunday school is The Gospel Project, a survey of key themes through the whole Bible. We can start talking about these things together as families.

Children come to Jesus when adults lead them (Mark 10.13-16). The hindrances to children coming to Jesus are many, but thanks to Tiffany, they will not be hindered by ignorance of how the Bible works. The more actively adults direct children’s attention to the reality of Jesus in all we do at church, the more hindrances we will remove from their path to salvation.