Let’s Discover God’s Word Together
Our Wednesday night Bible study for 3rd-5th graders starts Oct. 2. Read more about LAUNCH and view previous years’ material here. Ready to help? Click here to join the LAUNCH team!
I coach a team of kindergarteners playing flag football in Upward this season. There’s a limit to how long you can convince kindergarteners to practice anything, especially football skills. That’s why in Upward, kindergarteners practice only on game days, and only for about half an hour right before their “game.” In that half-hour, you’re constantly re-recruiting your team, convincing them to stay together, stay on the field, keep going the right direction, try that drill one more time before we take a break… it’s kind of chaotic.
But would you believe it? Our team is getting better. After those 30 minutes of practice, which translate to roughly 18 minutes a week of actually doing football things, the game starts and they sort of resemble a football team. That little bit of practice is having an effect. Kids learn to play, and they learn playing is fun. So they try it on their own. By trying, they learn even more. That little bit of practice, and the encouragement and celebration wrapped up in it, snowball into growth, ability and enjoyment. And a guy like me—who can’t throw a spiral, never stepped on a field, barely even played Madden—can provide that core to get them started.
It’s the same with reading the Bible. The Lausanne Movement of global evangelicals wrote this recently in its Seoul Statement:
“We call local churches to devote themselves to the public reading of Scripture and to form faithful Bible readers and listeners, as individuals, groups and worshipping communities.”
The late elementary years are pivotal for that formation. Kids age 8-12 are discovering a world of influences, and need help (as we all do) filtering and ordering those voices. The only source for infallible, unchanging truth is God’s Word. Kids who can access, understand and enjoy the Bible have an anchor to hope, truth and life that cannot be taken away. But they need help. They need a core of practice and encouragement to get them started and spur them on.
That’s LAUNCH!
Rather than a special curriculum or a series of lessons, LAUNCH is practice reading and understanding the Bible using the same Scripture passages we learn about in Orbit on Sundays. LAUNCH introduces kids to the joy of discovering God’s Word, and discovering God in His Word, whenever and wherever they open the book. We practice reading, looking for themes, contrasts, metaphors, and other devices of Biblical literature. We explore how every story fits into God’s great redemptive story, and how God’s great Redeemer, Jesus, shows up on every page.
We do this through intergenerational discipleship: Caring adults work with kids in small groups to complete fun worksheets and activities together. Some of these adults are students; some are parents; some are grandparents; some are none of the above but just care about kids and want them to know God. All of them work individually and as a team to guide kids’ first steps reading the Bible for themselves. As in a sports practice, focused attention like this helps kids sharpen skills and make memories so they can do it on their own.
Parents: Your kids can gain the core skills and encouragement they need to become “faithful Bible readers and listeners” by joining us for LAUNCH on Wednesday nights in the fall and winter, before Thanksgiving and before Spring Break. The program runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. and includes time to study, reflect, and unwind with friends. Be prepared for them to bring home thought-provoking questions for you, too!
Every adult: If you love God’s Word and want to see kids love it, too, then we want you around these tables with us on Wednesday nights! Join us for one or two, or a whole bunch, or even every week and you’ll see kids’ eyes open to the treasure inside this book. You can be the encouragement they hold onto when the world wants them to believe that reading the Bible is boring, irrelevant or too hard.
Read more about LAUNCH and view previous years’ material here. Ready to help? Click here to join the LAUNCH team!