Books of the Bible

Sometimes when I tell the kids to open their bibles I wonder what they really hear. Almost immediately, from various corners of the room, comes the all too familiar phrase, "What page?!?!?" I imagine that when I say the book, chapter and verse of a passage it hits them like a jumble of foreign terms, perhaps something like the above image, or maybe a "Wua, wua, wua," ala teachers in Peanuts cartoons.

This year my goal is to help students build a road map of the bible. As we explore the stories in God's word I hope that they will also be able to develop at least a small understanding of how to navigate the bible. As we begin this tremendous task, we will start with the books of the New Testament. A resource I hope to use is the song "New Testament" by Phil Joel. Not only does it list the books in order to a catchy tune and rhythm, but phrases like "this is good stuff to know, it helps us find out where to go... when we are reading the bible," make it a more meaningful task than simple memorization.

I think it is important that we are intentional with this type of teaching and for students to know that even adults don't always have this stuff down perfect and that we can teach each other and learn alongside one another.

Do you know know the books of the new testament? How did you learn them? Do you have a great resource to suggest? Let us know and we'll keep you posted on this Fall 2011 goal!