I am often asked what I use to teach kids on Wednesday nights. I am committed to teaching kids their Bible skills. It is the discipleship we can give kids so they can feed themselves spiritually as they mature. Teens and adults are supposed to know how to find passages in the Bible and memorize them, but that doesn’t happen unless someone teaches them. This responsibility is squarely on our shoulders. We memorize 25 verses, 10 key passages and all the books of the Bible throughout the school year. We drill to find those verses and books within 10 seconds. It is great fun!
I set my Wednesday nights up in a rotation style (like VBS). From 6:00-7:30 p.m. the kids get to move through three classes. They have Bible Drill, Recreation and Missions. The classes are filled with hands-on active learning to help them capture and remember the biblical content. You should stop by and watch how we do this or ask me if I know a church near you that would be more convenient to go observe.
It doesn’t take tons of people. You need at least one leader in each room to teach the 30 minutes of content and a leader (two is best) to serve as coaches of each group. The coach helps move the kids from room to room and listens to the verse and books they are memorizing to get checked off on their list. Here’s a few questions and some answers you might have:
Who can participate in Bible Drill?
Children’s Bible Drill is for fourth through sixth grade students. Although there are Bible Skills, Drills, and Thrills materials to use with first through third graders, first through third graders will need to wait to be eligible to participate in Bible Drill. Children’s Bible Skills, Drills, and Thrills, which includes the Bible Drill activities, also includes activities for boys and girls who may not choose to participate in Bible Drill. Bible Drill is one of the choices of the Bible Skills, Drills and Thrills.
What is learned in Bible Drill?
Due to the variety of activities included in Bible Skills, Drills, and Thrills, children have opportunities to learn in the way they prefer. Every child will learn the books and divisions of the Bible, Bible verses, key passages, Bible book content, Bible history, Bible people and life application. For those children who desire to participate in the Children’s Bible Drill, leaders will spend time helping children develop Bible skills and Bible Drill participation skills so the children are ready to drill in a church, association and state Bible Drill. Children learn presentation skills from the drills as well as Bible skills.
When do I begin Children’s Bible Drill?
Most churches begin with the new church year in September. Beginning this early allows them to use a variety of activities to help children learn the verses, key passages, and the books of the Bible. Some churches wait until January to begin. Beginning in January means children must learn most of the material at home and spend class time practicing drilling.
The curriculum for churches wishing to conduct Bible Drill is Bible Skills, Drills & Thrills, may be ordered from LifeWay Bookstores or lifeway.com
