3 Ways Precept Ministries Will Encourage Family Bible Study

I first started using the Bible studies published through Harvest House for Precept Ministries way back when I was a teen. Those small daily studies through the books of Acts and Luke led to more discovery and indepth adventures in God’s Word. Almost two decades later and I was beyond thrilled to find out that Precepts has developed studies for children ages 9-12. Their Discover 4 Yourself series is an indepth, hands on approach to studying the Bible [no page left unturned, or unmarked!].

Recently I was given the opportunity to review their Family Discipleship Plan as a part of Precept’s sponorship of HSV for the 2:1 Conference.

What an amazing chance to spread all of these materials out and share them with my family – an indepth study into God’s Word.

In the past I have been discouraged by adult studies that are too fluffly and “tell me” what I should be getting from the Bible. I have time after time set aside children’s books and curriculum that has watered down the material in an effort to maintain children’s attention and to keep them entertained. As a mom who loves reading God’s Word I wanted a Bible study that was a TRUE Bible study – teaching them to cross reference words and verses to find the meaning, to look at the culture and history of the people, and to encourage them to use the Bible as a tool to understanding the depths of God – NOT just an artifact we don’t mark, we don’t highlight that collects dust.

Three Ways Precept Bible Studies Will Encourage Your Family:

1. Family Discipleship Plans – They have several plans (with 17 total plans in the works) that you can purchase for your whole family. If you go to the Precept website you can find a list of plans they currently have available. Choose the character or topic that you would like to use and then check out the syllabus for that plan. I have linked to the page on Abraham here because these are the exact materials I was given to review.

Whether you are a mom with a lot of time [lol] or just a small amount of time each day – they have a Bible study that will work for you. The Precept studies for adults take a bit more time, but they go so indepth you will walk away overflowing. The smaller series “Teach Me Your Ways” are also great, but not as heavy as the Precept series. Choose what you can do. The “Teach Me Your Ways” studies I have in abundance because these are the studies I did as a teen and young adult. These would also be a great choice for your teen.

Studies in this plan you may want to discover [links are to each individual study – some have videos and you can download sample chapters]: Precept Upon Precept [adult and older students, 5 hrs of work a week], In & Out [adults and older students, less weekly study time], New Inductive Study Series [NISS – older students or parents who have never done a Precept study, 15-30 min per day], [students and adults, “Lord” Series [30-45 min – I have several of these and love them.], Inductive Bible Study Curriculum [IBSC – middle and high school students, 45 minutes indepth per day] and Discover 4 Yourself [8-12 year old, 30 min per day]

2. Discover 4 Yourself – Geared towards ages 9-12 this study does require a bit of reading, the ability to mark/draw/highlight and answer questions. Because of the age of my own children 8 and under I was able to modify much of this to verbal outloud readings, verbal Q&A and discussion.

What I personally love about Discover 4 Yourself is that I learn as much as they do. If you have not as a mom ever learned to mark and study scripture, if you find it intimidating – consider purchasing one of these studies and doing it right alongside your child. There is not anything childish or baby about God’s Word and the Discover 4 Yourself books are not childish either. You will quickly learn as an adult how to mark and search in ways you perhaps have not done before.

3. The Plumbline – The logo for Precept Ministries says it all – the Plumbline. The plumbline is God’s Word. This is what we use to measure our lives, our actions, our words, and the foundation of our families.

Choosing materials/Bible Studies that encourage a family to read God’s Word together, to discover the truth in these pages for themselves and to abide in that truth – what could be of more value to your family?

“Precept Ministries exists to establish people in God’s Word. Our passion is to help them discover Truth for themselves by using the Inductive Bible Study method.”