Teaching a text to your family: reading the Bible at home

Many believers feel at ease reading the Bible alone or at church, but very few dare to do it at home, with the people they love. Yet it is one of the places where faith is passed on most lastingly. This week's quest offers you fifteen minutes to read and explain a passage to your family or loved ones.

What it looks like in your day

You don't need to be a pastor or a teacher. It is about simply sharing a text, the way you share a meal. Here is a fifteen-minute outline:

1. Choose a quiet moment: after dinner, a Sunday afternoon, the evening before the children go to bed.
2. Choose a short, lively passage. A Gospel story, a parable, a psalm. With children, favor stories.
3. Read it aloud, or have someone else read it.
4. Explain in three sentences. What the text says, what it shows about God, what it asks or promises.
5. Ask an open question. "What struck you?" "What would you have done in the character's place?"
6. Listen to the answers, even if they are puzzling.
7. Finish with a short prayer. One sentence is enough, said by you or by someone else.

If you live alone, you can do it with a friend, a neighbor, or by phone. If your family are not believers, offer a simple, open text, and leave everyone free to take part. If you are in a hurry, five minutes is better than nothing. If you are shy, prepare a few words in advance.

What the Bible says

Moses gives this instruction to the people, before they enter the promised land:

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”

Notice that teaching is not limited to a class: it happens at home, on the road, at bedtime and on rising. It is everyday teaching, through conversation. King David himself calls his children to listen to him (Psalms 34:11), and in the letter to Timothy, Paul recalls the faith of his grandmother and mother, which nourished him (2 Timothy 1:5).

Passing on the faith is therefore a thread running from generation to generation. Children hear what their parents say, but even more what they live. Reading a text together is teaching by example.

Pitfalls to avoid

Giving a sermon. In a family, a monologue quickly tires. Keep moments short, interactive, concrete.

Imposing. Forcing someone to take part often produces the opposite effect. Suggest, invite, respect refusals.

Feeling incompetent. You don't need to know everything. Saying "I don't know, we'll look it up together" is a lovely lesson.

Moralizing. Avoid turning the text into a lesson on behavior aimed at someone in particular ("See, you should do like him"). The text speaks to everyone, you included.

Expecting quick results. Passing on faith is long work. Seeds sown today sometimes bear fruit in ten or twenty years.

This week, choose a passage and a moment. Read it with your family or loved ones, and ask one question.