The Gospel Story for Kids: Book Review

If you’re looking for a condensed gospel presentation to use as an affordable giveaway for children’s ministry events or something that’s lightweight for mailing, consider The Gospel Story for Kids: God’s Story of Love from Creation to Revelation.

 Of course, a full version of the Bible is the very best presentation of the gospel. However, occasionally, the need arises for something compact in design. Let’s take a look at this soft-cover, 32-page booklet published by Tyndale.

The Contents of The Gospel Story for Kids

A supplement resource to Tyndale’s GoBible, The Gospel Story for Kids is not a full Bible but a retelling of true Bible stories. I’m sure it was challenging to narrow down which stories to include in this little booklet.

The stories chosen were:

“God’s Good Creation”

“Adam and Eve Disobey God”

“Noah and the Flood”

“Abraham and Sarah”

“Jacob and Esau”

“Joseph”

“Moses and the Ten Commandments”

“Ruth and Naomi”

“Samuel Anoints David”

“Esther”

“Esther Saves Her People”

All of the stories flow smoothly from one to another. After the story about the birth of Jesus, the booklet includes the additional content.

Additional Content Included:

There are some extra things included along with the stories such as:

“Prophecy 101” (Emphasizes how the fulfilling of hundreds of prophecies is one way we know the Bible is the Word of God).

“Key Figures in Jesus’ Genealogy” (From Abraham to Mary)

“Jesus Life” (An infographic with scripture references.)

“Jesus’ Early Ministry”  (An infographic, but no scripture references are given.)

“Seder: A Passover Celebration”

The Bible stories resume with:

“The Birth of Jesus”

“The Last Supper”

“Jesus’ Ultimate Sacrifice”

“Jesus Resurrection”

“The Great Commission”

“The Long-Awaited Transformation”

At the booklet’s end is a guide on how to follow Jesus, which includes comments on reading the Bible, praying, worshipping, connecting with other believers, and serving people in the name of Jesus.

Following this is a section on how to point others to Jesus.

Other Elements in The Gospel Story for Kids

The book opens with a note to readers to help them discover what a Bible story is all about. I like that readers are challenged to ask four important questions when reading any story in the Bible.

Who struggles?

What do they discover?

How do things change?

What can I learn about God and myself from this story?  

The Gospel Story for Kids, page 2

Children will also discover sprinkled throughout the booklet factoids about people and other items we find in the Bible. One example is the history of the Passover lamb and how that ties into the sacrifice Jesus made.

Also scattered throughout the book are snippets encouraging reflection and life application based on the stories.

To top it all off, every page has colorful illustrations!

Scriptures Used in The Gospel Story for Kids

This storybook asks readers to refer to their own Bibles more often than it prints out the scriptures. One example is in the story about Adam and Eve on page 4 where it says:

“And best of all, God promises to give you everything you need to choose what’s right and say no to Satan’s sneaky lies (see Proverbs 3:5-6)!”

There are a few direct quotes from the Bible, such as in the story “The Long-Awaited Transformation,” where it says,

“At the end of Revelation, John writes, ‘Come Lord Jesus!’ (Revelation 22:20). We can pray the same thing—that Jesus will come back soon, making everything right.” (page 28)

When quoted, scriptures are drawn from the New Living Translation (1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation).

Recommendation

As a stand-alone product, I would’ve liked to have seen a few more scriptures included. However, the book highly encourages readers to get their Bibles out and look up the true stories themselves, which is truly a good thing! Another plus about this is readers can look up the scriptures in the Bible translation they prefer.

I especially like the size of this booklet. It’s perfect for mailing inside 6” x 9” mailing envelopes. Each book is probably two-sixteenths of an inch thick. Which means they’ll require minimal storage space when preparing for a mission trip or a children’s ministry event. They would also be great for children on Give a Bible Away Day and Bring Your Bible to School Day.

The thick paperback cover and the slick coating make it durable. Plus, the pages are firmly bound with staples, making it an affordable item to buy in bulk.  

During my research, I found that several pages in this booklet can be viewed on Tyndale’s website—but not under the description for this booklet. You’ll find them by clicking on the button to view a sample of their GO Bible. They offer thirty-six pages of the Go Bible to preview. Three of those pages are in The Gospel Story for Kids booklet! If you look at Genesis 3 in their Bible sample, you’ll see “God’s Good Creation.” This is an exact copy of the text and illustrations that are in The Gospel Story for Kids booklet. The same goes for the page about “Abraham and Sarah” (Genesis 13) and “Key Figures in Jesus’ Genealogy” (Matthew 2).

This booklet is a helpful tool to introduce the Bible to young children. It provides numerous opportunities for further Bible reading and conversations to deepen a child’s understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Giveaway

Would you like to win a copy of this booklet? I’ll draw a name from my blog’s email subscriber list during the last week of March. I hope you are one of my email friends! I will announce the winner here and in the quarterly newsletter, Tidbits to Tell. If you’re signed up for the blog’s email updates, you’ll automatically receive the newsletter with all of its goodies.

Motivated by the power of story, history, and His Story, Sally Matheny’s passion is telling the next generation wondrous things.

Her nonfiction writing appears in worldwide, national, and regional publications including Appleseeds, Clubhouse Jr., Homeschooling Today, and The Old Schoolhouse.

She and her husband live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and are blessed with three children, two sons-in-law, and armfuls of grandbabies. Connect with Sally on several social media sites, but her favorite hangouts are at SallyMatheny.com and Pinterest.