How to read the Bible with teenagers

I have flannelgraphs to thank for a large part of my Bible education as a kid. No doubt the Sunday School teachers in my childhood church planned all sorts of amazing crafts and games for my class—but over time, the core memory I’ve retained is my excitement when a teacher got out that felt board and began arranging little palm trees and donkeys around it to create the scene.

Don’t worry—I’m not suggesting that we should bring back flannelgraphs.

I suspect those moments were so memorable for me because the visual aid took the Bible’s stories off their pages and into real life. As the little characters were moved around the board, I saw that each story happened in a particular time and place. Undoubtedly the cultural portrayal had its inaccuracies—but I could at least glean that the culture was much different than my own. I could observe expressions on characters’ faces and begin to empathize, identify with, or wonder about their experiences. The stories came to life and gave me a multi-dimensional view of what it meant to follow Jesus.

Visual aids of any kind have their pros and cons. But without that faithful flannelboard, for me the Bible would have remained simply words on a page.

Somewhere in that summer break between children’s and youth programs, we youth leaders can forget that pre-teens and teenagers might, too, need help to make the Bible’s stories come alive in their minds and hearts. Once students get to youth group, we often give them what I call a “one-dimensional reading” of the Bible: we read a passage, deliver our carefully planned youth talk, and bring them in to land each week on three tidy application points. And often I think we miss the chance to invite teenagers to explore the human side of the Bible’s characters and truths, and the journey of faith these characters navigated.

Let’s rethink the way we teach teens to read the Bible

The pages of the Bible are filled with everyday people through whom God did extraordinary things. When adults read stories with students and jump straight to offering our own interpretation, we risk overlooking details that may be life-giving for teenagers in our ministries.

Take Moses, for example. When teaching on stories in Exodus, we tend to highlight his good leadership decisions and critique his bad ones. But how often do we pause with teens to notice that Moses …

… often found himself in incredibly complicated situations, and might have wondered what to do?

… had the weight of caring for an entire people on his shoulders, which may have been a heavy load to bear at times?

… grew up adopted—and by a people he later came to realize were oppressing his own family of origin?

I wonder if any teenagers in our youth groups might find some resonance with those realities that Moses carried around as a human (not always a hero) figuring out how to live faithfully.

When we read the Bible with young people, what if we paused to notice the vulnerable, and anxious, and emotional interactions that take place—and then explore where God is at work in the midst of it all?

Try these 4 steps when reading the Bible together with teenagers

At FYI, we’ve been exploring the ways communal reading of Scripture can enhance your teaching and empower your young people as you read the Bible together. Communal (or public) reading of Scripture is just what it sounds like: coming together with others to listen to the Scriptures being read aloud. By reading Scripture aloud together and exploring the human side of its heroes and characters, you can learn a lot about your students. You’ll hear about where they’re at with God and what questions they have. You’ll hear about where they’re at with life. And you’ll discover what they need to talk about, and what they’re longing to hear from God.

Here’s a 4-step practice you can use when reading Scripture with teenagers that will help your youth group interact with the Bible meaningfully together:

1. Explore

Before reading a passage out loud, ask students to engage their imagination and their senses as they listen. They can ask themselves:

• What can I see, smell, or hear as I picture the scene?

• What expressions do I picture on characters’ faces as they speak and interact?

• Where am I standing or sitting in the scene as I watch it unfold?

2. Wonder

Read the verses out loud a second time. But before you do, invite your group to consider these questions as they listen and imagine the scene:

• What words are surprising or confusing?
• How do you think the characters are feeling, or what do they need?
• What questions would you ask the character(s)?
• What do you wonder about the speaker or character(s)’ back story?

3. Connect

As you read the passage a third and final time, ask students to consider how the story or words connect with them personally:

• Can you relate to or empathize with the situation?

• Why do you think the author felt we need to hear this story?
• What does this story tell you about the way God interacts with us?
• Do the character’s worries or interactions seem similar to anything going on in your life?

4. Make Meaning Together

Once you’ve read and reflected, facilitate a discussion that helps your group make meaning of the passage together. Here are some questions you could ask:

• In what ways do you see God working with or in the midst of someone’s fear, doubt, or other feelings in this story?
• Which character do you most identify with? Why?
• How do God’s (or Jesus’) words or actions help with something you’re dealing with lately?
• What do you feel God wants to teach you through this example?
• What questions do you have for God after reading this story?
• What would you like to ask God to help you understand? Or experience more of?

Exploring the Bible in this way might not always lead to neat and tidy application points. But it will equip your teenagers with skills to relate the Bible’s truths to their own lives. As they read with empathy and curiosity about the Bible’s characters, they’ll see that they’re never so messed up or broken—or made so many mistakes—that God isn’t willing to be right there with them in their fears, doubts, and joys. What’s more, practicing this rhythm through communal reading of Scripture together with teenagers will help you see the Bible’s stories in new ways.

Read more on practicing Communal Reading of Scripture with teens:
Coming together with young people through communal reading of Scripture
10 strategies for using communal reading of Scripture in small groups
8 ways to read Scripture together in your youth ministry during Lent

To find out more about how communal reading of Scripture can help you and the young people you care about, visit prsi.org.

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