Finding a bible to read together as a household is sometimes a difficult task, there are soooooo many out there, where do you start, which one do you chose? Here’s a small list of bibles that are great for households to help you on your way.
There’s no right or wrong bible, but there are a few that we’ve found to be helpful to read together, as well as to give as a gift. A copy of each of these is usually kept in the children’s resources in the worship space for you to explore and borrow during the week.
The Illustrated Children’s Ministry website has in depth reviews of many of our favourites, and we link to each of them after our initial comments.
Growing in God’s Love: A Story Bible
Edited by Elizabeth F. Caldwell and Carol A. Wehrheim
This collection of 150 stories is collated in stories of themes including; Strong Women and Men; Listening for God; Parables; Healings and Miracles and more.
Questions for reflection are also included to help families/households to sit with the story and reflect on it together.
The illustrations are by a diverse collections of artists to appeal to a variety of ages and learning styles, you’ll also note that the images of the people are not primarily caucasian. Diversity has obviously been high priority for the creators as they’ve also used non gendered language for God throughout the stories, which is another reason that it’s a beautiful collection for families/households.
A new favourite on my list, this is one for all households.
For more information check out this review
Children of God Storybook Bible
Written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, edited by Douglas C. Adams
This collection of over 50 stories has been reimagined and collated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, it’s full of beautiful and diverse images from over 20 artists.
Each story is followed by a simple prayer that families/households can use together after wondering over the story and images together.
This is one of our favourite books to give out at baptisms.
For more information check out this review
The Spark Story Bible: A Journey through God’s Word
Published by Sparkhouse, Illustrated by Peter Grosshauser and Ed Temple
The Spark Story Bible is another one of my favourites, with bright and cartoonish images and figures with olive and dark skin, the book presents creative and visually stimulating stories. Rather than having multiple illustrators like the two previously mentioned the entire book has been illustrated by two people.
The language used is inclusive and they’ve used non gendered language for speaking of God. Each story is followed with engaging questions or tasks to invite readers enter into the story.
For more information check out this review
The Jesus Storybook Bible
Written by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago
The Jesus Storybook Bible is a bit different to most bibles out there, it’s poetic and beautiful, it’s stories are familiar retellings and it has a companion collection of animated videos which you can purchase or find many of online.
But, rather than let each story sit by itself, it restructures the narrative to have Jesus at its centre. Every story, Noah, Abraham, Moses all point towards a child, which makes entering into the story sometimes difficult.
Sally Lloyd Jones also takes a lot of creative, poetic licence with her retelling, adding lines into the story that aren’t there, but that may affect the way one enters into the story or wonders about its meaning. The Illustrated Children’s Ministry review notes that in one instance Sally names the serpent Satan and gives Satan a line that doesn’t exist in the actual text.
Retellings are often helpful, but be aware that as you read it the stories will not match what is in scripture, nor do the authors of Hebrew Scriptures imagine Jesus at its centre as they were scribing the text.
The most beautiful part of this book are the vibrant, detailed illustrations by Jago, which in turn make for some wonderful animations in the video format of the story. Unfortunately the language used for God throughout the text is masculine, so unlike many others you will not find gender neutral pronouns used for God.
For more information check out this review
