If You Don't Teach Your Children to Walk With Jesus, the World Soon Teaches Then Not To!

How do we teach our children to walk with Jesus? We take them to Mass and try to help them learn all the stories of Jesus. We give them children’s books to read or even share Bible stories with them. But children today are technology based. They focus on what they see on television, movies or in video games. That makes teaching them about Jesus a challenge. There are adult movies about Jesus, but that isn’t going to really reach them. There are some children movies, but they are all cartoons. Children see cartoons as pretend and definitely not about their life of faith.

What if there was a DVD series that would take children on a journey “walking” the steps that Jesus walked? What if it was actually filmed in Israel? What if it was designed for children to be able to understand and relate to the life of Jesus? Well this actually exists!!!

“Little Steps… Walk With Jesus, Through the Eyes of a Child” is the name of the series. The journey begins with two young children walking (and even riding on a donkey) on the road Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem. It covers Jesus’ birth and childhood while actually visiting a home like Jesus might have lived in. The second DVD follows Jesus’ steps through His Baptism, Temptation in the desert, first miracle in Cana, His teachings of the Beatitudes, and the Lord’s Prayer, and some of His miracles. In the third DVD we follow Jesus’ steps through His passion, death and resurrection.

The news gets even better! Our children can watch the video, and get a great idea of what the life of Jesus was like. But, there is also a study guide that goes with it. I was honored to write it and share my teaching and writing skills for such a great project! In each of the eight sessions, the guide helps the parent or teacher to find out what the children already know about the upcoming material, offers many activities to help the DVD come alive for them, and helps you find out what they have learned. Within the sessions the children will journal, learn how to create their own prayers, experience Jesus as a part of their lives, and much more. Also, in each session after the section on the DVD, there are two additional sections: the Cultural and Geographical section helps the children to understand what the times were like so they can better understand; and the Biblical section teaches the children about the Bible (where all the material comes from), how to use it and how to understand it. At the end of the guide, there is a “help section” with all you will need to teach the material including a fill it in lesson plan to help you plan what you most want to include.

This series (both DVDs and Study Guide) are basically planned to accommodate children from grades 3-5 (although it offers options for varying the lessons for other levels). It can be used by parents to teach/help their children, a small group at a Church, or a full Religious School classroom learn about the life of Jesus. It is based on the Gospels and therefore can be used by any Christian family, Church, or School.

I truly believe that our children are the future of the Church. We must be proactive in the education of our children if we want the messages of Jesus to stay alive in their lives and the lives of our world.

If you are interested in learning more about this, please visit our web site: www.littlestepscollection.com to see a trailer of the series. Please do share your comments with me below and share this Catholic 365 article with all you know!