The Story That Stays: Why Reading Matters for Children’s Faith

This blog is part of a 3-part series on how churches can nurture a child’s faith through storybooks
and is written by Melissa Deelstra, a friend of the Center for Faith and Children and
a children’s ministry leader in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Melissa is passionate about
children’s spiritual formation and recently helped launch The Lighthouse Library,
an ecumenical lending library designed to help families and churches read for faith formation.
The library was supported in part by donations made to the Presbyterian Church in Canada.  

The stories children hear shape the faith they carry for the rest of their lives.

Long before children can explain theology, they are already learning what kind of God they believe in. They learn through the words we repeat, the prayers we pray, and the stories we tell again and again. For many children, those stories first come through books.

One of the first things I noticed when we began attending our church was the number of children. Even more striking was how deeply those children were cherished by the congregation.

One Sunday morning, a friend visiting the church looked around and commented, “It looks like there are more children here than adults!” Whether or not that was technically true, her comment captured something important: children mattered here.

And wherever children are present in the life of a church, there is both a privilege and a calling. Parents, grandparents, volunteers, and ministry leaders all share the responsibility of helping children grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus.

One of the simplest—and most powerful—ways this happens is through stories.

A Story Written on the Heart

One of my favorite children’s books is Found, a retelling of Psalm 23 by Sally Lloyd-Jones. It also happens to be one of my son Matthew’s favorite books.

When Matthew was two and three years old, he asked me to read this story almost every day. Like many toddlers, he loved hearing the same words again and again.

There’s one page in the book that says:

“Even when I walk through the dark, scary, lonely places…”

To be honest, that page was always a little hard for me to read aloud to a toddler. The picture is darker, and the words feel heavy. I often found myself wanting to turn the page quickly and move on.

Matthew, however, had other plans. Whenever we reached that page, he would hold the next page back so we had to stay there. He studied the picture carefully each time. I never knew exactly what he was thinking as he looked at it. After a long pause, he would finally turn the page and say the next words with me:

“I won’t be afraid. Because my Shepherd knows where I am. He is here with me.”

A few years later, when Matthew was five, I was helping run the livestream for a funeral at church. I had left him playing in my office with his older sister, but ten minutes into the service I heard the unmistakable sound of small footsteps running across the balcony.

“Mommy,” he whispered loudly, “I missed you! Can I sit with you?”

With few good options at that point, I pulled him onto my lap and whispered that he needed to be very quiet. To my surprise, he sat completely still as an older woman walked slowly to the lectern. Through tears, she explained that she would be reading her favorite psalm—the one that had brought her comfort in difficult times.

Then she began reading from the King James Bible:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want…”

When she finished, Matthew looked up at me with wide eyes and whispered,

“Mommy, I know that story!”

Despite the unfamiliar language and the lack of pictures, he recognized it instantly. Somewhere along the way, through the repetition of a simple children’s book, the words of Psalm 23 had already been written on his heart.

My hope, of course, is that one day—when Matthew inevitably walks through “dark, scary, lonely places” of his own—his heart will remember those words again: I won’t be afraid. Because my Shepherd knows where I am.

Moments like this remind me that the stories we read with children matter more than we often realize. Long before children can explain their faith, those stories are quietly shaping how they understand God and the world.

Why Stories Matter

Children’s faith is formed not only through instruction but through imagination. Stories help children begin to understand the grand narrative of Scripture—the story of a God who creates, rescues, restores, and invites us into his kingdom.

Many adults grow up thinking the Bible is a collection of disconnected stories or moral lessons. But Scripture is something far richer. It is one unified story that ultimately leads to Jesus.

When children encounter the Bible through story, they begin to see that they are part of something larger. The Bible tells them:

• who God is
• who they are
• and where they belong in God’s unfolding story.

And that story often begins with something as simple as sitting down together with a book. Many of the most important stories children carry with them are planted quietly in ordinary moments.

A parent reading at bedtime.
A grandparent turning pages with a child on their lap.
A familiar story told again and again until the words become part of the rhythm of life.

At the time, those moments may feel small. But over the years, they shape how children imagine God.

Long before children can explain what they believe, they are already learning what kind of God they trust. They are learning whether God is distant or near, harsh or gentle, absent or present. Stories help them see a God who walks with them.

And one day, when they find themselves walking through their own “dark, scary, lonely places,” our hope is that something already lives in their hearts.

A story they remember.
Words they recognize.
A Shepherd who never leaves them.

Because sometimes the stories we read with children become the faith they carry for the rest of their lives.

So what does this look like in everyday life? In the next post, we’ll explore a few simple ways families and churches can read with children in ways that nurture faith.