How to Read With Children for Faith Formation

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.  

In the previous post, I shared a story about my son recognizing Psalm 23 during a funeral because of a children’s book we had read together again and again.

Moments like that remind us that the stories children hear can stay with them for years—sometimes surfacing in surprising ways. But once we recognize the importance of stories, a practical question quickly follows:

How should we actually read with children in ways that nurture faith?

Many parents and ministry leaders feel pressure to turn every Bible story into a lesson or devotional. But the good news is that reading for faith formation doesn’t require elaborate plans or theological expertise. Often, the most meaningful practices are the simplest ones.

Over time, I’ve found three approaches especially helpful when reading with children:

• Read along the way – in the ordinary rhythms of life
• Read as conversation – wondering together
• Let stories become the soundtrack – shaping imagination over time

Each of these practices helps children encounter God not just as an idea, but as part of the story they are living. Let’s begin with the first.

1. Read Along the Way

In Deuteronomy 6, God instructs his people to teach their children about him:

• when you sit at home
• when you walk along the road
• when you lie down
• when you get up.

Faith formation is meant to happen in the ordinary rhythms of life. Reading together fits naturally into these rhythms:

• a Bible story before bedtime
• a devotional book at the breakfast table
• a story during a quiet moment in the afternoon.

These small, repeated practices quietly form children’s understanding of God. Over time, children learn that faith isn’t something reserved for church services. It is woven into everyday life.

2. Read as Conversation

When adults read with children, we often default to one of two approaches. Sometimes we lecture, reading the story straight through while children sit and listen. Other times we interrogate, turning each page into a series of questions. But reading can be something richer: a conversation.

One helpful tool comes from literacy education and is known as OWL:

• Observe how the child is engaging with the story
• Wait before jumping in with explanations
• Listen to what the child notices or wonders.

Children often notice details that adults miss. When we slow down and listen, we invite them into the story instead of simply delivering it to them. When the story is about God, these conversations can become moments of genuine spiritual discovery.

3. Let Stories Become the Soundtrack

Stories also shape faith when they become part of the background of daily life. Many families listen to audiobooks together during car rides or quiet time at home. These stories can become a kind of spiritual soundtrack, shaping imagination over time.

Stories like The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wingfeather Saga, and The Green Ember series carry deep echoes of the gospel—courage, sacrifice, redemption, and hope. Even when they aren’t direct Bible retellings, they help children recognize the shape of God’s story.

Small Practices, Lasting Impact

None of these practices require special training or perfectly planned moments.

They simply invite us to make space for stories of faith in the ordinary rhythms of life—reading together at bedtime, listening to stories in the car, or pausing to wonder about a page that catches a child’s attention.

Over time, these small moments add up.

Through stories, children begin to see a bigger picture of who God is and how God is at work in the world. They learn that the Bible is not just a collection of lessons, but a story they are invited to enter.

And while parents and caregivers often lead the way in these everyday practices, they should never have to do it alone. Churches play an important role in supporting families—by sharing meaningful books, creating spaces for storytelling, and helping children encounter the richness of God’s story.

In the final post of this series, we’ll explore how churches can cultivate a culture of story and support families through simple resources like children’s faith formation libraries.