4 Ways to Teach the Gospel in Your Home this January
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This year we're studying the New Testament. There are so many great scriptures and principles that we can continue to share with our families all year long. You probably have your own Come Follow Me routine that you've gotten in the habit of over these last few years or you're trying out a new one. That’s excellent. These ideas are going to be additional ways that you can continue to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ in your home.
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In January, we start off by discussing how we need to be seekers and how we're responsible for our own learning. Then we move on to the story of Christ's birth and we end with being introduced to John the Baptist and Jesus being baptized. Let’s dive into some ways you can reinforce of the gospel principles taught in the scriptures this month.
Encourage Daily Scripture Study with Charts and Bingo
We are responsible for our own learning. We do need to put our own effort into it. Encourage the daily habit of scripture study with a reading chart. I don’t know what it is about reading charts but they definitely help! Print all 12 months of reading charts for your family. Instead of a specific month, my reading charts focus on the days you read. As you read, color in that day’s corresponding spot.
We absolutely want to strive for the ideal and read every single day of the month, however, we also know that we're imperfect beings. Sometimes we make mistakes and miss a day. If we have this goal for perfection, when we make a mistake, we have no reason to continue on. We've already failed. Instead, focus on a more realistic goal- try striving for 90%. If there are 30 days, then that's 27 days. If you read for 27 days or more and you’ve reached your goal and get a reward! Or maybe you're going to have a way to make up for missed day- kind of like a repentance process. Find ways that everyone can continue on and not just give up after the first missed day.
Each reading chart for the New Testament has a scene from the reading. In January, it's the nativity scene. In some other months you'll have different symbols representing the different parables.
Another fun way to motivate towards a goal in your family is with bingo. Try my New Testament Bingo boards in 2023. They include different characters and stories from the New Testament. It's a great way to introduce the New Testament to your family, have a little bit of fun, see what stories they may not be familiar with, or which people they might not recognize, and where you might need to focus a little more as you study this year.
New Testament Bingo is also great to keep track of family goals. Every time you read your scriptures together as a family, every time you say family prayers, whatever your goal is, then you get to pick a bingo calling card out of a bag and mark that space off on the board. When your family gets a bingo, you get to celebrate.
We like to do it where the first bingo is a small prize and then when you get a blackout, you get a bigger prize. It's a great way to motivate the whole family together toward your goal. Pick your prizes as a family to ensure everyone is motivated!
Remember to Cover the Basics
Print out some definition cards so you have quick answers that can enhance your scripture study. Each card explains a little bit about a person or a thing to help your family understand things that we might not typically talk about. For example, Matthew. We know that Matthew is a book of scripture, but who was Matthew? Why he is writing this book of scripture?
On the Matthew definition card it says “He's a Jewish publican. He was a tax collector. He was an apostle of Jesus. He wrote to fellow Jews. He emphasizes Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah that were filled.” There's also room for your additional notes on each card. I put all our definition cards on a key ring to make it easy to look at any time and keep them by our scriptures.
Another definition card is for the Joseph Smith translation. There's a lot of JST in the New Testament so make sure you explain what JST is. What do those letters mean? Why does it matter? Sometimes we forget that our children might not know exactly what these things are because we're so used to them ourselves. It's important to review them before moving on.
New Testament Twists and Turns Game
Introducing this year’s New Testament freebie- New Testament Twists and Turns. It’s not your normal word search! The words do not go in a straight line. They snake back and forth. There are no diagonals, only forward, backward and side-to-side.
This one has all the books from the New Testament. It is meant to challenge your teens. There are misdirects and it will take longer than 5 minutes. There are also fun games on the side including a game about gathering sheep in, unscrambling phrases, and a picture clues game. It’s super fun and you can print it large or small.
Roll it out across your table and have fun looking for the words together as a family or print two and see if you can find all the words before your teen. I like to put ours up on the wall and invite people to come and participate with us as they come over for a visit- find one word or join in one of the side games. It's a fun activity and an easy way to share the gospel. It’s also great for General Conference weekend!
Baptism and Some Mini Golf
We end January by talking about the baptism of Jesus Christ in our Come Follow Me readings. Let's talk about our own baptisms and some of the covenants that we have made with a fun game of mini golf! Golf the Mini Way is so much fun. Build your own golf course at home with the flags and things included in my gospel fun kit or head to a mini-golf course instead. If you have an upcoming snow day, I highly recommend the build your own version. It's a great activity to keep people busy.
Plus it helps you discuss the covenants that we make at baptism. For each hole you play, you answer a question and then depending on your answer, golf with a twist. When we go to a mini golf course, I like to do the questions on the way to the golf course, record if the answer was right or wrong, then use read the appropriate twist at the course so we don’t slow anyone down.
With Golf the Mini Way, you have a consequence for every answer- either a positive helpful one or one that makes the course harder. For example, a positive one could be, “Everyone gets a max score of four strokes.” Usually, it's six strokes, so it's two less. If you get it wrong though, you have to play with your putter upside down, which means you have less of an area to actually hit the ball. It's entertaining!
Golf the Mini Way is an opportunity to discuss the gospel and our baptism covenants. We don't normally just take the time to do that. Have some fun remembering what covenants we have made and why we are baptized and those key principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Those are four quick ways that you could have some extra fun this month with your family while sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in your home. Discover even more fun in my Market!
