The Great Commission Sunday School material for children uses the NIV, and I do think that version is easier for children to understand. However, we use the ESV in the worship service, and I wonder if the greater accuracy of the ESV would be preferable for a child even though the comprehension might be less. Are there any other versions that would be acceptable and easier to understand for a child?

Thanks!

__________________
Janis
Christ Church ARP, NC
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Eph. 1:3-6 ESV

Here is a previous thread on the subject for your reference:

Bible for Children

__________________
Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"Let your Morning Thoughts, and your last Evening Thoughts, be what shall become of you to all Eternity." -- Matthew Poole

Personally, i don't think having different versions for different groups within the church (in this case the youth) is a biblical mindset.

If there's one thing that the whole church should have as common footing, it's the Bible they read.

How many Bibles did the early church use in their teaching?

I think that as churches neglect the teaching of the Word to the young we tend to try to make up for it by giving them a Bible that they can teach themselves.

__________________
Larry Bray
Training for Elder - Reformed Presbyterian Church of Boothwyn, PCA
Boothwyn, PA - http://www.rpcb.org/

Free Online Reformed Seminary - http://www.tnars.net

-----------------------------------------------------
"The best Christian is still a poor Christian" - R.B. Kuiper

The King Jimmy! It's amazing how well kids can grasp the language. (although since your church uses ESV, I could recommend that one. Conformity in translation is a good thing, But don't tell anybody I said that )

__________________
Timothy Johnson
First United Presbyterian of Moline
PCUSA (Yea, I know)
Theology/Philosophy Sunday School Teacher
Davenport, IA

Thank you! Believe it or not, I did search on this topic before posting but did not find that thread.

__________________
Janis
Christ Church ARP, NC
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Eph. 1:3-6 ESV

I tend to agree about conformity of translation, but our 12 year old has been reading Genesis on her own in the NIV and asks me what a word means every few minutes. I'm just thinking she may not understand the ESV well at all. She does have some language-based learning issues that result in less than optimal reading comprehension.

Even though she is older, I did order the Children's Story Bible by Vos, because it looks more thorough than the Bible story books we have used in the past. I am thinking that it might be a good overview to go through those and then read some selected scripture to go along with each story. That way she could understand the story before reading the scripture. Then the ESV might work better.

__________________
Janis
Christ Church ARP, NC
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Eph. 1:3-6 ESV