Student-parent Bible story challenge launched

An exciting reading program that motivates young people to read Bible stories has been launched at Macquarie College. The “409 Bible Adventure Challenge” encourages students to partner with Mum and Dad to read through the entire 409 Bible stories contained in Arthur Maxwell’s famous The Bible Story series.
Students work toward getting stamps in their 409 Adventure Passports and the occasional prize as they read through the stories at home.

Brad Rea, chaplain at Macquarie College notes that the program “ticks a lot of boxes” that the church’s education system strives to achieve in that:
it assists children in learning to read; it encourages parents to spend time with their children; it helps form the habit of family devotional time; and it teaches Bible stories to both children and parents.

“It is great to see the enthusiasm of the students as many of them read through the Bible Stories for the first time,” states Lyn Denne, head of Junior School at Macquarie College and an excited supporter of the reading challenge.

Pastor Daron Pratt, Children’s and Family Ministries Director for the North New South Wales Conference, also comments, “Children and parents reading Bible Stories together is a powerful spiritual growth motivator in the lives of our children. It is exciting to see Macquarie College embracing this concept.”

There has been an almost 100 per cent take-up of the books, and there is currently a waiting list for the books as the school has more children than Bible Story copies. The children taking part in the program are excited about having their “passports” stamped, and will get a trophy at the completion of the program.

Mr Rea notes that the Adventist “population” at the school is around 15 per cent of the school’s enrolment. “This means around 85 per cent of students reading this series aren’t Adventists and are getting stuck into reading the Bible,” he said. “There’s nothing like this series available from other Christian bookshops. Most other books have some Bible stories, but only a handful and always the same ones—Noah’s ark, creation, Jesus in the manger.”
Brad says the books have a good coverage of the whole Bible and are realistic for younger children. “We’re trying to teach them there’s a big difference between a made-up story and the truths taught in the Bible,” he adds.

Mr Rea said the Maxwell Bible series is still “the most comprehensive illustrated children’s Bible story series available for primary school aged students. It is great to see families from all backgrounds discover these popular books, and engage in the life-changing stories from the Bible.”
There is also the possibility that the school will start a version of this program for younger students using My Bible Friends, and are searching for another book series to use for older classes.

Anyone wishing to kindly donate used books (or money to the program to purchase new ones) is welcome to contact Pastor Pratt at the Conference Office, or Brad at Macquarie College on (02) 4954 6222.