Gospel-Centered Stories for Young Children
New book traces God’s perfect promises
for toddlers and
preschoolers
In today’s world where the word promise doesn’t hold the value that it
used to, we still encourage our children early on to learn what a promise is,
and more importantly, what it means to keep one. While all promises have value,
the promises God makes to his people are more valuable than anyone could ever
think of or imagine—and our God always keeps his promises.
In The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible (November 13, 2017/New Growth Press), Jared Kennedy traces the perfect promises
of God through fifty-two Old and New Testament stories, retelling them in
simple and compelling ways with toddlers and preschoolers in mind. Each
gospel-centered story highlights God’s tale of redemption through Jesus and the
unexpected and surprising ways that God’s grace and mercy are revealed
throughout the Bible.

Each of the fifty-two stories is
accompanied by brightly colored illustrations by Trish Mahoney that both
highlight the story and add fun teaching elements of counting, opposites,
patterns, and object recognition to keep even the youngest child’s attention. The
stories also end with a question that parents and caregivers can use to further
reinforce the message. Parents are encouraged to read the story one chapter at
a time to their children—or have their children read it to them!—and by
choosing to read one story per week, families can create a one-year Bible
curriculum.
Kennedy,
who leads the children’s ministry creative team as Pastor of Families at
Sojourn Community Church – Midtown in Louisville, Kentucky, designed The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible to
hold even a toddler’s attention, so they can come to know God’s promises are
especially for them, and God always keeps his promises.
“Jared Kennedy has created a spectacular resource
to help us teach the Bible to our youngest children,” says Marty Machowski, a pastor
and author of The Ology, The Gospel Story Bible, and other books
and curriculum for the church and family. “Though the language is simple enough
for toddlers, the gospel truth it carries can and will transform lives. The
illustrations compliment the story, creating a colorful journey for children as
they discover the promises of God and how they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. I
will be placing a copy of this book in all our children’s ministry classrooms
and recommending that every family in our church with small children add it to
their bookshelf.”
Jared
Kennedy, MDiv, ThM, is the husband to Megan
and the father of three girls—Rachael, Lucy, and Elisabeth. He serves as Pastor
of Families at Sojourn Community Church–Midtown in Louisville, KY and as
children’s ministry strategist for Sojourn Network. He blogs regularly at
gospelcenteredfamily.com.
New Growth Press publishes gospel-centered Christian books, small group, and kids Bible resources for discipleship, biblical counseling, and missional ministry. For more information about The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible and other releases from New
Growth Press, visit www.newgrowthpress.com.
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