TOP 6 RESOURCES FOR DOING FAMILY DEVOTIONS IN CHINESE 家庭靈修資源
Sunny
I knew I wanted to do devotions as a family before I had Sadie. But when faced with the responsibility of teaching my daughter about Jesus it felt like a daunting task. I didn’t know what to say never-mind trying to say it in Chinese. I’ve been working in full-time ministry for most of my twenties but my audience were predominantly teens and young adults.
Overtime, through trial and error and reading more about family devotions, I realized that God is far more dedicated to my child’s walk with Him than I am. Ultimately, my daughter is His child whom He has entrusted to me for this short season. He will lead and guide me and you as well! (YEAH!) I just need to start doing it and He will come alongside me and help me.
Having the right resources helped a ton! It gave me language to communicate the deep and wonderful truths of God in a way that my toddler can understand. Words used to express our faith in Chinese is pretty different from conversational Chinese. So having the right books to help familiarize you with this new set of vocabulary is very helpful.
I don’t fully understand why that is, but I have a inkling that it may have to do with the fact that the most widely used Chinese translation of the Bible is still pretty difficult to understand.
Some parents choose not to do devotions in Chinese simply because it’s too challenging to talk about something so intimate in an unfamiliar language. I think that’s a great idea! So please don’t feel pressured to do family devotions in Chinese if you’re not comfortable with it. Do what works for your family and what God’s leading you to do.
Here are five of our favorite resources! I hope this helps your family (All resources are in Traditional Chinese and ones with Zhuyin are indicated as such. If you can recommend some Simplified Chinese Christian devotionals for kids, please share it in the comments section!)
Children’s Books for Devotions (infant-toddlers)
Jesus Storybook Bible 故事聖經 by Sally-Lloyd Jones 莎麗
Why We Love It
The original English version is a top seller on Amazon and was the most recommended children’s Bible before we had our daughter. We now read this popular children’s Bible almost daily at breakfast. Most mornings Sadie will say to me “看耶穌” if I forget (:P), which is so precious to my heart.
This is a true to Scripture children’s Bible that does a great job of teaching children how each story “breathes His name.” All the events recorded points toward the faithfulness of God in sacrificing His Son for us and the hope of His return. It gives language to the depth of God at a level children can understand (albeit older children, around 4+) without losing the true value of who God is. This book also doesn’t focus on moral lessons but rather on who God is which is so important when we’re ministering to our children.
So often while reading this Bible to her, I get ministered to as well (which I need daily as a mama). I love author Sally-Lloyd Jones’ other books as well and hope they will be translated into Chinese soon!
The Low-Down
The downside of this children’s Bible is that there is no zhuying or recordings that are available. It’s mainly geared towards readers who are fairly proficient in Chinese. I have to use my Pleco app to look up words sometimes (I’m at a junior high reading level).
The English version does have a recording available so I hope they’ll do a recording in the future. Also some pages have a lot of words, I mean the whole entire page. It’s pretty wordy and lengthy at times for a toddler so I have to come up with my own phrases to help our daughter catch the truth about God that’s being taught. Other than that, we love this Bible.
Product Details
Age Level: newborn-elementary (reading to them, later on they read it themselves)
Jesus Calling for Little Ones 耶穌的叮嚀-給主最親愛的小孩 by: Sarah Young 莎拉揚
Why We Love It
This is very simple board book version of the popular adult devotional, Jesus Calling. There is another version also that’s more suitable for older kids.
I love this particular book because it talks about how God feels towards us, how to walk out our faith (prayer and thanksgiving) and covers the main important truths of God in simple language that’s easy for children to understand (He is the creator of all things, He knows us, is always with us etc). It also has cute pictures on every page.
It has zhuyin and a Bible verse on each page. The book is from God’s perspective speaking to us, His children which makes it more intimate and also helps kids begin to understand what it means to have a personal relationship with God.
The Low Down
The first page says that “God created all things, the sun, the ocean, flowers and fish and that they’re all His beloved children as are we.” Theologically speaking that’s not true, only humans are considered children of God. That’s my only qualm with the book.
This is a wonderful three part book series on the character of God. I love how the author connects aspects of life a toddler would already be familiar with (a mother’s embrace, a bird’s song) to help them understand God’s love and goodness.
These are board books so pretty indestructible (Sadie’s already ripped a couple of her favorite Chinese books much to my dismay) and has zhuyin.
Each book focuses on one truth: God is with me 上帝與我同在, God loves me 上帝好愛我 and God Provides Good Things for Me 上帝把好東西給我. Within each book, the main truth that is in focus is explained in different situations, helping children understand and also remember these important truths of God. Every book ends with a Bible verse.
This series is originally published in Korean. So for parents who are looking for good children’s devotionals in Korean this would be a great choice.
The Low Down
The only down side to this book is that the illustrations are very cartoony, (my daughter will ask what’s wrong with their faces) but other than this one tiny thing, we enjoy this book a lot.
Although this book is in English, if you do purchase the Chinese version of Jesus Storybook Bible, it’s basically Psalm 23 which is on pages 132-134. You can hand-copy it underneath the English text which is what I did. Ghetto, I know 😛
Why We Love It
I just love love love how the author Sally explains God’s Word so much. It is so full of the truth of God and rich with His goodness and kindness. So whatever book of her’s I can get my hands on and simply “translate” into Chinese, I will.
Another book of her’s came out this Fall titled Loved: The Lord’s Prayer, for anyone interested. It’s based on the Lord’s prayer but written in a child friendly format. It’s on page 226 of the Chinese Jesus Storybook Bible.
We love Stream of Praise albums in our house! They’re on a lot and I don’t mind it at all, which is the true litmus test since toddlers love anything on repeat (再一次，再一次！). I often hear Sadie singing….belting out rather, their beautiful melodies packed with life giving Biblical truths to herself.
They currently have nine children’s worship albums and seems like they will continue to produce more. Listening to songs in the language you want to teach your child is one of the most effective and easy ways to immerse them in the non-dominant language.
Their song “Rainbow” is currently Sadie’s top requested song for me to sing before bed. Not only does Sadie love hearing the kids in the album sing, I enjoy listening to them too. The albums include mini teachings in Chinese as well on the second half of the CD. The album also comes with a DVD with music videos of each song and of the mini lessons as well. Sadie loves to watch the kids sing and dance.
Unlike some children’s music, it’s soothing and nice to have in the background. The truths that they teach kids to sing（「彩虹彩虹彎彎彩虹告訴我，天父爸爸就是愛，你用笑臉幫助我」）are great reminders that help me lean into God’s grace throughout the day as well.
This is a wonderful series to get if you’re looking for Christian children’s books that come with audio recordings. Each of the books come with a CD. You can also opt to listen to the stories on this app instead.
Most of the stories are Bible stories but told with Chinese style background music and also context. For example, the people’s names will be changed to something you’d hear in a Chinese speaking country. Some of the stories are testimonies of believers.
I like to have this playing in the background sometimes when my daughter’s playing or when I’m doing house work to increase exposure to God’s Word and to Chinese.
I hope these resources will help you feel more prepared to lead your little one in devotions in Chinese. God loves to draw His little children near and reveal Himself. He loves the fact that we want to tell our children about His Son Jesus. I pray that you may feel strengthened by His delight and joy in helping you and your children know Him more.
Let me know if you have any questions or share resources below that has helped you do devotions with your kids. I’d love to hear from you.
More Goodies
For some more good reads, check out the following posts:
