No matter where our children are headed in life, the one skill we hope they obtain is the ability to defend their faith. Until I was saved in my 20s, this was a foreign concept to me. I had heard the phrase but didn’t really understand what it meant or why it was important. It is more than guiding your children in having a strong faith for themselves. It is communication skills plus so much more – and that is daunting. Thankfully, Case Makers Academy has just the resources we need to make this much easier. The book, Forensic Faith for Kids by J. Warner Wallace and Susie Wallace and published by David C Cook is where it all starts.
Perhaps you have seen this series of books, both for children and adults? It is written by a cold-case homicide detective with his wife joining him for the children’s editions. The first title, Cold-Case Christianity for Kids (and the adult version) looks at the Gospels. The next in the series, God’s Crime Scene for Kids (and its adult version), looks at the evidence for God being the Creator of the universe. That brings us to the third in this series from a former atheist, Forensic Faith for Kids. Throughout the book, we, the reader are learning not only how to better understand the evidence but also how to communicate it.
What better way to learn strategies and techniques for following the Great Commission than through stories and examples from real detective cases. We, as a society, have a fascination with crime dramas, real-life investigations and detective work. This is the draw for many children (and adults) to these techniques and stories. Then, seeing how that crosses over to sharing Jesus, and that seemingly daunting task looks much more possible. One of the first things we learned is where the word forensic comes from (Latin forensis) and what it means. Forensis means to publicly make the case for bringing us to the modern meaning of forensic as being thing scientific methods and techniques for investigating a crime for the purpose of sharing in court. Now Forensic Faith makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?
Not only do we have the book and its stories, but the online Case Makers Academy. This website covers all the books in the series in an easy-to-navigate way. I’ve printed the necessary pages ahead of time, but my children could easily have tackled this on their own. After reading the chapter, we headed first to the accompanying video. The video is fairly short and easy to follow. Just like the book, the children are the audience. Following the video, my children worked through the various sheets. The activity sheet has simple activities, frequently involving vocabulary words from the chapter, which my children love. The notebook sheet is where comprehension, real-life application, and related Scripture is covered.
The resources aren’t only for your children. The adult leader guide offers great assistance whether you are a parent leading your children or doing this a Sunday School class or co-op setting. Not only does it let you know the main points covered in the chapter and questions to start good discussions. The adult guide also references the adult version of the book. You could work through the adult version on your own, or with your older/teen children at the same time your younger children are going through the “…for Kids” version.
The flexibility and possibility are one of the things I love about this series. In addition, we are a family that enjoys a good detective story. The fact that this detective story is told by a real detective looking at how to share our faith in Jesus with others, well, that makes this all the more awesome. We are really enjoying working through this as a family during our morning time. The Forensic Faith for Kids is written for 8-12 year olds, perfect for our younger three.
