Teach the Bible to Teenagers with Confidence, Clarity, and Enthusiasm (Here’s How)

Do you want teens to understand the Bible? 

Do you want the teens you are teaching to find Scripture not only relevant but integral to their lives? 

Every time they walk out the door, you will feel like you gave them something new and valuable to apply to their lives. 

You will feel at peace as you go about your preparation, because you know the clearest and simplest way to present the Bible without watering it down. 

In this post, we’re going to show you exactly where to start. If you overlook this or try to skip this step, you’ll find yourself frustrated. 

You Feel Stuck in a Rut. 

We get it. 

You’ve tried a lot of different methods to engage teenagers in studying the Bible. 

You may have walked into this role enthusiastically, ready to be the “cool” Bible teacher. You make cookies. You have the most well-thought out study. 

And you still find yourself competing with iPhones and side conversations. 

You may be starting to lose faith in your students’ ability to focus. You feel like you are corralling them more than you are teaching them—like you’re begging for their attention. 

You may feel like you’ve tried everything, and there’s nothing left to do but settle into mediocrity in your exhaustion. 

The Bible Can Be Confusing as Heck. 

As adults, we still find Bible passages that are confusing. We find a chapter from 1 Chronicles and wonder, What is this all about? Do we really believe this?

We have our own questions and moments of confusion. 

It’s OK. We’re all still on the journey. 

And you don’t need to be a Bible scholar to give teenagers a deep and lasting love for Scripture. 

You Can’t Build Without a Foundation

It’s easy to get lost in the details and the small passages when studying the Bible. 

But here’s the thing. 

You can’t build anything successfully (much less a love for Scripture in adolescents) without a foundation. 

In Scripture, Jesus says that we need to build our faith on a firm foundation. 

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”

Matthew 7:24-27

The mistake that many people make is to start with the scaffolding. The small details. It doesn’t build something that lasts. 

Here’s what needs to be your foundation – the three things you need to know to help teens understand the entire Bible. 

1. A Deep Enthusiasm for the Word of God

We can’t pour out of an empty cup. 

If you, as the leader, aren’t grounded in Scripture yourself, you will have a much harder time teaching it to teenagers.

Enthusiasm is contagious. Let the Lord fill you with his Word and get personally excited about the content you’re teaching. This enthusiasm will naturally bubble over to your students. 

How? By regular prayer and a personal Bible study or small group!

(If you skip this step, nothing else is going to matter, because your teens are going to sense inauthenticity from a mile away.)

2. Thinking About the Bible as a Library, Not a Book

When we think about the Bible, we often think of it as a chronological book with a beginning, middle, and end. 

In reality, the Bible is a library. It contains various books by different authors. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible spans over a thousand years of time. 

There are fourteen narrative books in the Bible that tell the story of salvation chronologically. The other books fit into this narrative in different places with supporting information from different perspectives. 

If you show teens that the Bible is a library and not a book, they will be less overwhelmed by it and will have a new understanding when they open the Scriptures. 

When they open any book of the Bible, they will understand its context and the time period it fits into. 

… And have more insight to apply in their own lives. 

If you don’t do this, the different types of literature will throw them off and confuse them. 

3. A Steady Focus on the Big Picture

It is tempting to try to read the whole Bible from cover to cover, front to back. 

We get a serotonin rush just thinking about completing that. 

… But this is actually not the most effective way to read and retain Scripture. If you try to read the Bible cover to cover, your students will get bogged down, overwhelmed, and discouraged. 

Because there is so much to take in. 

When teaching the Bible to teens, focus only on the big picture—the arc of the story. This way, they can read and understand the entire Bible without getting lost or bored. 

This big-picture understanding is the foundation all their future Bible studies can build on. They will learn the ways God has moved through humanity throughout history and why it matters in their daily lives. 

These Foundational Steps Sound Great, Right?

We have a program that guides you and your students right through these steps and shows you exactly how to focus on the big picture of Scripture. 

Venture: The Bible Timeline for High School guides teenagers through the narrative books of the Bible and gives them all the tools they need to finally understand Scripture. 

Venture is part of the same Great Adventure Bible Timeline® Learning System that has helped hundreds of thousands of Catholics understand and demystify the Bible. 

The enthusiasm from our presenters is contagious—for both you and your students. 

Sign up for a free preview of Venture now and see for yourself. 

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