Little Seeds of Faith is a podcast where I read Bible stories with young children to encourage reading the Bible together. We talk about Bible stories and about the person who had faith in this story and how the faith affected that person. Then we talk about how faith affects that child, and if there's some other story or something that happened to them where they felt they had to rely on God's help. The podcast is really fun to do with the kids.

I knew that WCF was looking into producing more for children and young people, and thought “well, what do parents and children need at this time?” Most parents are very “Zoomed out.” They're kind of done with video, yet they're home with their kids and need a break.  They need something that they can trust their kids to do on their own. 

I love podcasts myself. I listen to them almost daily, so I thought “what about a podcast for kids where kids listen to other children read the Bible and hear other children's stories?” This way we're not sitting in front of a screen.  There's something really beautiful about listening to audio and hearing other voices.  There's something quite magical about it. Podcasts have almost replaced radio because we can pick and choose exactly what we want to listen to.

It's important for us to get back into audio learning. It's beneficial for all ages to be listening and bringing things in through our ears instead of just our eyes. There's an art to telling a story, and we're commanded to teach our children and tell them these stories.  This podcast is just 20 minutes a week but hopefully helps us remember those stories and helps us to learn. When we share a story and we're talking about it, we share an experience together. It's a beautiful thing to share something in common with a child and connect over it. Sometimes we forget that children can share a great example of faith. We talk to adults all the time about our faith and things going on in our lives, but children have such a different outlook in life.  It is so beautiful to talk with them and to hear their side and their perspective of a story or an experience.

I was not an early reader. Reading gave me great anxiety through my teenage years and early twenties, especially reading around circles. I would get very nervous about it so instead of paying attention to what was being read, I was worrying about reading aloud when it was my turn.  As I get older and more competent in my reading, I'm not so nervous and anxious about it, but as a Sunday School teacher and a homeschool mother I've learned not to force reading.  Everybody reads at their own capacity. We sometimes don't realize the Bible is at a Grade 12 reading level. Asking a six year old to read the Bible is a huge leap. Even as adults, we struggle with some of the words and the language in it. It takes time to get into reading the Bible confidently.  It's important for us to take our time with it and not just assume that since children can read, they'll be able to read the Bible. 

I find that if they can’t read or are struggling, reading aloud to them can help instill the love of reading. In Sunday School, I always have the younger children act out the words. If I am telling the story, every time I say the word “baby,” cradle your hands and rock like a baby. If I say “king,” put a crown on your head. Get them involved with a story.  It's not just about reading; it's about the story that we're passing on.

For anyone reading this, whether you're a parent or an auntie or an uncle or grandparent.  Whoever you are, if you know some children in your lives who are aged 7 to 12 years, who are confident enough to read a Bible story, we would love to connect with you. Please email littleseeds@wcfoundation.org.

To listen to the full interview with Joanie and Helen please check out A Little Faith podcasts.