The Ology: Why This is Our Favorite Devotional for Kids

When I get asked what kids’ devotional we use at home, I immediately rave about “The Ology.”

Ok, but before we begin, you should know: it’s not even really a devotional book by definition. But since we tackle one page a day during our morning time, let’s call it a devotional!

We’ve used many wonderful devotional books but this is still, by far, my favorite material to use with my 4 year old son. Here’s why!

Real Theology

The Ology is not a Bible story book and it’s not exactly a devotional. Instead, The Ology is a book that teaches kids basic theology of the Christian faith. It tackles that “what’s” and “why’s” of our faith; why we believe what we believe, as Christians. It is worth noting that it is true to scripture and gospel-centered, as well.

One of the things I particularly love about The Ology is how it tackles both the essential basics of the Christian faith but at the same time, also delves into deeper topics like justification, sanctification and even eschatology (end times.)

“Deep Truth, Simply Told”

Yes, it’s packed with Biblically sound doctrine. But what is uniquely wonderful about The Ology is it presents these thoughts in a very conversational manner, so it’s not intimidating to little kids. The analogies are practical and relevant as well.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is an ordinary kids’ book though; although it’s written for kids, it doesn’t talk down to them unlike most children’s books these days.

You can start reading The Ology to preschool-aged children (Started with Luke when he was 3.5) and it will still be relevant when the kids are older. Actually, Mor and I surprisingly learned quite a bit as well as we were reading it to Luke! In fact, I would recommend this book to people who are new in the faith and those who want to increase their understanding and knowledge about Christianity.

Organized Logically

The book is divided in to 11 main topics: The Ology of God, People, Sin, Promise and the Law, Christ, Holy Spirit, Adoption into God’s Family, Change, Church, End Times and God’s Word. Each main topic has several sub-topics that are throughly discussed and explained.

Beautifully Illustrated

One of the things I personally love about this book is the style of the illustrations.

Unlike most children’s books that feature bright, cartoonish drawings, the artworks in The Ology are done in a classic, traditional style. Nothing against vivid cartoon drawings (in fact, my own illustrations are like that, haha!) but this style works well with the book because it doesn’t take the attention away from the “real meat,” but instead, complements it.

There are many ways to go through it

There are many ways you can go through The Ology. The first time we did it, I just read the text and it has worked great.

However, you can easily add on to the readings by tackling the Bible verses written on the pictures. We haven’t done that yet. I plan to do that on our next round of reading.

For further discussions, you can refer to the questions at the back of the book. I think these would be great when the kids are a little older.

Overall

I admit I hesitated purchasing this at first because of the cost. But I’m so glad I took the dive and bought it. If you were thinking of getting only one Christian children’s book to invest in, this is the one.

And if you still have doubts, just do a quick Google search and see the hundreds of people singing praises about this book. I didn’t believe the hype then but well, look at me now!

I told you I can’t stop raving about it! Hehe.

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NOTE: I got my copy at Amazon.com. However, it is available locally at Katecheo PH, an online bookstore selling carefully curated Christian materials.