Elizabeth II spoke publicly about her Christian faith, and once reflected on how candlelight spreading through a church reminded her of the gospel. One by one people passed the flame from pew to pew. ‘It’s a way of showing how the good news of Christ’s resurrection has been passed on from the first Easter by every generation until now.’
As we pray for the new monarch and the country he represents, it is a good opportunity to give a book to a child that will tie in with the royal theme.
Many children’s books focus on Biblical kings: R.C. Sproul’s The Donkey who Carried a King is available on Kindle for about £6 (ISBN 978 1 567 692 693). Great Kings of the Bible by Deepak Reju illustrates how Jesus is a better king than Saul, David or Solomon (ISBN 978 1 781 912 911). For younger children, the paperback book Jesus Christ: The Best King of All (ISBN 978 1 845 505 684) ties the story of Jesus to things we associate with royalty – but shows how Jesus is best.
God’s Family: The Greatest Royal Family Ever takes the theme of royalty to a spiritual level (ISBN 978 1 781 913 567). Danika Cooley of the Thinking Kids blog describes it as ‘a joyful telling of the gospel for preschool kids’, while Tim Challies says: ‘Treat your children like royalty by reading them this little book.’
Recently I’ve come across Nancy Guthrie’s new title: The True King. (ISBN 978 1 914 966 194). ‘This gorgeously illustrated book will introduce children to the big story of the Bible – the story of the True King who rules over His people in perfect goodness.’ So says Anna Symonds @fillyourhousewithbooks.
Alison Mitchell’s The Real King from the XTB series would be my choice for a kids’ and family Bible devotional, as it looks at the story of King David, but also at how Christ is the real king in the gospel of Mark (ISBN 978 1 904 889 090).
If your four- to seven-year-olds don’t have the book Queen Elizabeth: The Queen who Chose to Serve (ISBN 978 1 784 987 527) you should get that in light of the recent coronation. Roger Carswell has also written an evangelistic book for the coronation, God Save the King (ISBN 978 1 915 705 648) – though not aimed at children it is a short book that would be good to share the gospel with older friends and family. The Bible Society production – The Servant Queen and the King She Serves is still available secondhand on Amazon and seems to me to be much better value than the new publications on that website (ISBN 978 0 957 559 820). Catherine MacKenzie is the Children’s Editor for Christian Focus Publications
