Embracing Theology

Teaching Kids Theology Part 1

TLDR: Theology might seem like an intimidating field of study reserved for professional theologians wearing corduroy sport coats with elbow patches, but it’s not. Theology is simply what one believes about God; therefore, everyone is a theologian.

What do you think of when you hear the words theology and theologian? Probably something like this post’s cover image, right?¹ You might picture some academic in a dusty office or library full of books, who is fluent in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin—at least. You might think of some terms that you’ve heard before but have no idea what they mean: hypostatic union, Gnosticism, anthropomorphism, creatio ex nihilo, epistemology, kenosis, and theophany.² You also might think of famous theologians throughout church history: Augustine, Calvin, Arminius, Aquinas, Luther, Barth, Knox, and Athanasius.

While it’s true that some theological terms are doozies, and that God has blessed the church with scholars who know so much about so many theological concepts we’ve never even heard of, theology and theologian are much more than that. Theology isn’t an esoteric field reserved for a few; theology is an approachable area of study intended for everyone.

Theology isn’t an esoteric field reserved for a few; theology is an approachable area of study intended for everyone.

Defining Theology

The word theology means “the study of God.” Put another way, theology is what a person believes about God. Now, that belief about God can be deep or shallow, it can be wide or narrow, and it can be correct or incorrect. That belief about God can be based on decades of learning, it can be based on minutes of learning, or it can be based on no learning at all—more of an opinion. But because theology is simply what one believes about God, that means that everyone—not just our corduroy-sport-coat-clad friends at seminaries—is a theologian. That means you’re a theologian. And if you have kids, that means they’re theologians too.³ That even means the hostile atheist is a theologian. He or she has a belief about God (as wrong as it is): that God does not exist.

But because theology is simply what one believes about God, that means that everyone—not just our corduroy-sport-coat-clad friends at seminaries—is a theologian. That means you’re a theologian. And if you have kids, that means they’re theologians too.

The Core Question for Every Theologian

If everyone is a theologian, then the question isn’t really Who is a theologian? as much as it’s What makes a good theologian? Even a professional, trained theologian might not be a good theologian. He or she may have spent decades studying, writing, and teaching but have the wrong understanding of God and his ways.

Go back and look at the list of theologians I shared. Did you know that they didn’t all agree with each other? Sometimes they disagreed on some pretty important issues.⁴ And that generally means that one was right and one was wrong, or perhaps they were both wrong. Of course, no one holds to an error on purpose. Where those theologians disagreed, they believed they were in the right. They believed they had the proper understanding of God and his ways. But we are all humans with limited understanding trying to understand a limitless God. Sometimes we get it right; sometimes we get it wrong. And that includes the “professionals.”

Just like professional theologians can’t be right all the time and there are times when even they throw up their hands and say, “I don’t have a clue about this!” we won’t be perfect in our understanding of God either—we won’t have perfect theology. But don’t let that disappoint or frustrate you. We can get a lot about God right—especially the core issues of the gospel—because of God’s wonderful gift to us in the Bible. And God is kind to give us the Holy Spirit to help us study and understand that Bible and grow in our knowledge of God and his ways—to grown in our theology.

We can get a lot about God right—especially the core issues of the gospel—because of God’s wonderful gift to us in the Bible.

Because you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you’re a follower of Christ—you’ve placed your trust in Jesus as your Savior. That means you are an exceptional theologian in several key areas: That God is real; that Jesus is real; that Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless thirty-plus years, was crucified, and was buried; that on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead; that you are a sinner who was in need of a Savior; and that the only way to be saved is to place faith in Jesus.

That’s a good list! And I’m sure you know far more than that too. You probably have a great theology of who God is (he is love, holy, merciful, all-powerful, etc.) and the Bible (it is God’s word, it is inspired, it is inerrant, etc.). So be encouraged! You are already an amazing theologian!

In the rest of this series, we’re going to explore more about theology with the goal of helping teach theology to kids. Whether you are a kidmin leader, a parent, or both, God has called you to not only be a theologian, but he has also called you to be a theological instructor. Don’t let that intimidate you though! It’s truly not as hard as it might sound. And you won’t even have to buy a corduroy sport coat with elbow patches—unless you want to.

If you are looking for a resource to help you grow as a theologian and to help you teach your children theology, Faith Foundations is for you. These ninety-nine devotions use an ancient tool called a catechism to teach the core doctrines of the faith. Each devotion features a Bible reading, a devotion, several engaging questions, a Jesus connection, and a suggested family activity. Faith Foundations releases October 21, 2025 but you can preorder a copy today.

1. Don’t miss how apparently AI thinks a theologian like this can somehow balance a book on his knee. ↩︎
2. Hypostatic union is the joining of the humanity and deity of Jesus without mixture or compromise of either; Gnosticism was an early false belief that Jesus left a “secret knowledge” that only his true followers would know; anthropomorphism is the use of human descriptions to speak of God (e.g., God’s “hand” at work); creatio ex nihilo is God’s creating everything from nothing; epistemology is the study of knowledge, including how we can know anything and how we can be sure of what we know; kenosis is the self-emptying of the Son of God when he came to earth as described in Philippians 2; and theophany is an appearance of God in human form in the Old Testament, often thought to be the “angel of the Lord.” ↩︎
3. To be clear, I wouldn’t include babies here, or even most toddlers. To be a theologian, you must have reached the point where you can develop mentally-informed thoughts about God. But once a child reaches the point of even a simple understanding that there is a God, he or she has become a theologian. ↩︎
4. Sometimes it wasn’t the theologians themselves who disagreed strongly, but rather their followers. I placed John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius side-by-side because their followers disagreed especially strongly with each other. In fact, the debate about Calvinism and Arminianism—beliefs that were developed in full after each man died—continues to rage to this day. ↩︎