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SALT LAKE CITY -- You've heard that it's never too late to learn something new. One Salt Lake area church believes babies are not too young to learn Bible stories.
The idea behind Bible study for babies at New Pilgrim Baptist Church is that hearing stories, touching objects, and seeing pictures will help children build a strong religious foundation.
"We speak to babies. We talk to babies and teach them languages and different things because we feel there is some absorption going on in their minds," says Curriculum Director Aching Reggy.
Reggy also says New Pilgrim uses the Lifeway program, developed by child psychologists and tailored for the infant learner.
"They advise on different things like keeping images on a child's eye level and on the ground," explains Reggy. "Everything is very hands-on for kids of that age."
This technique was helpful this summer when New Pilgrim educators taught infants the Bible story of Noah's Ark.
"The teacher had a little child's pool with water in it," explains Reggy. "She had the kids splash around in the water."
Reggy admits that some babies don't understand some of the activities all the time but what they manage to learn will have a lasting impact, especially if they stray from the fold for a while.
"Now we live in such a pluralistic society, they have a lot of choices out there," says Reggy. "We're praying that when they get to that age, that will be at least one of the options that will be available to them."
Reggy says more often than not, she sees kids in her congregation who have grown up learning the tenets of their Christian faith and those kids have grown into adults who live by those beliefs.
The youngest child in this year's class was 9 months old.
E-mail: niyamba@ksl.com
