Tell the kids first

Photo by Amanda Woods

It’s God’s World was the title of the first edition of a newsmagazine for children we began publishing more than four decades ago. The name was more than just clever marketing. Wrapped up within that title was Joel Belz’s entire view of life and journalism.

The magazine’s took off, eventually growing to six editions for different age groups. Current events were the “hook,” but a Biblical view of the world and everything in it was the objective.

Within a few years, as the story goes, the parents of those student subscribers began asking for a similar publication for adults, and WORLD Magazine was born. There’s much more to it, of course, but Joel always insisted that it be remembered we started with students, then began serving adults. As he used to say: “Tell your story to a 12-year-old and you’ll be surprised how many adults are listening.”

We still publish student magazines, and over the years we’ve expanded our student offerings to include daily news online and daily video news, WORLD Watch. It’s hard to keep track of all that, I know, so here’s the rundown:

• God’s Big WORLD is a bimonthly print magazine for pre- and early readers, age 3 through the first grade. There’s also a website with daily updates, age-appropriate activities, read-along videos, and related book recommendations: Godsbigworld.gwnews.com.

• WORLDkids is our magazine for students in the middle elementary years, roughly ages 7 to 10. The WORLDkids website is just plain fun, with daily news and features, “Explore It!” interactive features and original videos, along with a section of recommended books for this age group: kids.gwnews.com.

• WORLDteen is for late elementary and middle school students, ages 11 to 14. The website is the newsiest of all the student websites, but it also contains book reviews, editorial cartoons, video reports for selected news stories, and features of interest to early teens: teen.gwnews.com.

• Then there’s WORLD Watch, something altogether ­different. WORLD Watch is a daily, 10-minute video news program for young teens but accessible to all ages—we’ve heard from viewers in their 90s and those so young they haven’t started reading yet. WORLD Watch is a daily treat the whole family can watch, and the production quality is on par with anything you’ll see on network television: worldwatch.news.

Along with those subscription-based products, we provide resources to parents and teachers that help them bring Biblical wisdom to bear on the news stories they discuss with their children and students. Some of those resources are included with the products themselves, and some are included on our News Coach website: newscoach.gwnews.com.

I don’t have space here to tell you everything about our work for students—that’s why I included website addresses with my brief description of each of our products. But I do want to encourage you, strongly, to consider providing subscriptions to one or more of those products to the students in your life—children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, young families in your church—whoever comes to mind. Even yourself. (I learn something new every time I read or watch.)

The way our work for students has taken off the past few years reminds a lot of old-timers here of the early years of It’s God’s World. Tens of thousands of young families, most of them new to the WORLD orbit, are viewing WORLD Watch and reading the student magazines. Some parents are already asking us to produce something like WORLD Watch for them.

We’ve been introducing those young parents to this magazine, our digital content, and our podcasts, but it wouldn’t surprise me if eventually our content for grown-ups is produced for video, too. Whatever way we end up providing content to these young families, it’s notable that we are following the same trail Joel blazed: Speak to the children first, then to the adults. Joel’s vision is in our DNA, and that shows itself in the way we view God’s world.