The Gospel Story Bible

What The Gospel Story Bible is

The Gospel Story Bible is an illustrated family storybook Bible written by Marty Machowski and illustrated by A.E. Macha, published by New Growth Press in 2011. It is a single hardcover volume of 156 retold stories drawn from both the Old and New Testaments, each running a few pages of narrative prose with folk-art illustrations and a short set of discussion questions printed on the page. It is designed for family worship and devotions with children across a range of ages, and it follows the Protestant 66-book canon, so it does not include deuterocanonical material.

The book's organizing idea is in its subtitle, "Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments." Rather than presenting the stories as standalone moral lessons, Machowski frames each one to point toward Jesus and the larger gospel arc, closing every story by drawing that connection. This is a gospel-centered, redemptive-historical approach — a way of reading common in Reformed-leaning evangelical teaching, and consistent with the New Growth Press and Sovereign Grace heritage the book comes from. It is a narrative retelling with built-in discussion, not a reference Bible or a word-for-word translation.

Why families build their devotions around this one

Most storybook Bibles hand you stories and leave the rest to you. The Gospel Story Bible hands you a routine. Each of the 156 entries ends by connecting the story to Jesus and then gives you discussion questions right there on the page, so a parent who has never led a family devotion can open the book, read a few minutes, and have something to talk about without buying a separate guide or doing any prep. That single design choice — a read-aloud and a discussion starter in one — is what moves the book from the shelf to the dinner table.

The other half of the differentiator is the ecosystem. The same 156 stories key to Machowski's family devotionals, "Long Story Short" for the Old Testament and "Old Story New" for the New, and to a Sunday-school curriculum, so a church can teach a story on Sunday and a family can revisit it at home that week on the same track. The framing sits within Reformed-leaning evangelical tradition, which is worth knowing going in — it is the lens that shaped the book. For families in that tradition who want structure and coordination between home and church, it is close to purpose-built.

Built-in discussion questions: a family devotion without the prep

The signature feature is on every page rather than in a separate workbook. After each of the 156 retellings, Machowski connects the story to Jesus and then prints a short set of discussion questions — typically a mix that a younger child can answer and a few that push an older one to think harder. The result is that the book does double duty: it is the read-aloud and the lesson plan at once. A parent does not need a degree, a leader's guide, or fifteen minutes of preparation. They open the book, read the story, draw the gospel connection the author has already framed, and ask the questions on the page.

That lowers the bar to actually doing family worship, which is the whole point. The most common reason home devotions stall is not lack of desire but lack of a simple, repeatable format, and this book supplies one out of the box. Because the questions are layered for different ages, a single reading can reach a preschooler and a grade-schooler in the same sitting — the younger child catches the story, the older one wrestles with the application. It is gospel-centered and redemptive-historical in its framing, the kind common in Reformed-leaning evangelical teaching, and it is engineered to be used night after night rather than read once.

156 stories with a gospel through-line across both Testaments

Where many storybook Bibles pick a few dozen highlights, The Gospel Story Bible runs to 156 stories spanning the Old and New Testaments — broad enough that a family works through a real sweep of Scripture rather than the same handful of favorites. And Machowski does not let the stories sit as isolated episodes. Each retelling is written to point toward Jesus, so the bronze serpent foreshadows the cross, the Passover lamb rhymes with the Lamb of God, and the manger and the empty tomb land as the moments the earlier stories were straining toward. Every story closes by naming that connection explicitly.

For a child, the payoff is a map of the whole Bible rather than a drawer of disconnected lessons — a sense that Scripture is one Story going somewhere, with Jesus at the center. For a family, the breadth is what buys the book years of use: 156 short readings is a long runway, enough to anchor devotions for a long stretch before you reach the end. This is a redemptive-historical reading, the kind common in Reformed-leaning evangelical teaching, and it is the engine that makes the book more than a collection of stories. It works from the Protestant 66-book canon, which tells you which tradition it serves.

The ecosystem: Long Story Short, Old Story New, and the curriculum

The Gospel Story Bible is the hub of a coordinated family of resources, and that is unusual for the genre. The same 156 stories key to two companion family devotionals — "Long Story Short" covers the Old Testament and "Old Story New" covers the New — which go deeper for older children and parents with daily readings and fuller discussion. The same 156 stories also key to a Sunday-school and homeschool curriculum, so a church class and a home can run on a single track: a story taught on Sunday can be revisited at home that week using the storybook Bible for the youngest and the devotional for the oldest.

That coordination is part of why families build a routine around the book rather than treating it as a one-off purchase. A household can start with the storybook Bible at bedtime, layer in "Long Story Short" or "Old Story New" as the children grow, and align all of it with whatever a church is teaching on Sundays — every piece working from the same stories and the same gospel-centered frame. The companion devotionals and curriculum are sold separately, and as of writing exact contents and prices vary by edition and retailer, so it is worth checking what each piece includes before buying the set.

Pricing

Where The Gospel Story Bible falls behind

Not the whole Bible. At 156 stories the book is broad for the genre, but it is still a selection rather than the full canon, and it leaves a great deal out by design. That is the right call for a family read-aloud, but it means the book is a companion to Scripture, not a substitute — a family wanting comprehensive coverage will eventually need a fuller Bible or the text itself.

Protestant 66-book canon. The Gospel Story Bible works from the Protestant canon and the gospel-centered framing that shaped it. There are no deuterocanonical stories, so Catholic and Orthodox families wanting Tobit, Judith, or the Maccabees — and Latter-day Saint families wanting Book of Mormon content — will find those absent and should plan to supplement or choose a book from their own tradition. This is buyer information, not a flaw: it tells you which tradition the book serves.

It is a retelling, not a translation. Machowski dramatizes the stories and frames each one toward Jesus and the gospel arc. The result works beautifully as story and as devotion, but a parent wanting word-for-word Scripture should know going in that this is an interpretive retelling rather than a verse-by-verse text.

A distinctive art style. A.E. Macha's folk-art, woodcut-style illustrations give the book a strong, hand-made identity, and that is a feature for many families and a mismatch for others. Households expecting the bright, soft cartoon look common to other children's Bibles should flip through a few pages first to be sure the style suits them.

Most of its value lives in the routine. The questions, the layered ages, the companion devotionals, the curriculum — the book is engineered to be used as a system, not read once. Bought as a one-off read-aloud with no family-worship rhythm around it, a good deal of what makes it special goes unused.

The Gospel Story Bible vs. The Jesus Storybook Bible vs. The Big Picture Story Bible

These three are the gospel-centered storybook-Bible shortlist, and they do genuinely different jobs. The Gospel Story Bible (Machowski, 2011) is the family-worship workhorse — 156 stories across both Testaments, each ending with a gospel connection and built-in discussion questions, and tied to a wider set of devotionals and curriculum. The Jesus Storybook Bible (Sally Lloyd-Jones, 2007) is the literary, one-big-Story option — 44 stories threaded to Jesus in storyteller's prose, the best-written of the group and loved by adults too. The Big Picture Story Bible (David Helm) is the simplest and youngest-skewing of the three — a smaller set of stories tracing God's kingdom across the Bible in very accessible language for the youngest listeners.

Different strengths. The Gospel Story Bible is the most complete and the most usable as a routine — the broadest coverage and the only one with discussion questions and a full ecosystem built in, the pick if you want to lead regular family devotions across a range of ages. The Jesus Storybook Bible is the best-written and most re-readable, the one to hand a four-to-eight-year-old if the craft of the prose matters most. The Big Picture Story Bible is the gentlest on-ramp for toddlers and preschoolers. If you want a structured family devotion, it is the Gospel Story Bible. For literary read-aloud, add the Jesus Storybook Bible. For the very young, start with The Big Picture Story Bible.

All three sit within Protestant tradition and the 66-book canon, with a gospel-centered, redemptive-historical framing. Families in other traditions — Catholic, Orthodox, or Latter-day Saint — should weigh that framing and may prefer a children's Bible published within their own tradition.

Alternatives to The Gospel Story Bible