The book of Philippians is one of the New Testament's most beloved letters. But how do you teach it to your kids?

At only four chapters long, Philippians might seem too short to need a guide-and too familiar to need explaining. Most churchgoers can quote a few lines from memory. "Rejoice in the Lord always." "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." "To live is Christ and to die is gain." But when these famous verses float around as isolated quotes on coffee mugs and bumper stickers, something vital gets lost: the story behind them.

Because Philippians isn't a collection of inspirational sayings. It's a letter written from a Roman prison by a man in chains to a church under pressure-and it overflows with the kind of joy that only makes sense when you understand where it comes from. It's the letter that contains the New Testament's most stunning portrait of who Jesus is and what he gave up. It's a call to unity so urgent that Paul names two quarreling individuals by name. And it's the testimony of a man who traded the most impressive r