Even though for centuries this was standard practise for Christians and their families, the practice of catechising has fallen into such disrepair that many haven’t even heard of it, let alone appreciate its importance. Hopefully as you’re working through Catechism questions in your own time with the Lord, and in families… and as we use them periodically in services, you are beginning to appreciate the practise. But here are some good reasons for rehabilitating this ancient spiritual discipline and practise:
Every Biblical truth has at least one error, perhaps even a heresy, that stands in opposition to it, and competing with it for our acceptance. And given our sinful bent, our tendency might be to accept that rather than truth. There are obvious examples, such as the Deity of Christ. Since the days of Arius, and more recently in a number of cults and unfortunately in the minds of some Christians give Jesus a less full participation in Deity. As our culture loses sight of the Bible’s teaching means that those errors and heresies are far more prevalent, and both we and our children need to be able to recognise them for what they are. Catechising means we systematically work thorugh the doctrines of our faith in a way that helps us do that far more effectively than we would otherwise be able to.
Remember: every time you find a biblical truth and you will find a lie - or likely several - crouching nearby.
True Christian education is intentional and one excellent way to intentionally teach children the tenets of the Christian faith is by catechism. A catechism is a memorised question followed by a memorised response. It comes from the Greek word katēkhesis which means ‘to instruct orally’ (cf. Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; 1 Corinthians 14:19).
The reason catechism is so effective in our family worship is that it makes good use of that period in their development when children are designed to be able to memorise, even if they can’t fully understand what they are memorising. When we train our children to memorise critical doctrines, we do not expect them to fully grasp what they are learning. Rather, we are helping them commit to memory truth that they will come to understand and apply as they mature.
‘Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)
This verse is not a promise but rather a truism. Generally, when people are trained as doctors, they go on to become doctors. When they are trained as teachers, they go on to become teachers. In the same way, when a child is trained as a Christian, he generally goes on to believe the doctrines he was taught. Even those who become prodigals very often come to the faith later on due to the training in the truth that they experienced when they were young. There is a problem in that our sense of what it means to train children is hopelessly inadequate! So often we think that reading a Bible story, saying prayers and playing worship music fulfils the criteria. Hopefully we are beginning to appreciate how far short that falls of what the Bible calls parents to do!
Those who are not trained, or not trained adequately, in the truth generally do not go on to believe the truth when they are old. The books of Judges cited the example of the people of Israel, who were not taught by their fathers the works of the Lord nor of his mighty deeds: ‘And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work he had done for Israel.’ (Judges 2:10). Within a generation, the legacy of faith is lost.
God will never leave himself without a witness and the true church will never fade nor perish. Nevertheless, God has a means by which he accomplishes the propagation and preservation of the church from one generation to the next. David writes, ‘One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts’ (Psalm 145:4). Those of us who are true believers in Christ have a responsibility to teach the next generation the truths and tenets of the Christian faith. This is true of us as a Church and particularly the responsibilty of those called to be parents, and grandparents (Ps.78:5-6)
We are naive if we think that all error is outside the Church. We need to equip our children to recognise when they are being taught something that isn’t true. But more positively and constructively, when Churches have people in them whose convictions are so consciously shaped by the Scriptures, those Churches will be strong and healthy. It is knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (Titus 1:1), and it is by speaking the TRUTH in love that we grow to become the mature body of Him who is the head (Eph.4:15). a mature Church can only come about when people have deep foundations of knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. When people - by their own admission often - don’t know the Bible, the Church is inevitably weak.
When you study the history of the Church, it is remarkable that catechism features so prominently. many of the ‘big’ names of Church history wrote catechisms and expected them to be used in family worship and personal devotions. We might worry about the repetitive nature of working through a catechism. But a moment’s thought shows us how groundless such a superficial concern would be. We know how important revision is, and revisiting material we might not know as well as we thought. The same is true of what we are learning about Christian truth.
William Gurnall - one such older preacher from history - writes that ‘A preacher should not apologise for preaching the same truth over and over.’ to he[ us udnerstand the importance of doing so, he describes how boundary lines left untended become forgotten and future generations will never know where borders to a piece of land once stood. In the same way, where doctrine is badly taught or barely taught it will be destroyed by the weeds of untruth and forgotten by the next generation. Like the man who preserves his borders, we parents are particularly positioned to mark out the boundaries of truth in our children’s lives and to teach it again and again and again. And perhaps to learn it ourselves…
‘Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.’ (Psalm 86:11).
