Getting Kids Grounded in the Faith
By Dr . Bryan Smith
One of my heroes is Dr . Glen Schultz . Maybe you ’ ve heard of him ? He ’ s the founder of Kingdom Education Ministries , he often writes for this magazine , and he ’ s been involved in Christian education for more than fifty years . On top of all that , he ’ s a great guy .
The other day I was reading his blog , and I came across a post titled “ Is the Church Falling Apart ?” 1 His point is that Christianity in the United States is struggling . The main reason ? Believers — even those who attend church regularly — are getting very little Bible instruction . Typically , people go to church once a week ; the service is no more than an hour , and the sermon is twenty or thirty minutes . Meanwhile , through media , friends , and the daily grind , our culture constantly sends us its messages . This disparity in messaging leaves Christians worldly , more worldly than they realize .
What is Glen ’ s advice ? Longer sermons ? More weekly services ? I ’ m sure he has opinions about those things , but that ’ s not his focus in the blog post . Instead , he exhorts all of us to be intentional about instructing our young people in the faith .
He says that anything the church does is likely to see limited success without this . That ’ s because “ adults have developed their worldview or belief system at a much younger age . Once this is developed , it is very difficult to change .” But children are different . They ’ re impressionable ; they ’ re open to changing their minds , even about basic things . So while our children are young , we should invest in shaping their worldview .
How should this be done ? Among other things , Glen ’ s article suggests using a catechism .
WHAT IS A CATECHISM ? A catechism is a summary of the basic teachings of the Christian religion . It usually takes the form of a set of questions and answers . These begin with claims that are simple and easy to memorize . For example : Who made you ? God made me . But eventually , the list steps the child up to more challenging claims . Like this one : What is justification ? It is God ’ s forgiving me and accepting me as righteous in His sight .
Through repetition , children get to the point where they can recite an answer with ease . Over two or three years , children learn more than 100 answers to questions about God , humanity , sin , salvation , Christ , the Holy Spirit , the church , and prayer . By the end of the catechizing process , a young person has a basic understanding of the fundamental teachings of the Bible .
ANSWERING OBJECTIONS
So , who uses a catechism ? If you had asked this question a century ago , I would have said that just about everyone does . But that is no longer the case . Few churches today catechize their young people . Why ? As far as I can tell , there are two main reasons .
Aren ’ t Catechisms for Catholics ?
First , many people are uncomfortable with the idea of a catechism because they associate it with being Catholic . It ’ s true that Catholics have historically taken catechizing very seriously , but that doesn ’ t make it a Catholic idea . Protestants have used catechisms since the early days of the Reformation . In fact , the earliest catechisms were Protestant , not Catholic .
Martin Luther published two catechisms in 1529 , and he used both with great success in the following decades . It wasn ’ t until the 1550s that the Catholic church — distressed by Luther ’ s effectiveness — decided to take the idea and use it for its own purposes . 2
Baptists , too , have a rich history of using catechisms . The first Baptist catechisms appeared in the 1600s . To date , one of the most famous catechisms was written by the Baptist preacher C . H . Spurgeon . He published it in 1855 when he was only twenty-one years old . Some churches still use it .
44 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW