Introduction
For hundreds of years, the church has been an outright leader in religious education efforts. From the epistles of the apostle Paul to the founding of numerous universities in the middle ages to the Sunday School movement to the small group Bible studies of today, the church has experienced no shortage of educational resources expounding on the historic teachings of our faith. However, despite the abundance of educational resources available for young Christians today, biblical and theological illiteracy rates in youth ministries remain high. Many youth within our churches today are still unable to articulate the core doctrines of the Christian faith, much less defend their faith from competing religious narratives in our culture. What can we do to help our youth understand and internalize the truths the church has held so deeply for so long?
What youth ministries today need is a revival of catechesis, the church’s historic practice of teaching the faith. Catechesis is a biblical notion, possibly practiced as early as the time of the apostles, and championed by those such as Augustine, Luther and Calvin. If catechesis was so important for most of the church’s 2,000-year history, we youth ministries in evangelical churches would do well to recover the practice. To be sure, catechesis will not solve all the spiritual problems that plague youth ministries. Princeton Seminary scholar Richard Osmer writes, “Teaching of the catechism is not a cure for the ills currently besetting the church, but it can represent a starting point of a movement toward reforms that are desperately needed” (1997, p. 412). Thus, although catechesis is not a cure-all for the theological or cultural issues that youth face today, it is a step in the right direction.
Understanding Catechesis
What is catechesis? Catechesis, according to J.I. Packer and Gary Parrett, is the “church’s ministry of grounding and growing God’s people in the Gospel and its implications for doctrine, devotion, duty, and delight” (2010, p. 29). Elsewhere, I write, “Catechesis provides solid and clear answers about the Christian faith to an inquisitive world, educates the church in what she has always held dear, and imprints the deepest truths about God into the hearts of Christians” (2013). Practically speaking, catechesis is a back-and-forth conversation between catechist (the one who teaches the catechism) and catechumen (the one learning the catechism). For example, the catechist may ask the catechumen the classic question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “What is the chief end of man?” while the catechumen, having studied the catechism, will respond, “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” At its core, catechesis is a way of helping people understand and internalize the core doctrinal teachings the church has held for hundreds of years, with the hope of transforming their hearts with the power of the gospel. It also serves as a way for people to renew their minds (
Catechesis comes from the Greek word katecheo meaning “to teach” or “to instruct.” At the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, Luke tells Theophilus the purpose of his writing is so Theophilus can have certainty about the things he has been taught (
As the early church grew in number and theological depth of understanding, the need for catechesis became more apparent and as heresies began penetrating the church. One of the earliest catechetical documents we have in our possession today is the Didache (ca. 99 AD), which outlines the basic doctrines of the Christian faith and highlights several practices of the early church. In particular, the Didache describes the “two ways” of life (light) and death (darkness), and highlights the ethical teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. Hippolytus’ Apostolic Tradition (ca. 220 AD) provides another catechetical format suggesting catechesis began to take on a more rigid and orderly form, emphasizing the new believer’s preparation for baptism. Augustine of Hippo was a thorough proponent of this kind of catechesis, having authored works such as On the Instruction of Beginners, which outlined not only the doctrinal essentials new believers needed to internalize, but also outlines effective teaching methods (Harmless, 1995; Smither, 2009). Augustine and Chrysostom emphasized the need for catechesis prior to baptism while Cyril of Jerusalem thought baptism should precede catechetical instruction. The early church thus thought catechesis was a practice to be engaged and explored rigorously, particularly with youth.
Luther, Calvin and the Catechetical Impulse
After having formally initiated the Reformation, Martin Luther began publishing sermons and pamphlets expounding on the rudimentary contents of the Christian faith. In the 1520s, Luther published instructional guides detailing the Ten Commandments, the Apostle’s Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, as well as guides on the sacraments. Interestingly, Luther ordered his catechisms to reflect his theological convictions: first comes one’s understanding the law (the Ten Commandments), in preparation to hearing and accepting the gospel (the Apostle’s Creed), and finally living a life of reliance upon God (the Lord’s Prayer). Realizing the people were biblically and theologically malnourished due to the priests’ lack of biblically robust instruction at the time, Luther wrote, “the common people…have no knowledge whatever of Christian teaching, and unfortunately many pastors are quite incompetent and unfitted for teaching” (Tappert 1959, p. 338). Luther desired to correct the deficient education the people had received at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, “so that all who wish to be Christians in fact as well as in name, both young and old, may be well-trained in them and familiar with them.” (Tappert 1959 p. 362).
In 1537, John Calvin wrote a catechism entitled Instruction in Faith based on his Institutes of the Christian Religion. Instruction in Faith eventually became the Geneva Catechism. Calvin had utilized the same elements as Luther, but placed the Commandments section before the Creed’s (due to his theological convictions). The Heidelberg Catechism replaced the Geneva Catechism in popularity, as it brought together Calvinist and Lutheran emphases and elements.
For years after Luther’s revitalization of educational practice within the church, catechesis was a model all church bodies sought to follow. Anglicans, Presbyterians and Puritans all practiced rigorous catechesis among their churches, and experienced significant spiritual and numerical growth. However, since the time of the Reformers, catechetical enthusiasm began to die down. Pietism, though certainly a force for spiritual vitality, emphasized individual holiness over biblical instruction. Catechesis for some became an exercise in rote, external memorization that lacked the energetic, conversational and engaging pedagogy that Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Richard Baxter believed was so vital in the process of catechesis. The Sunday School movement, for its many contributions to the spiritual vitality of the United States, pushed catechetical instruction to the sidelines as it emphasized the teaching of biblical stories for the purpose of moral formation against the teaching of sound doctrine. Additionally, an evangelical emphasis on numerical church growth began to usurp the place of meaningful discipleship.
Toward a Revival of Catechesis in Youth Ministry
Catechesis has been the preferred method of transmitting the historic teachings of the church to the next generation. It serves as a means of anchoring the faith of our youth onto the Word of God and the historic teachings of the church. While some evangelicals are skeptical of catechesis, some are making incredible catechetical strides. Tim Keller has put forth the incredible New City Catechism, which is essentially an updated version of the Heidelberg Catechism. In an issue of Modern Reformation magazine, Michael Horton compares and contrasts the Heidelberg Catechism with Keller’s New City Catechism (2013, pp. 10-15). J.I. Packer and Gary Parrett’s work Grounded in the Gospel (2010) argues that traditional methods of educating believers have failed to inculcate the gospel within our hearts; and robust, theologically orthodox catechesis engenders the possibility of doing so. Carl Trueman, in The Creedal Imperative (2012) notes that creeds and confessions offer great summaries of the faith, revitalize the present, maintain corporate unity, and allow for discussion regarding the church’s historical doctrines. These are among the several resources that recognize the importance of solid catechesis, as catechesis, practiced charitably, can be a powerful method of instilling a biblical faith in Christian youth today.
What would it look like for our youth ministries to dust off the Westminster Shorter Catechism or the Heidelberg Catechism and teach these works to our youth? Rather than view these documents as archaic textbooks of our faith, why not create a curriculum for your youth ministry where the content derives from one of these catechisms and engages in fresh learning activities? Why not constitute some form of confirmation process for youth that not only includes teaching the Bible and catechisms, but incorporating cutting-edge approaches to effective pedagogy? Providing a safe space for youth to wrestle with the doctrines of the faith will lead them to understand how their doctrine affects their daily lives and enables them to think theologically about current issues.
I’ve had the privilege to teach catechism to an interested group of young people within my nondenominational evangelical church. While our catechism time (called Foundations) is separate from our formal youth ministry time, many youth attend both and find catechesis stimulates their intellect and satisfies their theological hunger. While it is inevitable that youth may scoff at the idea of learning and memorizing something other than what is required of them in school, some desperately desire something deeper and richer than the application-heavy lessons we typically give them every week. Crafting a homegrown catechism or simply studying through a centuries-old catechism with your youth ministry may create a theologically literate and thoughtful group of youth who can make a genuine impact for Christ in their schools, homes and neighborhoods.
We know our society will continue to encourage youth to be skeptical of the claims of historic Christianity. These challenges have existed from Pentecost and will continue until the Lord returns. However, by engaging the historic doctrines of our faith and teaching them creatively to youth through catechesis, we can build a generation of believers who know they are Christ’s and know that in the end His truth liberates from the bondages of this world and enables us all to live life abundantly.
Bibliography
Espinoza, Ben. “Redemptive Catechesis: Rethinking Theological Teaching.” Seedbed. (accessed June 1, 2013).
Harmless, William. Augustine and the Catechumenate. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1995.
Horton, Michael. “New Catechisms.” Modern Reformation 22, no. 1, 2013.
Keller, Tim, and Sam Shammas. “New City Catechism.” New City Catechism. (accessed June 1, 2013).
Osmer, Richard. “The Case for Catechism.” The Christian Century, 114, April 23/30, 1997.
Packer, J. I., and Gary A. Parrett. Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010.
Smither, Edward L. Augustine as Mentor: A Model for Preparing Spiritual Leaders. Nashville: B H Academic, 2008.
Tappert, Theodore G. The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959.
Trueman, Carl. The Creedal Imperative. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.
