The importance of Catechisms in discipleship
- W. Tozer once said, “What we believe about God is the most important thing about us.” Our belief about God determines if we will spend eternity in heaven or in hell. What we believe about God affects how we understand the world and live in it. We are free to make up our own view about God in our mind, but that doesn’t make our view true. We must know God as he truly is, and not simply believe our own made up idea of God. So how do we know the true God? We must listen to what he’s told us.
God has spoken to us and revealed himself to us in the Bible. God gave us the Bible so we can know him as a child knows their father. The Bible answers the biggest questions in life such as: Who is God? Why do I exists? Who is Jesus and why did Jesus come? How are my sins forgiven?
But the Bible is a big book and it can be difficult to learn the main message of the Bible and its answers to these questions. This catechism is written to help people understand the main message of the Bible that leads us to eternal life.
What is a catechism?
Many churches have “statements of faith” that outline their beliefs. In the past, many of these documents were written in the form of questions and answers, and were called “catechisms” (from the Greek katechein, which means “to teach orally or to instruct by word of mouth”). A “catechism” is a set of questions and short answers intended to be learned and memorized with other people to teach us the message of the Bible. The Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 and Westminster Shorter and Larger catechisms of 1648 are among the best known, and they serve as the doctrinal standards of many churches in the world today.
The Lost Practice of teaching theology using question and answer
The practice of teaching Christian theology through question and answer is not very popular today. Most discipleship programs today concentrate on practices such as Bible study, prayer, fellowship, and evangelism and can sometimes be shallow when it comes to teaching theology and the main teachings of the Bible. Memorizing a catechism plants beautiful, biblical doctrine deep into the heart.
Learning a catechism is intended to be done with others believers. Of course, you can learn and study a catechism alone. But the Christian life is not intended to be lived alone. Being a mature Christian isn’t about how much information you know about the Bible. It’s about your love for Jesus and for others. Certainly, learning and understanding the teaching of the Bible is an important part of being a mature believer. However, learning theology apart from applying it by loving others is useless. 1 John 4:20 says, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”
The practice of asking questions and giving answers brings instructors and students into a naturally interactive and engaging process of learning. Teaching through question and answer is less individualistic and more communal. Parents can teach their children in this way. Church leaders can teach members with shorter and simpler catechisms and leaders with more extensive ones. These questions and answers can also be used in church worship gatherings, where the church as a body can confess their faith and respond to God with praise.
How is this catechism particularly helpful for Kurds?
I love talking with my Kurdish friends about Jesus and the message of the Bible. Oftentimes when I tell my Kurdish friends that Jesus died on the cross for their sin, they respond something like this, “Jesus didn’t die. Why would God let Jesus die? If I try to do good things, God will have mercy on me, so why do I need someone to die for my sin?
These answers show that they’re thinking about God, the world, and life from a perspective completely different from the ئینجیل. Most kurdish people have not grown up learning the teaching of the Bible from childhood. Therefore, many kurds do not see and understand God, the world, and life in light of the truth revealed in the Bible. This makes it difficult to directly talk about Jesus without first explaining who God is, who man is, what sin is, and why we need a savior.
This catechism does exactly that. It gives the Bible’s framework from which people can understand who Jesus is and why he came to give his life as a sacrifice for sin. Therefore, this catechism is particularly helpful for Kurdish believers because it provides an easy way to establish a strong foundation and framework of Bible teaching.
Why Write New Catechisms?
Many years ago, it was common for churches to write catechisms for their own use to teach their members the Christian faith. For example, a pastor named Richard Baxter, who ministered in England in the seventeenth-century, wanted to systematically train heads of families to instruct their households in the faith. To do so he wrote his own Family Catechism that was adapted to the understanding and situation of his people and that showed the Bible’s teaching to many of the issues and questions his people were facing at that time.
Catechisms were written with at least three purposes.
- The first was to clearly present a comprehensive explanation of the gospel—not only in order to explain clearly what the gospel is, but also to lay out the building blocks on which the gospel is based, such as the biblical doctrines of God, of human nature, of sin, and faith.
- The second purpose was to do this teaching in such a way that the errors and false beliefs of the time and culture were addressed and counteracted.
- The third and more pastoral purpose was to form a holy people, a community with a culture different from the world they lived in that reflected the likeness of Christ not only in individual character but also in the church’s communal life.
When looked at together, these three purposes explain why new catechisms must be written. As culture changes, so do the errors, temptations, and challenges to the unchanging gospel. Church members must be equipped to face and answer these questions.
It’s my hope that this catechism will encourage kurds to write other catechisms that address particular questions to help kurdish believers live in kurdish society as followers of Christ.
Structure of The New City Catechism
The New City Catechism is based on and adapted from several protestant catechisms written in the 16th and 17th centuries around the time of the protestant reformation. It summarizes the main message of Christianity that has been accepted by true churches for centuries throughout history.
The New City Catechism comprises only 52 questions and answers (many other catechisms have over 100). There is therefore only one question and answer for each week of the year. It is divided into three parts to make it easier to learn and understand:
Part 1: God, creation and fall, law (twenty questions)
Part 2: Christ, redemption, grace (fifteen questions)
Part 3: Spirit, restoration, growing in grace (seventeen questions)
There are two versions of answers to each question. One is the adult version, and the other is a children’s version. The children’s answer is simply a shortened answer so it’s easier for children to memorize it.
A Bible verse accompanies each question and answer. The verse that accompanies a particular question and answer is not the only verse in the Bible that speaks about that question and answer. The verse doesn’t always give the exact answer to the questions. But the verse helps us see that the answer comes from the Bible. It causes us to look at God’s word for our direction and source of life and wisdom.
With a doubt, an entire book could be written on each question. However, the purpose of this catechism is to give short answers that can be easily remembered.
How to Use The New City Catechism
The easiest way to use The New City Catechism is to memorize one question and answer each week of the year. Because it is intended to be dialogical, it is best to learn it in pairs, in families, or as study groups, enabling you to ask one another the questions in order to test each other.
Groups may decide to spend the first five to ten minutes of their study time looking together at only one question and answer. In this way, they would complete the catechism in one year.
It’s also a good resource to use in church worship gatherings. The questions and answers are appropriate to use as a call and response in the gathering. The leader can read the question, and the participants can respond by reading the answer out loud together. In this way, the church confesses the truths of the gospel together in their public worship time.
It’s also a great resource for parents to use to teach their children. For example, at dinner time, a father or mother could ask their children one of the questions and teach them to memorize the answer. In my experience, children love giving the answers to these questions. Every night when it’s time to put my children to bed, I’ll ask one question to them, help them learn the answer, and read the verse that goes along with it. We then sing spiritual song and close with a prayer to God according to that verse. Catechisms are great resources for this family worship time.
Memorization Tips
There are a variety of ways to commit texts to memory, and some techniques suit certain learning styles better than others. A few examples include:
Read the question and answer out loud, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Read the question and answer out loud, then try to repeat them without looking. Repeat.
Record yourself saying all part 1 questions and answers (then part 2, then part 3) and listen to them during the day as you go to work, walk in the park, or do work around the home.
Write the questions and answers on cards and tape them in a place you look at often. Read them aloud every time you see them.
Write out the question and answer. Repeat. The process of writing helps a person’s ability to recall text.
Test one another by asking each other the questions.
Conclusion
It’s my prayer that using this catechism will help God’s Word “dwell in us richly” (see Col. 3:16) so we may love God and other church members as Christ has loved us.
