You want to do what to our members?

I want to catechize them. Webster's defines it "to instruct systematically especially by questions, answers, and explanations and corrections; specifically : to give religious instruction in such a manner." I'm not saying that our members do not receive any religious instruction from Sunday School or Bible studies. However, catechizing someone involves a more clear cut and orderly process of teaching them biblical truths.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was exposed to practices of the Lutheran Church by virtue of attending a Lutheran grade school and high school. Part of our school work was to memorize Luther's Short Catechism. It contained a number of questions with answers and Scripture references so that we could learn the essential truths of the Christian faith. We started learning this in first grade and continued for a few years. Part of the reason we did this was because Lutherans practice infant baptism, which they believe saves you, and then when you reach junior high you confirm your belief in God and become a member of the church.

Of course, I don't agree with this practice, since it does not match biblical accounts. However, I had to do everything my Lutheran friends had to do class wise, except of course the actual confirmation, since I was already member of a Baptist church and had no desire to switch. I greatly appreciated learning the essential truths found in the catechism. Of course, I didn't like it at the time, since it was homework, but looking back I realize how fortunate I was. Sadly, most of those in my classes never turned their life over to Christ, but of course, they thought they were already saved.

So, if we remove the faulty theology, we are left with a fantastic way to learn biblical truths. While this is generally aimed at children today, there is no reason why anyone wouldn't benefit from learning. In fact, catechizing was practiced from the earliest years of the church up until more recent times when some Christian denominations lost the practice. Baptists themselves had a catechism that was written in 1689 and adopted by the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1742. Most typical Baptist church members have no idea of this fact and what they have lost, since we stopped systematically teaching them doctrine.

I think we should return to our roots and raise up a new generation that is taught the essential truths of God's Word. Every person who becomes a new believer in Christ should learn at least part of a catechism and I think there is value in teaching it to our children, even before they make a profession of faith. How can they believe if they have not heard? A wonderful example of a catechism can be found at John Piper's Desiring God website. I like his cleaned up version of the 1689 catechism, since the original has some language that we no longer commonly use.