"I want to use a catechism, but how do I choose one?"

Where do you find a catechism?

Earlier I explained what a catechism is and why I believe there is value in learning a catechism. In summary to the why question, most Christians do not have a clear and comprehensive understanding of theology (myself included). I wanted my girls to have a growing framework, taken from the inerrancy of the Bible rather than from polite mannerly society or from the politically correct culture, by which to evaluate their beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and actions, and I am convinced that a catechism is a great tool for providing that framework.

So now what? I needed to find a child friendly catechism. I already had one book which contained one so I started by taking that off my shelf. Then I did an online search to discover what else was available. I quickly narrowed it down to three similar catechisms I believed would be well suited for young elementary children.

1.      Truth and Grace Memory Book, book 1: Years ago I bought this catechism upon recommendation from my former women’s ministry director. The book is divided into two parts: (1) the standard question/answer catechism, and (2) Bible verses and theologically rich hymns to memorize. An outline separates the questions/answers and verses into age groups so that you have a more realistic expectation of progress for a 2 year old as compared to a 6 year old (this book is recommended for 2 year olds – 4^th grade).  There are other books in the series geared toward older age levels which build upon what was learned in the previous books. The answers are lengthened, and the memory verses are expanded to multi-verse passages building upon the context of the previously memorized verses, assuming you started with the previous books in the series. I love that this helps to prevent taking verses out of context. This book uses a simplified Shorter Catechism: A Baptist Version based off of the children’s introduction to the Westminster Shorter Catechism but adjusted for the beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention.

2.      Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt: Each of the 36 lessons break the catechism down into groups of 2-6 question/answers and includes a short story about a family and their friends to illustrate the questions. The scenarios make the theological questions/answers visibly practical to a child’s daily life rather than mere head knowledge or rote memorization. At the end of each story there are a few discussion questions and a brief prayer. The catechism is a version of the children’s introduction to the Westminster Shorter Catechism listed below.

3.      Catechism for Young Children: An Introduction to the Shorter Catechism : This is available for free online. It is extremely similar to the questions/answers in Big Truths for Little Kids, but there are no stories, memory verses or other instructional recommendations. It is just the catechism.

Which catechism did I select? I chose to use Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt with my six and eight year old daughters. Well, that is a partial truth. Those of you who know me will not be surprised to learn that I did not use the book completely as is. I tweak, adjust, compile and fill in the gaps on most curriculums.

How did I go about my process?

1.      Before beginning the catechesis process with my daughters I found the three relatively similar catechisms listed above and placed them on a chart with like questions/answers next to each other (I know, I know, seems like an awful lot of work that most people would have no interest in performing, but it was enjoyable for me).

2.      I carefully read each question/answer from all three catechisms, looked up relevant Bible passages and contemplated the meaning and implications behind the wording of the catechisms where it was different.

3.      As stated above, two of the catechisms were based off the Westminster Shorter Catechism which is from a Presbyterian perspective whereas the first catechism is adjusted to conform to a Southern Baptist perspective. There are only a few questions (specifically concerning the practice of infant baptism within a believing family or the practice of believers’ baptism) which are theologically different between those two groups. The other questions are substantially similar across the catechisms. Where they differed theologically I had to make a choice whether to have my daughters memorize answers based on my beliefs concerning baptism or to omit the one or two questions leaving that discussion for another time. I chose to omit the questions concerning who should be baptized because I believe it is not a primary issue for salvation and is legitimately understood differently by people who carefully read the Bible for their instruction in church ordinances. They know already know what baptism is and understand the manner in which it is used in our church as well as in their grandparent’s church and realize there are differences in practice among believers.

4.      Most of the differences between the catechisms did not involve theological distinctions but rather word choice and phrasing. I thoughtfully selected a question and answer for each line on my chart. The words and phrases needed to be conversationally natural and eliminate as much confusion as possible later as my daughters expanded upon their understanding of the answers. For some people this may sound like over-analyzing and an unnecessary process. However, I have one daughter who is just like me in many ways, one of which is her concern for a careful use of vocabulary. She recognizes the subtle differences within word choices. I didn’t want her to become hung up on the implications of an imprecise phrase (I know that we both tend to do so). Let me give you an example. Question #6 is the same across the catechisms and asks “Are there more gods than one?” The answers all come to the same theological conclusion but have one little difference. Two of them say “There is only one God” but one of them says “There is only one true God.” Perhaps the difference does not matter to you, but it would matter to one of my daughters. In school we learn about people from all different cultures and religious traditions. We have read about the Egyptian, Greek and Roman gods and have discussed some of the basics of various world religions bearing in mind how those gods compare and contrast to the character of God revealed in the Bible. They know that when they read “god” in our books it is referring to something different than “God.” My girls understand that just because someone believes in a god does not mean that they are believers in the one true God to whom we come only through faith in Jesus Christ who provided us with the gift of salvation through His blood shed on the cross. “There is only one true God” more clearly allows for these learning and evaluating experiences to continue. Nitpicking? Perhaps, but this type of thing matters to me.

5.      After selecting which question and answer wording I would use for each question number, I copied them into a new list and printed it out.

6.      I said earlier that I chose to use Big Truths for Little Kids so you may be wondering if most of the selections I made came from that catechism. My choices were pretty evenly split among the catechisms, but I chose to use this catechism book for the purpose of the stories. My girls already memorize Bible verses for Awana club at church and occasionally in school so the memorization section of Truth and Grace Memory Book was not needed for us personally at this time. Instead I wanted to use the stories from Big Truths for Little Kids to help explain how to put the truths of Scripture to practice in their everyday circumstances so that this would not be merely an exercise in memorizing head knowledge but in practicing to always allow our knowledge about God to impact our daily lives for His glory.

Practical implementation of the catechism:

At the beginning of the week I read one new lesson from the book and went over the catechism questions from my list that corresponded to the story. The rest of the week we spent a few minutes a day memorizing the questions/answers from that lesson and reviewing those from previous weeks. Some days we would look up other Bible stories or verses that related to what they were memorizing. The girls delight in recognizing instances in their own life where the catechism was applicable or when one of their Awana verses related to a question/answer they had memorized. Seeing my girls experience those “aha” moments was a true blessing as I seek to train my girls to walk in the law and love of the Lord.

[I have included links to purchase the resources mentioned for anyone who might be interested, but please understand that I am not an affiliate of any web sites and do not receive any compensation for promoting these products. Feel free to shop around for the best deals.]