Historically, Christians were very dedicated to teaching sound doctrine to their children and to new converts. The roots of catechesis can be found in this desire and the catechisms have historically been the methods used to accomplish this goal. Catechesis simply means religious instruction. So many modern Christians are afraid of the term “religion.” Should we be? I don’t think so. James clearly believed and taught that there is such a thing as good religion, and that that religion is rooted in obeying Jesus (James 1:27). Rather than rejecting the idea of religion entirely, we would do better to reform it in the image of what Jesus had in mind. Deuteronomy 6 gives us a vision of what good religion looks like in God’s eyes. It is about rooting our lives in God’s word, and passing our faith down to our children.
As a people which is a part of the historic Christian tradition, I think a return to catechizing ourselves and our children is a wonderful thing for us to do. The Protestant Reformers and later the Puritans all saw this as critically important, and each group formed from the various movements of the Holy Spirit in the church worked to try and build a system of catechesis for families and churches. We are sharing a series of links here, each taking you to a catechism which you might use to develop your own theological knowledge as well as to build up your family in the truth of Christ. Use one if you’d like, or use them all. Whatever you do, we are certain these tools can help you grow in the knowledge of Christ. I would also encourage you to pay attention to the proof texts. Those make wonderful Scriptures for memorization. May the Lord bless your every effort to grow in your knowledge of him, and to help others to grow as well.