Rediscovering Catechism: The Art of Equipping Covenant Children

by Donald Van Dyken

A contribution to the renaissance of catechism. Investigates the meaning and history of catechizing and outlines practical considerations and steps for productive catechizing.

Genres: Parenting, Theology, Family, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity

146 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Kevin Godinho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Van Dyken does a great job putting on full display the importance of educating our children. That is what catechism is after all; education. He gives a light overview of the history of catechism, which is helpful. But what I found more helpful than that was his brief dealings with how the enemy views education.

There have been many times in history where the world sees what the Church is doing, that it is effective, and tries to put a stop to it. One of those areas is in Christian education. Catechizing, educating, discipling, bringing our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is effective. Why? Because God says so (Prov. 22:6).

When the world sees the effect real discipleship is having on handing the faith to further generations, they try to put a stop to it. They'll try to shut down schools by making teachers qualify according to state standards; this is what happened under the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.

Roman Catholics saw the effect catechizing was having on passing on the Reformed faith to children, so they set up Jesuit camps in response to do some catechizing of their own. Not that Roman Catholics are our enemy. Just making the point that they recognized the effect training children was having and responded by implementing something similar.

This brings us to the public education of our day. We don't have to look far in history to see that Communistic regimes took over the minds of youth by indoctrinating them through godless education systems.

Aristotle himself said, “Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man.” He understood how formative those early years are and how influential they become later in a person's life.

This is why we bring our children to the font. This is why we welcome them to the Lord's Table, so they can partake of Christ in the Eucharist along with His people. This is why we teach them to sing "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." This is why when we teach them the Lord's Prayer we don't say, "No child, not your Father.." We teach them that God is their Father from birth. Why? Because He is (Luke 18:16). Teaching them otherwise is raising them outside of the faith. We are commanded to bring them up in the Lord and they are commanded to obey us in the Lord (Eph. 6:1-4).

Christian education is a vital piece of our children walking with the Lord and dwelling in His house forever. May we recover the lost teaching method of catechism and faithfully, by faith in God, pass faith in Him onto the next generation.

(This book also contains many Scripture and various confession catechism resources in the back, which in itself is almost worth the cost of the book.)

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[Brooklan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent for both encouragement and educating. As someone who has only read through catechisms and never been a catechumen before I found this to be extremely helpful in practical application of an important tool that is fading.. but one that I believe would do the Church and families well to be customary once again. Also shares a brief but interesting history on the history of children’s Sunday school and how it came to be.. (I’ll let you read to find out) To share a few brief tastings from the book…:
1) (possibly my favorite quote from the book) “If we expect children to mature, to stand fast for the truth, to contend earnestly for the faith, to resist the great deceiver, and to fight as the saints who nobly fought of old, they will need basic training more rigorous than making slingshots to understand the story of David and Goliath.”

2) “Everyone except Christians seems to realize that little children are easily indoctrinated.. We remember that Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary in the sixteenth century, was reported to have said, “Give me the children until they are seven, anyone may have them after.” In our day, the television networks and their sponsors also recognize that children are impressionable! Their minds, hearts, and affections, are soft and malleable.”

3) “We do not take our children through the training ground of the wilderness merely to leave their bleached bones on the border of Canaan or have them whimper on the banks of Jordan. Instead send them into the land of wickedness, of giants and castles, for “they shall be dust beneath your feet,” says the Almighty. “O brethren,” said Richard Baxter, “what a blow we may give the kingdom of darkness by the faithful and skillful managing of this work [catechizing].”

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars. I'd give it 5 stars except my preconceived idea of what I would learn from this was slightly different. I expected some practical knowledge of what *I* can and should do to catechize my own children at home. It only peripherally addressed this point.

The excellence of this book lies in another direction: it's comprehensive overview of several things. One, what is catechism? Two, the biblical reason/support for catechisms (new to me). Three, the historical reasons/support for catechisms. Four, who should be teaching catechism. This answer surprised me, I feel I lack so much understanding and knowledge of reformation history, that it surprised me that this surprised me: the authors strong belief in the duty of the church to catechize. It is a both and, it is both the duty of the church (and therefore elders) and parents to catechize the children. It is a synergistic relationship of catechism classes organized by the elders and then the bulk of the teaching done by parents at home, with review in class.

I learned a lot about catechism from this short book. It cleared up a misconception in my own mind about catechism being strictly the questions and answers from the Westminster Shorter Catechism/Heidelberg Catechism, and instead it being a method of instruction, probing, and truly teaching in order for the child/person to understand through the means of questions to search out answers and comprehensive understanding, rather than rote memory work through memorizing.

If you are like me and lack a good foundation of growing up in a sound biblical church, you would do well to read this and be convicted in heart at your own lack of understanding in how to pass on the truth of the Gospel to your children. Why do we need to reinvent the wheel at each turn when we have brilliant minds who loved the Lord Jesus Christ and labored in times past to preserve these beautiful truths? We don't.

[Tesca Michaelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Faithful instruction of the next generation is the normal mechanism God employs for the advance and growth of his people."
Fantastic read. Very encouraging.

[Peter Stonecipher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Van Dyken's book serves, if nothing else, as an encouragement in the task of catechizing. The first half of the book provides some history to the practice of catechism and the second half of the book provides some practical advice. This book is more skewed toward catechism classes within the church than catechism as a part of family worship, but still helpful in its own way. Realistically, a number of practical questions from parents won't be answered here, but a good book nonetheless.

[Gary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little repetitive, but full of useful ideas and persuasive. I kind of wish he'd expanded a little more on the history of catechizing, but that is more of a personal desire than any defect on the book.

Liked it.

[Nichole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. Van Dyken lays out a solid presentation of catechism throughout church history, and the need for today’s church to echo the same historical catechism practices for the sake of our covenant children.

[Vincent Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for anyone with questions on catechizing your children or curious what catechism is. A highly recommended resource for all Christian parents.

[Carlos Montijo]

https://opc.org/os.html?article_id=480

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because of its simplicity and common sense approach to a skill that must be redeveloped in this generation. Our churches are not teaching their children well. In our world (Reformed) we still catechize our children, but in the evangelical world I came from, it was non-existent. It has been the burden of my heart for many years that my own children were not catechized because I knew nothing about its benefits when they were small.

For anyone that has children, heed the sound counsel in this book and take its suggestions. It will help your heart escape regret and give your children a solid foundation on which to stand as adults. I highly recommend this book.

[Peter Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It is primarily about the history of catechism and the practical implementation of a catechesis in family life and the life of a church. Pastor Van Dyken is warm and pastoral in his approach, which makes the book a good read for those who may not like the idea of catechizing.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick, engaging, great read. Van Dyken did a great job explaining the history and importance of catechizing our children, and the impact it will have not only them but the church as well. Would definitely recommend to others and might re-read. This has made me more serious about catechizing our children and making it more of a priority.

[Emily Woodham · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED THIS! This was well laid out, inspiring, and full of useful information about the history, whys, and hows of catechizing your children. We don't attend a church that promotes catechism, but we are going to catechise our kids at home.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great.

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's one thing to know the catechism is a valuable thing. It's an entirely different thing to know why it is valuable.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, concise, practical primer on implementing catechism classes in the church.

[Kyle LaPorte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very practical book about the who, what, why, where, and when's of all things catechetical teaching and learning. Great book.