Children's Catecehsis
John Calvin, Catechism of the Church of Geneva
"It has ever been the practice of the Church, and one carefully attended to, to see that children should be duly instructed in the Christian religion. That this might be done more conveniently, not only were schools opened in old time, and individuals enjoined properly to teach their families, but it was a received public custom and practice, to question children in the churches on each of the heads, which should be common and well known to all Christians."
Let the Children Come to Me
One of the major distinctions of a Reformed church, is how we understand our children in relation to Christ and the Covenant of Grace that he mediate. In our church, children are full participants and members of the visible church community. They, no less than the adults, deserve to be incorporated in the normal life of the church and to be discipled with clear Christian instruction.
While this is similar to other churches, the Reformed tradition is not content to delegate all instruction of our covenant children to special programs such as Sunday school (although we love our Sunday school teachers and programs). It is also important that children be instructed by the overseers of the church: Ministers and the ruling elders, who are charged with providing spiritual oversight of the entire flock. This happens weekly through the Sunday sermons, and also through the process of catechetical instruction. Catechesis is the teaching of the fundamentals of our most holy faith, mostly through the practice of memorization and explication of core Christian doctrines. Through our process of catechesis, the elders of Living Hope are able to keep a temperature on the spiritual condition of our youngest members and have a hand in the development of their faith.
Sunday Evening Bible Study
Children’s Catechesis takes place during the instructional time of our Sunday Evening Bible Study. Every study, one of our elders leads the children through memorization of our Reformed Catechisms and provides instruction concerning the fundamentals of the Christian Faith.