How do you Catechize The Family?

[CanuckPuritan24]

I would like to hear suggestions on how you men catechize your families. I am struggling in this area.

Currently we set aside one day a week from our regular evening family worship, where we work through 1 question/answer from the westminister shorter. I typically simply read a commentary on that particular question/answer and then we interact a bit with it. After that I try to come up with some questions regarding the application of our Lord's day sermons.

It is somewhat difficult because currently my 'family' consists of my wife (a lovely and Godly wife); as we havn't been blessed yet with any children. I imagine it would be a little easier if you had a number of people in your family then you as the husband/father could take turns asking each member questions... and all would profit from hearing the answers. But when there is only one, your wife, you don't want to just grill her with questions for half an hour... I'm just not sure how this is all supposed to work..

Any thoughts would be appreciated. It is a pity that more churches don't teach the heads of household how to engage in family worship (not just the 'why' but also the more practical 'how'), but rather leave them to try to figure it out on their own.

 

[Answerman]

Since my children are still young, I am working on getting them to memorize them first. It is much easier if you incorporate it into their regular daily Bible reading. We prints out sheets and put them in a small binder. Every day our children read through the books of the Bible, the ten commandments, Deut 6:4-9, Isaiah 53, 1 Corinth 13, Galatians 5:22-23, Psalm 23 and we alternate between the sermon on the mount and the Westminster Shorter Catechism every other day. We also have various other readings that are different for each day of the week, like Romans 8 and lists of Bible memory verses. Also, having them write the questions & answers out helps them to memorize them faster.

Once I feel they have them memorized I will start using G I Williamson's Westminster Shorter Catechism for study groups. For you and your wife, this may be a good start, he has questions after each question to help you understand it better.

 

[queenknitter]

Since my children are still young, I am working on getting them to memorize them first.

How old are they?

I learned a catechism in grade school, and I still remember it and I appreciate that foundational, scared-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of encouragement it gives me. It was a fundamentalist catechism, mind you, but it did privilege the Word.

I don't know how to start this either. I tried last year in a very low-keyed, preschool sort of way. But I got about to question 5 in the Catechism for Young Children. We had a good time, and it helped *me* as most of this religious education has done. For "Who Made Me?" we traced, colored, and cut out life-size paper copies of each of us and spent all day talking about how God's Isaac could heal from cuts, but paper Isaac couldn't (because what God made was good, what we make is flawed). God's Isaac needed fuel, but paper Isaac didn't. And on and on.

It looks like my church starts this at 3rd grade. Is this about when you all start too?

C

 

[Wannabee]

There is no specific "right way" of doing it. Most of the problems with our families is that they DON'T do it. We used to have devotions every night. Something along the lines of
Mon - prayer
Tues - Bible
Wed - read a bio
Thurs - Read a devotional
Fri - catch up where we missed

That's more difficult now since we tend to have evening activities. We still do a devotion in the evening when we are home, even when we have company. But it's not as scheduled as it used to be. Because of this, we have gone to morning devotions. It's much easier for us to gather at the same time every morning. So, we all get up, have breakfast together, then sit down and read a passage of Scripture. Sometimes, if something's on my mind, I'll do something else. But we usually read a chapter or two and discuss observations. It seems that this has been the most rewarding of anything else we've done. We hopped around the NT for a bit, but started in Gen not too long ago and are now just finishing up 1 Sam. It's amazing how we can see ourselves in Saul's fear of man.
Other than that, we almost always pray together before bed. We've done this for so many years that I can't hardly remember when we didn't. And when we miss it I miss it personally.

Not exactly catechizing, I suppose. We had the boys do memorization years ago, in addition to an intense reading schedule. But we have not spent the time in a catechism that we could have. Perhaps it would have been more profitable. We are developing a catechism for our church to help the parents do this. It will be taught in our children's class at a pace that will necessitate the parent's instruction during the week. Our main children's curriculum is simply a catechism and Bible survey that are gone through every year. They will start as soon as the parents want them in and as long as they can behave. When they learn the material they "graduate" to the regular classes/services. We offer no other children's classes, but focus on family integrated equipping ministries where the fathers are encouraged to disciple their families.

 

[Answerman]

Since my children are still young, I am working on getting them to memorize them first.

How old are they?

I learned a catechism in grade school, and I still remember it and I appreciate that foundational, scared-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of encouragement it gives me. It was a fundamentalist catechism, mind you, but it did privilege the Word.

I don't know how to start this either. I tried last year in a very low-keyed, preschool sort of way. But I got about to question 5 in the Catechism for Young Children. We had a good time, and it helped *me* as most of this religious education has done. For "Who Made Me?" we traced, colored, and cut out life-size paper copies of each of us and spent all day talking about how God's Isaac could heal from cuts, but paper Isaac couldn't (because what God made was good, what we make is flawed). God's Isaac needed fuel, but paper Isaac didn't. And on and on.

It looks like my church starts this at 3rd grade. Is this about when you all start too?

C

Camille,

My children are 7, 9 and 11. We started as soon as they were able to read, about 3 years old. I am encouraged at how helpful that you found your education early in life was later on. Many people think that my position is extreme but I am convinced that something like this is what God commands in Duet. 6:4-9. If a church is properly teaching on this and other related passages, this would not be such an issue as it is today. The church should only re-enforce what is being learned at home.

 

[SolaScriptura]

Your question asks how we catechize, but your discussion seems to circle around family worship in general. So I'll address both.

We conduct family worship nightly. We have an opening prayer, sing several songs (sometimes it is my wife going through the hymnal, other times it is "request night," etc...) after song time we have a time where we mention things for which we should pray. Then we have a time of family prayer going from youngest to oldest (at this point it doesn't matter if the oldest person in the room is a grandparent... at all times I pray last because I am the head of the household.) After prayer time we read 1 chapter from the Bible and then I briefly (3 minutes or less) exposit and apply it. Then I call the children to me for catechism time. After catechism we have a closing prayer and we conclude by singing "Christ We Do All Adore Thee." The whole process takes 30-45 minutes (!) depending upon the length of the prayers and the length of the particular chapter. FYI, my children are ages 7, 5, 3, and 14 mos respectively.

Concerning catechism... we use one of the many little children's catechism booklets you can find. Two nights a week are dedicated to them memorizing a new question/answer. Four nights a week I ask each of them 5 different questions... sometimes the questions are sequential and other times I ask 5 random questions. The point being that I want them to know the catechism backwards and forwards. One night a week, Sunday evening, our catechism period is a "contest." The children get on line in front of me and I'll read a question. The first one to raise his/her hand gets to answer. If a mistake is made then it goes to the person who was the next to have hand raised. In my contest the first one to get 5 questions correct is the winner. (The winner gets a small handful - i.e., 4 or 5 - Reese's Pieces.)

 

[CanuckPuritan24]

Thank you for your helpful responses.

Here's another question regarding family worship. What do you guys think about incorporating the reading of books (other then the bible) into family worship. For instance. We typically do a scripture reading for our morning devotions and then read an exerpt from a book in our evening worship with discussion/application. We've worked through quite a number including most recently several by Jeremiah Buroughs and now we are into one on repentance by Thomas Watson.

 

[SolaScriptura]

I'm all for the reading of non-biblical material as long as it isn't being read instead of the Bible!

I recommend reading "easier" material - Watson, Bunyan, etc... especially once you have kids.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

I believe it was a custom of the Dutch Reformed to read The Christian's Reasonable Service together as a family in the evenings. Matthew Henry and Richard Baxter advocated the reading of devotional and biographical literature as a family (see Hughes Oliphant Old, "Matthew Henry and Family Prayer," for more on family devotional reading). Pilgrim's Progress is a good one for the family.

The Scottish Directory of Family Worship teaches that catechism is part of family worship. The Westminster Directory of Public Worship also encourages family catechism especially on the Lord's Day afternoons or evenings. Both also encourage "holy" or "spiritual conferences." I recommend Doug Comin's great commentary on the DFW Returning to the Family Altar for practical counsel on all aspects of family worship including catechism.

Matthew Henry, in his sermon on family worship, which highly emphasizes the duty of family catechism, makes the point that it should not be made burdensome, but a delight. So you don't want to grill your wife (or children) but encourage them. Keep the time spent manageable, consistent, uplifting.

My wife knows the catechisms far better than I do, although I am the family instructor. She helps with catechizing the little ones, usually from memory. Sometimes the pupil teaches the teacher too. The instructor must adapt as needed, discern what is or is not working, build up and edify and keep the focus on Christ the head of the household.

 

[JM]

don't click here, link removed...I think...

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

The Christian's Reasonable Service in pdf...I think...

Jason -- Thanks. A couple of things:

1) I think this is a pdf of volume 1-2 of TCRS and does not seem to include volumes 3-4.

2) The pages reference Biblecentre.net which I believe is in litigation over copyright claims. Do you know the source of this pdf file and whether it is truly in the public domain?

ECPA Goes After Copyright Abuse on Web Site
Between Two Worlds: Biblecentre.net: Copyright Violation

 

[JM]

Jason -- Thanks. A couple of things:

1) I think this is a pdf of volume 1-2 of TCRS and does not seem to include volumes 3-4.

2) The pages reference Biblecentre.net which I believe is in litigation over copyright claims. Do you know the source of this pdf file and whether it is truly in the public domain?

I googled it. I don't know if it's in public domain or not. Maybe the link should be removed?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

The Christian's Reasonable Service in pdf...I think...

Jason -- Thanks. A couple of things:

1) I think this is a pdf of volume 1-2 of TCRS and does not seem to include volumes 3-4.

2) The pages reference Biblecentre.net which I believe is in litigation over copyright claims. Do you know the source of this pdf file and whether it is truly in the public domain?

ECPA Goes After Copyright Abuse on Web Site
Between Two Worlds: Biblecentre.net: Copyright Violation

I googled it. I don't know if it's in public domain or not. Maybe the link should be removed?

I don't know either. Perhaps.

 

[JM]

Ok.

Whatever you do, don't click the don't click link...

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Ok.

Whatever you do, don't click the don't click link...

 

[Honor]

Canuck... may I suggest something here?
You have a wonderful (and probably temporary) opportunity to worship with your wife solely.... I would suggest that you and she sit and read Scripture together and then ask her if she has any questions or thoughts on the verses.... Grow together and learn together now while it is just the two of you. Practice doing "family" worship as a team not as you doing it to her. It could be a great time for ya'll to draw closer to each other and to God. and TRUST ME, you need that when you have an inquisitive 4 year old one day asking theological questions you have never even thought about.
I hope that helped... or maybe I'm off in left field.