Goals for class participants

• Make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

• Become familiar with the Bible and realize that it is God’s Word for salvation, nurture, and guidance for daily living in relationship to Him and to each other.

• Grasp the basic tenets of the Christian faith as presented in a catechism format, thus laying foundation for lifelong Christian commitment and a Christian world view.

• Pray for one another.

• Memorize catechism questions and answers.

• Become fruitful members of the Body of Christ.

What is a catechism? Almost as old as Christianity itself, a catechism is a digest of essential Christian teachings in the form of questions and answers. It enables you to learn basic Christian doctrine, and receive a firm foundation on which to build in the years to come.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) recognizes three catechisms in its constitution: The Heidelberg Catechism, The Shorter Catechism, and The Larger Catechism. The catechism which we teach is the Catechism for Young Children, written in 1840 as an introduction to The Shorter Catechism (we have updated some of the language to reflect current usage). The 145 questions contained in this catechism have been memorized by our church’s sixth graders for many years. The catechism provides a unique common experience that unites all of the generations within our church.

What do we do on Wednesday nights? We meet  most Wednesday nights from September through March. During each class, we discuss the meaning of  the week’s questions because it is important that you not only memorize the answers to the questions, but that you understand the theological significance of each question. We also spend time reading the scripture that underpins the week’s lesson. We read from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) of the Bible during class. This translation is optimized for reading aloud. You don’t need to bring your Bible; we have plenty.

What do I have to do at home? The memorization work is done at home. You must memorize an 7 questions a week over a 21 week period. This can only be done at home with the active participation of your parents. You will be individually quizzed on the week’s questions at the beginning of each class. You have to memorize the answers exactly. If you miss more than one word, your answer is considered wrong.

Teachers

Mike Lavespere: mike@bdssc.com, Home 669-1259, Work 317-6509
Butch Carroll: cec44@sc.rr.com, Home 669-8262, Work 669-5859

Download Catechism Booklet

Click here to download a copy of the catechism booklet in PDF format. Acrobat Reader is required. To get a copy of Reader, click here.