To Renew, Let's Reclaim: A Plea for Catechesis in the Local Church

Nearly 20 years ago our world was introduced to social media. In 2003, MySpace was birthed, one year later Facebook rocked college campuses and it, along with the likes of Twitter and TikTok, has redefined how we interact as a society. This puts us in a generation that is changing arguably faster than any other period of history.

Along with this is a cultural blitz of redefining - whether it’s redefining marriage or how we define love. Recently, I came across a heap of shirts for sale with the odd phrase, “Love is Love.” Not only are we redefining words, we are refusing to define some words, leaving them to the endless theories of subjectivity while any hint of an objective truth is strictly forbidden.

Now culture will keep being culture, advancing at times and regressing at times. The call of the church is not to scoff, roll our eyes at culture and say, “to hell with it.” My purpose here is not to beat up culture. My purpose today is to suggest that in the midst of a rapidly changing and redefining culture, the church should look to the ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16) as we contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3) by reclaiming the practice of catechesis in the rhythms and discipline of the local church.

When I say catechesis, I mean to echo, or teach the Christian faith to new converts of the faith. Catechesis is the intentional teaching of a person new to the faith from an established person in the faith (See Timothy C. Tennent in Foundations of the Christian Faith, p. viii). In short, it’s part of how we lead the saved into sanctification.

The struggle, which is a present reality in the church, is that culture has slipped in and redefined how we understand and pursue sanctification. After decades of marinating in cute curriculum, lazy lyrics in modern worship music, and a steady wave of edgy theologians nudging uncatechized folks to rethink their faith, we are seeing the effects. We have ended up with a church all too aware of feelings and emotions and utterly unfamiliar with creeds, core confessions, sound doctrine and scriptural holiness. Feelings and emotions, which are the currency of decisions in our culture (and too often in the church), are dangerous if not held in check by core confessions of doctrine and theology that are vibrantly and actively lived out in a believer's day to day life.

An uncatechized church is not equipped in how to echo the faith to the next generation.Thus, it will be tossed around by waves of the sea (Eph. 4:14), willing to entertain other gospels (Gal. 1:6) with itching ears (2 Tim 4:3), eagerly waiting for the next viral theory or idea from culture. Being taught what the church believes, receiving it as our own confession and then learning how to practice these truths in the world is where we, as the church, find God's mission to and for the world.

I’m convicted by Peter’s words in the first Post-Pentecost sermon, “let all of Israel know for certain that this Jesus, God has made both Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:36). There are no apologies or shying away from the truth that spans heaven and earth, there is only bold proclamation with his tongue. Clearly, Peter has been taught and is now teaching.

This truth continues in the church today - it is this confession, “Jesus is Lord,” that governs the culture of the church. Our emotions, our feelings, what prevents us from being “canceled,” and what keeps us culturally relevant are not the measuring rod upon which we have our being; it’s in Christ, the cornerstone of the church (Eph. 2:20).

Generally speaking, the church of America has not been catechized, we have not been taught the ancient paths. We are steeped in kitschy sayings that we have slapped on t-shirts, but those are about as useful as taking a shower in the middle of the afternoon on a sultry July day in eastern North Carolina.

The ancient path of catechesis in the church must be reclaimed. Cute curriculum, lazy lyrics, and edgy books will not suffice for church renewal. To be renewed, we must reclaim catechesis. In a culture that is rapidly changing and steadily redefining with each generation, we need not offer a generational message, but eternal truths that have been proclaimed to all generations.

David Luke Whitehead serves as the Pastor of Discipleship to the community of saints, in Christ, at Nashville UMC in Nashville, North Carolina.