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 “The Boy Jesus in the Temple” is by He Qi, a former theology professor and well-known painter from China. Image courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library. |
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Why Preach Sermons Based on a Catechism?
It turns out that preaching sermons based on the Heidelberg Catechism (or other confessions) hits home with worshipers, including those from the postmodern generation.
According to this Reformed Worship intergenerational survey, it’s the oldest church members who say they find catechism preaching helpful for living the Christian life.
So you may be surprised to hear that younger Christians—even people not yet believers—also find themselves intrigued by sermons based on catechisms. At least that’s the experience that several church planters shared at a recent Calvin Symposium on Worship panel.
Stanley Mast, minister of preaching at LaGrave Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, led an eight-month study on preaching confessionally to postmodern audiences. Many church planters in this study decided that catechisms and confessions are still relevant because they provide background and guidelines for preaching about basic Christian truths.
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Catechism sermons still relevant?
“I wanted to pose a question to new church planters: ‘Is it possible or advisable to preach evangelistically using a catechism or written confession?’ ” Mast says.
He and the study participants—who serve postmodern communities in urban, rural, and university settings—knew they were starting from a different point compared to preachers who serve people who’ve grown up going to church, as have their parents and grandparents.
For example, in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), which used to have good attendance for morning and evening services, the evening sermon was based on the Heidelberg Catechism.
This 16th century confession has 129 questions and answers, each with multiple Bible references. The Q & As are conveniently divided into 52 Lord’s Days, so that each year, congregations hear sermons on core Christian truths. The Heidelberg Catechism covers guilt, grace, gratitude; the Trinity; baptism and the Lord’s Supper; the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer.
Other well-known catechisms include Luther’s Small Catechism, The Catechism: An Outline of the Faith (Anglican), Westminster Confession (Presbyterian), and United States Catholic Catechism for Adults. Catechisms offer excellent material for planning sermon series.
“But church planters today are preaching to people who don’t believe in the Bible or the creeds. Most postmoderns aren’t interested in the institutional church. They know they ‘don’t believe what people in the church believe’…though they don’t know what those beliefs are,” Mast explains.
 How do you explain life and death comfort to people who don’t know the symbolism of the cross? |
Confessions worth preaching
Gregg DeMey grew up in the CRC, which he describes as a “super-literate denomination.” Now he teaches music theory at a community college and co-pastors Lakeside Chapel, a CRC church plant in Ludington, Michigan.
“In a room of Christians, we can talk about the justice of God. In a church plant situation, it’s foolish to think people believe in heaven, hell, and a final judgment,” DeMey says.
He looks for what he calls pre-biblical steps to open up conversations about faith. This includes using personal stories to help people understand what it means to hear God or follow Jesus amid lives of “brokenness, flaws, and mischief making.”
Talking about faith also means using real life events to enter conversations already going on in people’s heads.
When a Ludington junior high student told staff, “I think my friend brought a gun to school,” authorities found a loaded gun and list of names in the friend’s backpack. “One person on the list was a math teacher who goes to our church,” DeMey says.
“Two days later, kids who’d never been to church came to our weekly prayer meeting. And two days after that, someone called in a bomb threat to the jail. So 80 prisoners, law enforcement officers, and neighbors had to evacuate to the nearest parking lot, which was our church lot.”
The shock of what might have happened affected Ludington residents. DeMey realized it was “a good time to look to older and wiser people, a good time to use ideas from the Heidelberg Catechism, like ‘What is your only comfort in life and death?’ ”
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Background to explain basic truths
Amy and Henry Schenkel co-pastor Monroe Community Church, a church plant in a Grand Rapids, Michigan, neighborhood of condos and lofts in renovated warehouses. “Most residents are college students, young professionals or empty nesters. Many never went to church or left long ago. They think of church as scary and out of touch,” Amy says.
So naturally, she and Henry don’t advertise sermons or sermon series as “based on the Heidelberg Catechism.” But they say they find the catechism’s structure and phrases extremely helpful background for preparing sermons.
“Amy and I took a call five years ago to start a church out of nothing. We have a task of bringing people together. But around what when people don’t know the Bible?
“It was great to work with Stan Mast and study the Heidelberg Catechism. That catechism was written in the first place because a lot of people didn’t understand basic Christian truths. It answers all these questions in our head, like ‘Is there any hope?’’ or ‘What do you do when your family is falling apart and you need something beyond yourself?’ ” Henry says.
He describes the traditional three-point Heidelberg Catechism as “totally valid, essential.” Preachers in different settings might talk about sin, salvation, service; or guilt, grace, gratitude; or creation, fall, redemption. At Monroe Community, the Schenkels explain it as “God made everything. We screwed it up. Jesus saves. We live with all we’ve got till Jesus returns.”
And when people join the church, they aren’t asked to answer whether or not they believe certain propositions. Instead, Henry explains, “We ask, ‘Do you own God’s story? Do you see your life as fully in God’s stories, in the Bible stories…?’”
One young man attended Monroe Community for 18 months but rarely talked—till he asked to be baptized. He didn’t use the language of the Heidelberg Catechism, but he was in sync with its concepts. Because when Amy and Henry asked why he wanted to be baptized, Troy explained, “Well, I’ve been feeling a little dirty lately.” And, in looking for another way to live, he recognized at church the life and story he wanted to own.
The story continues... Peter Choi on Preaching the Heidelberg Catechism to Generation X
 People share ideas at a Calvin Worship Renewal Grants Colloquium. |
Text by Joan Huyser-Honig
Photography by Steve Huyser-Honig
Don’t miss the bonus story on planning sermon series for postmodern audiences.
Listen to the Calvin Symposium on Worship panel discussion of Stan Mast and church planters talking about preaching from the Heidelberg Catechism. Hear Peter Choi’s sermon series “The Journey Home.” Read or listen to sermons that Stanley Mast has preached on various psalms.
Want to include the Heidelberg Catechism in your worship? Then “steal” these worship service plans on comfort or gratitude, check out sermon starter ideas (scroll down), and order recommended resources for different models of catechism preaching.
Peruse contemporary painter Rachael Van Dyke's Heidelberg Catechism gallery
of paintings
(scroll down to Heidelberg Q & A).
Delve deeply into An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism: Sources, History, and Theology by Lyle Bierma, Charles D. Gunnoe, and Karin Maag.
Read Robert Swierenga’s fascinating account of catechism preaching and other changes in Reformed and Christian Reformed Churches in Chicago. Though catechism preaching has declined in many denominations, Christianity Today reports that it’s on the upswing in some nondenominational churches.
Remembering the Faith: What Christians Believe by Douglas Brouwer is easy to study and discuss as a group.
Presbyterians, especially, will benefit from Enjoying God Forever: Westminster Confession (Foundations of the Faith) by Paul Smith. Learn how to integrate Luther’s Small Catechism in worship and church education.
Find ancient creeds and catechisms associated with various Christian traditions. Notice how the more recent Barmen Confession and Belhar Confession put beliefs and doctrines in modern political contexts.
Browse related stories about creeds in worship, developing faith vocabulary in new churches, sermon resources, and using commentaries.
Feel free to print and distribute these stories at your staff, council, or worship committee meeting. These questions will get members talking about catechism preaching:
- These stories talk especially about preaching to postmodern audiences. How closely do the profiled congregations match your congregation…especially your new members or visitors?
- In what ways, if any, does your church use a catechism? How has this use changed over the years? What advantages or disadvantages do you see in these changes?
- What are the best reasons you see for basing sermons or church education on preaching? What are potential dangers or drawbacks?
- Which first steps might you like to experiment with in catechism preaching during your worship services?
What is the best way you’ve found to acquaint your church with a catechism? Please write to us so we can identify trends and share your great ideas. Whether you do these or any other things, we’d love to learn what works for you:
- Did you create a catechism-based sermon series that is especially multisensory or interactive? If so, will you share your materials with us?
- If yours is a congregation with a history of catechism preaching, did you interview people from different age groups about what they found helpful or not helpful about the catechism and which catechism insights have shaped their lives?
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This story was originally posted on August 31, 2007. External links were operative at the time the story was posted, but may have expired since then.
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This article was first published by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, http://www.calvin.edu/worship/stories/.