Pastoral Position Paper - Virgil Hurt

We've begun the work of memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism. What a joy. You wouldn't think Calvin's Institutes and Turrentin's Elenctic Theology would be necessary pre-requisites for teaching a room full of little kids. But they are. Let me tell you about it.

The first five or six questions and answers were pretty straightforward. We had good discussions, but nothing eye popping or particularly problematic. However, by question seven, we were knee-deep in the mysteries of God, trying to decipher, from the Scriptures, some thorny issues in the history of the church. Q.7 asks, "What are the decrees of God?" "The decrees of God are, His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass."

Immediately there were several questions regarding Adam and Eve. For example, "If God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, then did He foreordain Adam and Eve to sin?" and, "If God ordained it, then how come we are still guilty for it?" You know, there are great volumes of work written on this doctrine. These little ones see the issues quickly. Unlike those who have grown wise in their own estimation, little ones are teachable and they believe what the Bible says about these things. God is sovereign and man is responsible. No problem. Nothing to reconcile. As Spurgeon said, "I never seek to reconcile friends." What a joy to know these kids are getting such fundamental doctrine so early! If they only knew what they know.

Question #13 encouraged more deep theological thinking. "Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?" "Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God." Right away, from an 11-year-old. "If Adam had never sinned, would we still be perfect?" Now that is an exceptional question. Have you thought of it before? Try to answer that one off the cuff.

Right away the glory of working our way through the catechism was apparent. We are trying to prepare these children to be able to answer the unbeliever, the skeptic, or the uninformed Christian. One of the ways to do this is to rephrase the questions in everyday language. I try to ask them the kind of questions they might hear from a friend that does not attend our church. Questions like: "What is God like? How do we know how to serve Him? Doesn't the Bible teach that there are three Gods? How did God create the world? How did God create man? How does God take care of us? What is the Bible all about anyway?"

These kids are beginning to recognize that they have the answers to all of these questions. It is wonderful when the light goes on and they "get it". I ask, "How do we know what God wants us to do?" Someone says, "The Bible says so." "Right, and what else?" An eight-year-old girl eagerly raises her hand. "Oh, yes, I know which one that is. The Bible is the Scriptures and the Scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man." Plato described this sensation of "getting it" as learning. It is a magical moment for both student and teacher.

After each ten questions we have a review class in the form of a Catechism Bee. They all line up and get peppered with questions. After the first ten questions we did our bee as teams. We squared off with the little kids vs. the big kids. Now, mind you, the biggest kid is twelve and the littlest is three. She's quite amazing, actually, but since she can't read yet, we don't have to worry too much about her reading this paper and swelling up with pride. Anyway, the kids lined up and the catechism bee commenced. As suspected, the wee ones trounced the not-so-wee ones. The three-year-old was left standing along with several others of the "under four footers". They were rewarded with an extra piece of candy.

It is fitting here to point out the ability of very small children to do quite well at memorization. They need to work hard to keep up, but three, four and five year olds can do this sort of thing. Our youngest pupil recently withstood our Catechism Bee for questions 21-31. Although words like justification, sanctification and adoption are a mouthful for her, she answered flawlessly, with much admiration from her older peers.

Incidentally, my own four-year old still has a difficult time memorizing even the first few catechism answers. Children mature at different rates, so, while you should make them work hard, you should not force them to do something they are incapable of accomplishing. Consider your own child's frame and apply wisdom to their training in godliness.

At our Bee for questions 1-30, I figured I could sit them down easily with so much material for them to repeat. We had about 30 scholars line up. This time, we did not line up as teams, but let each man stand for his own work. Well, the long and the short of it is, they beat me. There were 12 kids that could not be sat down. Some of them were older and some younger, but they were not going down. I had to resort to choosing numbers between one and ten so that a champion could be declared. He earned a mammoth size Crunch Bar.

A word about rewards. Don't neglect this important part of training your children. They need to understand that there are rewards for hard work. The children receive a treat if they study five of seven days. They don't have to do a big study session. Just five or ten minutes each day with mom and dad. This keeps them accountable for working a little bit each day and keeps dad and mom central in this important part of their religious training. If they bring in their study sheet, signed by dad or mom, they get a little candy. Just one measly little treat. You would be amazed at how motivating that little treat is. They are then asked the question for the day and each child stands up by himself and gives the answer. The answer must be without mistake and they get another candy and get to put a star on the chart we use to keep track of progress. They are very motivated to earn their reward and fill up the chart.

Another good motivator is to pay your kids for learning all the answers. A buck an answer earns them one hundred and seven dollars. That is a great investment in your child's future.

The method of "stand and deliver" is useful in several ways. In the beginning a few of the kids were very timid to stand up in front of the class and answer. These timid kids have matured tremendously and have now grown accustomed to being put on the spot. Furthermore, it is sometimes heart wrenching for me to see a child who really does know the answer, but has just lost it as he stood up, standing there in front of his mates with a blank stare. In the first few classes, watery eyes and twitching chins, were not uncommon. But this, too, is a benefit to them. They deal with it well and get a chance to give the correct answer after class and advance their chart. There are rarely tears now.

There are other kids, generally the older ones, who cannot get the exact answer, but they paraphrase. Now sometimes this is just because they didn't study. But if it is a good paraphrase, I know that that student understands the answer, and I am all the more joyful. However, he doesn't get a candy or a star until he has answered perfectly.

Question #31 asks, "What is effectual calling?" In trying to explain the answer, I asked if anyone knew what an effect was. Immediately a happy little eight-year-old shot up his hand and said, "Its when you scrape your knee and it gets all enffected". The catechism is great for these kinds of gaffs. You can bet his older sisters twisted in their seats at that one. A few weeks later this same boy asked, "If God is restoring us to righteousness, and we will be perfect in heaven, couldn't He have just made us perfect here on earth?" Now, wouldn't you say that is a thoughtful question? So, studying the catechism provokes profound theological discussion, and that among eight-year-olds.

Some people protest that catechisms are merely another religious exercise, as if we were encouraging the children to earn their way to heaven by learning their catechism. Well, this will always be a temptation among the religious. But this doesn't mean that we should quit being religious. We must be aware of our temptations and speak to them often.

There is another emphasis in our class that you should know about. The children must answer all 107 questions to finish. In addition to this, they must read the entire Bible. Since some of them cannot yet read, they are allowed to listen to the Bible on tape or have it read to them. They need to understand that the catechism is merely a summary of that much more magnificent body of infallible truth, the Bible. They can't get to heaven by finishing their Bible reading either, but if they become faithful Bible readers, they will always be bumping up against the marvelous truths they are learning now. Certainly God will use this to solidify their faith in Christ. And, as one of my scholars recently stated, one of the benefits which in this life accompanies or flows from justification, adoption, and sanctification, is insurance of God's love. We all need that insurance.