If I had to wrap up this idea, I think I’d say that thoughts on doctrine and theology are somewhat divided. I didn’t hear anyone say they weren’t important, but some were concerned about implementation. I think that is key. If it’s this race to fill a child’s head with knowledge, then that’s not success. It’s like knowledge without life. Think of the pharisees for Chirst’s time. They knew the Law better than anyone, but their hearts haden’t been transformed. There is a very high value on life transformation. Personally I believe that these two walk hand in hand, one without the other is dangerous.

If anything, I feel that some of our churches and ministries today are not as intentional about the theology and doctrine part… but focusing primarily on life transformation. Yes, doctrine is in our curriculum, but are we relying too much on our curriculum to tell us what we need to teach our kids? Do we have an intentional plan of teaching our kids theological concepts from birth to college? To be honest, many curriculum publishers do put thougth into this and plan this into their scope and sequence. However, I know Children’s Pastors. I’ve been one for 11 years. Most of us don’t stick with any one curriculum for more than a few years. Something new comes along, so we switch or even some of us write curriculum ourselves (that’s fodder for another post). When we do this and we don’t have a plan for intentionally teaching theology and doctrine, our kids stand a chance of getting an incomplete foundation.

So, all of this was in my head last night and then I got this comment from Scott who works at Lifeway. He shared with me a document that Lifeway uses in developing their curriculum. He’s a teacher in his church and uses this document even as he’s planning his lessons. Check out the document here.

So, if you use LifeWay curriculum, you can be confident that this doctrine is systematically being addressed. If you don’t, then let this document be a guide and resource to you. Let it be a springboard into developing your own plan for intentionally teaching theology.

I guess I want to talk more about our intentionality concerning theology. There’s no doubt, we’re teaching theology every week. It’s in our curriculum. However, how often are we just teaching it when it comes up as opposed to having a plan and purpose for teaching good theology.

This has been something I know a lot of Chidlren’s Pastors have discussed, especially if you’ve come from an education background. In school, 4th graders don’t move to the 5th grade until they’ve mastered a set of standards. It’s universal, so when a child moves from Texas to Utah, a 5th grader should know what a 5th grader should know. I know, there are inherent issues with standards, but generally it’s working.

Where is this kind of stuff in the church? We’re not a government funded or regulated entity (thank Jesus), but where is this happening even in our own local churches? What “standards” do you want every 5th grader to know/believe before moving on the Middle School? What “standards” do you want every 5 year old to know before they move into elementary? It will never be perfect, but where is the intentionality?

I’ll be really frank… and I’m pointing a finger to myself as well. Our teenagers are walking away from the faith at an alarming rate. Many of these are the same teenagers that grew up in our Children’s Ministries. Yes, I know there are so many elements that may lead to this such as family, community and influences, but how could laying a foundation of solid doctrine or theology help? Am I just grasping at straws? I just see that this is really important but rarely intentional in execution.

Thoughts?

Catechism is a painful ritual and procedure for most devout young Catholics. It’s a list of well over a hundred questions. Each question had an answer and a verse or two to support the answer. Good catholic boys and girls memorized all these answers and sometimes the verses as well. For most, it’s a lifeless ritual, a shell of religiosity.

However, when I saw this, my spirit starting doing back flips. What I saw was good and solid theology. In many ways, catechism is the basics of the faith, theology boiled down to the key components. I started asking myself, “how can in incorporate this into my ministry? How can I get this into the hearts of the kids?” I see so many kids who know a lot of the Bible stories, but they don’t have a healthy and holistic understanding of good doctrine. Yes, a relationship with Jesus is vital. However, so is good theology. When life get’s messy, understanding God’s nature will go a long way in keeping that friendship strong.

Yeah, theology is taught all through our curriculum, but it’s rarely intentional.

Is this ever a concern for you? How do you incorporate good doctrine and theology into your ministry?

By the way, catholics are not the only ones with catechism. Several denominatons have their own. Here is the Baptist Catechism from the year 1813. Gotta love the baptists!