We are going to try something new in the worship service starting Sunday, September 7th. (We may actually try a couple new things, but I'll just mention this one now.) Starting that Sunday, before dismissing the little kids for children's church, each week I will take a brief few minutes to walk the church through a weekly catechism question. What is a catechism? A catechism is a series of questions and answers that summarize the doctrine of the church. Each question teaches one specific truth about Christianity. And by the time you work through each question and answer in the whole catechism, you'll have gotten a good handle on the general truths of Christianity. The church throughout time, in various places and various traditions, has used catechesis as a way of instructing people in the faith. Why do we want to do this in the worship service? First, because it's a good way to instruct all people in what we believe, and a reminder of fundamental truths. As people visit CBC, we never know what their background is. Going through a catechism is a good way of teaching those who aren't as familiar with Christianity. Second, it's an opportunity specifically to teach children. When we do this segment, we will specifically aim the message at kids so that our young ones may be taught in the faith. Third, we anticipate it will be an opportunity to give parents, especially fathers, experience in teaching kids. For the first few months, I plan to lead and teach the catechism segment. Then, after we work into a rhythm, my plan is to have other fathers in the church lead the time of catechism. My goal is that this will give others experience and motivation in learning how to instruct their own children in the faith, as they think through how to instruct all the kids in the church. In working through catechism questions as a church, our hope will be to model how we can teach and catechize at home. Additionally, we will encourage you to read and talk through each week's catechism question in preparation for Sunday. In so doing, our hope is to build up the whole church in the faith!