Covenantal Catechism, Book 5

Covenantal Catechism helps parents raise children who need more Scriptural understanding of the Gospels so they can make a clear and complete biblical confession of faith and live it out. Book 5 is for beginners or ages 9-11 and surveys the book of the Acts of the Apostles. It contains lessons, reviews, memory work and songs, and Bible reading assignments. The Teacher's Handbook contains instructions for effective teaching of Book 5: Acts and an answer key. Catechism Means Question and Answer This package includes: Book 5: Acts  Book 5 Teacher's Handbook After Jesus had led and taught the disciples three years, He posed this question to them, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Embedded in that short exchange is the essence of catechism and the essence of the covenant. Covenant is God revealing Himself and his people responding. This catechism curriculum then is built on that premise. Since God’s revelation of Himself is one of the words He expects His people to respond first of all with words. It is upon that "God speaking, people answering" dynamic that this covenantal catechism program is based. Teaching What God Says—The Bible The first part of a covenantal catechism program then will consist of teaching our children what God has said and is saying to them in His Word, the Bible. The series of books you see on this site is dedicated to assisting in filling that purpose—to reveal through the Bible the Word and works of our God. We may call this first part Scripture Catechism. Teaching What the Church Answers—The Confessions The second part of a covenantal catechism program will teach our children how they should answer our God; what confession of faith they should make. This normally takes form by teaching them the confessions of the church to which they belong. Although Line of Promise Press does not yet publish confessional catechetical material, much is available. You will find a page listing material available on this site. We call this second part Confessional Catechism. What Is Our Doctrinal Position? Reformed and Covenantal These books are Scripture Catechism, and express a standpoint that is both Reformed and covenantal. The teaching is Reformed. The books teach from a perspective reflecting the great Reformation confessions — the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. They belong to the heritage commonly known as “Reformed” to distinguish it from the Lutheran and Anabaptist streams of the Reformation. Our Scripture catechism books clearly follow the great Reformation themes of Scripture Alone, By Faith Alone, Through Grace Alone, By Christ Alone, and To God Alone Be the Glory. The teaching is clearly covenantal. The books and lessons teach that the Bible is the one revelation of the Triune God. God’s revelation is one, His church is one—Old Testament and New Testament—His salvation is one, always and only through Jesus Christ, from Adam onward. They teach that God, from Adam to the present, has included children in the unbelief, and also in the belief, of their parents. These books, therefore, teach that infants born to believers are, along with their parents, members of the Church of Jesus Christ. They teach that as God establishes His covenant with children, He speaks to them through His Word, also by means of catechism instruction, and expects and requires an answer of faith from these children. They teach that the children are a covenantal unity of prophet, priest, and king. This means that the children, as an image of God, have been equipped with intellect, emotion, and will. This catechetical instruction will seek to inform their intellect, their mind; to call for a response of faith and love from their heart, and finally to challenge them to choose, to act, to live, in obedience to God. John Owen commends catechism teaching by saying, "More knowledge is ordinarily diffused, especially among the young and ignorant, by one hour’s catechetical exercise, than by many hours continual discourse." You will find that all the great Reformers and church leaders of the 16th and 17th centuries—Calvin, Luther, Knox—called catechetical instruction essential.