Creeds and catechisms

We reviewed the Apostles Creed and recited it in unison in class. Students from other denominations, Methodist and Lutheran, shared that they sometimes do the same in their worship services. As Baptists we don't subscribe to a specific creed and thus miss the predictability of set liturgy in other traditions. We seldom even recite the Lord's prayer. Creeds are wonderful summaries of our faith. Without them, we Baptists must take responsibility to articulate what we believe in. Hence, Baptists tend to focus on teaching through Sunday School: without set creeds, we must teach our members what to believe in.

Baptists will often state the "Bible is our creed". We quickly looked at some verses (Deut 6:4, 1 King 18:39, Matt 16:16, Matt 28:19, Rom 10:9-10, John 1:49, John 6:68-69, John 20:28) which articulate the major beliefs of Christians: God, salvation, etc. While the Bible is our foundation, stating our beliefs in alternate ways is nevertheless quite helpful and useful.

While we don't have a set liturgy, we do have a set order of set order of service. Liturgy can be quite helpful in worship as it is the best of historical worship formats. Without liturgy, we are freer to express worship, but must then deal with the inevitable failings of individual worship leaders.

While the FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions") is a modern term, the concept is ancient. Catechisms (Greek for "to teach by word of mouth") are church "FAQ"s to answer what we believe in a question and answer format. Some traditions continue to use catechisms; instead of Sunday School, there are catechism class that young and old alike can attend. (We looked at some samples.) Again the strength of formal catechisms is that it gives set answers to common questions. In the absence of official creeds and catechisms, your humble Sunday School teacher will beg and borrow materials for this class.

The Shorter Catechism of Westminster is the most famous catechism in English protestant churches. It begins with "What is the chief end of man?" and answers with "Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever." It is still used in some circles today.

Our group exercise was to come up with some "FAQ"s about Christianity. The emphasis is on "frequent" not "obscure" or even "hard"! While we can't promise to get to all the questions, Christian beliefs do have a rational foundation. Catechisms are wonderful not for their set answers but for the fact that we can ask questions. "Faith seeking understanding" was the position of Saint Anselm of Canterbury. Faith that "merely believes what it ought to believe" is "dead" whereas “faith seeking understanding” is "an active love of God seeking a deeper knowledge of God" .