John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The past three or four years, all in our church family have been encouraged to pursue a pathway for spiritual growth individually or as a household, which is linked with our weekly church worship service. The goal has been to grow in spirit and truth. With our lives often scattered and our attention easily distracted, repeating a passage of the Bible or from a historic teaching tool, like a catechism, and then having resources in hand to pursue that teaching during the week, is as important as it ever was. To that end, in the past, we have invited everyone to walk together through the Westminster Shorter Catechism (English from 1640s) and the Heidelberg Catechism (German from 1563), using the daily readings from Starr Meade, and this last year, using the Read Scripture app for daily bible reading and helpful summary videos.
This year we are doing something similar and different. Similar in the catechism format (it just means using short questions and answers to learn important stuff), but different because it uses contemporary wording accessible in an app format. I hope everyone in our church will take a moment right now to download “New City Catechism” from your app store. Best of all, it is free. We will start the journey on Sun, Jan 6.
As you look at the app you will see 52 questions total…so, you guessed it…one question/answer per week. You will also see that for each question you can view a supporting scripture reference, read a short section from a helpful commentary, and listen to a little song. The songs can help everyone of any age, but in particular could be useful for moms and dads of young ones as they drive around town to activities, or spend time around the house. Even better, if you permit your child to have a device, let them download the app. I know at our house this last year we set a simple concept in place for our boys – 10-15 min of Read Scripture app each day, before any video game time. Can’t remember if you call that positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement, but it sure worked like a charm!
You can also find the videos here on a Youtube channel if you want to watch them as a family on a laptop or smart TV. We will have samples of several books for adults and kids that accompany the New City Catechism app. These are helpful for those who like to have an ole fashioned dead tree in their hand (like me), and because they provide supplemental content. They can be ordered here. The large one with the white cover replicates the exact content of the app.
One way to approach it might be to pursue a different element of the material Mon-Fri. Mon read the question and answer that you will have heard on Sun, Tues read the accompanying scripture passage, Wed pray over the application of the truth in your life, Thu read the first commentary entry and Fri the second. If you use a calendar on your device you could program these in as repeated weekly activities with a daily reminder to help. If you are doing it as a family or couple, your could each share questions it raises for you, or how you hope to apply it, or something new you learned.
If you have another devotional plan for the year, this certainly does not need to replace that, but it would be awesome if everyone in our church engaged with this process at some level, beyond our Sunday morning worship. As we do, we will look for the truth of God’s Word to transform us, and make a blessing to those around us for God’s Kingdom. John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.”
