In the book, How to Teach The Catechism to Children, by Joyce M. Horton, there are some helpful discussion questions / topics you can use during the Truth Made Known time. 

Q. What are the two sacraments? A. Baptism and the Lord’s supper

A sacrament is an outward, holy sign or seal begun by Christ which testifies to the application of the covenant of grace to believers. (And outward sign of an inward act). 

The Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion) is the passing and partaking of bread and wine (grape juice) in church. It’s a special time at church when we join together to remember how Jesus sacrificed for us by dying on the cross. 

• Communion is also called the Lord’s Supper because we eat together at church just like Jesus did with His disciples the night before He died. 

• Jesus told us we should continue to eat this special meal of bread and wine (or grape juice) to always remember Him. The bread reminds us of Jesus’ body, and the wine reminds us of His blood. 

• Jesus gave His body and His blood away when He died for our sins. He did this to take the punishment we all deserve so that we won’t have to be punished when we die but will go to Heaven with Him.  

•  The Lord’s Supper is symbolic and not literal. We are not literally drinking Jesus’ blood and eating His body.

Baptism is a visual picture of a person's relationship with Christ. It shows others that our old way of life is gone and now we are a new creation in Christ. We’ve been “washed” clean. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone belongs to Christ, then he is made new. The old things have gone; everything is made new!”

• Baptism does not really wash away our sins. Jesus is the only one who can take away our sins.

• Baptism is a symbol of what Jesus has already done for us. Because Jesus died and rose again, when God the Father looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin. He is looking at our hearts through the blood of Jesus. 

• Think about a wedding ring. Does a wedding ring make someone married? No. You must go through a wedding ceremony and sign a legal document to be married. A wedding ring is a symbol, it shows people that they are married. If a married person takes off their ring are they still married? 

• Baptism is a symbol. It shows others that our lives are new and different because we follow Jesus.

Scripture Reference:

Colossians 2:11-12 - In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Q: Why did Christ appoint these sacraments? A: To distinguish his people from the world, and to comfort and strengthen them.

To be distinguished means that we are set apart - we are different. These are ways the Christian shows the world that we are different. We are set apart from the world.

Comfort means to make one feel better - like a mother comforts her child when they are hurt. The Lord’s Supper and baptism are given to us as a comfort. They clinch or seal. It makes us know that we are children of God. 

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion) help us when we are down; they remind us that we are God’s children and that we are growing on the nourishment of Christ; and they strengthen us. 

Scripture Reference:

Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 - For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”[g] 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

In the book, How to Teach The Catechism to Children, by Joyce M. Horton, there are some helpful discussion questions / topics you can use during the Truth Made Known time.

Q. Before Christ came, how did believers show their faith? A. By offering the sacrifices God required .

The Lord Himself required the shedding of blood as payment for sin, for He says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin,”

Think about what happened in Genesis when Adam and Eve had sinned and covered their nakedness with fig leaves. The leaves may have covered their nakedness, but did nothing to cover their sin.

The Lord killed an animal because blood HAD to be shed for their sin. Adam and Eve used fig leaves to cover their nakedness (representing man’s effort to cover their sin).

The Lord killed the animal, clothed them with the skin of the animal, and thus covered their sins sufficiently through the shed blood of the animal.

Scripture Reference:

Hebrews 9:22 - Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 10:1 - The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

Q. What did these sacrifices represent? A. Christ, the Lamb of God, who would come to die for sinners.

Refer to John 1:29 when John the Baptist says, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”

All those years in the old testament they had sacrificed lambs, bulls, turtle doves and all manner of sacrifices, but the Lamb was the Passover offering.

John meant - “here comes the perfect sacrifice, the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.”

They had to bring their own lamb for sacrifice. It had to be out of their own flock. If they didn’t own one, they had to buy one. They couldn’t borrow a neighbor’s; they had to sacrifice their own lamb.

So when John said, “The Lamb of God,” he meant, “Here comes God’s own sacrifice, He’s going to sacrifice His lamb and that’s going to take away the sins of the world.”

These sacrifices were types that showed the faith of the person in the Old Testament who looked toward the cross - the faith in a saviour to come.

What saves us is looking back at the very same cross. Our belief is in a Savior who did come. Their belief was in the same Saviour who was to come .

Scripture Reference

1 Peter 1:18 -19 - For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

John 1:29, 36 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

In the book, How to Teach The Catechism to Children, by Joyce M. Horton, there are some helpful discussion questions / topics you can use during the Truth Made Known time.

Q. What do the Ten Commandments teach? A. To love God with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself.

The first four commandments teach our duty to God.

The sum of the first 4 commandments: To love God with all my heart

Duty is defined as our responsibility - what we owe to God. It’s what he expects of us, it is what is required

The last six commandments teach us our duty to our fellow men - that is, what we owe to our fellow men.

The sum of the last six commandments: To love my neighbor as myself.

The ten commandments then all add up to loving the Lord with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself.

Christ said to love your neighbor as yourself.

Ephesians 5:29 - “After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—” This tells you how much you love yourself. That is how completely you are to love your neighbor.

Phil 2:3-4 - in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

We are to be as concerned about our neighbor’s welfare as we are about our own. We see, then, just how far short we fall in obedience to this sum total of the law.

Scripture Reference:

Deuteronomy 6:5 - Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Matthew 22:37-40 -Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Romans 13:9-10 - The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Q. Of what use are the Ten Commandments to you? A. They teach me what is pleasing to God, and how much I need a Savior.

So, what good are the ten commandments if you can’t keep them?

They teach us the perfection of God. His perfect standard. Man can never reach it. We all have learned that we can’t live those ten commandments. They show us our duty to God and our duty is to live perfectly.

Immediately when we see the perfection of the ten commandments and the sinfulness of man, what else do we see? We see our need for a Saviour.

We need Christ as our Saviour to save us from our imperfections. Because if you can’t get to Heaven by living the law perfectly, what is the only other way you can get there?

Somebody has to live that law perfectly for us, and has to pay the penalty for the fact that we didn’t. Christ did this for us. God, who inspired the Bible, says you must believe it to go to Heaven.

Scripture Reference

Deuteronomy 27:26 - Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.

Romans 3:20 - Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

Galatians 2:16 - know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

In the book, How to Teach The Catechism to Children, by Joyce M. Horton, there are some helpful discussion questions / topics you can use during the Truth Made Known time.

Q. What is the Lord's Prayer? A. The Lord's Prayer is "Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

In the Old Testament, God had revealed Himself to His people by names like Almighty, Covenant God, Lord of Hosts, All-Sufficient, Creator God, etc. But they had never known Him as Father before.

As far as I know, this is the first time they were told directly that they could call God “Father….” Imagine coming to God in such familiar terms!

There are six petitions in the Lord’s Prayer that cover just about everything for which we’d pray.

The first three petitions ask for things pertaining to the glory of God (just like the first four commandments are regarding our duty to God)

Hallowed (Holy) be your name Your kingdom (the realm in which God's will is fulfilled) come Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

The last three petitions ask for things pertaining to our needs (just as the last six commandments pertain to our duty to our fellow man).

Give us this day our daily bread (our daily needs provided for - we pray that our needs and God’s provisions will meet in His perfect timing. Forgive us our debts (sin or trespass) as we forgive our debtors Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us (to set free) from evil

This, probably, was to serve as sort of an “outline” for us to follow in our own praying. It would be good to let the children pray some prayers that would follow this outline but still be personalized.

For example, instead of saying “forgive us our debts” one could pray “please forgive me for losing my temper”, or “please forgive me for hitting my brother / sister today.”

Instead of “lead us not into temptation” one could pray “today on my test, please keep my eyes on my own paper so I won’t cheat” or “please help me not to disobey my parents when they tell me to do my chores.”

The Lord’s Prayer would likely become much more meaningful to the children if they spent some class time personalizing it in this manner.

It’s good to point out that this was not the way Jesus prayed, for He had no sins to confess. His prayer is contained in John 17 and is called Christ’s high-priestly prayer.

Scripture Reference:

Matthew 6: 9-13 - Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Luke 11: 2-4 - And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

In accordance with our church’s strategic plan to disciple deeply, the Children’s Ministry is introducing the Truth Made Known program.

The Truth Made Known program is designed to encourage our children and families to memorize and retain God’s Word and to hide his truth in our hearts. Children are given one or two catechism questions to memorize each month. We practice the memory verse and the questions every Sunday in class. You can find these questions on the coloring page your child brings home every Sunday. At the end of the month, the children will recite the questions in class and receive a sticker to mark their progress.

We use First Catechism: Teaching Children Bible Truths from Great Commission Publications. The books are available (one per family) in the Children’s Ministry office. These questions are great to discuss at the dinner table or during car rides!

We will be going over the questions this school year (August – May). We will switch to memorizing the books of the Bible over the summer!

We are so excited to partner with you, parents, in teaching these foundational truths. Additional resources will be made available. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Children’s Ministry Team.

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2024-25 Catechism Monthly Questions