Episode 28: Discipleship as Catechesis (Dustin Messer)

Every youth pastor wants to make disciples. But how do we do that, and what can we learn from church history? Catechesis isn’t a boring or stuffy class for people to attend but a highly relational journey where the mentor disciples a student through the core doctrines, habits, and disciplines of the Christian life. Youth workers who want to make lifelong disciples have much to learn from this long-held pattern of discipleship. After all, we aren’t the first Christians who are trying to pass the faith to the next generation. 

Discussion Questions:

• What is catechesis and how is it different from a catechism? 
• What’s the benefit of catechesis today? 
• Why do you think catechesis has lost favor in most churches today? 
• What are some core principles of catechesis that we can recover for discipling the next generation today? 
• If someone is coming from a nonliturgical tradition where catechesis and catechisms are completely foreign, how might they begin to introduce these lessons into their youth ministry? 

Resources mentioned in the episode: 

• Center for Baptist Renewal
• Gary Parrett & JI Packer, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way
• New City Catechism 
• To Be A Christian, an Anglican Catechism
• The Westminster Larger Catechism 
• YPT Article: How Catechesis Can Transform Your Youth Ministry 

Dustin Messer is vicar at All Saints Dallas in Texas. He also teaches at Kings College and Reformed Seminary. 

Follow Dustin on Twitter: @dustinwmesser 

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