Barb Totterdell July 1st 2018 ~ New City Catechism

This week we are starting a series on the Creed. We also start learning The City Catechism together. See the insert in this pewsheet for more information about this and the encouragement to engage with it yourself and with your family.It’s so vital that we are growing in our understanding of what we believe and that our lives are undergirded by a Christian worldview. There are so many worldviews trying to shape us often without us even realizing it. I’ve recently read This is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel by Trevin Wax. Such a good book: so helpful in helping us think about the myths in our culture that we often buy into, both intentionally and subconsciously, and how the gospel is a better story. Being shaped strongly in what we believe as Christians helps us to grasp that it is in fact a better story and to be able to see how it is different from the everyday myths of our culture.This is true for us as adults; it’s also true for our children and young people. Last week Kieran wrote in the musing about Sticky Faith and the statistics of young people abandoning their faith and I’ve referred a number of times to the many variables that the Here-to-Stay research has found to be of benefit to young people in maintaining their faith into adulthood. We are wanting to lay a strong foundation for our young people and for them to be strongly shaped in a Christian worldview, so that now and as they grow older they will be deeply convinced that the gospel is a better story than the everyday myths our culture throws at them. Information and formation are both crucial parts of this and we are hoping that the New City Catechism will be an effective tool for that - information gained through the questions and answers, formation through learning and exploration together, at home and at church. We reckon that many of us adults will gain a stronger grasp of the Christian faith and worldview through our engagement with it too!It’s definitely not just about information; it’s about grasping truths about God and the Christian faith that lead us to know how good God is, to love and worship Him more fully and to be more grounded in the truth of the ‘better story’, so that we are less tossed about by the various waves of the culture that we live in. It’s also about formation – by giving parents a tool to use in the home as they embrace their role as the primary spiritual nurturers of their children, a tool for us to use to shape each other in the truths of the Christian faith and to form our children and young people during their times each Sunday morning. God works through information and formation to bring transformation. It’s our prayer that this will be the outcome of this teaching times and that we will be adults and young people who strongly know and live more deeply into the better story of the gospel and be shaped less by the everyday myths of the culture around us. Blessings,Barb