Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, May 21. Our host is the President of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. We'll talk about what we can do as parents to teach "Big Truths to Little Children" on today's program. Stay tuned.
And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. We're going to talk today to a grandmother who is on a mission, Dennis.
Dennis: I've got a picture here. And if it was a time to teach big truths to little people. And I'm trying to count them all – one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten – there's a tenth one over in the corner. Is that one yours, Susan?
Susan: That's the granddaddy of them all.
Dennis: I was referring to your husband. That's the voice of Susan Hunt, who joins us here on the broadcast. Welcome to FamilyLife Today. Susan, it's a treat to have you back on the broadcast for many of our listeners. They've read your works. One is called "Spiritual Mothering – the Titus II Model for Women," "Mentoring Women," "True Women," "The ABC Bible Verses," "Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts," and this latest one, "Big Truths for Little Kids." Now, I know this is close to Bob's heart, because he's been doing something very similar to this with his children.
Bob: No, the truth is we've been stumbling along at something similar to this. Mary Anne has taken our kids through this book, "Big Truths for Little Kids," because all along, we have wanted to try to – and the formal word here is "catechizing" your children. We had begun to teach them one of the old catechisms. That's where you memorize a question and an answer. You know what I'm talking about?
Dennis: Right. I do.
Bob: And I was driving along with my son Jimmy, and he was about five years old, and out of the blue he turned to me and he said, "Hey, Dad. I know who the chief Indian man is." And I thought, I wondered what he'd been watching on TV. I didn't have any idea of what he was talking about. "The chief Indian man?" I said. 'What are you talking about?" And he said, "The chief Indian man. You know. The chief Indian man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
Now, what Jimmy was doing was taking the answer to the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which asks, "What is the chief end of man?"
Dennis: The chief Indian man.
Bob: And the answer is, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." But in Jimmy's little mind, it had become "the chief Indian man." And I realized our attempts at catechizing are simply not connecting with my young child.
Dennis: Now, please. Catechizing is the idea of instructing your children – not to be confused with cauterizing.
Bob: It does sound like a surgical procedure – "to catechize" – doesn't it?
Dennis: Susan, I know this is really important to you and close to your heart, but why is it so important to teach these big truths to little people?
Susan: As we catechize our children, as we give them this question-and-answer method, which is such a good way of instruction, what we're really doing here is giving them a framework of Biblical thought. It helps them to begin at a very young age to cultivate a Biblical world view. And they will not, perhaps, comprehend the full depth of what they're learning at the beginning, but they are memorizing these answers that they go back to as their understanding expands in years to come.
Dennis: Well, I'm going to brag on Bob as a dad at this point, and all the cauterizing that he's done with his kids. He, it's worked, at least with Amy. Because I got a piece that was sent to me by a proud pop the other day in my email, and it was just "A Reflection on the Culture" by Amy Lepine. And I'm going to tell you, there aren't many 18-year-olds anywhere in the world that could draw the kinds of Biblical conclusions that she drew, looking at the culture and all the messages – the mixed messages – of the world, and contrasting that with the Scripture. And I thought, "Now, where'd she get that?" This is the power of family that is anchored in the Scripture.
And so when you talk about teaching big truths for little kids, this is how we help them escape the snares of the enemy, and not just muddle through mediocrity to get to adulthood, but live above it. It can happen, can't it, Susan?
Susan: Yes, it can, and a catechism is simply a systematic way to teach the big ideas of the Bible – to teach those big truths that are there.
Bob: And you know, I think there's a lot of confusion around catechism today in the culture. Some people look at it and say, "I thought that was just something the Catholics do."
Susan: Right.
Bob: But it's been a part, not only of the Catholic tradition, but a part of the Protestant tradition, throughout the centuries. It's just something most Protestants let go of a while back. Right?
Susan: Yes. Many did.
Bob: And then there's the whole issue of memorizing questions and answers. And I think a lot of people go, "Well, what's the value of this rote memorization of things that some of these kids can't even understand at this point? Aren't we really more interested in reaching their heart than just having them memorize some meaningless facts?"
Susan: As they memorize these facts, that becomes a source of knowledge of who God is, who they are, the framework of Scripture, and then understanding can grow as they move on in their maturity. So it is important. It's important for them to memorize Scripture, and it is important for them to memorize these answers to questions that will help them to frame that knowledge.
Memorization is, in many ways, a lost art, but it is such an important thing for our children. And actually, below the age of five is when they're at prime time for memorization. Our grandchildren and the children in our church begin doing Scripture memorization and memorizing answers to catechism questions at three and four years old.
Dennis: And I've got to tell you, one of the finest ministries in America to young people, Awana, is a ministry that teaches young people at a very early age to begin this memorization…
Susan: Right.
Dennis: … of Scripture around the ABCs, and then it moves to higher levels, and it's a lot like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They have patches and competitions, and it's around the right kind of thing, Bob.
Bob: Well, here's the thing. We underestimate severely a child's ability, capacity, to memorize. I mean, when kids are young, they seem to have – it's almost like something gets flipped in our brain later on, and we can't do it as well. But when they're in those early years, they can quickly and easily – almost effortlessly – memorize some of these things that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Susan: Absolutely. And most people will say that the Scriptures that they know best are those that they memorized as a very young child. The Scriptures that I've memorized since then, in adulthood, I do not remember nearly as well as the ones I memorized as a little child.
So when we help the child memorize, we're giving them a legacy. And so often they will remember not just what they memorized, but they will remember that person who helped them to memorize.
Bob: You know, years ago, it occurred to me that the church we're a part of today does not recite the Apostles' Creed on a regular basis the way that I did when I was growing up. Every Sunday, we recited the Apostles' Creed. And in fact, I had to memorize the Apostles' Creed as a young person in order to take communion for the first time. That was a part of the tradition I grew up in.
And our kids – Amy, I think, was in junior high at the time – and I thought, "She doesn't even know what the Apostles' Creed is. She's never even heard it." And the Apostles' Creed, there's nothing magical about it. It's simply a short statement of what is at the heart of Biblical Christianity – that we believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, that we believe in Jesus, who's His only son, Our Lord, you know, and we go through kind of a systematic explanation of all of that.
So I came to the kids one morning at the breakfast table, and I handed each of them – I'd printed it out on the computer, the Apostles' Creed – and I said, "I want you to look at this. The first one to get it memorized gets five dollars." Now, this was back in the days when five dollars meant something to them. Today they'd go, "Five bucks?" and they'd set it aside.
Dennis: Yes.
Bob: But five dollars meant something. And I mean, they went to town to work to go after that five dollars. And I thought to myself, "Some people might say, 'Well, you were just bribing your kids at that point.'" You know what? I'll bribe them any time. It's the best five dollars you can invest – to get your kids to lock in on core Biblical truth.
Dennis: What you're doing is you're fulfilling Deuteronomy 6. Now, it doesn't say in there to give your kids five bucks as a reward, but I don't think God in heaven is upset with us rewarding our children for doing what's right and for following through on the command.
Susan, I want you to take our listeners – in fact, we have some little listeners who listen to FamilyLife Today. There are some neat letters that come into our mailbox here at FamilyLife, and – but what I want you to do is open the book. It's a great-looking book, and actually take us into your book, "God's Truths for Little Kids," and help us experience kind of what one of the chapters is all about. Each one's very short, aren't they?
Susan: Yes. Each chapter opens with a few of the questions and answers from the Child's Catechism, which is a simplified version of the Westminster Shorter Catechism that you referred to. And for example, the first chapter begins with, "Who made you?" and the child answers, "God." "What else did God make?" "God made all things." "Why did God make you and all things?" "For His own glory." "How can you glorify God?" "By loving Him and doing what He commands." "Why are you to glorify God?" "Because He made me and takes care of me."
Bob: Now, you would have a child memorize both the questions and the answers?
Susan: No, just the answers.
Bob: Just the answers to those five questions.
Susan: Yes.
Bob: Okay.
Susan: And even a very young child – our grandchildren from the age of about three can recite the answers to those questions. Well, right there, they have the basis for a Christian world view, because it takes them back to Creation, to the purpose of their creation, and to the authority of their creation.
But then what we've done – and the book was co-authored by our son, who is a Director of Children's Ministry – and Richie really helped in making it child-friendly. He knows the language. He could help with the story lines and things like that. So we did this together. We're both committed to teaching catechism to children.
But then we have a practical application life story, where some children really live this out. This first story's about children who go to the zoo, and they take with them a little boy from next door who is not a Christian. He's not from a Christian family. And when they come to the monkeys in the zoo, he says, "Look. We evolved from monkeys." And the little Christian children begin to explain to him, "No. God made us. God made us for His glory."
So from the beginning, through a little story about children going to the zoo, the children begin to apply Biblical truth into real life.
Bob: Now, this takes what they've memorized – the catechism answers – and gives them a chance to see that it's not just rote memorization.
Susan: Right.
Bob: But it's real truth that affects how you live on a daily basis.
Susan: Absolutely. And the beauty of it that, I have to admit, Richie and I didn't fully realize this until we got to the end and we looked back. And I said, "Richie, as I think about it, with all of these little stories, we've really covered the spectrum of the things that are important in family life." And the reason is because we were functioning on the track of systematic theology. That's what a catechism is. It takes you through Scripture in a systematic way,
And so as we went all the way through, we dealt with salvation, the family next door that the Christian family begin witnessing to and taking to church and establishing a relationship with. We went through all of the various things that families need to deal with – forgiveness, all of those things.
And we even came to death. As the older grandmother approached death and the way she talked to the children and the way she talked to them about heaven. And so we were able to deal with the full spectrum of family life.
Dennis: Something happened as you finished this book, and you began to get some feedback from the adults that surprised you.
Susan: Yes, it really did. We wrote it for the children, but we began to get letters and emails from families, from young parents who said, "We did not grow up in a Christian home, and we did not know how to do family. But by reading this to our children, we're beginning to see what a Christian family looks like. We're seeing how a Christian family relates to the church. We're seeing how a Christian family lives out their faith in their neighborhood."
And one of my favorite stories is of a little girl. Her parents were reading the book to her, and she said to them one night, "I must go out to all the children in the neighborhood who are not Christians, and I need to tell them about Jesus." And so she began inviting them to her home, and she would read the book to them. So…
Dennis: That's cool.
Susan: Really exciting, yes, great.
Dennis: And that's the way it was intended to be taught. You know, Deuteronomy 6 talks about, as you lie down, as you walk by the way, it was intended to occur around – well, I call it "sandbox theology." It's around things that are common to a child, where he lives his life and how he best understands it.
Bob: And you know, summertime is a great time to make a project out of something like this. For a mom or a dad to say, "Let's decide together that we're going to go through this book. We're going to memorize these questions and answers." And you can provide an incentive for a child to do it. "If you do it by the end of July, we'll go out for ice cream," whatever kind of an incentive you want to add to encourage your child to grow spiritually in the summer, and as a parent, to use a book like this to help make that happen.
And you said you're using this with children as young as three. How old can it go? What is the top age for children to stay engaged with a book like this?
Susan: We really had in mind those families that have children from, say, age three to 12 or so, that kind of an age span. And it seems to be working. Families with children in that age group tell us that it works for family devotions. And that was really what we were thinking about, that it's a book that they can use for family worship.
Bob: And when you get done with the story in each section, you don't just end there, right?
Susan: Right. There are some questions there, "Let's Talk." And then there's also a section, "Let's Pray." And what we're encouraging parents to do is to begin to pray Scripture for their children. So we give some ideas there, and also how they can help the children to begin to learn to pray Scripture.
Bob: Now, you didn't have a book like this when you were a mom with your kids growing up?
Susan: No, I didn't. But I did have the Catechism. And our children were catechized, and I would make up stories. And so that's part of what led to the writing of it.
Bob: How did you do that with your kids? I mean, when you were growing up, did you do it at breakfast? Did you do it in the evenings? Did you sit in the living room? I mean, just take us there and tell us how you would teach your kids the Catechism.
Susan: All of the above. We did it as a part of family worship. We did it as we were driving in the car going places, whether we were on vacation, or if we were waiting for someone to take piano lessons, I would be catechizing another child. We used it in all different ways, as well as in the programs within our church.
And that helps so much if other church families are doing the same thing. One of the other things that we tried very hard to do in this book is to not hold before our children a behavioral model that is saying to them, "You've got to do this, this, and this," but rather over and over to say to them, "You can't do this. We must go to the Cross. We must ask Jesus for grace to love that child who is bullying you. We must ask Jesus for grace to believe His promises."
Bob: When they're done with the catechism, they will have gone through the Ten Commandments, right? The Lord's Prayer?
Susan: The Lord's Prayer.
Bob: So they're getting exposed, not simply to concepts from systematic theology, but they're getting exposed to the essentials of what God has called His people to in the Scriptures. The idea of morality. The idea of prayer. The idea of a right relationship with Him. They have a foundation for their faith at that point.
Susan: Yes. And the section on salvation is magnificent, because those questions help the children to begin to understand the wonder of justification by faith, of sanctification by grace. So it's just a wonderful way to teach children and to be sure that we've covered all the bases.
Dennis: And you can begin to see why the adults begin to like it, too. Because many times those of us who fill the pulpit, we're really good at speaking of these concepts, but maybe not putting the cookies on the lower shelf where people can feed.
You know, Bob, I remember back when Susan was here a couple of years ago, and she talked about this project, and I thought, "Man! I wish our children were a little younger for this book." Because I like the idea of a systematic process to take your children through. And we taught them Bible stories, and we taught them the Bible, and we had some good storytelling that we did. But there's something about having a process that someone else who has done this – and this is a grandmother and her son who are showing us how to hammer this out in our families. And I just commend you, Susan. I think this is a great book that ought to be used by every family.
And I think, too, one of the things that's needed today is what you're providing here. We've got a number of young people today who are beginning their families. They do not know what it looks like. And you're actually helping them to establish the skeleton, and kind of wrap the flesh around that skeleton, to help them craft a family, make a family emerge from these little people coming into their lives. What a wonderful tool.
Bob: You may have heard this story, but John Piper tells about D.L. Moody making a visit to Scotland in the late 1800s, and he was talking to a local grade school. And he began his message with the rhetorical question, "What is prayer?" And when he asked that, he was amazed, because hundreds of children's hands went up all over the auditorium to answer his question. So he decided to call on one of the kids and see how they'd answer. He called on a lad in the front, who promptly stood up and said, "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God in the name of Christ by the help of His spirit with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies."
Dennis: Not a seminary class.
Bob: No, this was grade school children. This is the answer to Question 78 in the Westminster Catechism, to which Moody responded by saying, "Be thankful, son, that you were born in Scotland."
Dennis: And I would say to you, Susan Hunt, I am thankful for you spending these moments with us here on FamilyLife Today. You are a valued partner and friend in family reformation and in equipping couples and young families to build these Biblical truths into their children, and to help their children get to know God at a young age. Thanks for being on the broadcast today.
Susan: Thank you very much.
Bob: And let's hope that this fall there will be thousands of kids…
Dennis: Who will raise their hands.
Bob: That's right. And they'll know the answer to the catechism questions, because back at the beginning of the summer, Mom and Dad got hold of a copy of the book, "Big Truths for Little Kids," and they spent the summer working together to memorize some of these catechism questions.
We've got copies of the book in our FamilyLife Resource Center. In fact, we've recommended this to parents for years, parents who have come to us and said, "I want to make sure that my children at an early age are starting to learn not just the Scriptures, but also learning the theological truth around the Scriptures." And I, again, know that a three-year-old may not understand everything that they're learning and memorizing, but it will come back and serve them as they grow.
Again, the title of the book is "Big Truths for Little Kids" by Susan Hunt. You can go to our website, FamilyLife.com, to request a copy of this book. And let me mention that our friend, Charlie Boyd, has also written a storybook for children called, "What God Has Always Wanted," and it's the story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in an overview format so that children can get the big picture of the Bible. We've got that book available on our FamilyLife Resource Center as well. And if our listeners are interest in copies of both of these books, we'll send along at no additional cost the CD of our conversation with Susan Hunt today.
Again, all the information about these resources is available on our website at FamilyLife.com, or call us toll-free, if you'd like to order, at 1-800-FLTODAY. That's 1-800, F as in Family, L as in Life, and then the word TODAY. And someone on our team can help you with getting these resources sent out to you.
You know, at the end of some radio programs, the host will say, "I want to thank our sponsors today." And if we were to do that, it would take more than a program to be able to thank all the people who made today's program possible, because FamilyLife Today is listener-supported, and it's folks like you who have made donations over the years who have made it possible for FamilyLife Today to be on the air on this station at this time, and we appreciate your financial support, and we want to say a great big thank you to all of you help support the ministry of FamilyLife Today. We appreciate your financial partnership with us.
If you're a new listener to FamilyLife Today, we're glad that you're joining us, and we trust that you find the program helpful, as we seek to provide practical Biblical help for your marriage and for your family. And we'd like to encourage you to stop by our website at FamilyLife.com. Find out more about the ministry of FamilyLife, the resources that are available.
And at some point, if you'd like to make a donation to help with this ministry, we would love to hear from you. Now, you can donate online at FamilyLife.com, or you can call us at 1-800-FLTODAY. Thanks for tuning in and for listening, and we hope you enjoy spending some time on our website and finding out more about what's available from us here at FamilyLife Today.
Now, tomorrow we're going to hear Part One of a message from our friend, Pastor Paul Shepherd, as he outlines for us what God expects of us as husbands and as wives. And I hope you can join us for that.
I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine. We'll see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.
FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas – help for today; hope for tomorrow.
