Many churches may be familiar with lectio continua preaching in the form of the weekly practice of preaching consecutive passages through a book of Scripture. Catechetical preaching uses a catechism to organize the weekly sermons rather than the book of Scripture. Does that make catechetical preaching unscriptural? By no means!
While some catechetical sermons may derive their points directly from the catechism and others merely use the catechism to determine the topic and then select a pertinent Scripture passage to exposit. Catechetical preaching merely provides the skeleton for the subject and points of a sermon, but it need not make the sermon unscriptural.
There are many benefits to catechetical preaching. It provides a wide range of Scriptural thought. It encourages familiarity with a system of doctrine. It also keeps before the congregation the basic fact that we have a catechism. We encourage people to work through it, reading it, and catechizing themselves and their children. Catechetical preaching fortifies this practice and helps people to embrace our secondary standards as a tool and help for us to understand what God has taught us about various doctrinal subjects. It aids in showing the unity and harmony of Scripture as a whole.
Resources
- Wayne Brouwer, “Preaching the Heidelberg: A New Look at the Tradition of Catechetical Preaching.”
- R. E. Knodel, Jr. “Catechetical Preaching“
- William Boekestein, “The Benefits of Catechetical Preaching: Catechism Preaching Is Another Kind of Bible Preaching“
- Jeffrey C. Waddington catechetical series on the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
- James J. Cassidy sermons
Participants: Camden Bucey, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy
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