THE FAMILY CATECHISM - Passing Down the Faith

Are you like us where you failed to capture the hearts of some of your children? For us we failed to pass down vision, convictions, and wisdom to our little growing family. Looking back to the days when we were young parents it seemed the battle between pagan culture and the family culture I wanted to create but didnt know how to, paganism often won. Because of this many times I simply gave up.

After losing many battles, I believe to win the attacks on the family, we need to make strategic choices that prepare an environment of honor, faithfulness to Christ, and generationally-minded decision-making. One method our family has chosen to do this is to use a Family Catechism.

The word catechesis comes from the Greek meaning “to echo the teaching.” Catechism is a series of questions geared to help parents and all members of the family, including the extended family, to engage in the process of passing on the teachings and beliefs of the family —passing on a legacy of godly experiences and wisdom to their children that they can build on as part of a long-term vision for generational success.

In 2018 we created the beginnings of our family catechisim and each year we have slowly been adding to it. We especially use this for our yearly Scottish Covenanter celebration using it in a family sword fight—defending these truths and beliefs. We have used family history questions we wanted to pass down to help our children and theirs.

The Articles of Faith were added in 2023. They were written in 1842 by the Prophet Joseph Smith. They contain direct and simple statements of a number of doctrines and principles of our religion, expressing some of the differences between our beliefs and the beliefs of others. My wish as a grnadparent is that my family of all ages could explain and defend every single gospel principle—that they might have the opportunity to expound to someone searching for the restored truth.