New Catechism Book

Dear Family of Faith,

I am excited to announce that my Catechism Class, “Lord, Help Us Ever to Retain” is complete! Since February, I’ve been working on this: drafting, testing, revising, comparing other materials, etc. But now the wait is over.

These are the course materials I will be using going forward for all Adult and Youth Catechesis at Faith. Adults will go through at a faster pace, focusing on learning-by-heart the Text of the Catechism, studying the Key Bible Passages, and reading Luther’s Large Catechism. Youth will go through it at a slower pace, working through each piece in turn.

I have lots of ideas for supporting materials I’d like to develop (additional handouts, FAQ, comparison charts with other denominations, and perhaps a podcast or video series teaching through the material), but all that is for later.

This book isn’t just for those preparing for admission to the Lord’s Supper. As Martin Luther says in the preface to the Large Catechism:

[7] But for myself I say this: I am also a doctor and preacher; yes, as learned and experienced as all the people who have such assumptions and contentment. Yet I act as a child who is being taught the catechism. Every morning—and whenever I have time—I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, and such. I must still read and study them daily. Yet I cannot master the catechism as I wish. [8] But I must remain a child and pupil of the catechism, and am glad to remain so. Yet these delicate, refined fellows would in one reading promptly become doctors above all doctors, know everything, and need nothing. Well, this, too, is a sure sign that they despise both their office and the souls of the people. Indeed, they even despise God and His Word. They do not have to fall. They have already fallen all too horribly. They need to become children and begin to learn their alphabet, which they imagine they have long outgrown [Mark 10:15].

I share this with you all with the prayer that we may all join in imitating Luther, ever remaining children and pupils of the catechism, which contains everything one must know to be a Christian.

Christ’s peace be with you all,

– Pastor Laws, May 18th, A+D 2026

P.S.: Since WordPress won’t allow me to upload files over 2 MB, click here to view and download it from Google Drive.

P.S.S.: This has been updated and revised from a previous draft (1.5) that was given out to a few members in April and used to teach the Lord’s Prayer in Sunday School.