Doctrine is not taught in many churches today, and that can cause problems and confusion. If we only teach piecemeal doctrine to our children, or if we only give them life application without the doctrinal foundation behind it, children will grow up without a firm foundation. They will fall for any argument because they won’t know what they believe.
How do we change that? Here’s a few things to consider.
Have a scope of what you want children to understand and know and at what age. Some curriculums have this, but every church needs to decide so they can choose the right curriculum and supplement where the curriculum is lacking.
Example: Preschool Foundational Truths
Teach Biblical truths before you teach life application. Life application is an important part of teaching children. But life application can only work if we start with a doctrinal foundation before we apply the application. For instance, we can teach children practical ways to forgive when others mistreat them. We can even have messages on how to handle things when you are bullied. But a better way would be to teach them about how much Jesus had to suffer to forgive them of their sins. That’s why they should forgive others. Once we teach that, we have the foundation to teach the life application to back it up.
Teach children the hard truths. Don’t just teach them that God is love, teach them that God is holy. Don’t just teach that there is a Heaven, teach about Hell. Teach children the whole Bible so they can stand when others assault their faith.
Catechism: Catechism is considered a thing of the past and mostly for Catholic churches, but every church should have a class taught to children about the doctrines of the church. They need to know what they believe and why.