Tag: spiritual
Have You Begun to Catechize Your Children? Should You?
Posted on April 20, 2017 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
Most Protestant parents have never given catechism a first thought, much less a second-thought. Our Protestant churches, Baptist in particular, don’t consider catechism important and give no effort to teaching parents its importance.
In this short video, however, Tim Keller gives a few reasons why catechism is an important aspect of spiritual formation in children. Rather than relying solely on the church to teach and train kids parents are to be intimately involved in this process.
Catechism, meaning memorization, is not something only Catholics do, although we tend to think of Catholics when we think of catechism. Catechism is the process of spiritual formation designed to impart biblical knowledge and teach children God’s word. And, as Keller points out, “memorization always leads to mediation.” This memorization and meditation is one of the key benefits of catechism. But it’s also critical for spiritual formation in a culture that is saturated with information.
5 Practical and Spiritual Benefits of Living with Less Junk
Posted on June 2, 2016 in Family, Theology by Nathan Cherry
Some people are going to freak out when they start reading this article. It’s going to send you into nervous twitches and make you want to run from the room screaming. That’s because you have so much stuff in your house the thought of getting rid of anything is one of abject horror.
I’m one of those people that really believe “less is more.” A number of years ago I started looking around our house and realized we had so much stuff we didn’t use. There was things in the kitchen, things in the living room, things on the walls, and things in our closets. From clothes to knick-knacks, utensils to tools, we had more than we needed. I began removing some of these unused items in order to “simplify” life. The more I removed the better I felt. That started a journey into minimalism.
I think it all started with a mission tip to Jamaica. I saw people living with so much less and they seemed to be very happy. They didn’t care that they didn’t have the latest iPhone, or that they only had 3 shirts in their closet instead of 30. The Jamaican people I encountered cared far more about the relationships in their life than the amount of stuff.