J. I. Packer on Catechesis — Catechesis Renewal

The widespread assumption that church bodies can baptize infants and then automatically catechize those babies into the faith when they are preteens or early teens has been challenged by evangelicalism’s stubborn commitment to make a personal decision about Jesus Christ.

Pastorally it is always helpful to go back to Jesus and his teaching to ask:

The widespread assumption that church bodies can baptize infants and then automatically catechize those babies into the faith when they are preteens or early teens has been challenged by evangelicalism’s stubborn commitment to make a personal decision about Jesus Christ.

Christ-centered preaching is not merely an interpretive method; it is an exegetical obligation with necessary implications for the saving and sanctifying messages we preach.

Carey argued, Christians must expect great things — and not only must we expect them; we must attempt them. No matter how small the beginning, no matter how complicated the task, in the power of the Spirit, under the authority of the risen Christ, we can have absolute confidence in the success of our mission. In commissioning his church, Jesus had