Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism

If you want to teach your children Biblical truth, THIS is the book for you! My kids are 12 and 7 and they LOVE devotional time. They are more engaged than ever, asking deep questions, and it is a beautiful time for our family. Don't think about getting this book, just do it! 💜

We purchased this book a few weeks back thanks to Voddie Baucham's recommendation in his book Family-Driven Faith (another wonderful book, I will add).If you aren't familiar with this book, it's based off the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and it's a family catechism that takes about 5-10 minutes (depending on if you discuss more) each day. Each week (yes, week) you go over ONE question (there are 104 questions... it's a 104 week devotional). Then from Monday to Saturday you have short devotions that deal directly with each question as well as other Scripture readings that support the Q&A. What I really appreciate about this catechism is it's meant for parents teaching children, so the language is really easy to understand even for younger children (my daughter is 4). It also helps comprehension of each Q&A because it's something that is discussed for an entire week. Sure, younger kids won't grasp the important concepts, I'm sure, but they surely do learn to memorize. Some people frown upon this, but I do not. Kids learn through repetition, and though we did have a concern with this at first, we are finding that our daughter is very much learning the concepts and applying them. No, she is young, so it isn't like she's the next great theologian, but she is making the connections. And really, if we want to REALLY make the argument about being afraid that the kids will just repeat and learn nothing, can we not apply this same concept to adults? Do adults not do the same in many situations? I don't think I really have to answer this question. (See: Catholic church masses.)My ONLY slight critique (nothing worth removing a star), is I really wish the Scripture proofs were included with the overall Q&A. I ended up buying a cheap pamphlet for the Scripture proofs that was $1.50 here on Amazon with Prime Shipping. Let me explain: in most cases, the Scripture proofs ARE included, but they are included in the devotional sections, but they aren't actually linked to the questions; there is no place that points to that specific verse being the Scripture proof of the Q&A. This can easily be resolved through a quick Google search and a pencil, but I would've assumed that would be pretty standard. Of course, this book seems to be more of a devotional type of catechism, but would still love to see the proofs (labeled clearly AS proofs as well) included. Doesn't deter from the content, though.If you are serious about training your child in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, I highly, highly recommend this. It's one of our favorite resources we have found.

I'm currently using this book for our Teen Youth meetings. I'm the youth leader and this book is used to lay our foundation.

Hey!!! Don't let the word 'catechism' scare you off! That word simply means teaching by asking questions and student memorizes the answers.I used this when homeschooling my now 20-some year old last child. I am now using it with my grandchildren.It is arranged in very short, daily readings for Monday through Saturday, with a reading of the question(s) and a reciting of the answer before and after. The children (and adults) will have the answers memorized by the end of the week.If you want your children to understand the critical things of the bible properly - THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU.

While my wife & I were raising our 2 children family devotions were at best spotty. We go to a reformed Presbyterian church and are faithful in attendance, but struggled with several aspects of family worship: what to do, being consistent, how to keep their attention, how to give them life lessons they can take with them... This book was truly a "Godsend". It simply does what Christian families have done for hundreds of years. It goes thru the Catechism in a systematic way that uses crayon words that children can understand. It took @ 2 years to go thru. It kept us focused and consistent. If truth be told, I may have gleaned more from it than my children. It's not trendy, it's not pop psychology, but it's not boring either. I have bought a dozen or so copies in the past years as gifts for parents. I think it was one of the best things we have done for our kids.

One of the shortcommings of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is that when compared with the Heidleberg Catechism and Luther's Shorter Catechism one can feel as thought they have just exchanged the warmth and vibrancy of the Christian faith for a list of words and their definitions. This has often made the catechism difficult to use in the context of discipling young children.With this book, we should all be extremely grateful to Starr Meade for this very helpful devotional. The author covers each question from the Westminster Shorter Catechism over six lessons. This enables families to take an entire week to reflect and think about how each question is drawn for the Scriptures and how they might apply to our lives and Christians.As a pastor, I am always looking for material that can encourage families in their devotions. This is a welcome volume. My only quibbles are that each lesson is very short and I would like to have see more Scripture used for each study. But these last comments shouldn't dissuade anyone from buying this book.

If your kids have already been working to learning the Shorter Catechism, this is a great "next step." (But you could also use this to memorize the Short Catechism together as a family, if you have not done so yet!) The devotional is broken into daily devotionals to tackle one Catechism question per week. Lots of supplemental Scripture references woven into the devotionals. I used this with my middle schoolers, but it could easily be understood by older elementary kids and not seem too "silly" to high schoolers.

It is a wonderful daily devotional. It helps both children and parents understand the shorter catechism in depth and relate the truth to our daily life.

Solid framework for Bible study with children. Yes the language and illustrations are a little Americanized at times to read verbatim but in reality does not sell itself as a read a long book (if indeed you can possibly disciple people effectively by doing so). Thought provoking, stimulating, chastening - an excellent tool for the family.

We bought this to assist our family devotions as we are going through the chatchism. Overall it is simply put and has some good illustrations although I would say some are better than others so we pick and choose a bit. Not much else like thi out there.

Fantastic devotional and a good way to learn the catechism and do devotions at the same time.

This is a great daily/weekly study. The questions themselves are too old for my children for the most part, (oldest is 6) but I can take time to teach and explain and the study helps excellently with that too.

my kids are younger so we are using the truth and grace booklet to get started, but as children get older this will be our go to catechism book. Especially useful with the additional study material - use as a daily family devo!