New City Catechism, Week 17 (Question 17)

Q: What is idolatry?

Children’s answer

A: Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator.

Adult/older children’s answer

A: Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security.

Video explanation:

Song to assist with memorization:

Relevant Scripture to read:

Romans 1:21 and 25

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. . . . They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. . . .

Children’s Activity (printable pdfs)

Younger Kids (pages 34 and 35)

There are no resources for older kids currently available for this lesson.

Special thanks to Del Rey Church for sharing their New City Catechism kid resources with us!

Devotional questions for individual/family/group discussion:

1. What are 1-2 examples of idolatry in the Old Testament? What about the New Testament?

2. What is someone or something that you are tempted to place your ultimate trust in? What do you think are the biggest idols of the context that we live in?

3. Can you think of a time in the past that one of your idols let you down? What were the effects?

4. What are some ways that a diverse community can help us identify our idols?

For an additional “deeper” dive into this question and answer, check out this video from Dr. Michael Allen (which a few of the above questions are based on):