New City Catechism, Week 48 (Question 48)

Q: What is the church?

Children’s answer

A: A community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together.

Adult/older children’s answer

A: God chooses and preserves for himself a community elected for eternal life and united by faith, who love, follow, learn from, and worship God together. God sends out this community to proclaim the gospel and prefigure Christ’s kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another.

Video explanation:

Song to assist with memorization:

Relevant Scripture to read:

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Children’s Activity (printable pdfs)

Younger Kids (pages 26 and 27)

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 reflection and discussion:

1. How does your church exemplify what is listed in this question and answer?

2. What is a way that your church can grow into this vision? How can you help?

3. How have the events of 2020 increased the church’s challenge to “prefigure Christ’s kingdom by the quality of their life together and their love for one another?”

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):