The Apostles' Creed

This fall we are launching a new Kids Church curriculum that teaches through the basic stories and lessons of the Bible in two years. Our goal is to show kids how God is the hero of the Bible and to inspire them to make God the hero of their lives. I am so excited to help teach kids the big picture of the Bible and what it means for their lives today!

This curriculum is, in many ways, going "back to the basics." We will simply teach through the Bible every Sunday and we are going to use traditional teaching methods to do it. Kids Church will start in the Fellowship Hall for a game, worship, and a Bible Message, but then we will break into classrooms for the rest of the morning. The bulk of the teaching will take place in these classrooms.

Through this two-year curriculum, we are going to be asking children to memorize new Bible verses every week. However, our main memory focus is going to be on three larger passages: the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostles’ Creed. These have formed the basis of children’s discipleship for centuries and they summarize the Christian faith well. The last two Parent Newsletters have covered the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. This month’s newsletter will explain what version of the the Apostles’ Creed to have your kids memorize and why this memorization is valuable. The version of the Apostles’ Creed we will memorize and use for teaching is as follows:

I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried;* the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic** Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

The beauty of the Apostles’ Creed is that it is an historic, universal, and concise summary of the basics of the Christian faith. Legend tells us that the Apostles’ Creed was authored by the twelve apostles. This is hard to believe, but it is almost that old. Earliest copies of the Creed are dated to about 200 A.D. Christian churches across the world accept the Apostles’ Creed as a basis for church belief and unity. While it is a short statement, it covers the basics of what all Christians believe. All these make the Apostles’ Creed a perfect statement of faith for children to memorize. In short, the Apostle’s Creed helps unite children in the faith with Christians across the world and throughout history.

By God’s Grace,

Pastor Stephen

*We will not use the phrase, "he descended into hell," because it is not in the earliest versions of the Apostles’ Creed. This phrase was used by one person in 390 A.D. (Rufinus), but he took it to mean that Christ "descended into the grave." Until 650 A.D. no version of the Creed included this phrase with the intention of saying that Christ “descended into hell.” Cf. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 586-7, 1169.

** "Catholic" means "universal."