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I was doing catechesis before I could read. When I was just 3 years old, my parents started asking me basic Bible and theology questions. Some of my earliest memories are of laminated cards they used for those questions, and I’d enthusiastically spout the answers, longing for the day I’d know how to read them myself. (My mom tells me I came home after my first day of kindergarten, slammed down my little red panda backpack, and said, “Well, I went to school, and I still don’t know how to read!”)

At my Christian school—an independent Baptist school with Bob Jones University curriculum—we had a kind of catechism too, though we didn’t call it that. We worked through a paperback textbook called Bible Truths, which laid out doctrinal questions and answers. “Who made God?” the book asked. “No one made God,” we answered. Even though my school would never have used the word “catechism” (it’s too Catholic, too formal, too ritualistic!), it was exactly that: a structured way of learning biblical truth.

Years later, as a father, I sought to catechize my kids. I relied on storybook Bibles and The Gospel Project—a curriculum I had the privilege of helping start for Lifeway—which introduced a catechetical element for children.

But the first time I heard Tim Keller talk about the need for counter-catechesis, it reframed everything for me. At a TGC colloquium in Louisville, Kentucky, he explained that catechesis has always been counter-catechesis. The Reformation-era catechisms weren’t just teaching doctrine; they were actively inoculating believers against the dominant Catholic alternative. They weren’t just building a Protestant worldview but dismantling competing ones.

Keller was clear: Classical catechisms like Heidelberg, Westminster, and Luther’s remain indispensable, but they’re no longer sufficient. Today, the primary alternative to Protestant Christianity isn’t Catholicism—it’s Western secularism, with its own catechism, reinforced constantly through ads, music, social media, and entertainment. The secular world disciples people through stories and slogans, reinforcing ideas like “Be true to yourself,” “Follow your heart,” and “Define your own reality.” And our traditional catechisms, while biblically faithful, often don’t expose the faults in these modern narratives or offer a direct contrast.

In the years before he died, Keller listed a number of elements we’ll need for the church’s renewal in our day. I remember, as I looked over his list of six items, landing on his recommendation of counter-catechesis discipleship. “We need a counter-catechism that explains, refutes, and re-narrates the world’s catechisms to Christians,” he wrote. And I remember thinking, I can help with that.

Building a New Catechism

Meanwhile, on another continent, Thomas West was laboring as a church planter in London. The two of us had connected at Southeastern Seminary as our PhD studies had overlapped a little, and we had a shared love for the missionary theologian Lesslie Newbigin, who advocated for a missionary encounter with Western culture. Thomas shared the same longing for a resource that would equip Christians young and old for a missionary encounter, to show how the Bible counters what passes for commonsense wisdom in our day. We talked and prayed for more than a year about partnering on a resource like this.

In 2022, while I was spending a few weeks in Oxford studying and teaching, Thomas took the train from London to join me for a day of brainstorming at The Kilns, the home of C. S. Lewis. We sat in the common room where Lewis had written some of his greatest works, discussing how we could structure a resource that would do what Keller had called for—catechize Christians in a way that directly confronts the dominant secular myths of our time. Keller had said we need new tools of catechesis, resources that say, “You have heard it said, but I say unto you.” Or what Thomas and I say: “Not this but that.

We spent 2023 drafting questions and answers, testing them with a small email list and within Thomas’s ministry in London. In 2024, we refined the material based on feedback from pastors and leaders across the United States and United Kingdom, including some of the Keller Center fellows. Now, we’re preparing for The Gospel Way Catechism for students and adults (with an accompanying workbook) to release in July, with an adapted version for children coming next year.

One of our generation’s tasks is to present the Christian faith in a way that helps young and old alike to stand out, to shine like stars in a crooked generation (Phil. 2:15). A counter-catechism is just one tool for doing that, but in the end, if we’re going to answer Keller’s call to counter-catechesis, we need more than just tools and books and resources.

More important than the instruction is the instinct—developing and honing the instinct for how Christianity makes us different, how the gospel counters the world’s lies while fulfilling the deeper longing. Ultimately, it’s not about memorizing a bunch of questions and answers. It’s about learning to see all of life through the lens of Scripture, so we’re faithful to the Lord in our time.

Countering the Myths

Take the question “Who is Jesus?” A traditional catechism might say, “He is the Son of God.” True enough. But in a world filled with distorted visions of Jesus—as a life coach, a therapist, or an activist—we need to say more. That’s why we answer,

Who is the Son of God?

“God the Son is the eternal Word who took on humanity: Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah of Israel and King of the world. He is not a life coach or therapist who affirms all our desires, but the Great Physician whose blood heals our sin-sick hearts.”

Why is it important to have the “not this but that” element in our answer? Because everyone wants Jesus to fit their mold, which is why so many versions of him exist—a life coach cheering on our dreams, a therapist affirming our feelings, or an advocate for whatever cause we champion.

But the real Jesus doesn’t simply affirm our desires; he calls them into question, offering not just encouragement but transformation. The New Testament presents him not as a coach or therapist but as the King of the world, wielding supreme authority yet marked by self-giving love. His blood shed on the cross isn’t just a symbol of support—it’s the means of our healing. We don’t need a cheerleader; we need a Savior. We don’t need affirmation; we need redemption. The question isn’t whether Jesus is on our side but whether we’re on his.

Or consider the question “Why did God create us?” Most catechisms answer, “To know him, love him, and share his joy.” Again, true—but today’s world tells people to invent their own purpose, to define their own existence. So we add this:

Why did God create us?

“God created us in his image to know and love him and share his joy. The good life is found not in inventing our purpose but in bowing to God’s design and reflecting his glory.”

Secular thought swings between two extremes—either elevating humans to godlike status with limitless autonomy, or reducing them to mere animals driven by instinct and self-interest. Neither vision provides lasting meaning, leaving us either crushed by the weight of self-creation or lost in a world without purpose.

Scripture offers a better way: We’re neither gods nor mere creatures but image-bearers of the one true God. Our worth isn’t something we manufacture; it’s derived from him whose likeness we reflect. Made for relationship, we find joy not in self-definition but in knowing and loving God, the very purpose for which we were created. The world tells us to look inward to find meaning, but the gospel calls us to look upward. True fulfillment isn’t found in self-made purpose but in bowing to the God who made us, the only path to the good life he intends for us.

Defining Key Terms

One of the benefits of a counter-catechism is that sometimes we have to add questions that previous generations wouldn’t have needed. For example, no classic catechism has questions about what sexuality is. But we know that’s an incredibly important issue in our day, which is why we say,

What is sexuality?

“Sexuality is a God-given aspect of humanity. Male and female, our bodies are designed for procreation through the union of a man and woman in marriage. Sexuality is embodied, not imagined; physically grounded, not psychologically determined.”

We also felt the need to ask the question “What is freedom?” An odd choice for a catechism, right? But we think it needs to be said:

What is freedom?

“True freedom is submission to God. Freedom is not casting off all restraints and pursuing whatever we want. It is embracing the right restraints and aligning our wants with God’s will, so we can pursue what is true and good and beautiful.”

Modern freedom is often defined as individual autonomy—the ability to choose without external constraints—but this vision is ultimately empty. True freedom isn’t about the absence of limits but about embracing the right ones, as every meaningful relationship requires sacrificing some freedoms for the sake of love and commitment.

The Bible presents a deeper vision of freedom, not as mere self-determination but as alignment with God’s will, seen in how Israel was freed from Egypt to worship God and how Jesus came to liberate us from sin. In his first sermon, Jesus declared himself the long-promised Liberator, giving up his life so we could be truly free—not for self-indulgence but for a life led by the Spirit. Real freedom isn’t doing whatever we want; it’s wanting what’s good, true, and beautiful, and walking in the freedom Christ supplies.

Other important scriptural words also need to be defined biblically and counter-culturally, such as “faith”:

What is faith?

“Faith is not based on our sincerity or the strength of our feelings; it is not believing in ourselves. Faith is accepting the truth of the gospel and entrusting ourselves to King Jesus alone.”

Faith today is often reduced to a vague, sentimental feeling—believing in yourself or trusting that things will work out—while the Enlightenment has framed faith and reason as opposites. But in reality, everyone operates on faith, trusting certain fundamental truths about the world, even in science. The modern impulse is to look inward for truth and conform the world to our desires, but the Bible presents faith as looking outward—to the objective reality of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

Biblical faith isn’t just a private experience or a religious hobby; it’s a wholehearted trust in Jesus as the Savior and King, aligning our lives with the truth of his rule. True faith means renouncing self-reliance and receiving the grace that comes from God, not just believing in Christ’s resurrection but entrusting ourselves fully to him for salvation and transformation. 

Better Story

What does this counter-catechetical instinct look like? In This Is Our Time, I use the construct of longings and lies in light of the gospel.

To resist the false stories shaping our world, we must first recognize the deep longings behind them. People don’t believe myths simply because they’re deceived; they believe them because they want them to be true. The Christian’s task isn’t just to refute myths but to connect the gospel to the longings that drive them.

But recognizing the longing isn’t enough. We must also expose the lie. That’s what Scott James calls “Spot the lie”—an activity he’ll sometimes adopt when watching shows or movies with his kids. If we fail to challenge falsehoods, we reduce Christianity to just another self-help option among many. Instead, we must proclaim that Jesus isn’t just one truth among many—he is the Truth. The gospel must stand in contrast to the world’s false hopes, exposing their emptiness and pointing to the only One who truly satisfies.

Then there’s the light—what comes from the gospel. Light not only exposes what’s false; it illuminates what’s good, true, and beautiful. The gospel doesn’t just tell people what’s right and wrong—it tells a better story. Yes, at first, the light may be uncomfortable. But once our eyes adjust, we see that Jesus fulfills our deepest longings in ways we never expected.

In the end, if we’re to answer Keller’s call to counter-catechesis, it won’t be only through tools and mindful memorization. It’ll be through training ourselves and our fellow church members and the next generation to know, intuitively, where the world doesn’t line up with Scripture, and how Scripture gives us a better story, the true story that unmasks and envelops all the cultural narratives of our world today.

Counter-catechesis isn’t just about proving Christianity is true. It’s about showing a world trapped in false stories that the gospel is better.


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