Calvary Kids Catechism

Everything God made - like the stars and the trees - and our feeling of right and wrong tell us that God is real, but only God's Word and Spirit show us how to be saved.

The Old and New Testaments are God’s inspired Word. They are the only perfect rule for what to believe, and how to live.

The Bible proves it is God’s Word by its amazing power to change hearts and lives, and by the way all of its parts point to Jesus.

The Bible tells us what to believe about God and how God wants us to live – and Jesus is its fulfillment.

God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He has no beginning or end. His ways are perfect and unchanging.

There is only one God, but he is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God has a perfect plan for everything that ever happens, and he decided it all before the world began, for our good and his glory.

God makes everything happen exactly the way he planned - by creating the world and ruling over it every day.

God’s providence means he lovingly takes care of everything he made, sustaining it and ruling over all that happens.

God made everything out of nothing, just by speaking. He created the whole world and everything in it, and it was all very good.

God made us male and female in his image, to know him, love him, live with him, and glorify him. Our true purpose is to live for him.

God requires man to love and obey him perfectly from the heart.

From the very beginning, God put his rules about right and wrong on every human heart. Later he summarized these in the Ten Commandments.

First, that we know God as the only true God. Second, that we don’t worship other things like they are God. Third, that we treat God’s name with fear and respect.

Fourth, that on the Sabbath day we spend time in worship of God. Fifth, that we love and honour our father and our mother.

Sixth, that we do not hurt or hate people. Seventh, that we avoid sexual sin. Eighth, that we do not steal.

Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive. Tenth, that we are happy with what God has given us and don’t envy what he’s given to others.

The sum of the Ten Commandments is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love others the same way we love ourselves.

Since the fall, no human has been able to keep the law of God perfectly. Instead, we break God’s law in the way that we think, speak, and act.

No, but because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, we are all born sinners and can’t keep God’s law.

God gave the law to show how perfect he is, how sinful we are, and to make us run to Jesus - because only he can save us through faith.

No. Some sins are worse than others because they offend God or hurt people more, or because they are done on purpose by someone who knows better.

Sin is anything we think, say, or do that disobeys God, since he has told us to live holy lives of faith, for his glory.

Yes. God chose Adam to represent all of us. When he sinned, we were all counted as sinners too, and now we’re born with hearts that naturally want to sin instead of obey.

No. When we sin, we rebel against God. Because he is perfectly good and just, he must punish every sin.

Yes! God loves us so much that he made a New Covenant: he sent Jesus to take our punishment, forgive our sins, give us new hearts, and rescue us from wrath.

The Old Covenant couldn’t change our hard hearts, but in the New Covenant God forgives all our sins, writes his law on our hearts, gives us his Spirit, and helps us truly know and love him..

God established the New Covenant through the death of Jesus - who is truly God and truly man.

Jesus had to be a real human so he could perfectly obey God’s law for us, take our punishment on the cross, and so we could know that he truly understands our struggles.

Jesus had to be God so his perfect life and death could pay for everyone’s sins, so he could beat death and bear God’s judgment for us.

The only Redeemer is Jesus Christ, God’s Son. He became a man and died as the perfect sacrifice so we could be saved and receive all the blessings of the New Covenant.

Jesus receives his Church and all of creation as his everlasting kingdom. He will rule over it all, to the glory of God forever.

Because the cost of our sins is death, Christ took our sins upon himself and died in our place.

No. Everyone is born a sinner because of Adam, but only those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ are saved.

Yes. God is kind to everyone. He holds back sin and gives good things like rain and food, even to people who don’t love him.

They will stand before God and be sent away from him into hell, where they will be punished for their sin forever.

We can only be saved by repenting and believing in Jesus, trusting what he did for us on the cross. When we do, God forgives us by his grace for Jesus’ sake.

All spiritual blessings come from being joined to Jesus, like our justification, adoption, and sanctification.

Justification means that God declares us innocent because Jesus took our punishment. Adoption means that God makes us his own children forever. Sanctification means that God’s Spirit helps us grow to love and obey him more every day.

No. Jesus did everything needed to save us. Trying to earn it by good works says Jesus’ cross wasn’t enough.

Yes. Jesus saved us so we would love doing good things for him, not to earn salvation, but because salvation is already ours.

All the good gifts we receive from Jesus, including the faith to trust him, are given to us by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit gives us new desires to love God and others, to hate sin, and to live a life that honours Jesus to the glory of the Father.

The church should be like a loving family. By God’s Spirit, we can help, forgive, and serve one another, working to live in unity. When we do, we show the world that we belong to Jesus.

Yes, we still sin, but we don’t love sin anymore. When we sin, we feel sorry, tell God, and turn away from it because sin is no longer our master.

When we sin, we should quickly confess it to God, trusting his promise to forgive and change us because Jesus has already paid for all of our sins.

No. Jesus already took all our punishment on the cross. When we sin, God corrects us like a loving Father, but he never condemns us.

Yes. God promises to keep every person who truly loves Jesus in the faith all the way to the end. Anyone who completely turns away from Jesus, never truly believed in him.

God helps us obey by his Holy Spirit working in us, by his word instructing us, by prayer, and by other believers loving and helping us.

We will have joy in knowing Jesus, grow in loving him more, and sometimes face hard things because we belong to him.

God uses trials to make us like Jesus, to strengthen our faith, to teach us how to comfort others, and to help us look forward to eternity with him.

Our great hope is that Jesus is coming again to make us perfect, to stop all suffering, to make a new world, and to live with us forever in his new creation.

By God’s Holy Spirit, we should live holy lives, love and serve each other, tell people about Jesus, and do everything to honour God.

The Holy Spirit is God, just like the Father and the Son. He lives inside every person who believes in Jesus, and he never leaves.

The Holy Spirit comforts us, guides us, convicts us of our sins, helps us understand the Bible, prays for us, and gives us the power to obey God.

Prayer is talking to God with our whole heart. We praise him, make requests, repent and give thanks.

We pray with love, patience, and gratefulness, trusting God's will. We know he always hears us because of Jesus.

We should pray according to God’s Word. Our best model is the prayer Jesus taught us, called “The Lord's Prayer.”

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Carefully, with ready hearts and prayer, so we can believe it, remember it, and obey it every day.

The invisible church is all the people God has chosen to save - from the past, present, and future - who truly belong to Jesus.

The visible church is a family of baptized believers who meet together regularly to worship Jesus, learn from the Bible, pray, take communion, and help each other follow him.

The ordinances are the two symbolic acts Jesus told the church to do - baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Spirit uses them to remind us of everything Jesus has done for us, and to show everyone that we belong to him.

Baptism is when a person who has decided to follow Jesus is put all the way under water and brought back up again. It shows everyone that this person has been cleansed from their sin, united to Jesus, made new by his Spirit, and added to the church.

Baptism is only for those who have repented of sin, put their faith in Jesus, and want to obey him.

No. The Bible does not teach us to baptize infants.

People who have been baptized should live for Jesus as part of a faithful church.

The Lord's Supper is a meal Jesus commanded for his church. When we drink from the cup and eat bread together, it reminds us of Jesus’ death, strengthens our faith, and shows our unity as fellow believers.

We must examine ourselves to make sure we remember Jesus' sacrifice, which saved and joined us together as one body.

No, Jesus finished his work on the cross. The Lord’s Supper only celebrates his sacrifice and strengthens our faith until he returns.

Christ rose from the dead and is now seated next to the Father in heaven. He is ruling his kingdom and praying for us. One day, he will return with rewards for his church and judgment for the nations.

Christ’s resurrection means he beat sin and death, so that everyone who believes in him will also rise from the dead and live with him forever.

This broken world isn’t the end. Jesus will make a perfect new earth where we’ll live happily with God forever, with new bodies and no more sin or sadness.