2026 Catechism Retreat

My parents grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, and they both came from Christian families. For them, church was one of the only activities outside of school. On Sundays, they went to church in the morning, had Sunday school right after the morning service, and went to church again in the evening. One day a week after school, they went to church for catechism class, which was another hour or two. My dad also took piano lessons during the week, but my mom’s parents were small business owners who worked long hours and often left her, the youngest and only girl, to run the house in their absence.

I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, and things were starting to change in the world. My family always attended church twice on Sundays, and my sisters and I attended Sunday school after the morning service. There was no longer a weekly catechism class, but I participated in Calvinettes, a girls’ club that included Bible study, one night a week. Like my dad, I took piano lessons. I also took cello lessons, played in a community orchestra, joined the newly formed handbell choir at church, and participated in the annual school play.

My oldest child was born in 2010, and the world has continued to change. Our church no longer has worship twice on Sundays, but he attended Sunday school and participates in youth group. He takes cello lessons, electric bass lessons, plays in a community orchestra, plays in the church bell choir, is on the school robotics team, and is in a board game club after school.

When I started teaching catechism at Calvin Church in 2018, we met every Sunday after morning worship. As the class changed to include 9th-12th graders, I developed a four-year curriculum that covered not only the Heidelberg Catechism, but also the Canons of Dort, the Belgic Confession, the Belhar Confession, and the contemporary testimony Our World Belongs to God. But the students continued to get busier, and more and more activities encroached on Sundays. Youth group started meeting on Sunday afternoons instead of Sunday evenings, and I started to wonder if weekly catechism class was still the best structure.

I proposed an experiment and, with the support of the education committee, in 2025 Calvin Church had its first Catechism Retreat weekend. The students who attended reported they enjoyed it, so on March 20-21, 2026, we had our second Catechism Retreat weekend. The goal is simple: dive deeply into one of the Standards of Unity through a series of teaching sessions, interspersed with food and fellowship. This year our weekend focused on the Canons of Dort. 

On Friday evening at 6 pm, twelve high school students showed up at church to join Pastor Brad and me for the retreat. We all enjoyed a delicious lasagna, salad, and garlic bread dinner provided by Steve and Yvonne Triezenberg in the Catacomb, and then settled in for our introductory session. After spending an hour learning the basics of the Canons, we dragged comfy furniture from the Catacomb to Room 1 so we could watch a movie. This year we watched “Minority Report,” a 2002 science fiction/action thriller. The premise of the movie is that there are humans who can predict future murders with unerring accuracy, so a specialized police department is created to apprehend and convict people before they have committed a crime. We chose this movie because of its exploration of predestination and free will, which are a main theme of the Canons of Dort. 

After finishing the movie (and an incredible amount of sugar, salt, and soda), it was time for bed. Pastor Brad and the boys headed upstairs to the Lounge, and I stayed downstairs in the Catacomb with the girls. I won’t name names, but one of the floors had a sing-a-long until after 1:30 in the morning.

At 8 on Saturday morning, Bill and Suzi Steketee showed up with enough food to feed an army. The smell of pancakes on the griddle might have been the thing that got us up off our couches, but we also feasted on breakfast burritos and fruit. Pastor Rebecca joined us (with life-saving coffee that Pastor Brad and I consumed in record time), and then it was on to session two in Room 16.

We lectured and discussed for an hour, and then took a break to stretch, walk around, check our phones (which are left in the Catacomb during the sessions), and do some optional crafts. Since we were studying the Canons of Dort, which can be summarized with the acronym TULIP, I brought along tulip coloring sheets as well as tulip origami, plus an assortment of bracelet-making supplies, bubbles, and Play-Doh. After a third session, we took another break and then walked to Pastor Rebecca’s house. Although the forecast had looked questionable, it was a beautiful day for the short walk. Pastor Rebecca provided us with soup and bread for lunch, and we held session four in her living room. After walking back to church, we finished with session five and concluded our time together around 3:30 pm.

Every student who comes to the Catechism Retreat is provided with a journal and their own copy of the red Creeds and Confessions book that we have in the pews. We encourage the students to make these books their own–to write in them, to draw in them, to underline words or phrases they find important. Although we focused on the Canons of Dort this year, Brad and Rebecca and I incorporated the Heidelberg catechism into the lessons as well, showing the connection between these documents. Pastor Brad keeps these red books in his office, and each student is given theirs when they graduate from high school.

Our hope is that our short, in-depth weekend provides a framework for the Reformed worldview. With three different teachers, we hope that at least one of us explains things in a way that makes sense to each attendee. By sharing food and fellowship together, we hope to foster a community where everyone is familiar with each other and it is safe to ask questions or wonder about deep theological points. 

Growing in faith is a lifelong process. There’s no way to cover everything in one weekend. This retreat was an introduction to some of the points of Reformed doctrine, and we hope that it opens doors to future questions and conversations. We are so grateful to the families and friends and faith friends who are willing to walk on this journey with us and with our young people. We could not do this without your support!

– Pastor Lisa