Principles of the Early Catechumenate for Modern Catechists

Abstract

As the religious landscape of America continues to shift, churches may reevaluate their processes for initiating the people who desire to join their membership. The early catechumenate presents a different approach to Christian initiation than is commonly carried out in modern Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod churches in America. Operating in the Roman empire, the early catechumenate presented people desiring to join the church with a rigorous path to membership that sought to affect its participants holistically. The early catechumenate’s holistic approach was built on principles that modern churches could consider when altering their current initiation process to better serve the needs of the people who desire to join their membership.