James Sinke

It’s been a few years since I graduated from Mid-America Reformed Seminary, but one of the emphases of my training that has stayed with me since then is the calling of a pastor to serve the church. Following a sabbatical in 2021 that allowed for some focused study and writing, I was keen to pursue further education that would refresh and sharpen my preaching and pastoral abilities in my home congregation, while also working on a project that could benefit the churches more broadly. With the encouragement of our elders at Bethel URC of Woodstock, I began the Doctor of Ministry program in 2022 at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. Among the blessings of this program are the confessional faithfulness and pastoral heart of the professors, and the structure of the program allows me to continue full-time in my labors as a pastor.

The subject of my project is catechesis in Reformed churches, specifically within the URCNA. After studying the biblical principles of catechesis, my intention is to collate and review the curriculums, published and unpublished, that are being used to train our covenant youth. I will be seeking from pastors, elders, and other catechism teachers reflections upon their own training, preparations, goals, shortcomings, and needs. The hope is that these reflections will serve our churches by providing a clearer understanding of what makes a faithful and effective curriculum, by fostering fruitful evaluations of our churches’ catechetical programs according to biblically defined goals, and by helping catechism teachers prepare and be equipped to teach and apply confessional doctrine. Ultimately, the goal is to serve the maturing faith of our covenant youth.