Since its release in 2017, The New City Catechism (published by Crossway in partnership with The Gospel Coalition) has sold more than 500,000 units across its suite of formats and products. This includes the following:
The New City Catechism
The New City Catechism Devotional
The New City Catechism for Kids
The New City Catechism Curriculum Kit
“We’re thrilled with how many individuals, families, and churches have benefited from The New City Catechism since its release in print,” said Collin Hansen, TGC vice president of content and executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. “For Christians both young and old, the need for accessible catechetical resources feels especially urgent today, when pervasive digital media ‘catechizes’ us whether we know it or not. I pray The New City Catechism continues to bear fruit for generations to come.”
The catechism’s 52 questions and answers were adapted by Tim Keller and Sam Shammas from Reformation catechisms for use at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. In 2012, TGC partnered with Redeemer to offer the catechism in app and online formats.
In 2017, Crossway published a print version of the catechism, as well as an accompanying devotional edited by Collin Hansen. The devotional helps readers go deeper with the doctrines in the catechism and includes a relevant Scripture reading, a short prayer, and a devotional commentary written by contemporary pastors (e.g., John Piper and Kevin DeYoung) and historical figures (e.g., Augustine and Martin Luther).
In 2018, The New City Catechism for Kids was released, designed to teach the core doctrines of the Christian faith to children ages 4 to 11. This coincided with the release of a larger curriculum kit, a boxed set intended to facilitate teaching core Christian doctrines to children in a Sunday school, classroom, or homeschool setting.
To aid in learning and memorizing the catechism, TGC produced Songs from the New City Catechism, a musical resource available for free on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, or the New City Catechism mobile app. Overseen by Betsy Childs Howard, the creation of the music and the curriculum were made possible in part by a generous grant from The John Templeton Foundation.
“Perhaps no modern catechetical effort has garnered more attention and acceptance than TGC’s New City Catechism,” said Justin Taylor, Crossway’s executive vice president of book publishing. “With a half million copies now in distribution, we give thanks to God. Crossway is honored to publish this suite of resources, and we pray for the Lord’s continued blessing upon it for the good of the church.”
Taylor added that he likes how J. I. Packer—who referred to himself as a “latter-day catechist”—once defined catechism: “intentional, orderly instruction in the truths that Christians are called to live by, linked with equally intentional and orderly instruction on how they are to do this.”
Tim Keller, who cofounded TGC in 2005, also believed in the crucial importance of catechesis and wrote in the introduction to The New City Catechism Devotional, “If we re-engage in this biblical practice in our churches, we will find again God’s Word ‘dwelling in us richly’ (see Col. 3:16), because the practice of catechesis takes truth deep into our hearts, so we find ourselves thinking in biblical categories as soon as we can reason.”
For more information on The New City Catechism and to access all the digital and print materials, visit https://newcitycatechism.com.
The Gospel Coalition