Church is drifting into paganism, says Packer

by Audrey Barrick, Christian Post
Friday, January 15, 2010

Influential theologian J I Packer wants evangelical churches to recover catechesis, or systematic instruction in the essentials of the Christian faith.

Packer believes the idea is an alien concept to most evangelicals.

"We are drifting back into paganism, that’s the truth," he said in a lecture last Saturday at St Matthew’s Cathedral in Dallas, according to The Living Church News Service.

The 83-year-old Anglican priest has co-authored a new book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, in which he makes the case that catechesis is a non-negotiable practice of churches and is of no less value than Bible study and expository preaching.
During Saturday's lecture, he said he yearns for "Bible-based, Christ-centred, declarative in style". But recovering catechesis in churches will be a challenge, he added. Earlier, he called it the greatest challenge for the 21st century church. the rest