The Gathering of the Church

Having considered the nature of the church and its essential character, we begin to give more attention now to the formation of that church as we see her and live within her. We consider her institutional and earthly form. And we begin, therefore, with the gathering of the church. The church of Jesus Christ, chosen by God from eternity (Eph. 1:4), is gathered by the Son of God into an institutional form in the midst of the world. As the Heidelberg Catechism summarizes the teaching of Scripture...