The Calling and the Gathering of the Church

"What believest thou concerning the 'holy catholic church' of Christ?" "That the Son of God from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and preserves to himself by his Spirit and word, out of the whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life, agreeing in true faith; and that I am and for ever shall remain, a living member thereof." In these beautiful words the Heidelberg Catechism explains the believer's confession of the truth of the Apostolic Creed: "I believe an...