Theology
The beauty of 52 Sundays
or why we gave two years to bringing the Heidelberg Catechism to video… and more
*****
There is something disarming about the Heidelberg Catechism. It doesn’t begin with abstract definitions, but with comfort. Our only comfort.
Many of us have encountered, or experienced ourselves, a quiet guilt about “not knowing enough theology,” as if faithfulness were measured primarily by intellectual mastery. The Heidelberg resists that posture. Designed to be digested slowly over the course of a year, it teaches with patience. It repeats itself intentionally. It understands that formation takes time.
And it certainly took time to capture that on film.
Today, we find ourselves standing at a moment we honestly didn’t know how to imagine back on July 13th, 2023 when our organization, Faith to Film (FaithToFilm.ca) first took on this project. Every Lord’s Day of the Heidelberg Catechism now has a completed video. Fifty-two videos. Twenty-six pastors. Multiple denominations. One catechism. A full, freely available teaching resource on ReformedConfessions.org that did not exist before, but now it does.
Why we started
Pastor Hans Overduin took on Lord’s Days 15 and 23.
Too often, Christian content is forced to choose between depth and visual excellence. We didn’t think that tradeoff was necessary.
The Reformed confessions, in particular, seemed like an area crying out for this kind of care. Written centuries ago, they articulate truths that remain deeply relevant today. Truths with direct application for people wrestling with today’s fears, today’s doubts, and today’s hope. The church has never failed to recognize their value. They remain central to catechesis, preaching, and discipleship. And yet, the digital representation of them has not sufficiently reflected the clarity, weight, and beauty of the truth they contain.
We wanted to do something about that.
Our broader vision continues to be a single digital home for the Reformed Confessions where learning is layered. A video for introduction. A quiz for reinforcement. Extended material for deeper study. Illustrations that help concepts land. A place where churches can confidently send their people, knowing they will be met with clarity, pastoral care, and theological integrity.
Not to replace traditional catechesis, but to supplement it and to provide access for those who may not have the same proximity to teachers or resources, whether new converts, families, or believers in other parts of the world.
The Heidelberg Catechism felt like the natural place to begin.
We are deeply grateful to the twenty-six pastors who lent their voices to this work. Though they serve in a range of congregational settings, they spoke here in one voice, bearing witness to the unity the Heidelberg Catechism has long provided to the Reformed church. Their participation reflects a shared commitment to teaching what has been confessed, received, and faithfully passed down through generations.
The long middle
Rev. John van Eyk addressed Lord’s Days 11 and 13.
What we didn’t fully anticipate was just how long this patient approach would take. Don’t be mistaken, we understood the importance of moving slowly. We simply wanted the fruit of patience immediately. After all, two and a half years is long enough for enthusiasm to fade. Long enough for schedules to clash, funding to stretch thin, and momentum to feel fragile.
This is why we are so grateful for everyone who supported this work.
There is also a unique weight to the nature of this work. We regularly found ourselves asking difficult questions: Are we honoring the gravity of these truths? Are we preserving the warmth that Ursinus and Olevianus intended? Are we being careful, not only with words, but with images?
There is a real challenge in visually representing biblical and theological concepts while maintaining a healthy reverence for God’s name and character. Navigating that tension was no small task.
So yes, it is true that this has been a challenge, but it’s hard to stay stressed when the very content you are producing is a balm for your own soul. Sitting there, mouse in hand, editing a video on Lord’s Day 1, and being reminded that you are "not your own, but belong body and soul, to your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ." Time after time the words of the pastor on screen would cut straight through the producer mindset and hit the believer's heart.
It really is a profound thing to experience. To realize that the very truths you are trying to broadcast are the same truths holding you together while you do it.
Ready for you to use
Pastor Mark Wagenaar tackled Lord’s Days 52 and 22.
At this point, the Heidelberg Catechism series is no longer a project we are working on, but a free resource the church can now rely on. Go to ReformedConfessions.org, watch the videos, sit with the illustrations, and work through the questions. It is our prayer that it finds its way into your homes, classrooms, membership instruction, or quiet personal study.
We pray that, in the steady rhythms of teaching and repetition, God would use this work as He has so often used catechesis: to form believers who know what they believe, why they believe it, and how that belief shapes their lives before Him and before one another.
Above all, this moment draws our attention away from ourselves and back to the God who preserves His truth across centuries, cultures, and mediums.
As we look forward to the development of the remaining Three Forms of Unity, we rest in the knowledge that the weight of this work does not fall on us. We are not the reason these words endure. We are witnesses to the fact that they do. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).
Kyle Vasas and David Visser are a part of the team at Faith to Film which, in addition to ReformedConfessions.org, has done video series on Calvinism and Essential Truths, and is in the planning stage for one on office bearer training.
Check out all their work, and how you can support it, at FaithtoFilm.ca.
News
Saturday Selections – April 11, 2026
Climate Doom Archive: the polar bear
The polar bear has long been a symbol of the global warming catastrophists, but as the folks at the Climate Discussion Nexus detail below polar bears are doing just fine.
Australians aren't having kids
Since it takes two to tango that means it takes an average of two children per woman to keep a population stable (and just slightly more than that – around 2.1 – to account for children who don't make it to adulthood). But Australia has averaged less than two children per woman since about 1975... and it's now near 1.4. Canada is worse at about 1.25 and China leads the depopulation dive at just about 1.0.
God's cultural mandate, given before the Fall (Gen. 1:28) but repeated to Noah and his sons (Gen. 9:1) applies to more than just child-bearing but certainly includes it. "Be fruitful and multiply" gives Christians good reason to counter this demographic downward trend by, in obedience, trying for 3 or more.
The silent killer: comfort
"The danger lies in making comfort a priority – living an easy, carefree life that avoids stress, grief, or restriction... When comfort becomes our aim, we lose sight of the fact that the Christian life is often marked by disciplined effort, not stress-free living."
New free creationist journal
New Creation Studies is a new publication brought to you by some of the same people behind the great (and free) documentary Is Genesis History?
Get married young (10 minute read)
Marriage can get crowded out as an ambition because of career, income, education, or even travel goals. But what if we made the big things in life our big priority?
1,000 IVF frozen babies vs. 2 newborns: who would you save?
It's a dilemma that's been pitched many times: if a hospital was on fire and you could only save a newborn baby, or let's say two – one tucked under each arm – or a nitrogen canister that contained one thousand frozen IVF babies, which would you save?
The presumption underlying the question is that how most would act – saving the two crying, squirming, already-born babies – proves that embryonic babies aren't valuable. But, as Ben Shapiro shows below, that's not so.
What he doesn't do, is show where human value does comes from. The world has no basis for it. If we are merely star dust, or just another animal, or just chemicals in motion, then why would any of us be any more valuable than that rock over there, also star dust, or another animal like, say, a chicken? Or why would we say our human-type walking bags of chemicals are all equal, but that equality doesn't extend to the chemical reactions going on in that fizzy can of Coke?
The only basis for human worth, and for human equality, comes from being made in the very Image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). That is the only thing we all share equally and it is what gives us our worth (Gen. 9:6).
Today's Devotional
April 11 - Darkness is my only friend
“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour
.” - Luke 23:44
Scripture reading: Luke 23:40-56
In the middle of the day, Jesus hangs in darkness. The darkness is a symbol showing that Jesus is bearing the curse of God. Think about what it would be like for the crowd on that day. Three >
Today's Manna Podcast
The Light of the world
Serving #1174 of Manna, prepared by John Bouwers, is called "The Light of the world" and is based on John 8:12.
