Learning the Heidelberg Catechism doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, young children memorize large portions of it every year. But it help to have some tools at your disposal. Here are some I’ve found helpful:
The Heidelberg Catechism
Here’s an online edition (mobile compatible) of the official version translated and approved by the United Reformed Churches in North America in 2016, which is in our hymnal. It’s the one to memorize.
HC Graduated Memory Book by Rev. John Bouwers
Speaking of memorizing, this handy tool presents each answer of the HC in four different versions, from shortest to fullest. In this way, children as young as three can begin memorizing. It is “graduated” because each next version of the answer builds on the last, incorporating the same words up to adult level:
Lord’s Day 1 — Q&A1
Q: What is your only comfort in life and in death?
Beginner’s Version
A: That I
belong
to Jesus Christ.
Intermediate Version
A: That I am not my own, but belong
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven.
Advanced Version
A: That I am not my own, but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven.
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
also assures me of eternal life
and makes me willing and ready
to live for him.
Complete Version
A: That I am not my own, but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven.
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
also assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
Best of all, it uses our 2016 URCNA translation of the HC.
The Good News We Almost Forgot by Kevin DeYoung
A well-loved modern collection of weekly devotions, each based on a single Lord’s Day of the Heidelberg Catechism. The author focuses on how the good news of grace permeates our Reformed perspective on faith and life. While written for adults, I would say it’s good down to age 14.
