Reformed Church in America (RCA)

The Reformed Church in America traces its tradition back to the early 1600s in the United States but can claim roots dating back to the Reformation in Europe the century before that. This Protestant Christian denomination began with John Calvin and his followers, spread to the Netherlands, and arrived in colonial America with Dutch settlers who were instrumental in the establishment of New Amsterdam, which became New York.

Calvin was a French theologian who spent much of his life in Switzerland. Like other Protestant reformers, he felt the powerful Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England had strayed too far from the principles of the early Christians. The views of Calvin and other Reformation leaders made their way to the Netherlands and were adopted by many Dutch, who brought these ideas to North America when they immigrated.

History

In 1626, a representative of the Dutch West Indies Company purchased land that is now Manhattan in New York City from the local Iroquois Indians and established the colony of New Amsterdam. It was not long before Dutch Protestants, fleeing persecution from those who considered them to be too radical in belief, settled in the new colony. Their first formal recorded group worship was in 1628, when more than four dozen colonists gathered to celebrate the Lord's Supper.

Over the next century and a half, new congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church began to spring up in other parts of the colonies. They became particularly numerous in parts of New York, New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and southwestern Connecticut. Despite a growing influence of English settlers in Dutch territory, all services for the Dutch Reformed Church were held in their original tongue until 1764. Still, the church's Dutch origins were an important part of the tradition and worship until the nineteenth century.

The American Revolution resulted in several changes to the church. First, when the war was won, the Dutch settlers, like their English counterparts, severed ties with their homeland. Second, some Dutch settlers who had held allegiance with the English during the war chose to relocate out of what became the United States and settled instead in Canada.

Around this same time, the Dutch Reformed Church became very active in missions work, sending groups to convert American Indians as well as people in India, Africa, and China. In 1819, the church became incorporated as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, and the church continued to spread across the United States as immigrants from the Netherlands moved farther inland on the continent. In particular, two groups of Dutch Reformed Church members who could not worship freely in the Netherlands settled in Iowa and Michigan and were eventually allowed to join the church in America.

There were tensions, however, when various congregations held differing opinions about how to worship and membership in the Freemasons. In 1857, several of these congregations left the Reformed Dutch Church and established the Christian Reformed Church. Eventually, other congregations left to join the Christian Reformed Church, but the Dutch Reformed Church continued to grow through the addition of immigrants during the nineteenth century.

In 1867, the church officially changed its name to the Reformed Church in America. Dutch immigration into Canada spread the church's influence there in the late 1800s and early 1900s, while growing interest sparked the building of new congregations in the United States among areas with little Dutch presence. In the twenty-first century, the church has congregations in eight synods, or ecclesiastical jurisdictions, in all parts of North America.

Beliefs

The Reformed Church in America accepts three creeds: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—a sixth-century statement about the nature and composition of the Holy Trinity, or God in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The church has also adopted four "standards of unity," which outline its beliefs. These include the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Belhar Confession, and the Canons of Dort.

The Heidelberg Catechism was an outline of beliefs intended for teaching the faithful. It was created in Germany during the reign of Frederick III in response to a controversy about whether Christ is physically or spiritually present at the Lord's Supper. Broken down into fifty-two sections intended to be taught on each Sunday of the year, the catechism uses scriptural references to explain the basic tenets of the faith.

The Belgic Confession, created in the Netherlands in 1561 by Reformed preacher Guido de Bres, is a statement of the faith of the Reformed Church. It was intended to show that the reformers wanted only to practice their deeply held religious beliefs, not rebel against the government at a time when church and state were entwined and an offense to one was an offense to both. The thirty-seven articles of the Belgic Confession outline belief in God made known to man by creation and his word in the Bible, sets forth the biblical canon as accepted by the Reformed Church, and professes belief in the sufficiency of scripture for salvation as well as the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It also outlines the doctrine of predestination, which is the belief that God predetermines whether people will go to heaven or hell before they are born, and that individuals' actions have nothing to do with their salvation.

The Canons of Dort (established at the Synod of Dort) clarify five points of doctrine related to salvation, the role of grace in salvation, and the possibility of falling from salvation. The Belhar Confession was accepted by the church in 2009. It deals with church unity, reconciliation, and God's justice.

In 2016, the General Synod controversially approved a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman; however, this change was ultimately not ratified as it did not receive a two-thirds majority vote from the classes in 2017. That same year, the General Synod voted that, in accordance with the Heidelberg Catechism, marriage is between a man and a woman.

Organization

Elected delegates from the congregations meet yearly for a General Synod to determine church policy and review issues of doctrine. The church is guided by the General Synod Council, which also facilitates carrying out the decisions and vision of the General Synod in between meetings. Because of disagreement concerning the church's decisions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQIA+ rights, over 25 percent of the RCA's churches filed petitions to leave the church between 2020 and 2023. These churches represented over 40 percent of the RCA's total memberships. By the 2020s, the Reformed Church in America had around 85,000 members in over 600 churches across North America. This represents a significant decline from 2018's nearly 200,000 members and 2000's 300,000 members. Some of these members formed new denominations, such as the Alliance of Reformed Churches.

Bibliography

"The History of the Heidelberg Catechism." Reformed Church Press, www.rca.org/about/theology/creeds-and-confessions/the-heidelberg-catechism/the-history-of-the-heidelberg-catechism. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"History of the RCA." Reformed Church in America, www.rca.org/about/history. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

MacCulloch, Diarmaid. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. Penguin Books, 2009.

"New Netherland Project." New Netherland Research Center, University of the State of New York, 15 Mar. 2024, www.nysl.nysed.gov/newnetherland/nnp.htm. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"The Reformation." History Channel, A&E Television Networks, LLC, 11 Apr. 2019, www.history.com/topics/religion/reformation. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"Reformed Church in America Reorganizes Due to LGBT Divides." Christianity Today, 18 Oct. 2021, www.christianitytoday.com/2021/10/rca-meeting-reorganize-vote-reformed-church-in-america-lgbt. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"State of the RCA." Reformed Church Press, www.rca.org/state-of-the-rca. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.