List of Reformed denominations

The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations connected by a common Calvinist system of doctrine.

Europe

Netherlands

The Dutch Calvinist churches have suffered numerous splits, and there have been some subsequent partial re-unions. Currently there are at least nine existing denominations, including (between brackets the Dutch abbreviation):
* Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) formed in 2004 from the union of
**the Dutch Reformed Church (NHK),
**the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN),
**and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (ELK);
**a notable Calvinist group within the PKN is the Reformed Association
*Christian Reformed Churches (CGK)
*Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) (GKV)
*Netherlands Reformed Churches (NGK)
*Reformed Congregations (GG)
* Old-Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands (OGGiN)
* Old-Reformed Congregations (unconnected)
* Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands (GGiN)
** Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands (unconnected)
*Restored Reformed Church (HHK)
* Continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (VGKN)
* Korean Reformed Church in the Netherlands
*Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Restored)
* Covenant of Free Evangelical Congregations in the Netherlands - member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches
* Moluccan Evangelical Church (GIM)
* Indonesian Christian Church in the Netherlands (GKIN)
Since the Reformation, the Netherlands, as one of the few countries in the world, could be characterised as a mainly Calvinist state. Until the first half of the 20th century, a majority of the Dutch (about 55%) were Calvinist and a large minority (35-40%) were Catholic. Because of large-scale secularisation during the 20th century, these percentages dropped dramatically. Today only 15-20% of the Dutch (about 2.5 million people) is Calvinist, while 25-30% is Catholic. About 45% is non-religious. Today many orthodox Calvinist Christians in the Netherlands cooperate with Evangelicals in organizations such as the 'Evangelische Omroep' (Evangelical Broadcasting Company), the 'Evangelische Hogeschool' (Evangelical College), and the political party 'ChristenUnie' (ChristianUnion)

Dutch emigrants and missionaries brought Calvinist churches to many other countries outside Europe, including Canada, United States, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

Switzerland

The Swiss Reformed Churches were started in Zurich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basle (Johannes Oecolampadius), Berne (Berchtold Haller and Niklaus Manuel), St. Gall (Joachim Vadian), to cities in Southern Germany and via Alsace ( Martin Bucer) to France. After Zwingli's early death in 1531, his work was continued by Heinrich Bullinger, the author of the Second Helvetic Confession. The French-speaking cities Neuchatel, Geneva and Lausanne changed to the Reformation ten years later under William Farel and John Calvin coming from France. The Zwingli and Calvin branches each had their theological distinctions, but in 1549, under the lead of Bullinger and Calvin, they came to a common agreement in the ''Consensus Tigurinus'' (Zurich Consent), and 1566 in the Second Helvetic Confession. Organizationally, the Reformed Churches in Switzerland remained separate units until today (the Reformed Church of the Canton Zurich, the Reformed Church of the Canton Berne, etc.), the German part more in the Zwingli tradition, in the French part more in the Calvin tradition. Today they are members of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches. They are governed synodically and their relation to the respective canton (in Switzerland, there are no church-state regulations on country-level) ranges from independent to close collaboration, depending on historical developments. A distinctive of the Swiss Reformed churches in Zwingli tradition is their historically almost symbiotic link to the state (cantons) which is only loosening gradually in the present.

There are a small number of conservative churches like the Evangelical Reformed Church (Westminster Confession) and the Lausanne Free Church.

A total of 2.4 million Swiss are members of Calvinist churches, according to the 2000 census, which corresponds with 33% of the population. The past decades show a rapid decline in this proportion, coming from 46% in 1970.

Hungary

The Reformed Church in Hungary, Transylvania and southern Slovakia is one of the largest branches of the Calvinist movement. The Reformed Church is the second largest church in Hungary, it has 4 seminaries in the country (Debrecen, Papa, Budapest, Sarospatak). The Hungarian Reformed Church adopted the Heidelberg Catechism and the Second Helvetic Confession as a definition of their teaching, together the Ecumenical creeds of the Christian Church: Athanasian Creed, Nicene Creed, Chalcedon, and the common creed ("Apostles' Creed"). The Hungarians organised the Calvinist church in 1557 in the Synod of Csenger and adopted the Second Helvetic Confession in 1567 in Debrecen.

The Hungarian Reformed Church maintains educational institutions, almost 80 primary schools, 28 high schools, 47 nurseries and several vocational schools and the Bethesda Hospital. There are diaconal institutions and conference centres.

In 2001, more than 1.6 million people in Hungary identified as members of the Hungarian Reformed Church. Of that number, about 600,000 are considered active members, in 1,249 congregations. The HRC has 27 presbyteries, four districts and a General Synod. In Romania, 700,000 people identified as Calvinist in 800 congregations, nearly all of them ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania.

There is the more theologically conservative Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe, which has approximately 25 congregations in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine. Like the mainline Hungarian Reformed church, from which it split in 1997, the church adheres to the Second Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, but it has also adopted the Westminster Confession, and Shorter and Larger Catechisms.

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe maintains the Károlyi Gáspár Institute of Theology and Missions, located in Miskolc, Hungary.

There is a mission church of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches in Diósd, near Budapest.

Slovakia

Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia was part of the Reformed Church in Hungary until the end of World War I. In 1993, a theological seminary was opened in Komárno. Cathechial schools are in Kosice and Komarno. In Slovakia, 110,000 Calvinists were recorded.

Romania

The Reformed Church in Romania consist of two dioceses. These are:

*Reformed Diocese of Királyhágómellék
*Reformed Diocese of Transylvania

In Transylvania, the Calvinist faith took root in the 16th century. In 1564, a Synod was held in Nagyenyed (today Aiud) when the Calvinist and Lutheran churches separated. This date is the founding date of the Reformed Diocese of Transylvania. Partium (today partially Crișana) used to be a separated geographical area from Transylvania, also ruled by Hungarian/Transylvanian princes. In this region was founded the Királyhágómellék Reformed District. Transylvania was part of Hungary until 1920. The Confessions of these churches are the Apostles Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism. In the church buildings, especially in smaller villages, the men and women sitting separated and the children and those who were not yet married were sitting in the church choir or gallery. The believers are predominantly (95%) Hungarian, so the worship language is also Hungarian. It has 800 congregations and 700,000 members.

*Evangelical Reformed Church of Romania

A Romanian mission of the United Reformed Churches in North America was founded in Bucharest in 2016.

Germany

The German Reformed Church (''Reformierte Kirche'') forms, together with German Lutheran and united Protestant churches, the umbrella named Evangelical Church in Germany (German: ''Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland'') or EKD. The member churches of EKD were formerly the Protestant state churches in German states before the separation of religion and state in 1919. EKD represents, alongside Catholicism, Germany's "mainstream" religious bodies.

The German Reformed Church, unusually, does not trace its origins back to Zwingli or Calvin, but rather to Philipp Melanchthon, Luther's best friend and closest ally. After Melanchthon's death in 1560, extremist Lutherans (from whom Luther had previously distanced himself) accused Melanchthon's successors in the "Philippist" cause of Crypto-Calvinism and mercilessly persecuted and sometimes killed them in several states, especially Saxony. Other states, such as Hesse(-Cassel), remained openly Philippist and Calvinist. Only during the time of Calvin (1509–1564) himself did genuinely Calvinist influences enter the German Calvinist faith; even today, it remains more Philippist than Calvinist.

In the German Empire (1871–1918) some states were Lutheran, some Reformed. King Frederick William III of Prussia united both major Protestant confessions in his domains into the Prussian Union of churches in 1817, allowing congregations to maintain Lutheran or Calvinist confession, or declare their union, also in Bremen (1877), Hesse-Cassel (1817), and Hesse-Darmstadt (1832) Reformed and Lutherans form a union merely in administration. Some states saw unions of Reformed and Lutherans to a united confession, such as Anhalt (1820 in Anhalt-Bernburg, 1827 in Anhalt-Dessau, and 1880 in Anhalt-Köthen), Baden (1821), Nassau (1817) and Bavarian Palatinate (1848), while Lutherans in other states (Bavaria proper, Hamburg, Hanover, Lübeck, the Mecklenburgs, Oldenburg, Saxon Duchies, Saxony, Schaumburg-Lippe, Schleswig-Holstein, and Württemberg) did not followed suit.

The German Reformed Church's finest hour arguably occurred during the Third Reich (1933–1945): although by far not all Calvinist clergy and their flocks opposed the Nazis, the Reformed Church dominated the Confessing Church resistance against Hitler.

As of 2009, German Protestants come in four different guises, all under one national umbrella, but differentiated by region ( Landeskirche, usually regions smaller than the states):

#Lutheran
#Calvinist, namely Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany (comprising Reformed congregations in all areas, where Lutherans and Reformed did not unite, but Lippe), and Church of Lippe
#Administration-United - in these churches, each parish is either Lutheran, Reformed or united Protestant, and so is the congregation and the Pastor, but all share the same administration
#Consensus-United - there is no difference even at the parish level

In Germany, as of 2009, roughly 25 million Germans (less than one-third of the entire population, slightly more than half of German Christians) are Protestant. Of these, less than 2 million are Calvinist. The main coordinating body for Calvinist churches in Germany is the Reformed Alliance.

Smaller, separate denominations include the Evangelical Old-Reformed Church in Lower Saxony, the Union of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Germany, and the episcopally governed Free Reformed Churches of Germany.

France

In France, the Calvinist Protestants were called Huguenots. The Reformed Church of France survived under persecution from 1559 until the Edict of Nantes (1598), the effect of which was to establish regions in which Protestants could live unmolested. These areas became centers of political resistance under which the Calvinist church was protected until 1628, when La Rochelle, the Protestant center of resistance to Louis XIII, was overrun by a French army blockade. After the Protestant resistance failed, the Reformed Church of France reorganized, and was guaranteed toleration under the Edict of Nantes until the final revocation of toleration in 1685 (Edict of Fontainebleau). The periods of persecution scattered French Reformed refugees to England, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Africa (especially South Africa) and America. Louis XVI granted an edict of toleration. Freedom of religion came with the French Revolution. Napoleon organized state controlled French Reformed church with the Organic Articles in 1802. A free (meaning, not state controlled) synod of the Reformed Church emerged in 1848 and survives in small numbers to the present time. The French refugees established French Reformed churches in the Latin countries and in America.

The first Calvinist churches in France produced the Gallic Confession and French Calvinist confession of faith, which served as models for the Belgic Confession of Faith (1563).

Today, about 300,000 people are members of the Reformed Church of France (now United Protestant Church of France). There is also the smaller Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine and the more conservative National Union of Independent Reformed Evangelical Churches of France (the name of the denomination was changed in 2009).

The Malagazy Protestant Church in France is a Calvinist denomination whose members come from Madagascar.
The Union of Free Evangelical Churches in France is another denomination.

Great Britain and Ireland

The churches with Presbyterian traditions in the United Kingdom have the Westminster Confession of Faith as one of their important confessional documents.
*United Reformed Church (URC) in the United Kingdom is the result of the union of Presbyterian, Congregational and Church of Christ churches
**Several hundred Congregational churches opted to remain outside the initial 1972 union, forming the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches and the Congregational Federation. Some congregations were gathered into the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches whilst others are now wholly independent without any national affiliation.
*The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales has currently 17 congregations
*The International Presbyterian Church has English and Korean congregations in Great Britain and missions in Romania, Italy and Armenia and in other parts of the world.
*Metropolitan Tabernacle-a famous independent Reformed Baptist congregation pastored by Spurgeon -not a denomination

In Wales, there are the Union of Welsh Independents, which is another congregational body. The Presbyterian Church of Wales is one of the biggest Christian denomination in Wales.

In Scotland, presbyterianism was established in 1560 by John Knox who studied in Geneva and planted Calvinism in his home country. The presbyterian churches in the US, Canada, Australia trace their origin back primarily from Scotland.
*The Presbyterian churches in Scotland, including:
*The Church of Scotland, the established, national church in Scotland
* Free Church of Scotland
*Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
*United Free Church of Scotland
*Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
*Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland
*Associated Presbyterian Churches

In Ulster, Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland spread the Calvinist faith in the 17th century.
*The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland
*The Presbyterian Church in Ireland serves the whole of the island
**There are also other churches with smaller flocks, notably in Northern Ireland
*The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
*The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ireland
* Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland
*Congregational Union of Ireland

A group of churches called Newfrontiers began in England and also exists elsewhere in the world. This group tends to hold to Calvinist theology, but is also charismatic in its experience.

Anglicanism

Historically, the Church of England upheld both Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines. Several continental Calvinist theologians moved to England to aid with the doctrinal and liturgical developments there, including Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, and Jan Łaski. Especially Calvinistic distinctions of the Church of England include the division of the Ten Commandments after the Calvinist numbering (rather than the Lutheran or Catholic division), the iconoclastic reforms of Edward VI and Elizabeth I, and the Eucharistic doctrine of Receptionism. The Church of England so took part in the Synod of Dort, and monarchs since the Glorious Revolution have sworn in the coronation oath to protect the “true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed religion established by law.”

However, the ascendency of William Laud to the archbishopric saw a periodic suppression of pro-Calvinist clergymen under Charles I, and the Oxford Movement of the 19th century sought to further distance the Church of England from its Calvinistic ties. Because of the political success of Anglo-Catholicism there have been a few conservative Reformed movements which have left the Church of England:

*The Free Church of England
*The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion
*The Church of England (Continuing)

Greece

* Greek Evangelical Church
*Congregational Churches in Greece https://www.internationalcongregationalfellowship.org/our-regions/

Croatia

*Reformed Christian Church in Croatia was part of the Hungarian Reformed Church. It is a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
* Protestant Reformed Christian Church in Croatia

Italy

* The Waldensian Evangelical Church
It is an Italian historical Protestant denomination. After Protestant Reformation, the small church absorbed Calvinist theology - under the influence of Guillaume Farel- and became the Italian branch of the European Calvinist churches.
In 1975, the Waldensian Church (45,000 members circa, plus some 15,000 affiliates in Argentina and Uruguay) joined forces with the Italian Methodist Church (5,000) to form the Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches. It is member of both the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and of the World Methodist Council, due to its nature of aunited church.

* The Evangelical Reformed Baptist Churches in Italy
It is a Reformed Baptist denomination in Italy. As a member of the World Reformed Fellowship, this network of churches recover the Calvinist tradition of Pietro Martire Vermigli and Girolamo Zanchi.

*The Presbyterian Church in Italy
It is a mission of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil in Italy.

Ukraine

* Reformed Church in Transcarpathia
It is the oldest Protestant community in Ukraine, established during the 16th century. 70-75% of Transcarpathian Hungarians are followers of the Calvinist faith. The church currently has three dioceses with about 120,000 - 140,000 members and is itself a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
* Union of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Ukraine
* Evangelical Reformed Church in Transcarpathia
*Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine
This church was started by missionaries of the Presbyterian Church in America and has 12 congregations and missions with 11 ordained national pastors; it maintains a Calvinist seminary in Kyiv.

Serbia

*Reformed Christian Church in Serbia was also part of The Reformed Church in Hungary till 1920
* Protestant Reformed Christian Church in Serbia

Sweden

*Mission Covenant Church of Sweden
*Evangelical Reformed Church in Sweden

Slovenia

* Reformed Church in Slovenia

Poland

*Polish Reformed Church
* Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches in Poland

Bulgaria

*Union of Evangelical Congregational Churches in Bulgaria

Denmark

*Reformed Synod of Denmark
*German Reformed of Copenhagen
* Reformed Congregation in Fredericia

Belgium

*United Protestant Church in Belgium

Spain

*Spanish Evangelical Church
*Reformed Churches in Spain
*Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Spain

Lithuania

* Synod of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Lithuania

Czech Republic

*Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren
* Church of the Brethren in the Czech Republic or Evangelical Brethren Church in the Czech Republic - Czech Republic and Slovakia

Portugal

* Evangelical Reformed Church in Portugal
*Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Portugal
*Christian Presbyterian Church in Portugal
*Union of Evangelical Congregational Churches in Portugal
* Renewed Presbyterian Church in Portugal - mission of the Renewed Presbyterian Church in Brazil
* St. Andrews Church, Church of Scotland in Lisbon

Latvia

* Reformed Church in Latvia

Luxemburg

* Protestant Church of Luxembourg
*Protestant Reformed Church of Luxembourg

Austria

* Reformed Church in Austria
* Evangelical Reformed Church (Westminster Confession)

Liechtenstein

*Evangelical Church in Liechtenstein

Cyprus

* Greek Evangelical Church
*Trinity Community Christian Fellowship in Larnaca, Cyprus

Russia

*Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches in Eurasia
* Reformed Fundamental Church in Russia
* Union of Evangelical Reformed Churches in Russia
*Hundreds of Presbyterian Congregations are existing in Russia, which are the fruit of the Korean Presbyterian denominations from South Korea.

Belarus

* Belarusian Evangelical Reformed Church

Macedonia

* Union of Evangelical Congregational Churches in Macedonia

Finland

*Christ Church of Oulu

Albania

*Reformed Church in Durrës mission of the PCA
*Emmanuel reformed church in Tirana

Azerbaijan

*International Presbyterian Church, Baku

Armenia

*Congregational Churches in Armenia https://www.internationalcongregationalfellowship.org/our-regions/

Norway

*First Presbyterian Church of Norway https://fpcnorway.org/

Oceania

Australia

*Australian Free Church
* Christian Reformed Churches of Australia
* Evangelical Presbyterian Church
* EV Church
* Free Presbyterian Church (Australia)
*Free Reformed Churches of Australia
*Hungarian Reformed Church in Australia
* Presbyterian Church of Australia (Presbyterian)
*Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia (Presbyterian - Free)
*Presbyterian Reformed Church (Australia) (Presbyterian Reformed)
*Reformed Presbyterian Church of Australia (part of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (denominational group))
* Southern Presbyterian Church
*Uniting Church in Australia (Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist)
*Westminster Presbyterian Church of Australia

Congregational churches

*Congregational Federation of Australia
*Uniting Church in Australia
* Fellowship of Congregational Churches

American Samoa

*Congregational Christian Church in American Samoa

Cook Island

*Cook Islands Christian Church