The Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) was an international organization of

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

churches. It had 39 member denominations from 25 countries in its membership, and those churches have about 12 million people together. It was founded August 14, 1946 in Grand Rapids, Michigan as the Reformed Ecumenical Synod. The Reformed Ecumenical Council was the second largest international Calvinist alliance and the more conservative of the two largest. In 1953, The Reformed Ecumenical Synod meeting in Edinburgh decided to advise its member churches not to join the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...

as currently constituted because it “permits essentially different interpretations of its doctrinal basis, and thus the nature of the Christian faith” and “represents itself as a Community of faith, but is actually not this” due to member churches holding “basically divergent positions.” About two-thirds of REC member churches also belonged to the larger

World Alliance of Reformed Churches The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) was a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin. Its headquarters was in Geneva, Switzerland. They are now merged ...

(WARC). The seat of the Reformed Ecumenical Council was

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. After a two-day meeting ending on 1 February 2006, Douwe Visser, president of the REC and

Clifton Kirkpatrick The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, DMin, is the former Stated Clerk Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is go ...

, president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, said in a joint letter to their constituencies, "We rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit which we believe has led us to recommend that the time has come to bring together the work of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council into one body that will strengthen the unity and witness of Calvinist Christians." The new body would be called the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

Australia

Christian Reformed Churches of Australia The Christian Reformed Churches of Australia (CRCA), formerly known as the Reformed Churches of Australia (RCA) is a Christian denomination established in Australia belonging to the Reformed/Presbyterian tradition. Background This denomination ha ...

Botswana

Dutch Reformed Church in Botswana The Dutch Reformed Church in Botswana was founded by Switzerland, Swiss missionaries led by the Rev. Henri Gronin begun working in 1863 among the tribe Bakgatla, Kgafela in Saulsport and Rustenburg in South Africa. In 1870 part of the tribe moved ...

Dominican Republic

Christian Reformed Church of the Dominican Republic The Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic ( es, Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la Republica Dominicana) is a Reformed denomination founded by American missionaries. History The Christian Reformed Church in North America began missio ...

France

* Evangelical Reformed Church of France (UNEPREF, formerly EREI)

Greece

Greek Evangelical Church The Greek Evangelical Church (Greek: Ελληνική Ευαγγελική Εκκλησία, ''Elliniki Evangeliki Ekklisia'') is a Presbyterian denomination in Greece. It was the first Protestant church established in the country. History Greek ...

India

Presbyterian Church of India The Presbyterian Church of India (PCI) is a mainline Protestant church based in India, with over one million adherents, mostly in Northeast India. It is one of the largest Christian denominations in that region. Origin and history In 1799, Seram ...

Indonesia

* Indonesian Christian Church of Central Java (GKI) *

Javanese Christian Churches The Synod of the Christian Churches of Java ( id, Sinode Gereja-gereja Kristen Jawa, GKJ), founded on 17 February 1931, is a mutual bond of Javanese Christian Churches which amounts to 307 churches in 32 presbyteries, spreading in 6 provinces in ...

(GKJ) * Christian Church of Sumba (GKS) * Southernpart Sumatra Christian Church (GKSBS) * Church of Toraja Mamasa (GTM) * Toraja Church (GT)

Japan

Reformed Church in Japan The Reformed Church in Japan is a confessional Calvinist denomination in Japan. It was formerly a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, but it chose to suspend its membership. Origin The Reformed Church in Japan was formed in 1946 ...

Kenya

* The Reformed Church of East Africa

Korea

* The Presbyterian General Assembly ( Reformed Church of Korea)

Malawi

* Church of Central Africa Presbyterian - Nkhoma Synod

Mexico

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in the USA began to send missionaries to Mexico. History In the late 1870s a presbytery was formed. The official beginning of the denomination is in 1879. The church is active in the Northeastern part o ...

Mozambique

Reformed Church in Mozambique The Reformed Church in Mozambique ( pt, Igreja Reformada em Mozambique) is a confessional Reformed denomination in Mozambique. It was founded by Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, started Mphatso mission in 1909. This was in the Northwest part ...

Myanmar

* Christian Reformed Church in Myanmar

Netherlands

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands ( nl, de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the ...

(PKN)

Nigeria

Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria The Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRC-N) is a Christian church that was established in 1951 under the name "Ekklisiyar Kristi a Sudan (EKAS) Lardin "Benue" meaning, "The church of Christ in Sudan, Benue region", and known under its curre ...

* Church of Christ in Nigeria * Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv (NKST) *

Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ The Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ is a Calvinist denomination in Nigeria, founded by the South African missionaries. History The Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ was founded in 1916 by the Sudan Missionary Society- South Africa Bran ...

Presbyterian Church of Nigeria The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria is a Presbyterian church in the Nigeria and subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith. The denomination has ten synods, more than 50 presbyteries and over 4,000 congregations, and almost 8,000 ministers a ...

Philippines

Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines The Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines is a Calvinist denomination in the Philippines, founded by American missionaries in the mid-1900. Origin The church was first organised by missionaries Vince and Lucy Apostol, congregants of the ...

South Africa

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

(NGK) *

Dutch Reformed Church in Africa The Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA; , NGKA) was a Reformed denomination in South Africa. It was a mission church of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) exclusively for black people, formed in 1963 during the apartheid era. Origi ...

(DRCA) *

Reformed Church in Africa The Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa () was formed by the union of the black and coloured Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk mission churches. Main markers in the URCSA'S history In 1652 the Dutch formed a halfway station at the Cape, which ...

Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika The Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (, abbreviated NHKA) is a Reformed Christian denomination based in South Africa. It also has congregations in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Along with the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) an ...

(NHKA)

Sri Lanka

* Dutch Reformed Church in Sri Lanka

Swaziland

Swaziland Reformed Church The Swaziland Reformed Church was founded in 1944 and become a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa in 1967. Later the Swaziland Missionary Board was formed to coordinate the missionary work of the Reformed Church in Swaziland. In 198 ...

(SRC)

Uganda

Christian Reformed Church of East Africa The Christian Reformed Church in Eastern Africa started in 1992, when several pastors left the Reformed Church of East Africa who wanted to focus on fields beyond Kenya. There are congregations in Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. It is registered in Ug ...

Reformed Presbyterian Church in Uganda The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Uganda is an indigenous confessional Reformed and Presbyterian denomination in Uganda. It was separated from the Presbyterian Church in Uganda. In 1989 controversy arose over a case of church discipline. Atte ...

United States and Canada

Christian Reformed Church in North America The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA or CRC) is a Protestant Calvinist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was f ...

Notes

External links

World Reformed Communion announcement
{{Authority control Christian organizations established in 1946 International bodies of Reformed denominations