The Orthodox Protestant Reformed Churches (OPRC) constituted a short-lived Protestant denomination in the United States. It formed in 1953 following a split in the

Protestant Reformed Churches in America The Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC or PRCA) is a Protestant denomination of 33 churches and over 8,000 members. History Beginning and formation The PRC was founded in 1924 as a result of a controversy regarding common grace in t ...

and lasted until 1961, when most congregations merged with the

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 found ...

, from which the PRCA had split in 1924. At its height, it had 19 congregations. Hubert DeWolf had succeeded

Herman Hoeksema Herman Hoeksema (13 March 1886 in Hoogezand – 2 September 1965 in Grand Rapids) was a Dutch Reformed theologian. Hoeksema served as a long time pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. In 1924 he refused to accept the thr ...

as minister of

First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan First Protestant Reformed Church is Reformed church, Reformed congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was the first and founding congregation of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. History It was organised in 1879 as East Street C ...

. In the early 1950s DeWolf began to teach the conditional

covenant theology Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a biblical theology, a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It is often distinguished from dis ...

of the

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) () was an orthodox Calvinist federation of churches. This church body arose in 1944 out of the so-called Liberation (') from the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, when many pastors and me ...

, and in 1953 stated in a sermon that "Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Hoeksema regarded this as heretical and the congregation, and then the denomination, split over the issue. Clarence Stam argues that in the split "the Protestant Reformed Churches fell into the same practice as the Christian Reformed Church earlier," that of "non-confessional bindings".

References

{{reflist Reformed denominations in the United States Religious organizations established in 1953 Calvinist denominations established in the 20th century Protestant Reformed Churches in America Religious organizations disestablished in 1961 Christian denominations founded in the United States