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

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

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, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

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 merged with the ...

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

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. After a two-day meeting ending on 1 February 2006, Douwe Visser, president of the REC and Clifton Kirkpatrick, 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 Reformed (Calvinist) churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations (227 members and three associate or affiliate members) in 108 countries, together claiming ...

Australia

* Christian Reformed Churches of Australia

Botswana

* Dutch Reformed Church in Botswana

Dominican Republic

* Christian Reformed Church of the Dominican Republic

France

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

Greece

* Greek Evangelical Church

India

* Presbyterian Church of India

Indonesia

* Indonesian Christian Church of Central Java (GKI) * Javanese Christian Churches (GKJ) * Christian Church of Sumba (GKS) * Southernpart Sumatra Christian Church (GKSBS) * Church of Toraja Mamasa (GTM) * Toraja Church (GT)

Japan

* Reformed Church in Japan

Kenya

* The Reformed Church of East Africa

Korea

The Presbyterian General Assembly ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

( Reformed Church of Korea)

Malawi

* Church of Central Africa Presbyterian - Nkhoma Synod

Mexico

* Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico

Mozambique

* Reformed Church in Mozambique

Myanmar

* Christian Reformed Church in Myanmar

Netherlands

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Netherlands, consisting of historical Calvinism, Calvinist and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. It w ...

(PKN)

Nigeria

* Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria * Church of Christ in Nigeria * Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv (NKST) * Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ * Presbyterian Church of Nigeria

Philippines

* Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines

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 traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

(NGK) * Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) * Reformed Church in Africa * Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA)

Sri Lanka

* Dutch Reformed Church in Sri Lanka

Swaziland

* Swaziland Reformed Church (SRC)

Uganda

* Christian Reformed Church of East Africa * Reformed Presbyterian Church in Uganda

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 found ...

Notes

External links

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