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 Ca ...

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 merge ...

(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 U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. 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 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 north to B ...

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 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, Ser ...

Indonesia

* Indonesian Christian Church of Central Java (GKI) * Javanese Christian Churches (GKJ) *

Christian Church of Sumba Christian Church of Sumba is Calvinist church in Indonesia, a member of World Communion of Reformed Churches. The denomination was established on 15 January 1947. Today, the church has congregations in various cities outside the island of Sum ...

(GKS) * Southernpart Sumatra Christian Church (GKSBS) *

Church of Toraja Mamasa The Toraja Mamasa Church was established on 7 June 1947, and based in West Sulawesi. It is a Protestant church, and a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. It was a fruit of the Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, a conserv ...

(GTM) *

Toraja Church Toraja Church is a Protestant Christian denomination in Tana Toraja, Indonesia, of which the majority of the Torajan people are members. This church is a member of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia since 1950. On 1912-1913 the Gerevormerde M ...

(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 194 ...

Kenya

* The Reformed Church of East Africa

Korea

* The Presbyterian General Assembly (

Reformed Church of Korea Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang *Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...

)

Malawi

Church of Central Africa Presbyterian - Nkhoma Synod Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Ch ...

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 o ...

Myanmar

Christian Reformed Church in Myanmar The Christian Reformed Church in Myanmar is a Reformed church of Myanmar, and was founded in 1985 by Pastor Chan Thleng who was formerly ordained in the Presbyterian Church in Myanmar. He belongs to the Matu tribe in Southern Chin State born in 1 ...

Netherlands

* Protestant Church in the Netherlands (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 The Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), formerly Church of Christ in Nigeria, is a Christian denomination in Nigeria. It was founded in 1904. Its current headquarters is in Jos, Plateau State. Its current president is Rev. Prof. Dachollom Datiri ...

Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv The Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv (Nongo u Kristu u ken Sudan hen tiv, NKST) is a confessional Christian Reformed denomination in Nigeria. Origin The church was founded by the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. This mission wo ...

(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

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 original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family a ...

(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. Origin ...

(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 (NHKA)

Sri Lanka

* Dutch Reformed Church in Sri Lanka

Swaziland

* Swaziland Reformed Church (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 i ...

* Reformed Presbyterian Church in Uganda

United States and Canada

* Christian Reformed Church in North America

Notes

External links

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