Reformed Church in America
The
Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a
Calvinist Reformed Protestant denomination that was formerly known as the
Dutch Reformed Church. The denomination has about 300,000 members and has congregations in both the
U.S. and
Canada. The RCA is a founding member of the
National Council of Churches and the
World Council of Churches and some parts of the denomination belong to the
National Association of Evangelicals.
The Reformed Church uses several statements of doctrine and faith. These include the historic
Apostles' Creed,
Nicene Creed, and
Athanasian Creed; the traditional Reformed
Belgic Confession,
Heidelberg Catechism, and
Canons of Dort;
It is the oldest
Protestant church with a continuous ministry - and also the oldest corporation - in
North America. The early
Dutch settlers in
New Netherland held informal meetings for worship until
Jonas Michaelius organized a congregation in
New Amsterdam in
1628, called the
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Four churches in
New York City (the Fort Washington Collegiate Church, Middle Collegiate Church, Marble Collegiate Church, and West End Collegiate Church - now known as the Collegiate Church Corporation) are descendants of this early activity.
The Reformed Church was the established church of New Netherland. Although the British captured the colony in
1664, all RCA ministers were still trained in the
Netherlands under the auspices of the denominational classis of Amsterdam, and services in the Reformed Church remained in the
Dutch language until 1764. (Dutch language use faded thereafter until the new wave of Dutch immigration in the mid-1800s, which prompted a temporary revival of it.) In
1747 the denomination gave permission to form an assembly in
America, which in
1754 declared itself independent of the classis of
Amsterdam. This American classis secured a charter in
1766 for Queens College (now
Rutgers University) in
New Jersey. The appointment in
1784 of
John Henry Livingston as professor of theology marked the beginning of the
New Brunswick Theological Seminary. In
1792, a formal constitution was adopted; in
1794 the Reformed Church held its first general synod; and in
1867 formally adopted the name "Reformed Church in America".
In the nineteenth century, in New York and New Jersey, the descendents of the original Dutch settlers struggled to preserve their European standards and traditions, while developing a taste for revivalism and an American identity.
The church embraced many of the historic colonial churches of
New York and
New Jersey, the denominational stronghold; fresh immigration from the
Netherlands in the mid-19th century led to the development of the church in the Midwest.
Hope College and
Western Theological Seminary were founded in
Holland, Michigan, and
Central College at
Pella, Iowa. In the
1857 Secession, a group of Dutch settlers in Michigan led by
Gijsbert Haan separated from the Reformed Church and organized the
Christian Reformed Church, and other churches followed. In 1882 another group of churches left for the CRC, mirroring developments in the church in the Netherlands. In the post-World War II years the church expanded in Canada, which was the destination of a large group of Dutch emigrants. Between
1949 and
1958 the church opened 120 churches among non-Dutch suburban communities.
In
1955, the Rev. Dr.
Robert H. Schuller was dispatched by the Reformed Church to start a new congregation in
Garden Grove, California. Services were initially conducted at a drive-in theater. Developed under Rev. Schuller's leadership to become the
Crystal Cathedral, the church is now one of the best known Reformed Church congregations in the world, though Schuller's ministry tends to lack the Reformed focus on scriptural teaching. Schuller, like his influence
Norman Vincent Peale (also a RCA minister), teaches "Possibility Theology." In 2006, Schuller handed the ministry over to his son, the Rev. Dr.
Robert A. Schuller.
The RCA maintains a relationship of
full communion with the
Presbyterian Church (USA), the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the
United Church of Christ through a document known as the
Formula of Agreement. At the Reformed Church's annual meeting,
Synod 2006, the RCA also entered into full communion with the
Christian Reformed Church in North America.
*
Everett Dirksen, U.S. senator
*
B.D. Dykstra, writer and educator
*
Norman J Kansfield, theologian
*
Norman Vincent Peale, preacher
*
Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president
*
Philip Schuyler, a leader of the American Revolution
*
Robert Schuller, preacher
*
Martin Van Buren, U.S. president
*
Donald Trump, U.S. Businessman
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Central College,
Pella, Iowa*
Hope College,
Holland, Michigan*
Northwestern College,
Orange City, Iowa*
New Brunswick Theological Seminary,
New Brunswick, New Jersey*
Western Theological Seminary,
Holland, Michigan*
Dutch Reformed Church*
Christian Reformed Church in North America*M. G. Hansen, The Reformed Church in the Netherlands, 1340â€"1840 (1884)
*J. J. Birch, The Pioneering Church in the Mohawk Valley (1955)
*F. H. Fabend, Zion on the Hudson: Dutch New York and New Jersey in the Age of Revivals (2000)
*
RCA official site*
Collegiate Church Corporation
