The Evangelical Old-Reformed Church in Lower Saxony (german: link=no, Evangelisch-altreformierte Kirche in Niedersachsen) is a

Reformed 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 ...

free church in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

with 14 congregations and 7,000 members. The church was established in 1838 in Bentheim, Germany. They separated because of the liberal trends in the ''Reformed Church of Bentheim'' (since 1882 part of the Reformed Church of the Province of Hanover, which merged in 1989 in the

Evangelical Reformed Church in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany The Evangelical Reformed Church (german: Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche), until 2009 Evangelical Reformed Church – Synod of Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwestern Germany (german: Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche – Synode evangelisch-reform ...

). Between 1923 and 2004 the Old-Reformed Church formed part of the

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands {{Infobox Christian denomination , name = Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Dutch ''Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland'') , image = , caption = , main_classification = Protestant , orientation = Calvinist , polity = Presbyterianism , ...

. The denomination adheres to the

Heidelberg catechism The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Calvinist Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, ...

, the

Belgic Confession The ''Confession of Faith'', popularly known as the Belgic Confession, is a doctrinal standard document to which many of the Reformed churches subscribe. The Confession forms part of the Three Forms of Unity of the Reformed Church, which are still ...

and the

Canons of Dort The Canons of Dort, or Canons of Dordrecht, formally titled The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Christian doctrine, Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands, is the judgment of the National Synod held in the Netherlands, Dut ...

. It is not a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany, but a part of the

Reformed Alliance The Reformed Alliance (german: link=no, Reformierter Bund) in Germany is a Calvinist federation, currently it has 430 congregations and 750 individual members. An estimated 2,000,000 Reformed Christians are in Germany. The moderator is D. Peter Buko ...

and 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 ...

The movement was primarily resonating with the Dutch Secession and was led by the Bentheimers Harm Hindrik Schoemaker (1800-1881) and Jan Barend Sunday (1810–93); The father of the famous Reformed Dogmatician

Herman Bavinck Herman Bavinck (13 December 1854 – 29 July 1921) was a Dutch Calvinist theologian and churchman. He was a significant scholar in the Calvinist tradition, alongside Abraham Kuyper and B. B. Warfield. Biography Background Bavinck was bor ...

, Jan Bavinck, also played an important role in the denomination.

References

External links

Official websit

Reformed denominations in Germany, Lower Saxony Old-Reformed Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches {{Bentheim-geo-stub