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The Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC or PRCA) is a
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
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 Common grace is a theological concept in Protestant Christianity, developed primarily in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Reformed/Calvinistic thought, referring to the grace of God that is either common to all humankind, or common to everyone w ...
in the Christian Reformed Church. At that time the Christian Reformed Church had adopted three doctrinal points on the subject of common grace. Reverends
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 thre ...
, George Ophoff, and Henry Danhof rejected these three points and maintained them to be contrary to the Reformed confessions of faith. Soon thereafter, when these men said they could not abide by these three points, they were disciplined through suspension, or deposition, from the ministry by their respective classes. The CRC maintained that the position of these three men was inconsistent with the Bible's teachings. The men objected to this deposition also from a church political point of view, arguing that only the
consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church * Consistor ...
has the right to depose their minister, not a classis. The CRC disagreed, and these ministers, as well as their followers, were deposed by the CRC and organized into a new denomination, taking the name of Protesting Christian Reformed Churches. The denomination later renamed itself the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. Rev Hoeksema become the pastor of the
First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan First Protestant Reformed Church is 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 Christian Reformed ...
.


Schisms

The Protestant Reformed Churches grew rapidly in the following years, but in the 1950s the denomination struggled because of internal, doctrinal controversies in defense of the unconditionality of the Covenant of Grace. Hubert DeWolf, who had become the pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, was influenced by the theology of the
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) (Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (vrijgemaakt)) are an orthodox Calvinist federation of churches. This church body arose in 1944 out of the so-called Liberation (') from the Reformed ...
, this included conditional theology. DeWolf begun to preach sermons which promoted conditional theology, because he saw the ever increasing number of immigrants that were part of the
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) (Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (vrijgemaakt)) are an orthodox Calvinist federation of churches. This church body arose in 1944 out of the so-called Liberation (') from the Reformed ...
in the Netherlands, and he believed that this could be an opportunity to grow the church. Hoeksema saw this as heresy and insisted that salvation is only for the elect, including the baptized children of believers, and that those who were not elect could not receive salvation. DeWolf and his supporters were suspended in 1953. That year 60% of the denomination membership, the so-called "DeWolf Group", formed the Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church (OPRC). Before the schism the denomination had 6,063 members (1953)—the PRC has passed this membership mark as of 1994. The remaining 40% continued as the Protestant Reformed Church with 2,353 members. DeWolf worked for the reunion of the CRCNA. The union took place in 1961 and as a result seven OPRC congregations were dissolved, with their members joining other Christian Reformed congregations, and four became part of the CRCNA denomination-Hope CRC in
Hull, Iowa Hull is a city in Sioux County, Iowa, Sioux County, Iowa. The population was 2,384 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History The first settlers in the Hull area arrived in 1872. The city was incorporated on May 15, 1886. H ...
, Alamo Ave CRC in
Kalamazoo, MI Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropoli ...
, Bethel CRC in Redlands, CA and Faith CRC in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2021-2022, a number of pastors and elders, along with hundreds of members of the PRC left to establish a new denomination named the "Reformed Protestant Church." The impacted congregations included Byron Center, Michigan, Dyer, Indiana, Hull, Iowa, and Edmonton, Canada. Sister churches of the PRC in the Philippines and Singapore were also effected, which led to a number of people leaving to form two distinct church works in those countries. One of the seceding pastors, Rev. Andrew Lanning stated that "the doctrinal issue itself is the ABC’s of the gospel and the 123’s of the covenant: Fellowship with God is by grace and is unconditional." A split also occurred in the PRC's unofficial publishing arm the "Reformed Free Publishing Association." Shortly before the schism, several members left and helped start a rival publishing house called "Reformed Believers Publishing."


Period of recent growth

The PRC has continued to steadily grow since the schism of 1953. In 1994 the membership passed the 6,053 members it had at the time of the schism. The turmoil within the CRCNA resulted in a number of former CRC members joining local Protestant Reformed Churches. No CRC congregations affiliated with the PRC changed denomination, but one pastor, Rev. Audred Spriensma and a number of CRC families from Alamosa, Colorado joined the Protestant Reformed Church in 1993. In 2004 a former Orthodox Christian Reformed congregation in
Listowel, Ontario Listowel is an unincorporated community in Ontario, Canada, located in the Municipality of North Perth. Incorporated as the Town of Listowel in 1875, it was dissolved in 1998 following amalgamation with several other communities in the northern ...
became part of the Protestant Reformed Churches and is currently (as of 2004) known as Wingham PRC.


Statistics

According to the Yearbook 2017 of the Protestant Reformed Churches the communicant (4,982) and non-communicant (3,645) members; numbers exactly 8,627. The PRCA has 2,118 family units and 33 churches in Classis East and Classis West combined. The denomination has four missionaries and four professors.


Distinctive doctrine

The PRC believes that the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
is the infallible and inerrantly inspired word of God and that the message therein is well summarized in the
Three Forms of Unity The Three Forms of Unity is a collective name for the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism, which reflect the doctrinal concerns of continental Calvinism and are accepted as official statements of doctrine by many Ca ...
: the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the
Canons of Dordt The Canons of Dort, or Canons of Dordrecht, formally titled The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands, is the judgment of the National Synod held in the Dutch city of Dordrecht in 1618–1 ...
. While the PRC approves of most of the
Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" ...
, it does not endorse it. This is partly due to a different understanding of marriage and divorce and the
covenant of works Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It uses the theological concept of a covenant as an orga ...
. The PRC believes that marriage is a lifelong bond and that, although an individual may divorce his or her spouse for continued infidelity, the marriage bond is not dissolved apart from death. Hence, neither party is permitted to remarry while the other person is still living. Those who do divorce and remarry while their first spouse is still alive are considered adulterers, regardless of the circumstances of the divorce. The PRC holds that God's covenant is only with his elect and that it is unconditional (meaning that there are no conditions that people must fulfill to enter into the covenant or to stay in the covenant). The PRC rejects
Antinomianism Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...
, believing instead that God calls the people of the covenant to believe and obey and that he personally and entirely produces in them the required faith and works. In public worship services, the PRC sing the
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
with organ accompaniment. In contrast to
exclusive psalmody Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing as worship. Today it is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed denominations. Hymns besides the Psalms have been composed by Christians ...
, it does permit the singing of certain hymns, but not in worship services. The PRC believes that preaching is the most important part of a worship service. Article 69 of the
church order Church order is the systematically organized set of rules drawn up by a qualified body of a local church. P. Coertzen. ''Church and Order''. Belgium: Peeters. From the point of view of civil law, the ''church order'' can be described as the inter ...
adopted by the Synod of Dordt states that: "In the churches only the 150 Psalms of David, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Twelve Articles of Faith, the Songs of Mary, Zacharias, and Simeon, the Morning and Evening Hymns, and the Hymn of Prayer before the sermon shall be sung." It is a common practice within PRC services to open with the singing of the "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow"
doxology A doxology (Ancient Greek: ''doxologia'', from , '' doxa'' 'glory' and -, -''logia'' 'saying') is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derive ...
and some end the service with the singing of the "May the Grace of Christ the Savior" doxology. Outside of the official church service, members are free to sing hymns and carols. Also, the PRC uses the
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
of the Bible, although they do not endorse the
King James Only movement The King James Only movement asserts the belief that the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible is superior to all other translations of the Bible The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Arama ...
and members are free to use other Bible versions. The PRC holds to the truth of six literal day creation. They take the first chapter of Genesis to be a factual account of the creation, taking the words "the morning and the evening of the first day" to show a normal, twenty-four-hour day. Although micro evolution is accepted, macro evolution is seen as contrary to biblical teachings. They believe that God created the world to be mature, so that the stars were created to be millions of light years away, and the light to be already hitting the earth. Since the flood, micro evolution has occurred bringing about differences between animals in a population.


Church government

The denomination holds to the presbyterian form of church government and is organized in two classes, Classis East and Classis West (the eastern border of
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
is the boundary between the two), which meet two or three times a year and in an annual Synod. As reflected in the denominations use of the plural "Churches" in its name, the PRC maintains that a denomination is not a church but a federation of churches, and that each of these churches is self-governing by a body of elders chosen out of the congregation. The PRC holds that God has given the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 16:18, which is understood as granting authority for the preaching the gospel, and the exercise of church discipline) to the instituted church, not the denomination. Thus in the PRC only an instituted church can place an individual or a church officer under discipline. The PRC denies that a meeting of Classis or Synod has the authority to do this, though they may advise a congregation to do so. At the same time the PRC maintains the binding authority of the decisions of the broader assemblies. Individuals and congregations must submit to these decisions if they are going to remain in the denomination, and if an individual congregation refuses to do so, the broader assembly has the authority to declare that congregation to be outside the federation of churches. Only male members who have made a public confession of faith and are in good standing may vote for church officers or be
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
.


Churches and missions

The PRC currently has 33 member churches scattered throughout the United States and in Canada. A majority of the churches in the United States are located in western
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 ...
but there are also churches in the
midwestern The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
and
western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
United States. The PRC has few formal relationships with most reformed denominations and organizations. The PRC contributed greatly to the development of two churches in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
, the First Evangelical Reformed Church in Singapore (not longer in relationship with the PRC since 2007) and Covenant Evangelical Reformed Church. The PRC also has relationships with a small fellowship in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
; the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church (Australia) The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is a small Australian Reformed faith, Reformed Christian denomination. In September 2010 it had five centres: Brisbane; Londonderry (Sydney); Cohuna, Victoria (preaching station); Launceston and Winnaleah (Tasm ...
; a sister church in Northern Ireland, the Covenant Protestant Reformed Church in Ballymena, and Limerick Reformed Fellowship was founded with the help of the PRC and; the Protestant Reformed Churches in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. The PRC has also developed contacts in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
and in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
; there is a sister Reformed Church in Singapore. Currently, the PRC is engaged in missions in a few locations in the United States, and they have recently organized a church in the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
and several mission churches were started. The First Reformed Church in Bulacan, the Berea Reformed Church was organised in 2006, and the All of Grace Protestant Reformed Fellowship in Gabaldon, the Philippines, recently a new work is underway, the Provident Christian Church in
Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
. The Georgetown PRC is involved in mission in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In 2005, the Synod of the PRC closed the denomination's missionary field work in
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
, due to a lack of membership.


Christian education

The PRC holds that "it is necessary for them to maintain good, Christian schools in which their children are educated". To this end, Protestant Reformed parents maintain twelve primary and three high schools for the education of approximately 1500 children. Home schooling in the PRC is strongly discouraged when a Protestant Reformed school is available. The 2009 PRC Synod forbad office bearers from using home education for their children in most situations, stating that an office bearer is "expected to send his children to those (PRC) schools unless there are special circumstances judged by his consistory to be valid." David Engelsma, Professor Emeritus of the Protestant Reformed Seminary writes that "Even though home-schooling of their children might be possible for a few, specially gifted parents whose circumstances provide the time that is needed, home-schooling is still not an option". The denomination supports the Protestant Reformed Theological School in
Grandville, Michigan Grandville is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,378 at the 2010 census. Grandville is just southwest of the city of Grand Rapids and is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. It was first settled i ...
.


Organizations

Also closely tied with the denomination, is the Reformed Free Publishing Association, a publisher of theological and other Christian books by PRC authors and of a semi-monthly magazine ''The Standard Bearer'', located in Jenison, Michigan. The denomination is also closely connected with ''The Reformed Witness Hour'', a radio broadcast.


References


Further reading

* * * ''The Three Forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, nd theCanons of Dordrecht), and the Ecumenical Creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian Creed, nd theCreed of Chalcedon)''. Reprinted d. Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America, 1991. 58 p. Without ISBN * * * * * Haak, Rev. Carl. "Creation." Creation. PRCA, 13 Sept. 2015. Web. 5 Jan. 2016.


External links

* {{Authority control Reformed denominations in the United States Reformed denominations in Canada