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 Cal ...

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 juri ...

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 merged ...

(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 state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. After a two-day meeting ending on 1 February 2006,

Douwe Visser Douwe or Douw is a Dutch given name of West Frisian language, West Frisian origin and probably meaning "dove" (Frisian:''dou'').

, president of the REC and

Clifton Kirkpatrick The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, DMin, is the former Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a position in which he served from 1996 to 2008. Since 2004 he has also served as President of the World Alliance of Refor ...

, 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 ...

Dominican Republic

Christian Reformed Church of the Dominican Republic The Christian Reformed Church in the Dominican Republic ( es, Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en la Republica Dominicana) is a Reformed denomination founded by American missionaries. History The Christian Reformed Church in North America began missi ...

France

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

Greece

Greek Evangelical Church The Greek Evangelical Church (Greek: Ελληνική Ευαγγελική Εκκλησία, ''Elliniki Evangeliki Ekklisia'') is a Presbyterian denomination in Greece. It was the first Protestant church established in the country. History Greek ...

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, Sera ...

Indonesia

* Indonesian Christian Church of Central Java (GKI) *

Javanese Christian Churches The Synod of the Christian Churches of Java ( id, Sinode Gereja-gereja Kristen Jawa, GKJ), founded on 17 February 1931, is a mutual bond of Javanese Christian Churches which amounts to 307 churches in 32 presbyteries, spreading in 6 provinces in ...

(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 Sumba ...

(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 1946 ...

Kenya

The Reformed Church of East Africa ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Korea

The Presbyterian General Assembly ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

(

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 * Chris ...

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 The Protestant Church in the Netherlands ( nl, de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the ...

(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 *

Presbyterian Church of Nigeria The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria is a Presbyterian church in the Nigeria and subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith. The denomination has ten synods, more than 50 presbyteries and over 4,000 congregations, and almost 8,000 ministers a ...

Philippines

Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines The Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines is a Calvinist denomination in the Philippines, founded by American missionaries in the mid-1900. Origin The church was first organised by missionaries Vince and Lucy Apostol, congregants of the ...

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 and ...

(NGK) *

Dutch Reformed Church in Africa The Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA; , NGKA) was a Reformed churches, Reformed Christian denomination, denomination in South Africa. It was a mission church of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) exclusively for Black people#Southe ...

(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 The Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka (formerly known as the Dutch Reformed Church of Sri Lanka) is the oldest Protestant church on the island. History Beginnings and development On 6 October 1642, the first Protestant church service w ...

Swaziland

Swaziland Reformed Church The Swaziland Reformed Church was founded in 1944 and become a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa in 1967. Later the Swaziland Missionary Board was formed to coordinate the missionary work of the Reformed Church in Swaziland. In 198 ...

(SRC)

Uganda

* Christian Reformed Church of East Africa *

Reformed Presbyterian Church in Uganda The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Uganda is an indigenous confessional Reformed and Presbyterian denomination in Uganda. It was separated from the Presbyterian Church in Uganda. In 1989 controversy arose over a case of church discipline. Attemp ...

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 founde ...

Notes

External links

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