Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch Reformed Church (Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde

Dutch Reformed Church
Kerk, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in
the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the Classification Protestant
16th century until 1930.[1] It was the original denomination of the Orientation Reformed
Dutch royal family and the foremost Protestant denomination until
Theology Calvinism
2004. It was the larger of the two major Reformed denominations,
after the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Region Kingdom of the
kerk) was founded in 1892. It spread to the United States, South Netherlands,
Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and various other world Belgium, and
regions through Dutch colonization. Allegiance to the Dutch South Africa
Reformed Church was a common feature among Dutch immigrant
Origin 4 October 1571
communities around the world and became a crucial part of
Afrikaner nationalism in South Africa. Emden, County of
East Frisia in the
The Dutch Reformed Church was founded in 1571 during the Holy Roman
Protestant Reformation in the Calvinist tradition, being shaped Empire
theologically by John Calvin, but also other major Reformed
Separated from Catholic Church
theologians. The church was influenced by various theological
in the
developments and controversies during its history, including
Arminianism, the Nadere Reformatie, and a number of splits in the Netherlands
19th century that greatly diversified Dutch Calvinism. The church Separations Remonstrants
functioned until 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed (1618)
Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church Reformed
in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church Churches in the
in the Netherlands (PKN), a united church of both Reformed and
Netherlands
Evangelical Lutheran theological orientations. At the time of the
(1892)
merger, the Church had 2 million members organised in 1,350
congregations. A minority of members of the church chose not to Restored
participate in the merger and instead formed the Restored Reformed Church
Reformed Church (HHK). (2004)
Merged into Protestant
Status Church in the
Netherlands
Before the demise of the Dutch Republic in 1795, the Dutch (2004)
Reformed Church enjoyed the status of "public" or "privileged" Congregations 1,350 at the time
church. Though it was never formally adopted as the state religion, of merger
the law demanded that every public official should be a
communicant member. Consequently, the Church had close Members 2 million at the
relations with the Dutch government. A privilege of members of time of merger
the Dutch Reformed Church was that they could have their
businesses open on Sundays, otherwise considered a religious day and not one for business.

Disestablishment
The Dutch Reformed Church was officially disestablished in 1795
with the end of the Republic. Although it remained endorsed by the
royal family, the Netherlands never had any public church
afterwards.

History

Reformation and the Synod of Emden

The Reformation was a time of religious violence and persecution

by the established Catholic Church and governments, in some
cases. Efforts to form a Reformed church in the southern provinces
stemmed from a secret meeting of Protestant leaders at Antwerp in
1566, and despite Spanish repression, many nobles joined the
Protestant movement. Two years later, in 1568, following an attack
on the Netherlands by the forces of the Duke of Alba, many
Netherlanders fled to the German city of Wesel, where a Synod
was convened at which the Belgic Confession and Heidelberg
Catechism were adopted, and provisions were made for the offices Title page of the original 1637
of pastor, elder, teacher and deacon. The first Synod of 23 Dutch Statenvertaling
Reformed leaders was held in October 1571 in the German city of
Emden. The Synod of Emden is generally considered to be the
founding of the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest of the Reformed
churches in the Netherlands. The Synod both affirmed the actions of
the earlier Synod of Wesel, as well as established presbyterian church
government for the Dutch Reformed Church.

Synod of Dort

The first Synod to be located in the Dutch Republic was held in The Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam
Dordrecht in 1578. This synodical meeting is not to be confused with (now belonging to the Protestant
the better known Second Synod of Dort of 1618. Large groups of Church in the Netherlands) is still
Marranos settled in Emden and converted to Christianity. Mostly all used for Dutch royal investiture
Marranos, many Jewish groups converted to Christianity around 1649 ceremonies
to the Nederduitsche, Niederdeutsche church later on Dutch Reformed
Church. In the latter meeting, the Church fathers expelled Arminians
and added the Canons of Dort to the Confessions. The Canons of Dort, together with the previously
adopted Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism, were called the Drie formulieren van Enigheid
(Three Forms of Unity). Most conflicts and splits in the Church arose because of disagreement over the
substance and interpretation of these doctrinal documents. The government of the Dutch Republic, which
had instigated the Arminians' expulsion, subsequently prohibited the Reformed Church from assembling
synodically. No Synod was held in the Netherlands until after the end of the Republic in 1795.

Further Reformation
The 17th and early 18th centuries were the age of the Dutch Nadere Reformatie (best translated in English
as the Further Reformation), led primarily by Gisbertus Voetius and Wilhelmus à Brakel, which was
greatly influenced by English Puritanism.

19th century splits

In the 19th century, theological liberalism led to splits in the Dutch

Reformed Church. King William I of the Netherlands imposed a
new form of government for the church, in which the civil
authorities selected the commissioners to the National Synod in
1816, making it increasingly difficult for ministers to speak out
against perceived errors. In 1834, the minister Hendrik de Cock of
the town of Ulrum was told by church leaders that he could not
preach against certain colleagues, who he believed held erroneous
views. He and his congregation seceded from the Dutch Reformed
Church. In time, the Afscheiding (the Separation) led to the
departure of 120 congregations from the Dutch Reformed Church.
In 1886, another separation, the Doleantie, occurred, led by Dutch
Reformed journalist, theologian and politician Abraham Kuyper.

20th century to the present

History of the churches in the
The Dutch Reformed Church remained the largest church body in
Netherlands
the Netherlands until the middle of the 20th century, when it was
overtaken by the Roman Catholic Church. The rapid secularisation
of the Netherlands in the 1960s dramatically reduced participation
in the mainstream Protestant church. From the '60s onward, a number of attempts were made to effect a
reunion with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland). This led to
the two churches uniting with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
(Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) to establish the Protestant Church in the
Netherlands in 2004.

The 2004 merger led to a separation in which a number of congregations and members of the Dutch
Reformed Church separated to form the Restored Reformed Church (Hersteld Hervormde Kerk).
Estimations of their membership vary from 35,000 up to 70,000 in about 120 local congregations served by
88 ministers. The Restored Reformed Church disapproves of the pluralistic nature of the merged church,
which they allege contains partly contradicting Reformed and Lutheran confessions. This conservative
group also opposes the ordination of women and the blessing of same-sex unions in Christian churches,
which have been adopted as practices by the merged church.

International distribution

Africa

Dutch migrants carried the Dutch Reformed Church with them, planting several Reformed denominations
in Kenya (The Reformed Church of East Africa), South Africa, including the Three Sister Churches of
South Africa (the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk), the
Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NHK) (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk), the Reformed Churches
in South Africa (Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika)), the
Afrikaans Protestant Church (Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk), and
the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (Verenigende
Gereformeerde Kerk in Suid-Afrika).

Asia

Through the Dutch East India Company and its workers, the Dutch
Reformed Church was established in Ceylon in 1642. The Dutch
Reformed Church of Ceylon officially changed its name in 2007 to
the Christian Reformed Church of Sri Lanka to reflect its Christian
identity in the nation, rather than on its Dutch colonial heritage. As
of 2007, its membership stands around 5,000, comprising both
communicant and baptised members in 29 congregations,
preaching stations, and mission outposts. Christianity in Indonesia
is strongly influenced under the Dutch reformed church, the first The Dutch Reformed Church
known church established in the country is "De Oude kerk" in (Grotekerk) in Graaff-Reinet, South
Batavia in 1640. Christianity in Indonesia, like Sri Lanka, has been Africa
nationalised into different branches of Protestantism while retaining
many of the reformed church elements, such as Protestant Church
in Indonesia.

Americas

The Dutch Reformed Church went with migrants to the Americas,

beginning in 1628 in New Amsterdam. St. Thomas Reformed
Church, founded in 1660 in St. Thomas, Danish West Indies,[2]
became the first Dutch Reformed Church in the Caribbean. During
the period of Dutch settlement in Brazil in the 17th century
Blenduk Church (Gereja Blenduk),
colonists organised the Reformed Church[3] in Pernambuco. the former Reformed church building
(Koepelkerk) in Semarang, Indonesia
In Canada and the United States, the oldest and second largest
body is the Reformed Church in America, which was the American
branch of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands between 1628 and 1819. The Brookville
Reformed Church is one of the oldest Dutch Reformed Church built in America. The largest Dutch
Reformed body in North America, the Christian Reformed Church in North America, split off from
Reformed Church in America in 1857 under the leadership of Gijsbert Haan. Smaller related denominations
and federations include the Canadian and American Reformed Churches, the Free Reformed Churches of
North America (FRC), the Heritage Reformed Congregations (HRC), the Netherlands Reformed
Congregations (NRC), the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC), and the United Reformed
Churches in North America (URC). The Dutch were mainly Protestant and Catholic before arrival to
America, but became dominantly Protestant after settling in America.[4] They spread their religion by
forming bonds with the natives in The Ohio River Valley.[5]

In 1766, ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church founded Queen's College, which would later become
Rutgers College, in the Province of New Jersey. Today, Rutgers University is a major public research
institution in the State of New Jersey. As one of nine colonial colleges clustered in the eastern United
States, Rutgers serves as a reminder of early Dutch cultural influence in the North American colonies.
Former U.S. Presidents Martin Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt, both of Dutch descent, were affiliated
with the Dutch Reformed Church.[6][7][8]

See also
Calvinism portal
Netherlands
portal

History of religion in the Netherlands

Religion in the Netherlands
Protestant Church in the Netherlands
Bible Belt (Netherlands)

References
1. For detailed statistics, see Statistics by the Dutch Centraal Bureau van de Statistiek. In
1930, the Roman Catholic Church became the largest denomination in the country.
2. "History Timeline" (https://web.archive.org/web/20220710153047/https://strchurch.org/histor
y-timeline). St. Thomas Reformed Church (strchurch.org). Archived from the original (https://s
trchurch.org/history-timeline) on July 10, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2022.
3. Compare: The Dutch were primarily Protestant and Catholic Israel, Jonathan Irvine (2007).
"Religious Toleration in Dutch Brazil (1624–1654)". In Israel, Jonathan Irvine; Schwartz,
Stuart B. (eds.). The Expansion of Tolerance: Religion in Dutch Brazil (1624–1654) (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=JRVCNdouRaUC). Amsterdam studies in the Dutch golden age.
Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9789053569023. Retrieved
September 6, 2017. "[...] the Dutch Reformed Church, with the support of the States General
in The Hague, and the Heren XIX, endeavoured to organize itself in an effective manner as
the public church in 'New Holland' as Dutch Brazil was officially designated. Although the
first two salaried predikanten arrived in 1633, it was not until 1635 that clear and detailed
guidelines for the organization of the Reformed faith in Dutch Brazil were laid down."
4. Sinke, Suzanne M. (2008). "Dutch American History in Several Settings: The AADAS and
Other Visions". Polish American Studies. 65 (1): 11–21. doi:10.2307/20148788 (https://doi.or
g/10.2307%2F20148788). ISSN 0032-2806 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0032-2806).
JSTOR 20148788 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/20148788). S2CID 161498302 (https://api.se
manticscholar.org/CorpusID:161498302).
5. Seeman, Erik R. (2013). "Uncovering Hudson Valley Indian History". Reviews in American
History. 41 (2): 191–196. doi:10.1353/rah.2013.0037 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Frah.2013.0
037). ISSN 1080-6628 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1080-6628). S2CID 144210168 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:144210168).
6. Schippers, Ciska (July 9, 2013). "Dutch President Martin Van Buren" (https://dutchreview.co
m/culture/history/dutch-president-martin-van-buren/). DutchReview. Retrieved March 31,
2018. "His religious affiliation was Dutch reformed"
7. Marschall, Rick (2010). "A True Christian American President" (http://www1.cbn.com/church
andministry/a-true-christian-american-president). Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved
April 1, 2018. "He was of the Dutch Reformed Church. He participated in missions work with
his father"
 8. Stoll, Mark (July 5, 2015). "The Christian Roots of Modern Environmentalism" (http://time.co
m/3942101/teddy-roosevelt-christian-environmentalism/). Time. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
"the Calvinist traditions in Roosevelt's ancestry: the Dutch Reformed Church on his father's
side"

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