The Netherlands Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands will continue from 1 May 2004 under the name of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The three individual synods took this decision to unite in Utrecht on Friday 12 December 2003.
In the decision to unite, the synods accept a new church order for the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. Among other things the agreement states that all the congregations of the three churches will belong to the new church. Everyone who is a member of one of these congregations will automatically also be a member of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The new church will have about 2,5 million members.
The Netherlands Reformed Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church emerged from the Reformation in the Netherlands in the 16th century and since then have existed side by side with each other. The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands were created in 1892 by the merger of two groups of churches which came into being as a result of schisms in the Netherlands Reformed Church: the Secession in 1834 and the Dissent in 1886.
The Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in
the Netherlands have grown closer together, especially since the Second World
War. In 1961 nine ministers of each church gave further impetus to an On the
Way Together process, by jointly publishing the declaration of ‘The Eighteen’.
Since then the synods of both churches have sought rapprochement step by step.
In 1986 they announced that they were ‘in a process of reunification’.
From that year the Evangelical Lutheran Church was also involved in the process
of unification.
See also | Churchorder UPCN |