Presbyterian Reformed Church (Australia)

Presbyterian Reformed Church
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	conservative Calvinist
Theology	Reformed Evangelical
Governance	Presbyterian
Region	Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu
Origin	1967 Sutherland, New South Wales
Separated from	Presbyterian Church of Australia
Congregations	16 [1]
Members	Unknown

The Presbyterian Reformed Church (PRC) is a Presbyterian denomination in Australia. The denomination was formed in 1967, when the leadership and majority of the members of the Sutherland, New South Wales congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Australia separated from that denomination. This separation was a result of a growing trend of theological liberalism within the Presbyterian Church of Australia (the mainstream Presbyterian Church), prior to the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977.

The PRC met for the first time on Sunday, 8 December 1967. Today it is made up of congregations in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Vanuatu and Fiji. During its existence there have also been congregations and/or mission works in the Australian Capital Territory, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Kenya, but these have not continued.

The move to separate was a result of many years of gradual decline in the Reformed Faith within the Presbyterian Church of Australia. As early as 1891 the Westminster Confession of Faith (the Church's official Confession of Faith) was scorned by the Editor of The Presbyterian, the major church paper of the time. The Editor's words were:

In 1901, a Declaratory Act was passed, which, while not amending the Westminster Confession of Faith, toned down the distinctive Calvinistic doctrines of the Confession. Additionally, it allowed liberty of opinion for ministers on a wide range of doctrines set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

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