Reformed Church in America

Reformed Church in America
Crest of the Reformed Church in America
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Mainline Reformed
Polity	Presbyterian
Associations	National Council of Churches; World Council of Churches; Canadian Council of Churches; Christian Churches Together; World Communion of Reformed Churches; Evangelical Fellowship of Canada; National Association of Evangelicals
Region	Canada, U.S.
Headquarters	Grand Rapids, Michigan
Origin	1628 (First Dutch Reformed congregation organized in New Amsterdam); 1754 (American classis gains independence)
Branched from	Dutch Reformed Church
Separations	Christian Reformed Church in North America (separated 1857; further congregations join the CRC in 1882)
Congregations	882
Members	142,917 communicants, 223,675 total (2015)
Official website	www.rca.org

The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 223,675 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819 it incorporated as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. The current name was chosen in 1867.

The RCA is a member of the National Council of Churches (founding member), the World Council of Churches (WCC), Christian Churches Together, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). Some parts of the denomination belong to the National Association of Evangelicals, the Canadian Council of Churches, and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The denomination is in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), and United Church of Christ and is a denominational partner of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.

The early settlers in the Dutch colony of New Netherland first held informal meetings for worship. In 1628 Jonas Michaelius organized the first Dutch Reformed congregation in New Amsterdam, now New York City, called the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, now the Marble Collegiate Church. During Dutch rule, the RCA was the established church of the colony and was under the authority of the classis of Amsterdam.