Reformed Congregations
| Reformed Congregations | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Classification | Protestant |
| Theology | Reformed Calvinist |
| Polity | Presbyterian |
| Origin | 1907 Netherlands |
| Merger of | the unification of Reformed Churches under the Cross and the Ledeboerian congregations |
| Separations | 1953 the Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands separated |
| Congregations | 152 |
| Members | 107,299 |
The Reformed Congregations (in Dutch: Gereformeerde Gemeenten, abbreviated GerGem) is a conservative Reformed church with 152 congregations in the Netherlands, 1 in Randburg South Africa and 1 congregation in Carterton, New Zealand. The denomination has approximately 107,299 members as of 1 January 2015. It is a pietistic Reformed Church. It is affiliated with the North American Netherlands Reformed Congregations.
The denomination is also sometimes called the Reformed Church(es) in the Netherlands and North America, which can be confused with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (in Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, abbreviated GKN), which were formed 1892 and which merged with the Netherlands Reformed Church (in Dutch: Nederlands Hervormde Kerk, abbreviated NHK) in 2004.
The Reformed Congregations was formed in 1907 as a federation of the Reformed Churches under the Cross, which had its roots in 1834, and the Lederboerian reformed congregations. The founder was Gerrit Hendrik Kersten (1882–1948). Kersten not only brought unification, but he helped organise the federation.
In 1909, the Dutch Reformed Church requested to unite with the Reformed Congregations. Due to theological differences, the union was declined. In 1926, a Reformed seminary was founded in Rotterdam.
In 1929, the church had 67 congregations and 26,380 members. Twenty years later, the numbers had risen to 140 congregations and 62,000 members, more than double of the congregations and an annual growth rate of 6.7 percent.
In 1931, the denomination prepared the so-called "doctrines of '31", which gave an elaboration of the doctrine of the denomination's attention to man. During World War II, many Reformed congregation church buildings were destroyed.
Shortly after the end of the war, there was a period of theological controversies in the denomination. The cause of the schism of 1953 was the deposition of Rev Dr. C. Steenblok as a lecturer at the Theological School of the Reformed Congregations, but a different view on the free offer of the gospel also played a role; the Reformed Congregations held to the view of a free, well-meant offer of the gospel, but the congregations who split off did not. In 1953, the Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands (in Dutch: in Nederland, abbreviated Ger Gem in Ned) was born.
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