about dmoz | help

Top: Society: Religion_and_Spirituality: Christianity: Church_History: Reformed

This category will be devoted to a history of the Reformed churches, Reformed in the larger sense that they are a product of the Reformation, but not Anglican or Lutheran. These Reformed denominations are historically related by a similar Zwinglian or Calvinist system of doctrine but organizationally independent. Each of the nations in which the Reformed movement was established originally had its own church government. Several of these local churches have expanded to worldwide denominations and most have experienced splits into multiple denominations. The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) links more than 75 million Christians in over 100 countries around the world.

Reformed doctrine is expressed in various creeds. Some of the common creeds are The Scots Confession, the Three forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dordt), the Second Helvetic Confession, the Westminster Standards (Confession of Faith, Shorter Catechism and Larger Catechism.)

Reformed churches have mainly three forms of church government: Presbyterian, Synodal (Swiss Reformed Churches) or Congregational.

Although the origin of the Reformed Church is in Europe and it has become well established in North America, some of the largest Protestant denominations in Asia, Africa and Latin America are of Reformed/Presbyterian background.

Huguenots

Prior to Calvin's publication in 1536 of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a reform movement already existed in France. Despite persecution, the movement grew. Under King Henry II reprisals became more severe. Nevertheless, in 1559, the first French national synod was held, and a Presbyterian church modeled on Calvin's reform in Geneva was founded.

During the Wars of Religion the Huguenots suffered greatly, especially in the massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day (1572). In 1598, Henry IV, by issuing the Edict of Nantes, established Protestantism in 200 towns, proclaimed freedom of worship, and allowed substantial political independence.

Presbyterian

Presbyterianism is a form of Christian church organization based on administration by a hierarchy of courts composed of clerical and lay presbyters. Holding a position between episcopacy (government by bishops) and Congregationalism (government by local congregation), Presbyterianism sought a return to the early practice of appointed elders as described in the New Testament.

By the mid-16th century, Presbyterian sentiment was strong in England and Scotland. The Church of Scotland, founded in 1557 under the leadership of John Knox, is the only Presbyterian state church established by law; however, it maintains the traditional independence from the state.

Presbyterians were to be found in most of the English colonies of North America. Through the efforts of Francis Makemie , a missionary from Ireland (1683), the first presbytery in America was formed at Philadelphia in 1706; a synod was constituted in 1716.

Puritans

Puritanism began as a movement for reform in the Church of England and it had a profound influence on the social, political, ethical, and theological ideas of England and America.

In New England, in the Puritan “Holy Commonwealth,” some 35 churches had been formed by 1640. The Puritans in New England maintained the Calvinist distinction between the elect and the damned in their theory of the church, in which membership consisted only of the regenerate minority who publicly confessed their experience of conversion. Ministers had great political influence, and civil authorities exercised a large measure of control over church affairs.

Reformed Baptists

The name Reformed Baptist does not necessarily refer to a distinct denomination but instead is a description of the church's theological leaning. Not all churches that are reformed in doctrine identify themselves as such. There is one association of Reformed Baptist chuches: the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America, founded March 11, 1997.

Reformed Baptist churches quite often adhere to either the First or Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1646 and 1689 respectively. These two statements are usually not considered exhaustive or completely accurate, but instead are convenient summaries of a church's belief. All Reformed Baptist derive all of their doctrine directly from the Bible and see it as the sole authority of faith and practice.

Reformed Baptist Churches are distinct in that they are both Reformed (adhering to and showing respect for much of the theology defined by John Calvin as well as Baptists (believing in baptism for sinners only, and that by immersion.)

A congregational governance system gives autonomy to individual local churches which are often associated in loose organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention which is the largest.

Historically, the five points of Calvinism have been central tenets of the Reformed faith, which all Reformed Baptist churches agree with by definition. However, conservative Reformed theology is normally committed to Covenant theology , one application of which is the practice of infant baptism Infant baptism . For this reason more traditional Reformed branches of Christianity sometimes refuse to accept their Reformed Baptist brothers as truly Reformed

Copyright © 1998-2007 Netscape