Coat of arms of the Reformed Church in AmericaClassificationOrientationAssociations;;;;;;RegionCanada, U.S.HeadquartersOrigin1628 (first Dutch Reformed congregation organized in );1754 (American gains independence)Branched fromSeparations(separated; further congregations join the CRC in 1882)Congregations877 (2016)Members138,438 communicants (2016), 196,308 total (2018)Official websiteLogoThe Reformed Church in America ( RCA) is a in Canada and the United States. It has about 196,308 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the branch of the.The RCA is a member of the (founding member), the (WCC), and the (WCRC). Some parts of the denomination belong to the, the, and the. The denomination is in full communion with the, and and is a denominational partner of the. Contents.Names Colloquially, it is sometimes referred loosely to as the Dutch Reformed Church in America, or simply as the Dutch Reformed Church when an American context has already been provided. In 1819, it incorporated as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church.
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The current name was chosen in 1867.History The early settlers in the Dutch colony of first held informal meetings for worship. In 1628 organized the first Dutch Reformed congregation in, now, called the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, now the. During Dutch rule, the RCA was the of the colony and was under the authority of the of.Even after the English captured the colony in 1664, all Dutch Reformed ministers were still trained in the Netherlands. Services in the RCA remained in Dutch until 1764.
(Dutch language use faded thereafter until the new wave of Dutch immigration in the mid-19th century. This revived use of the language among Dutch descendants and in some churches.)In 1747 the church in the Netherlands had given permission to form an assembly in North America; in 1754, the assembly declared itself independent of the classis of Amsterdam. This American classis secured a charter in 1766 for Queens College (now ) in. In 1784 was appointed as professor of theology, marking the beginning of the. Started in 1642 to serve the patroonship of. The current church was built in 1798.The Dutch-speaking community, including farmers and traders, prospered in the former New Netherland, dominating New York City, the Hudson Valley, and parts of New Jersey while maintaining a significant presence in southeastern Pennsylvania, southwestern Connecticut, and Long Island.In the early 18th century nearly 3,000 refugees came to New York. Most worked first in English camps along the to pay off their passage (paid by 's government) before they were allowed land in the.
There they created numerous German-speaking and Reformed churches, such as those at. Thousands more immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th century. They used German as the language in their churches and schools for nearly 100 years, and recruited some of their ministers from Germany. By the early 20th century, most of their churches had joined the RCA.During the, a bitter internal struggle broke out in the Dutch Reformed church, with lines of division following ecclesiastical battles that had gone on for twenty years between the ' and ' factions. One source indicates that defections may have occurred as early as 1737.' Desolation pervaded many of the churches, whereas prior to 1737 good order was maintained in the churches, and peace and a good degree of prosperity were enjoyed.But in 1754, the Coetus of the previous year, having recommended the changing of the Coetus into a Classis with full powers, the opposition became violent, and the opponents were known as the Conferentie.'
A spirit of amnesty made possible the church's survival after the war. The divisiveness was also healed when the church sent members on an extensive foreign missions program in the early 19th century.In 1792 the classis adopted a formal constitution; and in 1794 the denomination held its first general. Following the American Civil War, in 1867 it formally adopted the name 'Reformed Church in America'. In the nineteenth century in and, ethnic Dutch descendants struggled to preserve their European standards and traditions while developing a taste for and an American identity.19th century.
The Dimnent Chapel at Hope College, in Holland, Michigan Colleges.,.,.,Seminaries.,.,Certification agencies. Students who do not attend or receive their Master of Divinity degree from one of the two seminaries operated by the RCA are certified and credentialed for ministry in the RCA through the Ministerial Formation Certification Agency in Paramount, California.Ecumenical relations Through a document known as, the RCA has with the, the, and the. The relationship between the and the RCA has been the subject of controversy within the RCA, particularly a resolution by the UCC General Synod in 2005 regarding.
The ELCA's affirmation of the ordination of homosexuals as clergy in 2009 prompted some RCA conservatives to call for a withdrawal from the Formula of Agreement. In 2012 RCA discussed its own position regarding homosexuality. The two denominations undertook a dialogue and in 1999 produced a document (PDF).Along with their Formula of Agreement partners, the RCA retains close fellowship with the (CRC). In 2005 the RCA and CRC voted to allow for the exchange of ministers. Faith Alive Christian Resources, the CRC's publishing arm, is also used by the RCA and in 2013 published a joint hymnal for use in both denominations. The two denominations have also collaborated on various other ministry ventures, voted to merge pension plans in 2013 in conformity with the, and plan to hold back-to-back General Synods at in, in 2014.Notable members. Reformed Church in America.
Reformed Church in America. Retrieved 15 June 2016. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. 23 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 8 July 2019., Recorder Press, Amsterdam, NY, 1916, accessed 31 January 2011. Benjamin C. D., Annals of the Classis of Bergen of the Reformed Dutch Church and of the Churches Under its Care: Including, The Civil History of the Ancient Township of Bergen, in New Jersey, Hosford & Co. NY, NY 1857. American Biography (1919) The American Historical Society, New York. Firth Haring Fabend, 'The Synod of Dort and the Persistence of Dutchness in Nineteenth-century New York and New Jersey', New York History; 1996 77(3): 273-300.
History of Fairview Reformed Church. Www.rca.org.
^. Retrieved 21 April 2016. Reformed Church in America. Retrieved 12 October 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2016. (PDF).
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Room for All. Retrieved 12 October 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
United Church of Christ. Retrieved 13 June 2017. Reformed Church in America. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016. Reformed Church in America. 14 June 2016.
Retrieved 14 June 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
Episcopal Cafe. 17 January 2017.
Retrieved 23 May 2018. ^.' Removal of Conscience Clauses Ratified' June 20th, 2013 accessed June 22nd, 2013. Www.rca.org. 15 December 2007 at the.24Sources.
Birch, J. The Pioneering Church in the Mohawk Valley (1955). DeJong, Gerald F.
The Dutch Reformed Church in the American Colonies (1978) 279 pp. Fabend, H.
Zion on the Hudson: Dutch New York and New Jersey in the Age of Revivals (2000). House, Renee S., and John W. Coakley, eds. ' Women in the History of the Reformed Church in America (1999) 182 pp. Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America.
5. Hansen, M.G.
The Reformed Church in the Netherlands, 1340–1840 (1884). Swierenga, Robert, and Elton J. Family Quarrels in the Dutch Reformed Churches in the 19th Century: The Pillar Church Sesquicentennial Lectures (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America) (2000). Swierenga, Robert. The Dutch in America: Immigration, Settlement, and Cultural Change (1985). Swierenga, Robert. Faith and Family: Dutch Immigration and Settlement in the United States, 1820–1920 (2000)External links.
Edward P. Johnson (1920).
23 (11th ed.).
When I was in seminary, Professor Rick Lints made a statement that I will never forget. After lecturing on soteriology in the Reformation period, he asserted that “This generation of Christian leaders must carry sola scriptura and sola fide in their hearts, and, while doing so, work out a coherent doctrine of the Church.” Or, in the words of another Gordon-Conwell prof, Greg Beale, “We must give an answer for the ecclesial hope within us.”Among the most helpful volumes on this topic is by the late Catholic theologian, Avery Cardinal Dulles. Commandos 2 men of courage setup.exe. In his book, (see the 2002, Expanded Edition), Dulles gives an overview of the five primary models: (1) Institution, (2) Mystical Communion, (3) Sacrament, (4) Herald, and (5) Servant.
He showcases the strengths and weakness of each and concludes by integrating their contributions. Following is an overview of each model with a few concluding thoughts. Church as InstitutionThe institutional view “defines the Church primarily in terms of its visible structures, especially the rights and powers of its officers” (27). It is a hierarchical form of Church government, which the Jesuit, Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), described as a society “as visible and palpable as the community of the Roman people, or the Kingdom of France, or the Republic of Venice” (26). Thus, authority is vested in the ruling class –clerics and church officers – whose jurisdiction is patterned after the secular state.
As agents of God’s sacraments, the priesthood opens and shuts the valves of divine grace. Because the institutional model maintains that its hierarchical structure belongs to the apostolic deposit passed down by Christ’s disciples, the authority of the ruling class is regarded as God-given, and should therefore be unquestionably accepted by the faithful.The strength of the Institutional model is in its public, visible manifestation of solidarity. It presents a tangible communion of faith. Unlike the other models, all tests of membership are visible and demonstrable. The weaknesses of this model, however, are also significant. On its own, it may become “rigid, doctrinaire, and conformist; it could easily substitute the official Church for God, and this would be a form of idolatry (186).
Manual Of Christian Reformed Church Government Models Pdf
Dulles goes on to explain that this is the only model that must not be paramount. He writes, “One of the five models, I believe, cannot properly be taken as primary—and this is the institutional model. Of their very nature, I believe, institutions are subordinate to persons, structures are subordinate to life” (189). Church as Mystical CommunionAccording to this perspective, the church consists of faithful men and women who are bound together by their participation in God’s Spirit through the living Christ. The nature of this unity is not institutional but pneumatological, communal, and personal. “The goal of the Church, in this second ecclesiological type, is a spiritual or supernatural one.
The Church aims to lead men into communion with the divine” (50). “The Church, from this point of view, is not in the first instance an institution or a visibly organized society. Rather it is a communion of men, primarily interior but also expressed by external bonds of creed, worship, and ecclesiastical fellowship” (47-48).
The bond of unity, in this model, consists of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, though the external bonds are recognized as important in a subsidiary way.The strength of the Church as Mystical Communion is its emphasis on the dynamic community generated by the Holy Spirit along a vertical line (relationship with God) and horizontally (relationship with brother and sisters). The potential downside of this model is the danger of it degenerating into mere Christian fellowship without objective theological content. Accordingly, Dulles writes, the communion “may exalt and divinize the Church beyond its due” (52). It may also “fail to give Christians a clear sense of their identity and mission” (52). Church as SacramentIn a sense, this model seeks to bring the previous two ( Institutional and Mystical Communion) closer together, retaining structure while also promoting dynamic spiritual life. It is predicated on the notion that the structure of human life is symbolic.
“The body with all its movements and gestures becomes the expression of the human spirit. The spirit comes to be what it is in and through the body” (57). Accordingly, the Church as sacrament is a sign and transmitter of God’s grace in the world. As an embodiment of the grace that it signifies, the Church exists as the presence of God to the nations.Another important element of this model highlights and affirms that the sacrament are communal realities and not individual transactions:As understood in the Christian tradition, sacraments are never merely individual transactions.
Nobody baptizes, absolves, or anoints himself, and it is anomalous for the Eucharist to be celebrated in solitude. Here again the order of grace corresponds to the order of nature. Man comes into the world as a member of a family, a race, a people. He comes to maturity through encounter with his fellow men.
Sacraments therefore have a dialogic structure. They take place in a mutual interaction that permits the people together to achieve a spiritual breakthrough that they could not achieve in isolation.
A sacrament therefore is a socially constituted or communal symbol of the presence of grace coming to fulfillment. (59)The strength of this model is that the church truly is a sign and instrument of grace to its members and to the world, while seeking to hold in tension of the outer (organizational/institutional) and inner (mystical communion) aspects of the Church. Dulles indicates that its weakness is that it has little warrant in Scripture and in the early tradition of the Church (66) and that it “could lead to a sterile aestheticism and to an almost narcissistic self-contemplation” (186). This model has found relatively little acceptance among Protestant churches (notwithstanding the Anglo-Catholic or some High-Lutheran traditions). Church as HeraldIf the previous model is least common among Protestants, this one is probably the most widely accepted. The herald model “differs from the preceding because it makes the ‘word’ primary and the ‘sacrament’ secondary. It sees the Church as gathered and formed by the word of God.
The mission of the Church is to proclaim that which it has heard, believed, and been commissioned to proclaim” (68). “This model is kerygmatic, for it looks upon the Church as a herald – one who receives an official message with the commission to pass it on. The basic image is that of the herald of the king who comes to proclaim a royal decree in a public square” (68-69). At the center of the heralding church is the activity of calling its members to renewal and reformation.The strength of this model is its emphasis on the message of the gospel and the pursuit of the Great Commission. It can be limited, however, in that it is often devoid of incarnational service. This truncation, in its most acute form, can appear docetic—merely ideas without tangible reality.
This is especially obvious when “it focuses too exclusively on witness to the neglect of action. It is too pessimistic or quietistic with regard to the possibilities of human effort to establish a better human society in this life, and the duty of Christians to take part in this common effort” (79). Church as ServantThe servant model “asserts that the Church should consider itself as part of the total human family, sharing the same concerns as the rest of men” (84). Following in the footsteps of Jesus our Lord, the Suffering Servant, “The Church announces the coming of the Kingdom not only in word, through preaching and proclamation, but more particularly in work, in her ministry of reconciliation, of binding up wounds, or suffering service, of healing. And the Lord was the ‘man for others,’ so must the Church be ‘the community for others’”In explicating the precise meaning of “Church as Servant,” Dulles notes, “The term “servant,” indeed, contains certain ambiguities.
It connotes three things: work done not freely but under orders; work directed to the good of others rather than to the workers own advantage; and work that is humble and demeaning (“servile”)” (91). The weakness of the Servant model is observed in the work of its theologically liberal adherents, men such as John A. Robinson and Harvey Cox, for example. These proponents of so called “secular theology” have challenged us to think about the role of the church in the world, but, tragically, they have compromised the biblical deposit of faith which Christians are called to guard.
Integrating the ModelsEach model offers insights and positive contributions to our understanding of the Church. When the most genuinely biblical qualities are preserved from each model and integrated together, we realize a stronger ecclesial vision. This is what Dulles sets out to do in the latter half of his book:Each of them the five models in my opinion brings out certain important and necessary points. The institutional model makes it clear that the Church must be a structured community and that it must remain the kind of community Christ instituted.
Such a community would have to include a pastoral office equipped with authority to preside over the worship of the community as such to prescribe the limits of tolerable dissent, and to represent the community in an official way. The community model makes it evident that the Church must be united to God by grace and that in the strength of that grace its members must be lovingly united to one another. The sacramental model brings home the idea that the Church must in its visible aspects – especially in its community prayer and worship – be a sign of the continuing vitality of the grace of Christ and of hope for the redemption that he promises. The kerygmatic model accentuates the necessity for the Church to continue to herald the gospel and to move men to put their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. The diaconal model points up the urgency of making the Church contribute to the transformation of the secular life of man, and of impregnating human society as a whole with the values of the Kingdom of God.
(185-186)If any model should emerge as the most comprehensive, Dulles recommends the sacramental model because of its ease in integrating all the best elements of the other four models.For blending the values in the various models, the sacramental type of ecclesiology in my opinion has special merit. It preserves the value of the institutional elements because the official structures of the Church give it clear and visible outlines, so that it can be a vivid sign. It preserves the community value, for if the Church were not a communion of love it could not be an authentic sign of Christ. It preserves the dimension of proclamation, because only by reliance on Christ and by bearing witness to him, whether the message is welcomed or rejected, can the Church effectively point to Christ as the bearer of God’s redemptive grace.
This model, finally, preserves the dimension of worldly service, because without this the Church would not be a sign of Christ the servant. (189)After reading the above quote, my thoughts returned to Professor Lints’ initial challenge for Evangelicals to articulate a model of the church that is genuinely biblical while also catholic in scope, one that comprises the above-mentioned qualities—tangible, communal, sacramental, kerygmatic, and diaconal—as it keeps the message of the kingdom, embodied and proclaimed, at the leading edge.
What Is A Reformed Christian
Maybe there is such a work and I simply don’t know about it (if so, please enlighten me). If not, then we had better get busy.