Reformed Church in America

The Reformed Church in America (RCA ) is a Reformed Calvinist Church embossing, which was formerly known as Dutch Reformed Church in the United States. To church includes approximately 300,000 members in the United States and Canada.

The Reformed Church in America should not be confused with the Reformed Church in the United States.

The RCA is a founding member of the National Council of Churches of the United States and the World Council of Churches. Full communion has been agreed with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ( ELCA ), the Presbyterian Church ( USA) and the United Church of Christ (UCC ) in the Formula of Agreement. Corresponding agreements were also with the Union of Evangelical Churches ( ICE) in Germany and met Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ ) in the context of the ecumenical partnership. The ordination of women is permitted in the RCA

Church History

The RCA is the oldest Protestant church with a continuously continuing series of pastors and theologians in North America. The first Dutch settlers in New Netherlands initially held meetings for worship, until Jonas michaelius the first priest in 1628, a municipality in Nieuw Amsterdam (today's New York) organized the so-called Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. This nucleus of the RCA, the 1693 by King William III. a charter received and the oldest corporation ( corporation ) of the USA is, has survived to this day. Under the name Collegiate Church belong to it today four municipalities in the City of New York: Fort Washington Collegiate Church, Middle Collegiate Church, Marble Collegiate Church, and West End Collegiate Church.

This church was in the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, the established church of the Dutch settlers. Although the British in 1664, the Dutch colony conquered all the pastors of the Church in the Netherlands were also formed in Amsterdam, and church services were completed by 1764 in the Dutch language.

1747, the church decided to hold a meeting in America, which in 1754 declared itself independent from the Dutch church in Amsterdam. The appointment of John Henry Livingston in 1784 as a professor of theology marks the beginning of the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. 1792 a formal church constitution was adopted, and in 1794 convened the first General Synod of the Reformed Church. Finally, the name Reformed Church was built in 1867 for the church decided in America.

Known members of the Reformed Church in America

  • Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States
  • Martin Van Buren, former President of the United States
  • Donald Trump, well-known business leaders
  • Philip Schuyler, a general in the American Revolutionary War and representatives of New York in the U.S. Senate.
  • B.D. Dykstra
  • Norman Vincent Peale, pastor and author ( The power of positive thinking )
  • Abraham J. Muste, socialist peace and union activist
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