Swiss Reformed Church
The Swiss Reformed churches are formed during the Reformation cantonal state churches in Switzerland, based on the teachings of Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin, the German churches rather Zwingli, Calvin, the French-speaking rather to stress.
Doctrine and religious expression
The only mandatory document on which the Reformed faith has to be measured, is the Bible. Their interpretation is largely free. An official denominational doctrine does not exist. The Heidelberg Catechism in 1563 and took place in the Reformed Church in Germany use, but little is known in the Swiss churches. There were, for example, a Zurich Catechism of 1639, which is very similar to the Heidelberg Catechism.
The churches see themselves as " non-denominational " - the creeds of the ancient church are not found in most liturgies of the Reformed congregations in Switzerland.
Most Swiss national churches nowadays are liberal, with an evangelical minority. The ordination of women is practiced in all national churches. In some country churches homosexual couples receive a blessing service.
Worship in the Reformed churches is not tied to a particular form; its center lies in the proclamation, in baptism and communion. Nevertheless, with time, a basic order result, which has been clearly formulated for the first time at the Zurich liturgy in 1969. This order has been included in the hymnal of the Evangelical Reformed Church of German-speaking Switzerland.
Baptism is administered usually children. It can also be donated later, but is not a condition for membership. Likewise, the lack of confirmation is not an obstacle to the church membership.
The Lord's Supper is celebrated as Gedenkmahl on all major holidays, depending on the parish respectively Lutheran Church but also on other occasions.
Organization
All Swiss Reformed state churches are synodal organized. Pastor and church maintenance ( depending on country church and parish council, church council, parish council called, etc.) are elected democratically by the members of the parish, the country church Parliament ( Synod ) by the Christian denominations in the canton. Churches ( Board ) president ( supreme head of the Church cantonal executive) are " primi inter pares " ( first among equals ), so have no higher spiritual dignity as other priest; office of a bishop does not exist.
The local municipalities are financially independent; the line have church and pastor care; important decisions are taken by the municipal assembly.
One particular form of the Swiss Reformed Churches in the Reformed cantons originally is their historically close ties with the state, which is otherwise rare in the Reformed churches. Most Reformed churches, at least in Zurich, Berne, Basel, Geneva and Neuchâtel, have originated in the Reformation period by a decision of a Republican City Council, who knew the people behind them and the active campaigned for the Reformation. Church and State were not understood as opposition between two empires, but as mutually reinforcing symbiosis. It could, and should, if necessary, both the pastor correct the minister, the government and the government - specifically set forth such as Synod of Bern in 1532.
This historical connection of church and state led to a cultural imprint that now leads from a mind of its own, which no longer depends on the setting of the Reformed Church - also a long-established Jewish, Catholic or agnostic banker in Zurich can zwinglianischer with typical for Zurich " sobriety "or" Protestant work ethic " identify.
Since in Switzerland all ecclesiastical affairs are regulated at cantonal and not at the federal level, each canton has its own legal basis for the relationship between church and state; the range of variation starts out from state- paid pastors to the complete separation of church and state. The general trend is the utmost autonomy of national churches in maintaining their status public law towards granting.
All Reformed Churches Kantonalbank of Switzerland are members of the Swiss Protestant Church Federation.