Christian Reformed Church in North America
The Christian Reformed Church in North America is a Protestant Calvinist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was founded by Dutch immigrants in 1857 and is theologically Calvinist.
History
The Christian Reformed Church split from the Reformed Church in America in an 1857 secession. This was rooted in part as a result of a theological dispute that originated in the Netherlands in which Hendrik De Cock was deposed for his Calvinist convictions, leading there to the Secession of 1834–35. For the CRC founders in America, the RCA then appeared to contain problems similar to those that they had seen in the State Church in the old country. Gijsbert Haan was the leader in the 1857 Secession of Dutch-Americans from the Reformed Church in America and the creator of the Christian Reformed Church in the United States and Canada.In 1857, four churches with about 130 families seceded. In March, the Noordeloos church of the Classis of Holland, Michigan, left the Reformed Church in America. On March 19, some members of Second Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, organized a church that became First CRC, Grand Rapids, Michigan. On April 8, churches in Graafschap and Polkton also left the Classis of Holland. Two ministers, Koene van den Bosch and Hendrik Klijn, joined the separatists, although Klijn returned to the Reformed Church six months later.
The new denomination that formed from this secession was led by elders and ministers from the churches in the northern Netherlands, especially from the province of Groningen, that had organized after the 1834 secession in the Netherlands, although members of the new denomination came from all parts of the Netherlands. The reasons given for leaving the Reformed Church were the use of hymns during worship, allowing free access to communion, lax interpretation of grace, permitting membership in Freemasonry, and failure to provide catechetical instruction to young people.
For the two years, the denomination had no corporate name. In 1859, Holland Reformed Church was adopted, which was changed to Free Dutch Reformed Church in 1861. Two years later, True Dutch Reformed Church was approved, which was changed to Holland Christian Reformed Church in 1880. In 1894 congregations also could use Christian Reformed Church as well. The full adoption of Christian Reformed Church came in 1904, which became Christian Reformed Church in North America in 1974.
In 1875, the denomination opened a theological school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Preparatory Department of the school became Calvin College, while the Theological Department became Calvin Theological Seminary. By 1880 the denomination had grown to 42 congregations. Ten years later the number had grown to 100 located in 11 states. During the 1890s congregations from the True Protestant Dutch Reformed Church joined the CRC. During the 20th century a number of congregations from the disbanding German Reformed Churches also joined the CRC.
By 1920, the denomination had grown to 350 congregations. At that time an estimated 350,000 Dutch immigrants had come to the United States, some of whom were in the Dutch Reformed tradition that since the 1880s was influenced by Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologian, journalist, and statesman. He founded the Gereformeerde Kerken, a newspaper, the Free University of Amsterdam, and the Anti-Revolutionary Political Party.
During the early 1920s, the CRC adopted three doctrinal points regarding common grace. Three ministers, Herman Hoeksema, George Ophoff, and Henry Danhof were deposed for rejecting three points as being contrary to the Reformed confessions. The dispute led to the three ministers and their followers leaving the CRC and forming what is now the Protestant Reformed Churches in America.
After the Second World War, a new wave of Dutch Calvinist immigration occurred to Canada, most of which were Kuyperian. By 1960, half of the denomination's new congregations were in Canada.
In the early 1950s, a division within the Protestant Reformed Churches in America led to about three fifths of its members forming the Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church, which joined the CRC in 1961.
Ecumenical partnerships
In 1975 the CRC joined the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod and the Presbyterian Church in America in forming the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council.In the last decades of the 20th century, the Synod enacted innovations that were rejected by some of its more conservative members and one-time sister denominations. Out of concern about the state of affairs in the CRC, a group of ministers formed the Mid-America Reformed Seminary in 1981, and around the same time a federation of churches known as the Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches, comprising some former CRC congregations, was formed. The 1995 decision to ordain women led to the formation of the United Reformed Churches in North America, and the severing of fraternal relationships between the CRC and the OPC and PCA in 1997. Because of the decision to ordain women, NAPARC suspended the CRC from membership in 1999 and expelled it in 2001. This gradual shift has spurred some of the more conservative congregations to leave; a significant number of these have ended up in the PCA, OPC, or URC. In 2008, the OCRC dissolved and member churches joined the URC.
The CRC was a charter member of the Reformed Ecumenical Council, which organized at Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1946. The CRC joined the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 2002 after many years of hesitation due to what was seen as the more liberal membership and agenda of that body. In 2010, the Reformed Ecumenical Council and World Alliance of Reformed Churches merged to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches at a joint meeting hosted by the CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The CRC also belongs to the Canadian Council of Churches, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the World Reformed Fellowship, and the National Association of Evangelicals. The CRC participates in Christian Churches Together in the United States and in the Global Christian Forum.
As of 2025 the CRC has bilateral relationships with 44 denominations around the globe: 24 are "in communion" and 20 are "in cooperation." In North America, the CRC has "in communion" relationships with the more mainline Reformed Church in America, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, and the more newly formed Alliance of Reformed Churches.
Theology
The Christian Reformed Church is Calvinist, confessional and evangelical in its theology. It places high value on theological study and the application of theology to current issues, emphasizes the importance of careful Biblical hermeneutics, and has traditionally respected the personal conscience of individual members who feel they are led by the Holy Spirit. The Church promotes the belief that Christians do not earn their salvation, but that it is a wholly unmerited gift from God, and that good works are the Christian response to that gift.Reformed theology as practiced in the CRC is founded in Calvinism. A more recent theologian of great influence on this denomination was Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper, who served as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905, promoted a belief in social responsibility and called on Christians to engage actively in improving all aspects of life and society. Kuyper is regarded as a founding father of Christian Democracy political ideology. Current scholars with wider reputations, such as philosophers Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, as well as Lewis B. Smedes, have associations with this denomination and with Calvin University. Philip Yancey has stated, "I also admire the tradition of the Christian Reformed Church, which advocates 'bringing every thought captive' under the mind of Christ; that tiny 'transforming' denomination has had an enormous influence on science, philosophy, and the arts."
Doctrinal standards
The CRC officially subscribes to the Ecumenical Creeds—the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—as well as three Reformed Confessions, commonly referred as the Three Forms of Unity: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort.In 1986, the CRC formulated a statement of faith titled "Our World Belongs to God: A Contemporary Testimony" which addresses issues such as secularism, individualism, and relativism. These issues were seen as "unique challenges of faith presented by the times in which we live". While not having confessional status, it is meant to give a hymn-like expression of CRC beliefs within the heritage of the Reformed confessions, especially addressing issues that confront the church today. The Contemporary Testimony was reviewed and updated in 2008. The second Contemporary Testimony held by the CRCNA is the Belhar Confession, a testimony written in Afrikaans in 1982 from Reformed churches in South Africa.
Social issues
The Christian Reformed Church has stated its position on a number of social issues. Summaries of those positions and references to full reports with exact statements can be found at crcna.org.The CRC is opposed to abortion except in cases when the "life of the mother is genuinely threatened" by her pregnancy. The church "affirms the unique value of all human life" from the "moment of conception". Believers are called upon to show "compassion" to those experiencing unwanted pregnancies, even while they speak out against the "atrocity" of abortion. In 2010, the Synod adopted a recommendation "to instruct the Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action to boldly advocate for the church's position against abortion, and to help equip churches to promote the sanctity of human life"."
This regard for the value of human life applies to the CRC position on euthanasia as well. Already in 2000, synod maintained that the appropriate response to suffering, disability, and/or dying is pastoral, including palliative care rather than acting to cause death. In 2025, a task force dealt with the growing legalization of assisted suicide throughout North America. In adopting this report, synod expressed its condemnation of the legalization and practice of medically assisted suicide as well as efforts to expand its reach. Instead, the church commended positive gospel approaches to the very real issues of suffering, despair, and loneliness which contribute to the conclusion that medically assisted suicide as an appropriate step.
The CRC has a moderate stance on the death penalty: "The CRC has declared that modern states are not obligated by Scripture, creed, or principle to institute and practice capital punishment. It does, however, recognize that Scripture acknowledges the right of modern states to institute and practice capital punishment if it is exercised with utmost restraint."
The stance of the CRC is that homosexuality is "a condition of disordered sexuality that reflects the brokenness of our sinful world". The CRC distinguishes an individual’s orientation, for which a person may bear only minimal responsibility, from homosexual sex, which it regards as incompatible with obedience to the will of God as revealed in Scripture. In 2023, the synod of the CRC acknowledged the shortcomings of itself and its congregations with regard to their pastoral posture toward LGBTQ+ people. Synod 2023 stated, “We acknowledge the immediacy of the call and mutual accountability of all members of the Christian Reformed Church in North America to follow through with the pastoral care outlined in the Human Sexuality Report for the sake of our witness to Jesus Christ. We do so in a spirit of lament for failing in our pastoral care to those who identify as belonging to the LGBTQ+ community”. Synod 2023 further instructed “all congregations of the CRCNA to show love to all people groups, including our LGBTQ+ members and neighbors, by condemning hateful or demeaning speech and violent or demeaning actions”. Christian homosexuals, like all Christians, are called to discipleship, holy obedience, and the use of their gifts in the cause of the kingdom. Persons of same-sex attraction may not be denied acceptance solely on the basis of their sexual orientation, and should be given the same opportunities to serve within the life of the congregation as other Christians living in obedience to God’s Word.