Free Reformed Churches of Australia


The Free Reformed Churches of Australia are a federation of 18 congregations, 16 in Western Australia, two in Tasmania and a home-congregation in Cairns. At the start of 2016 the total membership was 4,663. Their historical roots are in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands as a result of post-World War II immigration, and their doctrinal roots are in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation and the Bible. The first congregation was in Armadale, Western Australia, founded in 1951.

Doctrine

As a confessional church, the churches subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity: Canons of Dort, Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism.
The churches submit to the following three creeds as summaries of the faith: The Apostles Creed, The Nicene Creed, and The Athanasian Creed.

Churches

The FRCA has the following churches in Western Australia, in order of institution:
  • Armadale - instituted 24 June 1951
  • Albany - instituted 14 December 1952
  • Kelmscott - instituted 1 January 1981
  • Byford - instituted 27 January 1985
  • Mount Nasura - instituted 1 December 1987
  • Rockingham - instituted 6 September 1992
  • West Albany - instituted 6 August 1994
  • Southern River - instituted 29 November 1998
  • Bunbury - instituted 25 November 2001
  • Darling Downs - instituted 6 July 2003
  • Baldivis - instituted 1 July 2007
  • Mundijong - instituted 6 December 2009
  • Busselton - instituted 27 March 2011
  • Melville - instituted 2 February 2014
  • Cardup Brook - instituted 25 June 2023
  • Comet Bay - instituted 2 July 2023
  • Seville Grove - instituted 6 October 2024
  • There is a home-congregation in Cairns, Queensland, overseen by Armadale.
and the following churches in Tasmania:
  • Launceston - instituted 15 February 1953
  • Legana - instituted 4 December 1988

    Sister relationships

The Free Reformed Churches of Australia have sister-church relationships with
A long-standing sister church relation with the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands was terminated at FRCA Synod Bunbury in June 2018.

Mission

Their local churches are actively engaged in mission work in several locations in Asia and the Pacific, including Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. They have particularly close ties with the Canadian and American Reformed Churches, and many of their ministers have received their theological training at the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary.