Religion: REFORMED/PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES

Protestant, Religion Protestant, Protestant Religion. Christianity. REFORMED/PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES:

REFORMED/PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES

Although “reformed” often refers to all churches which were shaped by the Reformation of the 16th century, there were already by the end of that century ecclesiae reformatae which distinguished themselves under that name from the Lutheran churches. The distinctions were both in doctrine and in form of church government.

These churches were often described as Zwinglian or Calvinist, names the churches themselves resisted, declaring that they sought to be reformed according to the word of God.* While grateful for the witness of the reformers, they were convinced that a reformed church is also semper reformanda (always to be reformed) in accordance with the divine purpose.

When the Swiss reformation spread to Scotland, great emphasis came to be laid upon achieving a polity which was both scriptural and effective for continuous reformation (see church order ). Presbyterianism was held by many to be such a polity, while courageous minority groups opted for a Congregational order, over against the authority of either bishop or council. From this historical development there emerged the churches of continental Europe called Reformed and those of Great Britain and Ireland called Presbyterian or Congregational/Independent.

Along the paths of exile and in the
settlements of trade and empire, the European movement steadily expanded throughout the world. The World Alliance of
Reformed Churches* reported, in 2001, 215 churches with well over 70 million members and adherents in 107 countries.

The distribution of these millions around the world is very uneven. The centres of strength, with numbers over a million each, are Australia, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Scotland and Switzerland. Yet strength is not only in numbers, and minority churches have a proud record. In Mediterranean countries, in Latin America, in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, churches with total membership only of thousands have endured under persecution and repression, often winning the respect of other Christians and of the surrounding community. One of the frequently used symbols of Reformed/Presbyterian churches is the burning bush; though burning, it was not consumed.

Theology

These churches did not intend at the Reformation or in their more recent foundings to begin a new church* or to teach new doctrine. They commonly affirm the doctrines of the Apostles'* and Nicene* Creeds; their confessions are attempts to expound the central themes of the scriptures. They have disagreed among themselves about the use of creeds* and confessions to test the orthodoxy of members and ministers, but they have always emphasized the importance of declaring the truth through word and sacrament.

Main emphases of Reformed teaching have been the sovereignty and authority of God,* the lordship of Jesus Christ* as the divine Saviour, and the centrality of scripture* as the rule of faith and life. In relation to these positive doctrines of divine rule and revelation,* many theologians of this tradition have also emphasized the total dependence of created humankind upon God, the utter lostness and depravity of sinners and the consequent need of a saving action by God which by prevenient grace* draws the sinner back to a right relationship with the Creator and Redeemer. If these emphases then become the basis for a logical extrapolation of doctrine, a harsh predestinarian view of salvation* and damnation can emerge. The developments within the Reformed family of churches have tended towards a return to the primary emphases on divine lordship and grace, but past doctrinal controversies are by no means over. They are often revivified when ecumenical discussion takes place.