Protestant Reformed Churches in America
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| Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC or PRCA) | |
| Classification | Protestant |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Calvinistic/Reformed |
| Origin | 1924-1925
|
| Separated from | Christian Reformed Church in North America |
| Separations | 1953 over half of the denomination left to form the Orthodox PRC |
| Statistics | |
| Congregations | 27 |
| Members | 7,000+ |
| Source: Abstract of the Minutes of the PRCA Synod of 2006 | |
The Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRC) or (PRCA) is a Protestant denomination of 27 churches and over 7,000 members.
Contents |
[edit] History
The PRC was founded in 1924 as a result of a controversy regarding common grace in the Christian Reformed Church. At that time the Christian Reformed Church adopted three doctrinal points on the subject of common grace. Reverends Herman Hoeksema, George Ophoff, and Henry Danhof rejected these three points and maintainined them to be contrary to the Reformed confessions of faith. Soon thereafter, when these men said they could not abide by these three points, they were disciplined through suspension or deposition from the ministry by their respective Classes. The CRC maintained that the position of these three men was inconsistent with the Bible's teachings. The men objected to this deposition also from a church political point of view, arguing that only the Consistory has the right to depose their minister, not a Classis. The CRC disagreed and these ministers, as well as their followers, left the CRC and organized into a new denomination. They took the name the Protestant Reformed Churches in America.
The PRC today continues to reject common grace as a variant of Arminian theology and believes that God's grace is always given only to his chosen people. The rejection of common grace and the free offer of the gospel is often understood to be Hyper-Calvinism. Since the PRC hold these positions to be contrary to the Reformed Confessions and do not reject the necessity of gospel preaching, they therefore also maintain that the rejection of these positions should not be referred to as Hyper-Calvinism (see David Engelsma's Hyper-Calvinism and the Call of the Gospel). The position of the PRC as regards common grace and the free offer of the gospel is rejected by the majority of modern day reformed denominations and scholars, and the PRC maintains that these denominations and scholars do not fully hold to the Reformed confessions.
In the early 1950s, the churches endured a severe, internal, doctrinal controversy regarding the unconditionality of the covenant of grace. Membership in the church declined by over one half and half of the ministers left the PRC during this period. The denomination today continues to teach that God unconditionally establishes and maintains His covenant with His elect people alone.
[edit] Doctrine
The PRC believes that the Bible is the infallibly and inerrantly inspired word of God and that the message therein is well summarized in the Three Forms of Unity: the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the Canons of Dordt. While the PRC approves of most of the Westminster Confession of Faith, it does not endorse it because of differences regarding marriage and divorce, the covenant of works, and other matters.
In addition to the denomination's position on common grace discussed above, the PRC's understanding of their confessions leads to some other distinctive positions.
The PRC holds that God's covenant is only with his elect and that it is unconditional (meaning that there are no conditions that people must fulfill to enter into the covenant or to stay in the covenant). The PRC rejects Antinomianism, believing instead that God calls the people of the covenant to believe and obey and that he personally and entirely produces in them the required faith and works.
In public worship services, the PRC mostly sings the Psalms with organ accompaniment, but in contrast to exclusive psalmody, it does permit the singing of certain uninspired hymns of human composition. Article 69 of the church order adopted by the Synod of Dordt states that: "In the churches only the 150 Psalms of David, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Twelve Articles of Faith, the Songs of Mary, Zacharias, and Simeon, the Morning and Evening Hymns, and the Hymn of Prayer before the sermon shall be sung." It is a common practice within PRC services to open with the singing of the "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow" doxology and some end the service with the singing of "May the Grace of Christ the Savior" doxology. Outside of the official church service, members are free to sing uninspired hymns and carols of human composition. Also, the PRC uses the King James Version of the Bible, although they do not endorse the King-James-Only Movement and members have personal liberty to use other Bible versions. Modest and conservative dress is encouraged for worship services, however, in contrast to other denominations the PRC does not believe head coverings are required for women.
The PRC believes that marriage is a lifelong bond and that, although an individual may divorce or "put away" his or her spouse for continued infidelity, the marriage bond is not dissolved apart from death. Hence, neither party is permitted to remarry while the other person is still living.
The PRC advocates Amillennialism in Christian eschatology and holds exclusively to Young Earth Creationism.
[edit] Church government
The denomination holds to the Reformed form of church government and is organized in two classes – Classis East and Classis West (the eastern border of Illinois is the boundary between the two) – which meet two or three times a year and in an annual Synod.
The name of the denomination is not the Protestant Reformed Church (singular) but the Protestant Reformed Churches (plural). The PRC maintain that a denomination is not a church but a federation of churches, and that each of these churches is self-governing by a body of elders chosen out of the congregation. The PRC holds that God has given the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 16:18, which is understood as granting authority for the preaching the gospel, and the exercise of church discipline) to the instituted church, not the denomination. Thus in the PRC only an instituted church can place an individual or a special officebearer under discipline. The PRC denies that a meeting of Classis or Synod has the authority to do this, though they may advise a congregation to do so.
At the same time the PRC maintains the binding authority of the decisions of the broader assemblies (namely, the Classis and Synod). Individuals and congregations must submit to these decisions if they are going to remain in the denomination, and if an individual congregation refuses to do so, the broader assembly has the authority to declare that congregation to be outside the federation of churches.
Only male members who have made a public confession of faith and are in good standing may vote for church officebearers or be ordained in the Protestant Reformed Churches.
[edit] Churches and missions
The PRC has nearly thirty member churches scattered throughout the United States and in Canada. They also have a sister church in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. A majority of the churches in the United States are located in western Michigan but there are also churches in the midwestern and western United States. The PRC has few formal relationships with most reformed denominations and organizations, although in recent years, the PRC has developed relationships with two churches in Singapore, a small fellowship in New Zealand, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Australia, a small sister church in Northern Ireland which was founded with the help of the PRC, and the Protestant Reformed Churches in Myanmar.
The PRC has also developed contacts in India, Germany, Eastern Europe, and Russia. Currently, the PRC is engaged in missions in a few locations in the United States and in Canada, and they have recently organized a church in the Philippines. In 2005, the Synod of the PRC closed the denomination's missionary field work in Ghana, due to a lack of membership, although there is still contact with the people there.
[edit] Organizations
- Protestant Reformed Theological School - the seminary of the PRC, located in Grandville, Michigan.
- Reformed Free Publishing Association - publisher of theological and other Christian books by PRC authors and of a semi-monthly magazine The Standard Bearer, located in Jenison, Michigan
- The Reformed Witness Hour - a radio broadcast sponspored by the PRC.
[edit] References
- (2005) Acts of Synod & Yearbook of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America.
- (2000) Our Goodly Heritage Preserved. ISBN 0-916206-62-9.
- Hanko, Herman (2000). For Thy Truth's Sake. Reformed Free Publishing Association. ISBN 0-916206-61-0.
