Swiss Reformed Church

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The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zurich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel (Johannes Oecolampadius), Berne (Berchtold Haller and Niklaus Manuel), St. Gall (Joachim Vadian), to cities in Southern Germany and via Alsace (Martin Bucer) to France.

After the early death of Zwingli in 1531, his work was continued by Heinrich Bullinger, the author of the Second Helvetic Confession. The French-speaking cities Neuchatel, Geneva and Lausanne changed to the Reformation ten years later under William Farel and John Calvin coming from France. The Zwingli and Calvin branches had each their theological distinctions, but in 1549 under the lead of Bullinger and Calvin they came to a common agreement in the Consensus Tigurinus (Zurich Consent), and 1566 in the Second Helvetic Confession.

Organizationally, the Reformed Churches in Switzerland remain separate, cantonal units. The German churches are more in the Zwinglian tradition; the French more in the Calvinist tradition. They are governed synodically and their relation to the respective canton (in Switzerland, there are no church-state regulations at a national level) ranges from independent to close collaboration, depending on historical developments.

A distinctive feature of the Swiss Reformed churches in the Zwinglian tradition is their historically almost symbiotic link to the state (cantons), which is only loosening gradually in the present.

In 1920 was founded the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (Schweizerischer Evangelischer Kirchenbund, Fédération des Eglises protestantes de Suisse, Federazione delle Chiese evangeliche della Svizzera - SEK-FEPS), with 22 member churches — 20 cantonal churches and 2 free churches (Free Church of Geneva and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland), to serve as a legal umbrella before the federal government and represent the church in International relations.

[edit] Reformed Cantonal Churches of Switzerland

  • Chiesa evangelica riformata del Ticino - Reformed Evangelical Church of Ticino
  • Église évangélique réformée du Canton de Vaud - Reformed Evangelical Church of the Canton of Vaud
  • Église protestante de Genève - Protestant Church of Geneva
  • Église réformée évangélique du Canton de Neuchâtel - Reformed Evangelical Church of the Canton of Neuchâtel
  • Église réformée évangélique du Valais - Reformed Evangelical Church of Valais
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kantons Basel-Landschaft - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of Basel-Land
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kantons Basel-Stadt - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of Basel-Stadt
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kantons Freiburg - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of Fribourg
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kantons Luzern - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of Lucerne
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kantons Schaffhausen - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of Schaffhausen
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kantons St. Gallen - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of St. Gallen
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirche des Kanton Solothurn - Evangelical-Reformed Church of Canton of Solothurn
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirchen Bern-Jura-Solothurn - Evangelical-Reformed Churches of Berne-Jura-Solothurn
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Kirchengemeinde des Kantons Zug - Evangelical-Reformed Church of the Canton of Zug
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Landeskirche beider Appenzell - Evangelical-Reformed State Church of Appenzell
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Landeskirche des Kantons Aargau - Evangelical-Reformed State Church of the Canton of Aargau
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Landeskirche des Kantons Graubünden - Evangelical-Reformed State Church of the Canton of Graubünden
  • Evangelisch-reformierte Landeskirche des Kantons Zürich - Evangelical-Reformed State Church of the Canton of Zürich
  • Evangelisch-reformierter Kirchenverband der Zentralschweiz - Evangelical-Reformed Church Association of Central Switzerland
  • Evangelischer Kirchenrat des Kantons Glarus - Evangelical Synod of the Canton of Glarus
  • Evangelischer Kirchenrat des Kantons Thurgau - Evangelical Synod of Canton of Thurgau

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