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Are You Looking for a Church Home? Consider a congregation of the Reformed Church in America |
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A church that cares about you and your family.
Life is a challenge. As members of the Reformed Church in America, we do our best to be a caring, accepting, and helpful group of people. We think it’s important to provide meaningful worship, sympathetic counseling, and a solid program of Christian education. We think preaching must be biblical and practical. We strive to build strong youth ministries and a community of people who support each other when the going gets tough.
A church that cares about others.
We believe it’s important to reach outward as well as inward. We want to be a force for good in our world and proclaim the message of peace and joy that has changed our lives. We reach across town, across the continent, and around the world with a strong mission program, bringing the love of Christ in both word and action. Over one hundred RCA career missionaries serve worldwide in such countries as Kenya, Kuwait, Ecuador, Estonia, Mexico, and Japan. And thousands of our members serve as short-term and long-term volunteers in North America and overseas.
A church with a biblical faith.
We in the Reformed Church in America accept the Bible as God’s Word for our time, the only reliable guide for our convictions and our lifestyle. We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Savior of those who believe in him. We believe the historic Christian faith as stated in the Apostles’ Creed. We regard the Heidelberg Catechism, a sixteenth-century statement of faith, as an excellent tool for understanding the Christian faith.
A church you can trust.
The Reformed Church in America keeps a balance between local autonomy and denominational services, between clergy and laypeople, between individualism and structure. Our local congregations elect elders and deacons who govern the local church. Regional governing bodies are called classes (plural of classis) and regional synods. The General Synod meets once a year to make decisions that affect the life of the entire church. Ongoing programs, such as missions and education, are governed by a representative body called the General Synod Council. RCA staff members work at nine denominational offices throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Our monthly magazine, the Church Herald, encourages members to mature in their faith and keeps them informed about their church.
The Reformed Church in America helps support three colleges and two seminaries. Central College in Pella, Iowa; Hope College in Holland, Michigan; and Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, are liberal arts institutions with a Christian emphasis. New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey (the oldest seminary in the U.S.), and Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, prepare men and women for Christian ministry.
A church with a solid history.
The Reformed Church in America is one of the oldest in North America, founded in New Amsterdam (now New York City) by the Dutch in 1628, just twenty-one years after the colony at Jamestown was established.The Reformed branch of Protestantism has its roots in the Reformation of the 1500s. Its primary spiritual leader was John Calvin of Geneva, Switzerland, whose reform movement spread to Scotland, where it became the Presbyterian Church, and the Netherlands, where it became the Dutch Reformed Church. Although Dutch in origin, the Reformed Church in America includes people from a wide variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds. The denomination currently has about 950 congregations in the United States and Canada, with a total membership of more than 300,000 adults, youth, and children.
A local church that meets your needs.
We invite you to visit your local congregation of the Reformed Church in America. It may be large or small, informal or formal, traditional or contemporary. It may not even have the word “Reformed” in its name. You’ll be warmly welcomed and your life will be enriched.
Welcome to the
Reformed Church in America!
