17th century was founded in
Albany, New York in 1642 to serve the patroonship of
Rensselaerswyck; the current church was built in 1798. The early settlers in the Dutch colony of
New Netherland first held informal meetings for worship. In 1628,
Jonas Michaelius organized the first Dutch Reformed congregation in
New Amsterdam, now
New York City, called the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, now The Collegiate Churches of New York. During Dutch rule, the RCA was the
established church of the colony and was under the authority of the
classis of
Amsterdam.
The Brookville Reformed Church remains one of the oldest churches in America.
18th century Even after the English captured the colony in 1664, all Dutch Reformed ministers were still trained in the Netherlands. Services in the RCA remained in Dutch until 1764. In 1747, the church in the Netherlands had given permission to form an assembly in North America; in 1754, the assembly declared itself independent of the classis of Amsterdam. This American classis secured a charter in 1766 for Queens College (now
Rutgers University) in
New Jersey. In 1784
John Henry Livingston was appointed as professor of theology, marking the beginning of the
New Brunswick Theological Seminary. The Dutch-speaking community, including farmers and traders, prospered in the former New Netherlands, dominating
New York City, the
Hudson Valley, and parts of
New Jersey while maintaining a significant presence in southeastern Pennsylvania, southwestern Connecticut, and Long Island. In the early 18th century nearly 3,000
Palatine German refugees came to New York. Most worked first in English camps along the
Hudson River to pay off their passage, paid by
Queen Anne's government, before they were allowed land in the
Schoharie and
Mohawk Valleys. They created numerous German-speaking
Lutheran and Reformed churches, such as those at
Fort Herkimer and
German Flatts. Thousands more immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th century. They used German as the language in their churches and schools for nearly 100 years, and recruited some of their ministers from Germany. By the early 20th century, most of their churches had joined the RCA. During the
American Revolution, a bitter internal struggle broke out in the Dutch Reformed church, with lines of division following ecclesiastical battles that had gone on for twenty years between the "coetus" and "conferentie" factions. One source indicates that defections may have occurred as early as 1737. "Desolation pervaded many of the churches, whereas prior to 1737 good order was maintained in the churches, and peace and a good degree of prosperity were enjoyed. ...But in 1754, the Coetus of the previous year, having recommended the changing of the Coetus into a Classis with full powers, the opposition became violent, and the opponents were known as the Conferentie."A spirit of amnesty made possible the church's survival after the war. The divisiveness was also healed when the church sent members on an extensive foreign missions program in the early 19th century. In 1792, the classis adopted a formal constitution; and in 1794 the denomination held its first general
synod. Following the American Civil War, in 1867 it formally adopted the name "Reformed Church in America". In the nineteenth century in
New York and
New Jersey, ethnic Dutch descendants struggled to preserve their European standards and traditions while developing a taste for
revivalism and an American identity.
19th century Some members owned slaves, the most famous of the slaves being
Sojourner Truth, and the church did not support
abolitionism. In rural areas, ministers preached in Dutch until about 1830–1850, then switched to English, at the same time finally dropping the use of many traditional Dutch clothing and customs. Although some ministers favored revivals, generally the church did not support either the
First or the
Second Great Awakenings, which created much evangelical fervor. Dutch language use faded thereafter until the new wave of Dutch immigration in the mid-19th century. This revived use of the language among Dutch descendants and in some churches.
Reformed Church women's work begins In New York in January 1875 a group of women formed the Women’s Board of Foreign Missions. Women began organizing their North American Reformed Church Missions in 1882 and in 1909 became incorporated as the Women’s Board of Domestic Missions. Consecrated women began work among the American Indians in 1894, in 1900 an Appalachian
settlement school in
McKee, Kentucky (which eventually became called
Annville Institute), and among Japanese residents in and around New York City in 1907.
Midwestern United States Immigration from the Netherlands in the mid-19th century led to the expansion of the RCA into the
Midwestern United States. In 1837, Pastor Abram D. Wilson and his wife Julia Evertson Wilson from
New Jersey established the first Dutch Reformed church west of the
Allegheny Mountains in
Fairview, Illinois.
Hope College and
Western Theological Seminary were founded in
Holland, Michigan,
Central College in
Pella, Iowa, and
Northwestern College in
Orange City, Iowa. In the
1857 Secession, a group of more conservative members in Michigan led by
Gijsbert Haan separated from the RCA. They organized the
Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC), and other churches followed. In 1882 another group of congregations left for the CRC, mirroring developments in the church in the Netherlands.
Post-World War II After 1945, the RCA expanded into Canada, which was the destination of a large group of Dutch emigrants. Between 1949 and 1958, the RCA opened 120 churches among non-Dutch suburban communities, appealing to mainline Protestants. It was a charter member of the Presbyterian Alliance, the Federal Council of Churches, and the World Council of Churches.
Recent decline Like most other mainline denominations, the RCA has had a declining membership during the last thirty years. In 2024, the total membership was less than 84,000, down from 196,308 in 2018, from 220,000 in 2016, from 300,000 in 2000, and 360,000 in 1980. Due to differences related to the adoption of the
Belhar Confession, the removal of the conscience clauses related to the
ordination of women, and place of LGBTQ people in the church, a number of congregations have left the RCA to join the
Presbyterian Church in America, which is more conservative on these issues. For largely the same reasons, about 100 churches separated (with 65 making the matter public originally) from the denomination and formed the
Alliance of Reformed Churches (the denomination now has roughly 200 churches), Twelve churches formed the Reformation Canada Network, twelve from the Central Iowa classis formed The Sending Network and 5 formed the Kingdom Network (which currently has 24 churches). ==Beliefs==