Protestant Church in the Netherlands

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (Dutch: Protestantse Kerk in Nederland , PKN) is a union of three churches founded on May 1, 2004 . These are the moderate Calvinist, the strict Calvinist and the small Lutheran Church in the Netherlands . With almost 1.8 million members (or 10.8%), the PKN is the second largest church in the Netherlands (the Catholic Church is the largest with 25% of the population) and by far the largest Protestant church in the Netherlands. Its headquarters are in Utrecht .

Westerkerk in Amsterdam

history

When the PKN was founded, the main aim was to overcome the split in Calvinism . In the 19th century there was initially a Nederlands-herrormde kerk , to which the royal family also belonged. At that time, the strictly religious Gereformeerde kerk split off from it. Both the Dutch word herrormd and the foreign word reformeerd mean “reformed” and refer to the same Calvinist roots. The reformers feared that in a world that was becoming more liberal, strict Calvinism could no longer be implemented as a generally applicable teaching in the country. The strict believers were then the initiators of the " pillar ", the Dutch particularism.

Since 1961 there has been the seed op weg movement (“Together on the way”) to bring the two Calvinist schools and other churches (even Catholics in some congregations) closer together and, for example, to share buildings. This process of rapprochement led to the PKN with 2.4 million members on May 1st, 2004:

• the Dutch Reformed Church ( Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk , NHK, moderate Calvinist) with 1.8 million members at the time,
• the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (GKN, strict Calvinist) with 600,000 members and
• the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden , Lutheran) with 14,000 members.

Since 2004, the number of members has decreased to 1.789 million or 10.8% of the total population (2009).

organization

The PKN comprises four different types of member communities:

• Protestant congregations are local congregations of different church bodies that are merged,
• Hervormde congregations,
• Reformed Churches (congregations of the former Reformed Churches in the Netherlands),
• Lutheran Congregations (congregations of the former Evangelical Lutheran Church).

Lutheran congregations have the peculiarity that they are united in an independent Lutheran synod, which has an autonomous status within the PKN. The Lutheran Autonomous Synod sends representatives to the PKN Synod. The same applies to the Evangelical Old Reformed Church in Lower Saxony , which works closely with the PKN.

The Church has more than 1,800 congregations and 1,944,000 members (12% of the Dutch population as of December 31, 2005). After the Roman Catholic Church (4 million members), the PKN is the second largest church in the Netherlands in terms of members. The large loss of membership compared to 2004 (totaling 2.4 million members) is partly due to a new, narrower definition (birth members are no longer included), partly from leaving the church, partly from splits and partly also from the consequences of aging.

In the PKN there is a broad spectrum of theological movements from liberal to strictly conservative views. The ordination of women and homosexual pastors is allowed in the PKN, as is the blessing of same-sex couples .

Spin-offs

As early as 1993, the liberal-reformed Remonstrant Brotherhood (Remonstrantse Broederschap) withdrew from the Sami op . Both moderate and conservative groups disagreed with the 2004 merger. The moderates have split off from their church and formed the " Restored Reformed Church " ( Hersteld Hervormde Kerk, HHK). It has an estimated 55,000 members. The seven stricter congregations that have split off are united in the Continued Reformed Church in the Netherlands ( Voortgezette Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, VGKiN), with an estimated total of around 3,000 congregation members.

Ecumenism

The PKN is a member of the World Council of Churches , the Lutheran World Federation , the World Community of Reformed Churches and the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe .

In 2013 the Protestant Church published a joint ecumenical hymn book ( Liedboek - zingen en bidden in huis en kerk ) together with other Protestant churches in the Netherlands ( Remonstrants , Mennonites / baptismal people , free minds and others) .

See also

• List of the Dutch Reformed Churches

Web links

• Official site (Dutch)
• Official site (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statistical annual newsletter 2010
2. ↑ ^{a b} Nieuwe kerncijfers van 5 kerken ( Memento of the original of March 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , website Kerkbalans, January 13, 2011 
3. ↑ Statistical annual newsletter 2010
4. ↑ See archived copy ( memento of the original from March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Liedboek.nl