History
Reformed churches have their origins in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the late 1940s migrants from the Netherlands settling in New Zealand expected to find their spiritual homes in existing churches of Reformed persuasion. Instead they found departures from Reformed doctrine and practice that they could not overlook. Discussions were begun in Auckland in 1951 with a view to establishing an indigenous Reformed denomination. A minister from the Netherlands, Rev J W Deenick, arrived in 1952 to support the fledgling group. The Reformed Churches of New Zealand were officially established in 1953 at a synod in Wellington where churches from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were represented. By the end of that year further churches in Bucklands Beach, Hamilton, Nelson and Palmerston North were established. A further 12 member churches have since been formed.
Read more about this topic: Reformed Churches Of New Zealand
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