Gijsbert Haan - Secession

Secession

In 1857, Haan's followers sent documents of secession to the classis in an attempt to garner support for an exodus from the RCA. The principal arguments in the document were that the RCA conducted "open communion", sang hymns whose lyrics were not based on Biblical psalms, overlooked catechism preaching, and did not support the secession in the Netherlands. Although the classis did not approve of the secession documents, one church did decide to leave the RCA in January 1857. Soon, other churches followed suit. In 1859, these secessionist churches became the True Dutch Reformed Church. The denomination then endured several name changes until 1904 when it adopted its present name, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC).

The CRC began as a Dutch immigrant church in the 1850s and continued to attract mainly Dutch constituents. The church population has increased at times of heavy Dutch immigration. The church in Canada gained new members after an influx of people from the Netherlands following World War II. The CRC has also gained members who were unhappy with and left the RCA for various reasons. For example, some people who were unhappy with the RCA's decision to permit members to join the Freemasons united with the CRC in the 1880s. On the other hand, the CRC also lost several congregations in 1882 that supported the Freemasons.