Netherlands Reformed Churches - History

History

The history of the Netherlands Reformed Churches (Dutch Nederlands Gereformeerde Kerken) coincides to a great extent with that of the Reformed Churches (Liberated), of which it was a part until the early 1960s. That denomination arose out of a conflict within the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands over the covenant and the power of the general synod. After that schism, referred to as the Liberation (Dutch Vrijmaking), the Liberated churches became a very conservative, orthodox denomination. Wary of the liberal tendencies within various Reformed denominations, they started to develop a number of cultural and political structures and institutes, membership in which was restricted to church members. Some within the church held the view that the Liberated church was the only true church in the Netherlands, implying that all other Christians were in violation of God's command to be joined to God's covenant people. A sizeable group disagreed with this view. In 1964 the disagreement came to a head, when Rev. Van der Ziel was accused of errors in his teaching and found guilty by the synod of the Reformed Churches (Liberated), which defrocked him. Many members protested against this measure and in 1966 they drew up an open letter with a petition to voice their protest. However, local church councils responded by excommunicating members who signed the petition. Those members, and many who followed them voluntarily, formed a new group. This federation of Reformed Churches was referred to as buitenverbanders (literally, "those outside the denomination") until 1979, when the current name Netherlands Reformed Churches was adopted.