Protestant Church in The Netherlands - Organization

Organization

The polity of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands is a hybrid of presbyterian and congregationalist church governance. Church governance is organised along local, regional, and national lines. At the local level is the congregation. An individual congregation is led by a church council made of the minister along with elders and deacons elected by the congregation. At the regional level are the 57 classical assemblies whose members are chosen by the church councils. At the national level is the General Synod which directs areas of common interest, such as theological education, ministry training and ecumenical co-operation.

The PKN has four different types of congregations:

  1. Protestant congregations: local congregations from different church bodies that have merged
  2. Dutch Reformed congregations
  3. Reformed congregations (congregations of the former Reformed Churches in the Netherlands)
  4. Lutheran congregations (congregations of the former Evangelical-Lutheran Church)

Lutherans are a minority (about 1 percent) of the PKN's membership. To ensure that Lutherans are represented in the Church, the Lutheran congregations have their own synod. The Lutheran Synod also has representatives in the General Synod.

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