First Protestant Reformed Church is Reformed congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was the first and founding congregation of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. [1]
It was organised in 1879 as East Street Christian Reformed Church. The congregation followed Herman Hoeksema to pull out of the CRCNA and form the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. The congregation adopted the name First Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids in January 1926. A minority remained as East Avenue Christian Reformed Church. [2] [3]
Under Rev. Hoeksemas leadership, the congregation thrived in the 1940s. In 1944, Rev. Hubert DeWolf became the second pastor of First Protestant Reformed. Rev J. Hanko joined the staff in 1948. In early 1950s, DeWolf begun to preach covenant theology, to appeal to congregants that had come from the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated). Rev. Hoeksema opposed this, and believed that the offer of salvation is for only the elected. [4] After a further schism in 1953, the congregation divided again, one group led by Hoeksema and Hanko, the other by Rev. Hubert De Wolf. This resulted in two denominations called Protestant Reformed Church until the group led by De Wolf reunited with the CRCNA in 1961. [5] [6]
The church adheres to the Apostles Creed, Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort, and Belgic Confession. [7]
The church building is located in southeastern Grand Rapids at the corner of Fuller Avenue and Franklin Street. In 1985, the church relocated to Michigan Street in Grand Rapids.
Wyoming is a city in Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 76,501 at the 2020 census. Wyoming is the second most-populated community in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is bordered by Grand Rapids on the northeast. After Grand Rapids, it is also the second most-populated city in West Michigan.
Holland is a city in the western region of the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated near the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Lake Macatawa, which is fed by the Macatawa River. Holland is a thriving city with a diverse economy that includes manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, and higher education. It is home to a number of prominent companies, including Herman Miller, Haworth, and Johnson Controls. The city also attracts thousands of visitors each year for its annual Tulip Time Festival, which celebrates the area's Dutch heritage and vibrant tulip fields.
The Christian Reformed Church in North America is a Protestant Calvinist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. Having roots in the Dutch Reformed Church of the Netherlands, the Christian Reformed Church was founded by Dutch immigrants in 1857 and is theologically Calvinist.
The United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) is a theologically conservative federation of Reformed churches founded in 1996. Many churches joined the URCNA after splitting from the Christian Reformed Church in North America denomination.
Calvin Theological Seminary is a private Christian Reformed Church seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is closely tied to Calvin University, though each institution has its own board.
The Protestant Reformed Churches in America is a Protestant denomination of 33 churches and over 8,000 members.
Herman Hoeksema was a Dutch Reformed theologian. Hoeksema served as a long time pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. In 1924 he refused to accept the three points of common grace as formulated which had then been declared official church dogma of the Christian Reformed Church, as an addition to its adopted creeds and confessions. The result of this controversy was that Hoeksema, and ministers George Ophoff, and Henry Danhof, were deposed by their respective classes before leaving the CRC with their congregations. These men then established the Protestant Reformed Churches. He also was professor of theology at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary in Grandville, Michigan for 40 years.
The Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches (OCRC) were a theologically conservative federation of churches in the Dutch Reformed tradition. Although the federation has disbanded, most of its churches still exist. They are in the United States and Canada. They confess the Bible to be the Word of God and believe it is faithfully summarized by the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, and Canons of Dort.
Wealthy Park Baptist Church was an American church, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, established in 1886. It had previously been a Sunday school mission of Fountain Street Baptist Church started in 1875.
Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was for a time unique in the United States as being large, religiously liberal and non-denominational in a notably conservative city. It arose from its beginnings as a Baptist church which responded to the ascendency of liberal Christianity in the late 19th century, primarily through graduates of the University of Chicago Divinity School, which was a leader in the movement.
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,893 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the central city of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,087,592 and a combined statistical area population of 1,383,918.
St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church was a Reformed Protestant Dutch church in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, which was Manhattan's oldest congregation when it was demolished in 1949. The church was on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 48th Street near Rockefeller Center. The church was built in 1872 to Gothic Revival designs in brownstone by architect W. Wheeler Smith and "distinguished by an elegantly tapered spire that, according to John A. Bradley in The New York Times, 'many declare…the most beautiful in this country.'" The congregation dated to 1628.
ReFrame Ministries, formerly Back to God Ministries International is the electronic media ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. Founded in 1939 as the weekly radio ministry program "The Back to God Hour", in 2015 the organization produces radio programs, TV broadcasts, and Internet websites in 10 languages, including children's dramas, daily devotionals, Bible resources, family resources, and cultural reflections. It operates from the Christian Reformed Church Headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and in Burlington, Ontario.
Covenant Christian High School (CCHS) is a private Christian high school in Walker, Michigan in Greater Grand Rapids. It has a Grand Rapids, Michigan postal address.
The Hungarian Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant church in the United States that serves people of Hungarian ancestry. The church has approximately 6,080 members.
The Reformed Church in Japan is a confessional Calvinist denomination in Japan. It was formerly a member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, but it chose to suspend its membership.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was officially established in 1971 when the First Presbytery was formed as a result of the union of various conservative Presbyterian and Continental Reformed congregations planted by various missionary groups. Its origin could be traced back to the 1950s when the very first missionaries of those Presbyterian and Continental Reformed missionaries arrived in Taiwan.
The Split of 1924 was a defining moment in the history of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Protestant Reformed Churches of America (PRCA). It began especially with the Janssen Case, in which Ralph Janssen, a professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, began to use common grace to back up his ideas about the inspiration of Scripture. Although common grace was not at the forefront of this case, it was the basis for his teachings. A young minister, Rev. Herman Hoeksema, followed the case closely and recognized common grace as the center, and when the Christian Reformed Synod of 1922 did not deny common grace, he predicted its return. He was, however, in a minority. He and Rev. Henry Danhof became heavily involved in the pamphlet war that broke out shortly thereafter. More protests came in, climaxing in the Synod of 1924. The Synod did not declare anything specifically against the protesting ministers, but by March 1925 Hoeksema was ousted from the church. Although the split is largely known as the Split of 1924, there is no clear point where the Protestant Reformed Churches of America became separate from the Christian Reformed Church.
The Orthodox Protestant Reformed Churches (OPRC) constituted a short-lived Protestant denomination in the United States. It formed in 1953 following a split in the Protestant Reformed Churches in America and lasted until 1961, when most congregations merged with the Christian Reformed Church in North America, from which the PRCA had split in 1924. At its height, it had 19 congregations.