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The Reformed Church in Hungary is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. Today, it is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and four church districts and has a membership of over 1.6 million, making it second only to the Catholic Church in terms of size. As a Continental Reformed church, its doctrines and practices reflect a Calvinist theology, for which the Hungarian term is református.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Christian communion in the world after the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. This ecumenical Christian body was formed in June 2010 by the union of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).
The Reformed Church in Romania is the organization of the Calvinist church in Romania. The majority of its followers are of Hungarian ethnicity and Hungarian is the main church language. The large majority of the Church's parishes are in Transylvania; according to the 2002 census, 701,077 people or 3.15% of the total population belong to the Reformed Church. About 95% of the members were of Hungarian ethnicity.
Religion in Hungary has been dominated by forms of Christianity for centuries. According to the 2011 census, 54.2% of the Hungarians declared to believe in Christianity, of whom 38.9% were Catholics, 13.8% were Protestants, 0.1% were Orthodox Christians, and 1.3% were members of other Christian groups. At the same time, 27.2% of the Hungarians did not declare a religious affliation, 16.7% declared explicitly to be not religious and 1.5% atheists. Minority religions practised in Hungary include Buddhism, Islam and Judaism.
Dr. Gusztáv Bölcskei is a Hungarian Reformed bishop and a theologian. He is the former clerical president of the Synod of the Reformed Church in Hungary and bishop of Debrecen. Bölcskei is Executive Committee Member of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, former president of WCRC Europe, and a professor of church sociology at Debrecen Reformed Theological University.
The Reformed Diocese of Királyhágómellék or Királyhágómellék Reformed Church District is one of the two dioceses of the Reformed Church in Romania, with its headquarters in Oradea. It was part of the Reformed Diocese of Tiszántúl of the Reformed Church in Hungary from the 16th century until 1920, when it came under Romanian administration in accordance with the Treaty of Trianon and became part of the newly founded Reformed Church in Romania. In 2004, it had 320,000 members in 271 congregations and 342 house fellowships. The Apostles Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Second Helvetic Confession are the official standards.
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 Evangelical Reformed Church of Lithuania or latin: "Unitas Lithuaniae"; polish: "Jednota Litewska" is a Calvinist denomination in Lithuania which uses presbyterian polity.
The Reformed Church in Latvia is a confessional Calvinist denomination in Latvia with two congregations and the Baltic Reformed Seminary in Riga.
The Reformed Church in Transcarpathia is a historic Calvinist church in Ukraine. It is the oldest Protestant church in the country, founded in the 16th century, and a significant part of the Hungarian-speaking ethnicity belong to this denomination.
The Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia has 110,000 members in 205 parishes and 103 mission churches and 59 house fellowships in 10 presbyteries. The bishop is the head of the church, in contrast with other Calvinist churches.
The Reformed Christian Church in Croatia became an autonomous church in 1993, following the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Croatia became an independent state. The first organising Synod was held in Retfala (Rétfalu) on January 30, 1993. The Reformed Church in Yugoslavia the predecessor denomination was founded in 1933, formerly it was part of the Reformed Church in Hungary. These are mostly Hungarian speaking congregations, which organised themselves as a church in 1551. There are a few Czech speaking and Croatian churches.
Before World War I, the Reformed Christian Church in Serbia was part of the Reformed Church in Hungary. In the period of the Reformation, Rev Sztáray planted 120 Calvinist congregations in the region. In the period of the Ottoman Empire, regions of Hungary were part of the empire and some villages were destroyed. After the Turks were defeated, Hungarian Calvinists emerged from Debrecen and Szentes. In 1898, a whole Catholic village converted to the Calvinist faith because the Catholic church refused to celebrate the mass in the Hungarian language. After World War I, this part of Hungary was connected to Serbia. In 1933, the Reformed Church in Yugoslavia was founded. At that time, among Hungarians, there were German Calvinist congregations; the Germans arrived in this region in the 18th century. After World War II, the Germans were forced to leave the country. There are Czech-speaking and a remnant of German speaking congregations, which had suffered during the Communist regime. A number of congregations separated when Croatia become independent to form the Reformed Christian Church in Croatia.
The Evangelical Church of the River Plate is a United, Protestant denomination with congregations in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It is named after the Río de la Plata Basin, where the majority of its congregations are located. The IERP was affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Germany from 1934–1965, when it became independent. The church ordains women as ministers and supported civil unions and same-sex marriage. It has approximately 27,500 members.
The Reformed Diocese of Transylvania is a moderately conservative Reformed, Calvinist church in Romania; its seat is in Cluj-Napoca. Alongside the Reformed Diocese of Királyhágómellék, which has its seat in Oradea, it forms the Reformed Church in Romania.
The Calvin Synod is an acting conference of the United Church of Christ, composed entirely of Reformed, or Calvinist congregations of Hungarian descent. Unlike much of the UCC, the Synod is strongly conservative on doctrinal and social matters, and many members of the "Faithful and Welcoming Movement," a renewal group acting to move the UCC in a more orthodox direction, belong to this body.
The Hungarian Reformed Church in Australia is a Hungarian Protestant church in Australia. Its headquarters is in Melbourne; its head is Rev. Csaba Dézsi, the pastor of the North Fitzroy Reformed Hungarian congregation. The Australian Reformed Hungarian Church is a member of the Hungarian Diaspora Council.
The Evangelical Reformed Church in Transcarpathia is a conservative Calvinist denomination in Transcarpathia. The church was founded in 2006. The new denomination separated from the Reformed Church in Transcarpathia because the liberal teaching of the church and the unbiblical episcopal government. The members are ethnic Hungarian. It has about 200 members in 6 congregations and Bible study classes in 12 villages. In 2007 the church was registered by the government. The denomination affirms the Westminster Confession of Faith, Second Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg catechism. It has a presbyterian church government, with a synod and local presbyterian councils. The church established close relationship with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated).
The Hungarian Reformed Church (HRC) or Hungarian Reformed Communion is a global fellowship of continental Reformed denominations historically related to the Reformed Church of Hungary.
References
- ↑ "A Magyar Református Egység honlapja - Szlovéniai Református Keresztyén Egyház". Archived from the original on 2013-10-30. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
- ↑ www.ecclesia-reformata.si/magyar/reformatus-egyhaz/tortenet/
- ↑ "Address data base of Reformed churches and institutions".
- ↑ "Member Churches :: World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC)". Archived from the original on 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
- ↑ www.ecclesia-reformata.si/magyar/reformatus-egyhaz/hitelvek/