Forty years ago, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) in South Africa adopted Belydenis van Belhar — the Confession of Belhar — in its first reading. Belhar was an outgrowth of the DRMC’s effort to grapple with the church’s participation in and defense of apartheid and touches prominently on themes of unity, reconciliation and justice. The DRMC adopted Belhar in its final form in 1986.
Despite the Reformation’s birth in Europe, we should celebrate Reformation Day by welcoming all people fully into the Body of Christ.
John Calvin and Martin Luther come to mind for many Presbyterians as heroes of the Reformation. But women also played significant roles, and thanks to a new six-part series from Theocademy, their stories have become more accessible.
As a result of the pandemic, churches are prayerfully discerning creative ways to take new approaches to worship, community and evangelism.
Built into the old city walls of Geneva, Switzerland, is a monument where the key players of a movement that challenged and changed the religious landscape of the 16th century — and centuries to come — stand larger than life.
The Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) is marking next month’s Reformation Sunday with a church bulletin insert about confessions—specifically, the Presbyterian tradition of collecting confessions, catechisms, and creeds in single publications.
Among the rare books preserved inside the National Archives of the PC(USA) is William Dunlop’s A Collection of Confessions. Published three hundred years ago in Edinburgh, Scotland, the two-volume set brought together the Westminster Standards (1647-48), the Geneva Catechism (1542), the Scots Confession (1560), and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). As the bulletin insert notes, Dunlop’s compilation placed the relatively new Westminster Standards (including the Westminster Confession) alongside classic texts of Reformed, or “Calvinist,” theology.
Throughout 2017, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Reformed churches worldwide have been commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, celebrating the day in late October 1517 when Martin Luther unknowingly spurred a radical movement by posting his 95 theses at the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany.
A small group of Presbyterians have traveled to Leipzig, Germany to begin a Reformation study tour, developed by the Presbyterian Foundation and the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS). The study tour runs October 3-15.
The World Communion of Reformed Churches has formally joined an ecumenical statement with Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists aiming to overcome divisions between Protestants and Roman Catholics from the time of the Protestant Reformation.
Five hundred years ago, Wittenberg was the site that sparked the Reformation, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church door. This year, Wittenberg is not only the centre of a year-long commemoration of that event but will also, for a day at least, focus on bringing together the Church.
On Wednesday, July 5, the World Communion of Reformed Churches General Council will move from Leipzig to Wittenberg to host an ecumenical service of worship that will see the WCRC sign two documents.
Make plans now to join old friends and make new ones at this summer’s Big Tent conference in St. Louis, July 6-8. The theme of this year’s conference is Race, Reconciliation, and the Reformation. Through plenary events, Bible study, workshops, and worship, attendees will be challenged and renewed by the power of the gospel message to overcome our current realities of anxiety, division, and inequality.