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August 16, 2026 AM at North Blendon Christian Reformed Church

The Reformation in the Netherlands took on a unique character. Unlike the Presbyterians in Scotland or the Huguenots in France, the Dutch culture spawned stubbornly independent thinkers. Even before Martin Luther, the Dutch leader Erasmus was calling for changes in the Roman Catholic Church. His Greek New Testament was instrumental for calling attention to the Bible in its original context and independently of the Catholic-controlled Latin Vulgate Bible. By the time Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, the cities of the Low Countries were already vibrant centers of the Renaissance and humanism.

The brutal Spanish occupation of the Low Countries (today’s Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) brought discontent to the population. In 1556, the strongly Catholic Philip II became king of Spain, ruling over the Protestant Low Countries as “The most zealous champion of Catholic Europe.”^[i]

On November 2, 1561, a package was found inside the outer walls at the Doornik (Belgium) castle. Inside was a confession of faith, along with an introductory letter to King Philip II. It was presented to Philip II in 1562 with a note declaring they would obey the government in all lawful things but would never deny what is written in the confession. The attached letter said, “If you try [stopping us] by killing, for everyone who dies, a hundred will rise in his place. If you will not forsake your hardness and your murder, then we appeal to God to give us grace patiently to endure for the glory of his name … and heaven and earth will bear us witness that you have put us unjustly to death.” The adherents declared they would “yield our backs to the stripes, our tongues to the knives, our mouths to gags, and our bodies to the flames” before forsaking their testimony.

This confession of faith would come to be known as the Belgic Confession. Primarily written by Flemish Reformed minister, Guido de Brès, it was similar to the Gallic Confession adopted by the Reformed churches in France near that time. De Brès would be arrested on April 11, 1567 and hanged a month later.

Spanish King Philip II wanted to gain control of his Low Countries. In 1566, iconoclasm hit the Netherlands. Multiple instances of Reformed preaching spurred mobs to storm churches and destroy statues and icons. Philip II had enough. The hammer was brought down by sending the Duke of Alva with 15,000 troops to crush the dissidents.

The Duke of Alva quickly took control. He declared the local nobility was in open rebellion and established a council to prosecute the rioters and heretics. Between 1567 and 1570, around 18,000 were killed.^[ii] Civil war raged in the Low Countries. The Reformed Protestant cause was fused with the cause of independence from the Spanish Catholic oppressors.

On October 20, 1568, the Duke defeated a Dutch rebel force under William of Orange. The Protestant cause seemed lost. Around 100,000 refugees fled to England and East Friesland in Germany. But the Spanish taxes and contempt for their subjects kept the sedition simmering.

In 1571, a gathering at Emden, Germany began the Dutch Reformed Church. Organized churches within a region would be known as a “classis.” The Belgic Confession was adopted along with the Heidelberg Catechism.

On April 1, 1572, the city of Briel was liberated from the Spaniards. Support for William of Orange grew. In July, the provinces of Holland and Zeeland recognized William of Orange as their Stadtholder and established an independent government. William of Orange somewhat reluctantly declared his allegiance to the Dutch Reformed Church, not at ease with its leadership’s insistence on tidy package of beliefs from the Heidelberg Catechism and Belgic Confession.^[iii]

In January of 1579, the Union of Utrecht formed a Protestant republic against the Spaniards. Religious freedom was given to Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed and Mennonites, beginning a Dutch tradition of toleration. In 1581, the United Provinces of the Netherlands deposed King Philip II and declared independence.

On May 8, 1603, the University of Leiden appoints Jacob Arminius professor of theology. He promised he would teach nothing in conflict with the adopted doctrine of the churches. In his public lectures, he adhered to his pledge. However, in private instruction to certain select students, he voiced his doubts and dissatisfaction.

The year after Arminius died, over forty ministers signed a document called Remonstrance of Five Articles. They were thereafter known as Remonstrants.^[iv] The articles questioned some of the teachings of the Belgic Confession on matters of salvation, and presented it to the Dutch government, asking for their views to be considered and protected.

The disruption of the church was so extensive that the government called a synod. This would be the Synod of Dort from 1618-1619. From this meeting was produced the Canons of Dort. Arminius’ teachings were denied. Believers were unconditionally elected by God through grace. Human beings were thoroughly in sin and apart from God’s intervention would never believe. God does not fail to bring his elect to saving belief. Arminianism was directly denied.

After the synod of Dort, doctrinal foundations began to weaken. The church order produced at Dort failed to obtain approval of the States General and most Provincial States because civil authorities were given too little authority in the church. Corporate church action was extremely difficult as Provincial Synods had to seek united action via correspondence. Several disputes remained unreconciled. Doctrinal decline ensued.^[v] More and more professors adopted rationalism.

In 1651, the Great Assembly of the States General decided that Calvinism would be the Netherlands’ state religion while others would be tolerated. The Reformed Church would be the state church. Church membership was civil participation.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Reformed Church was taking root in the Western Hemisphere. Refusing Classis Amsterdam’s demand that ministers be examined in the Netherlands, Dutch Americans organize Queens College in order to train ministers in America, (later called Rutgers College).

On October 10, 1792, the Dutch Reformed Church (Reformed Protestant Dutch Church) in America General Synod adopts its own constitution, including the creeds and confessions as well as liturgy and government. Its Canons of Dort were missing the “rejection of errors” sections.^[vi]

Liberalism in the Netherlands accelerated in the early 1800s with “Groninger Theology.” Rejecting intellectualism and what they saw as rigid dogmatism, they had a high view of human nature as it was being elevated through education. They focused on virtue and philanthropy.

In 1810, an awakening or Reveil began in Geneva, Switzerland and spread to the Netherlands. Groups of evangelically-minded believers met together inside of or alongside of their churches to pursue Bible study and spiritual exercises. These conventicles were very pietistic in their focus, with the greatest emphasis being placed on the themes of human worthlessness, total dependence on Christ’s redemption, the experience of rebirth and progress in sanctification as seen in rejecting the “things of the world” (specifically, seasonal fairs, liquor, theater, dance, etc., all of which were seen as fostering immorality). A pietist current would be evident in the CRC to the present day.

The big blow to confessional fidelity came on January 7, 1816, when King Willem I promulgated a new Church Order by royal decree. The Reformed Church would not only be state-sponsored but state-run. The king hand-picked delegates from provincial synods. All public officials were required to be members of the church. Singing extra-biblical hymns was mandatory and those who refused were disciplined. The Formula of Subscription for ministers was changed. The Canons of Dort were dropped entirely from the Formula of Subscription. Instead of promising to teach the Reformed confessions because they fully agree with the Word of God, ministers thereafter only agreed with the confessions “insofar as” they agreed with the Word of God. Most sermons were moral essays, urging the good life without mentioning human sinfulness, necessity of new birth, conversion, atonement through Christ, justification by faith, or sanctification.

Afscheiding (Secession)

In 1829, a certain Hendrik de Cock was installed as pastor of the church at Ulrum. A “Groninger” theologian, Pastor de Cock read John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and discovered salvation by God’s grace instead of education. This revolutionized his preaching and soon people came from far and wide to hear his sermons. When the Ulrum congregation began to baptize children of parents from other church territories, de Cock was suspended and his salary withheld by the classis. De Cock appealed to the provincial synod and then the national synod with no success.

On October 13, 1834, de Cock presented a paper of secession from the state church to his consistory, which he and the entire consistory signed. This marked the beginning of the Afscheiding or separation. By the end of 1835, 70 congregations joined the movement, mostly from northern provinces.^[vii] Some were more focused on the Reformed confessions and the Church Order of Dort, others were more experiential in orientation. Some left the state church readily, others reluctantly. Afscheiding churches were sometimes fined, sometimes stormed by angry mobs.

One Afscheiding minister was Albertus Van Raalte, who led a group to settle in Holland, Michigan in 1847. Many other Dutch settlers would follow. Under 2% of Netherlands were part of the Afscheiding, yet they accounted for nearly 50% of immigrants to America before 1850.^[viii] Dutch settlers in West Michigan organized a classis of four churches in 1848. In 1850, the classis decided to send Van Raalte to the RCA General Synod in New York. The General Synod accepted the classis of Holland.

CRCNA 1857

Not everyone was happy about joining the RCA. The RCA reminded them too much of the state church back in the Netherlands. The RCA sang hymns not from Scripture. The Heidelberg Catechism was not consistently taught. Open communion was practiced. Most of all, many considered the Afscheiding unnecessary.^[ix]

On April 8, 1857, four letters were read at the Holland Classis meeting. Two ministers and two congregations communicated their departure from the classis and RCA. Rev. Koene Vanden Bosch declared in his letter: “I can not hold all of you who have joined the Dutch Reformed Church to be the true church of Jesus Christ…”^[x] The Polkton congregation letter said, “Your denomination fraternizes with those who are in opposition to the doctrine of our fathers…”^[xi] The result of the 1857 secession was much pain, and “many tears” were shed.^[xii] Thus began what would be known as the Christian Reformed Church.

The handful of congregations struggled along, sometimes through cantankerous leadership and meetings. Meanwhile, in the RCA, the topic of Masonic lodge membership was heating up. The Masons were thought of as not just a club, but a religious organization deeply connected with the rationalism of the age. The boiling point was reached in 1880 at the RCA General Synod. Four memorials from the newly settled Dutch were submitted asking that lodge membership be banned. On June 2, the General Synod said while they did not approve of lodge membership, neither would it be prohibited. A mass exodus thereafter joined the CRC. Entire congregations, families and ministers flooded the fledgling denomination. The secession churches in the Netherlands withdrew their endorsement of the RCA and encouraged immigrants to join the CRC instead. By 1895, CRC membership would surpass the RCA’s Midwest sector.^[xiii]

The two immigrant denominations occupied the same pockets of Dutch settlement around the United States, living side by side, sometimes with animosity sometimes with neighborliness. The CRC was known for starting private Christian schools for their children, singing only Psalms during worship, regular teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism, and forbidding membership in Masonic lodges.

Back in the Netherlands, a preacher in the Netherlands state church named Abraham Kuyper was challenging the church to be more Reformed in its doctrines and practices. He had a Reformed vision for transforming the world for Christ. His most famous line is, “There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus Christ does not cry out, ‘This is mine!’” In other words, the world needed Christian farmers, Christian politicians, Christian artists, Christian athletes, and Christians in every profession practicing their craft under the Lordship of Christ. He would be elected to parliament and then prime minister. The Free University in Amsterdam began with his educational philosophy. Dutch immigrants to the USA came to the CRC with Kuyper’s ideas and started a stream of Christian engagement with the culture that continued until the present day.

The CRC remained almost exclusively isolated and Dutch-speaking, educating their own children in their own Christian schools and their ministers at their own seminary. This changed with World War I after the United States going to war against Germany. Most Americans could not distinguish Dutch from German. Dutch speaking became unpopular and Dutch people were harassed. In May of 1918, Iowa’s Governor prohibited any language besides English in public settings, including church services.^[xiv] Peoria Christian School principal James Hietbrink, was beaten by a young thug while walking home from the general store. CRC boys returned from the war more Americanized. More congregations controversially began speaking English and singing hymns during worship.

In 1922, the CRC synod removed Dr. Ralph Janssen from his teaching position at Calvin Theological Seminary for teaching more liberal methods of biblical interpretation. In 1924, synod responded to the stricter understanding of God’s grace and affirmed the teaching of “common grace,” whereby God shows grace by sending rain on the believer and unbeliever alike. This positive take on common grace led to the departure and formation of the Protestant Reformed Churches.

In 1928, synod urgently warned members against the “worldly amusements,” namely theater attendance, dancing, and card playing. (Opposition to theater would loosen in 1966 and dance in 1982.) The same synod dealt with the controversial subject of singing songs that were not Psalms from Scripture. Classis Grand Rapids East sent an overture arguing for use of hymns. “The directness, the heart-appeal in many of our hymns, appeals to our younger generation,” though adding a suggestion that half the songs from each worship service be Psalms to guard against their neglect.^[xv] By contrast, Classis Zeeland overtured that introducing more hymns would lead to total neglect of Psalm-singing and “the leaven of Arminianism” in English hymns would corrupt our doctrine. Synod would appoint a committee on the matter to report at Synod 1930, where it would approve hymns. In 1932, synod minutes were written entirely in English for the first time. The CRC was slowly becoming Americanized.

By the time CRC men and women returned home from World War II, Americanization would accelerate. A wave of immigrants from the Netherlands would arrive in Canada in the post-war era that joined the CRC. In 1946, the CRC had 14 congregations in Canada. By 1966, the number rose to 170. In 1952, Classis Ontario would become three separate classes. In 1956, three more classes organized in Canada.

The CRC would expand into other ethnic groups. In 1969, the first Korean-speaking congregation formed. By 1996, an entirely Korean-speaking classis of 11 congregations would be organized and in 2014 there would be a second classis. By the 2020s, Korean congregations would number 120 and make up about 10% of CRC membership. Beginning mission work among Native Americans in the southwest United States already in 1896, Classis Red Mesa organized in 1982.

In many ways, the post-war era was a golden age of the CRC. New congregations were being built and membership was soaring. The growth was through immigration. The CRC has a long history of sending missionaries to other nations, but the CRC is an introverted group. Local evangelism has often been difficult. CRC strengths were in building organizations.

CRC Institutions

The CRC was an institution-building bunch. The CRC had its own mission agency to support missionaries both in North America and around the world.

Calvin College and Seminary was started in 1876 at first to train ministers but soon offered bachelor’s degrees.

The Back to God Hour has its first radio broadcast in 1939 after over 10 years of efforts. By 1948, over 250 stations carried BTG broadcasts and 60 percent of mail received was from non-CRC listeners. Other languages would be added, beginning with Arabic in 1958, Spanish in 1965; then French Indonesian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Russian. Hindi was added in 2009.

In 1939, Reformed Bible Institute started (later named Reformed Bible College, and renamed Kuyper College).

In 1944, Bethany Christian Services began when CRC members Marguerite Bonnema and Mary DeBoer VandenBosch by taking in a single child to becoming the largest Christian family and adoption agency.

In 1952, the Calvinist Cadet Corps began, the CRC’s answer to the Boy Scouts. Calvinettes organized in 1958 for girls (later GEMS).

In 1958, Trinity Christian College opened in Palos Heights, Illinois.

In 1955, Dordt College was dedicated.

In 1962, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee organized for relief and development efforts around the world.

In 1967, The Institute for Christian Studies officially opened in Toronto.

In 1979, The King’s University began in Edmonton, Alberta.

In 1982, Redeemer University College began in Ancaster, Ontario.

The CRC has played important roles in developing major inter-denominational organizations: The Bible League, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Gideons International, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, National Association of Evangelicals, Pine Rest, Reformed Ecumenical Council, and Wycliffe Bible Translators, to name a few.

CRC Heroes

As institutions were being born, talented CRC youth were being trained. The high value of education in the CRC produced many talented giants in business, theology, philosophy and entertainment.

While church historian Mark Noll wrote about the distrust of education that lead to a scandal of the evangelical mind, the CRC has always placed a high value on education, particularly Christian education.

Philip Yancey has stated, “I also admire the tradition of the Christian Reformed Church, which advocates ‘bringing every thought captive’ under the mind of Christ; that tiny ‘transforming’ denomination has had an enormous influence on science, philosophy, and the arts.”^[xvi]

The CRC contributed significantly to Christian publishing. The names of Zondervan, Eerdmans, Baker, and Kregel all came from the CRC.

The NIV Bible for many years was the bestselling English translation of the Bible, and it was originally the brainchild of the CRC.

Co-founders of Amway, Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel, were CRC members.

In theology, the CRC has produced the “Father of Reformed Biblical Theology,” Geerhardus Vos. Cornelius Van Til was raised and trained in the CRC. Louis Berkhof, Cornelius Plantinga and Lewis Smedes were part of the CRC for their entire careers. Bill Hybels also came from the CRC.

In philosophy, Alvin Plantinga’s 1967 book, God and Other Minds, almost singlehandedly made theism a viable worldview in academic circles. Nicolas Wolterstorff and Richard Mouw also greatly contributed to a renaissance of Christian scholarship in philosophy.

In entertainment, filmmakers Paul Schrader (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver) and Patricia Rozema (I’ve Heard The Mermaids Singing, Mansfield Park) were raised CRC. Writers Sietze Buning (aka Stanley Wiersma) and Feike Feikema (aka Frederick Manfred) were products of the CRC.

The CRC likes to pat itself on the back for having a significant influence for its small size. It is proud of its people and its contributions.

The CRC has always been different than the RCA

“The CRC is only five or ten years behind the RCA” was a common saying starting in the late 1990s.

In 2009, R. Scott Clark said the CRC has “abandoned her confession” and its “future … is clear: the RCA.”^[xvii]

The reality is that the two denominations, while similar on the surface in many ways, are fundamentally different.

The RCA’s roots are in the state church of the Netherlands. The CRC’s roots are in the Afscheiding. The RCA had roots in the establishment while the CRC’s roots were separatist. With these different roots, the CRC has always been distrustful of government-sponsored education for their children and set up Christian schools. The RCA’s ethos remained open to public schools. The Reformed confessions were not central to the Netherlands state church identity, but the secession churches of 1834 considered them valuable.

The CRC made a definitive stance on Masonic lodge membership while the RCA took a more neutral approach.

The year after the CRC synod removed Professor Janssen, the RCA General Synod voted almost unanimously to appoint someone who openly denied portions of the Canons of Dort to the chair of systematic theology at the RCA’s New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

The RCA was a founding member of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA in 1950, an organization of denominations with social gospel objectives.

The CRC by contrast was a founding member of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1943, an organization of denominations that did not fit the social gospel ideals.

The RCA was a founding member of the World Council of Churches in 1948. The CRC refused to join because the World Council of Churches gave recognition to churches with a radically different interpretation of the gospel, which should be evangelized.^[xviii] Whereas, “Scripture forbids such association with unbelievers and with those who preach another Gospel. Cf. II Cor. 6:14-18 and Gal. 1:8,9.”

Unity at doctrinal cost has been the RCA’s MO. Consider the “Formula of Agreement” the RCA joined in 1997 with three other denominations. This agreement is one in which four denominations entered into “full communion” with one another. This ecumenical move might sound admirable, but through this agreement, the RCA acknowledges the right preaching of the gospel among churches like the United Church of Christ, which favors abortion^[xix] and advocates for the ordination of practicing homosexuals.^[xx] This agreement also provides for “the orderly exchange of ordained ministers of Word and Sacrament” with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a denomination that denies significant portions of the Reformed Confessions.

By contrast, the CRC associated with denominations more strict than itself, such as the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America who sing only psalms in worship without musical accompaniment.

Once upon a time

Once upon a time, the CRC was solidly confessional in its doctrinal standing.

In 1972, Yale history professor Sydney Ahlstrom published A Religious History of The American People. There he said the CRC is America’s best example of conservative Calvinism. CRC is “the country’s most solid and dignified bastion of conservative Reformed doctrine and church discipline.”^[xxi]

The CRC had much to learn regarding intercultural and inter-racial relations. As the CRC became more “American” and sought to reach different ethnic groups, the baby was often thrown out with the bath water. Going back to the Reformation in the Netherlands, being Reformed and being Dutch were baked together in the oven of Catholic Spanish oppression. Being Dutch was to be Reformed and being Reformed was to be Dutch. While the Netherlands was an early example of religious toleration, the state church was always Reformed. Faith and nationality were intertwined. As the CRC has Americanized, the difficulty of separating family heritage with faith content became more apparent.

“The 1960’s cultural and political movement became the first North American moment to significantly influence the life and thought of the denomination,” wrote Stephen Terpstra. “Though at first the CRC was able to speak from its rich heritage into the culture, as Kuyper envisioned, soon enough the culture began to speak into the church’s life and transform priorities, ideas, and eventually theology and practice. The children of the 1960’s would take their Neo-Kuyperians and revolutionary mindset into their long period of leadership.”^[xxii]

On November 3, 1980, the CRC’s official magazine cover showed wooden shoes engulfed in flames. “Burn the Wooden Shoes” by Andrew Kuyvenhoven was the cover story on The Banner magazine. It was time to leave behind the Dutch origins and embrace the CRC’s growing ethnic diversity. The difficulty was differentiating between acceptance of other peoples or cultures and acceptance of the spirit of the age. Many of the Boomer generation were raised in Christian schools, pushed into rote memorization of the Heidelberg Catechism and kept from activities on Sundays except attend worship twice. Shedding the old ways went together with shedding the old beliefs. Those who held to the old beliefs tended to be those who held to the old ways. Those who accepted new ways were often those who accepted new beliefs. Unqualified acceptance became a dominant stream of thought, particularly among the Boomer generation raised in the post-war era of rapid change. The gospel would become attached to liberation.

Gathering Storm

Generational Differences

The Boomers grew up in a time when traditional ways were not working. The government and church needed to loosen up. Boomers rebelled against the strictures of rote memorization of the catechism, arbitrary rules of Sabbath observance, and bonds to traditional doctrines that did not address the problems of the day (racial segregation, nuclear armaments). But the Boomers were raised in the days when the establishment was the answer to world problems. They saw how government entities needed to shed old segregationist policies and how it led to reconciliation. They saw how the church needed to shed old prejudices and branch out beyond the Dutch ghettos. They were raised in the era of government declaring “In God we trust,” where religion and society went hand in hand. The Boomers gradually took the establishment reins of power in the CRC and with a focus on engaging culture as a Christian establishment with Reformed ideals.

After a generation of confessional deconstruction and accommodation to the culture, another generation was rising up looking for stability in an uncertain and chaotic world. The Boomer engagement with culture took the form of compromising with culture to connect with it. This post-Watergate generation had little trust in establishments to solve world problems. Marriages were divorcing. Churches were splitting. Media was biased. Government was corrupt. Violent crime accelerating. Moreover, the culture was becoming less religious. Alternative music spelled out the nihilistic mentality of a people who only had pleasure and entertainment to pursue. Television and movies seemed to play a game of pushing the envelope on violence and nudity. The pope’s picture was torn apart on SNL.

For Generation X and Millennials, society was unstable and unpredictable. While some in these generations followed through on their parents’ ideals, others in the younger generations gravitated to God’s Word and its unchanging truths. They grew up distrusting society that legalized abortion, popularized pornography, and tolerated increasingly immoral entertainment. Culture was not something to be accommodated. It was something to be resisted.

^[i] World History: 50 Key Milestones You Really Need to Know, p90.

^[ii] De Kolonie: The Church That God Transplanted p58.

^[iii] Reformation: Europe’s House Divided, p367.

^[iv] The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez vol2, p180. The Creeds of Christendom, Philip Schaff, ed. vol.1, p516.

^[v] Christian Reformed Tradition by D.H. Kromminga, Eerdmans, 1943; p41-6.

^[vi] Meeting Each Other in Doctrine, Liturgy & Government, p144.

^[vii] “De Afscheiding-Review and Evaluation” by John H. Kromminga, Calvin Theological Journal, 20 no 1 Ap 1985, p 50.

^[viii] Dutch in Michigan by Larry Ten Harmsel, p10-11.

^[ix] Classis Holland Minutes 1848-1858 p242.

^[x] Classis Holland Minutes 1848-1858, translated by the Joint Committee of the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1950), 240.

^[xi] Classis Holland Minutes 1848-1858 p243.

^[xii] Dutch Immigrant Memoirs and Related Writings rev. ed. Ed. Henry Lucas (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 470.

^[xiii] Bratt, “Christian Reformed History in German Mirrors,” p17.

^[xiv] Robert P. Swierenga, “Disloyal Dutch? Herman Hoeksema and the Flag in Church Controversy during World War I.” Origins, vol.XXV, No.2, 2007; p.28-35.

^[xv] Harry Boonstra, ”Singing Hymns? We’ve Never Done That Before! The CRC’s First Psalter Hymnal,” Calvin Theological Journal 42 (2007), p128.

^[xvi] Philip Yancey, “A State of Ungrace Part 2” Christianity Today Vol. 41, No. 2. February 3, 1997.

^[xvii] “CRC and RCA: No Reason to Remain Separate?” by R. Scott Clark https://heidelblog.net/2009/05/crc-and-rca-no-reason-to-remain-separate/ accessed 7/15/2026.

^[xviii] Perspectives on the Christian Reformed Church, p338, 352.

^[xix] The United Church of Christ General Synods VIII, IX, XI, XII, XIII, XVI, XVII, and XVIII have “affirmed and re-affirmed since 1971 that access to safe and legal abortion is consistent with a woman’s right to follow the dictates of her own faith…” [United Church of Christ website] http://www.ucc.org/justice/choice/ Internet; accessed November 5, 2004.

^[xx] The United Church of Christ ordained its first openly gay person into ministry in 1972. In 1985, The United Church of Christ General Synod “declared itself to be ‘open and affirming’ and called upon all settings of the church to become similarly poised to welcome L[esbian,] G[ay,] B[isexual, and] T[ransgender] persons as full members of the church.” [United Church of Christ website] http://www.ucc.org/lgbt/ Internet; accessed November 5, 2004.

^[xxi] Sydney Ahlstrom, A Religious History of The American People. New Haven: Yale University Press; p754-55.
Quoted in Family Quarrels, p103

^[xxii] “A History of the Abide Project: Reformation in the CRCNA from faithful Pastor-Leaders” by Stephen F. Terpstra. May 13, 2025. Unpublished.

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