Orthodox Protestant Reformed Churches

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.[1]

Hubert DeWolf had succeeded Herman Hoeksema as minister of First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the early 1950s DeWolf began to teach the conditional covenant theology of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated),[2] and in 1953 stated in a sermon that "Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the kingdom of heaven."[3] Hoeksema regarded this as heretical and the congregation, and then the denomination, split over the issue.

Clarence Stam argues that in the split "the Protestant Reformed Churches fell into the same practice as the Christian Reformed Church earlier," that of "non-confessional bindings".[4]

  1. ^ Schoone-Jongen, Terence (2008). The Dutch American Identity: Staging Memory and Ethnicity in Community Celebrations. Cambria Press. p. 88. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  2. ^ "A Brief History of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan". First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  3. ^ Schipper, Marinus (1959). "Introducing "The First Orthodox Protestant Reformed Church"". The Standard Bearer. 35 (2). Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  4. ^ Stam, Clarence (1979). Everything in Christ: The Christian Faith Outlined According To The Belgic Confession. Winnipeg: Premier Publishing. p. 101.