Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Churches

The Dutch Reformed Church developed during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century as part of the Netherlands' bid for freedom from Spanish Catholic control. It followed the teachings of John Calvin, a Swiss Protestant theologian, and adopted a presbyterian form of church governance. Dutch settlers to New Amsterdam brought the Church over in 1628, and when the colony passed into English hands in 1664, 11 Dutch Reformed Churches existed. This increased to 34 Churches at the beginning of the 18th century, under the jurisdiction of the Classis of Amsterdam. In 1738, the American Dutch Reformed Churches wrote a petition for independence from Amsterdam, which was granted in 1755. Practitioners and Churches spread throughout New York and New England, and in the 19th century to the mid-West. In 1766 the missionary John Brainerd passed on to Wheelock a recommendation for John Kals, a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, as a potential missionary and teacher of sacred languages. Occom recorded in his journal for 1787 that he preached several times in Dutch Reformed Churches and meeting houses in upstate New York to large and enthusiastic audiences.

www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/410259/Netherlands-Reformed-Church; www.newadvent.org/cathen/12710a.htm.