A Protestant tradition that confesses the Trinity and the deity of Christ. Many of its members believe the Gospel, and we receive them as brethren in Christ. But on baptism, church order, and other parts of the whole counsel of God its teaching departs from Scripture, and that affects whether we can serve together in church practice.
Where It Came From
Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich and John Calvin in Geneva led the Reformed branch of the Reformation, reforming doctrine and worship within Roman Catholic Europe. The Reformed churches hold that the Reformation returned the church to the teaching of Scripture. They kept infant baptism, and city councils and princes established them as state churches. In Zurich, where Zwingli led the reform, the council outlawed the Anabaptists' baptism of believers and in 1527 drowned Felix Manz (the first Anabaptist baptisms). The Belgic Confession (1561), which rejects the Anabaptist refusal to baptize infants, and the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) became standards in the Netherlands and Germany, and the Synod of Dort (1618 to 1619) answered the followers of Jacobus Arminius.
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In Their Own Words
This profile describes the tradition from its own official documents and standard teaching:
- The Belgic Confession (1561)
- The Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
- The Canons of Dort (1619)
- The Second Helvetic Confession (1566)