Evangelical and Reformed Church
Encyclopedia
The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R) was a Protestant Christian denomination
in the United States
. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America
(ESNA). After the 1934 merger, a minority within the RCUS seceded in order to continue the name Reformed Church in the United States
. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches
(CC) to form the United Church of Christ
(UCC).
in Europe
. Almost all their churches in America were established by immigrants from Germany
and Switzerland
. In 1934, both bodies united to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
in 1747 and adopted a constitution in 1793. Later, in the 1910s, a small group of immigrant Hungarian Reformed congregations joined the RCUS as a separate judicatory, the Magyar Synod.
The Reformed tradition
centered in the state of Pennsylvania
, particularly the eastern and central counties of that state, and extended westward toward Ohio
and Indiana
and southward toward Maryland
, Virginia
, and North Carolina
in the first generation of immigration. Early Reformed adherents settled alongside Lutheran, Schwarzenau Brethren
/German Baptist
s, and sometimes Anabaptist
/Mennonite
neighbors. Some Reformed congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina formed union churches with Lutherans, sharing the same building but operating as separate entities, although they frequently shared Sunday School
s and occasionally ministers.
Up until the early 19th century, the Reformed churches ministered to German immigrants with a broadly Calvinist theology and plain liturgy
. However, revivals
, inspired by Anglo-Saxon
Protestant churches during the Great Awakenings of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influenced the development of the Reformed churches, especially in frontier regions. Some of the more radical practitioners of revivalism and/or pietism
defected to Brethren
bodies; still others formed the Churches of God, General Conference
, a conservative
, doctrinally Arminian group.
A backlash set in, however, against revivals in the form of the Mercersburg Theology
movement. Named for the Pennsylvania town
where the Reformed seminary was located in the mid-19th century, scholarly and ministerial advocates of this position sought to reclaim an older, European sense of the church as a holy society that understood itself as organically related to Christ
. This implied a recovery of early Protestant liturgies and a renewed emphasis upon the rite of Holy Communion, somewhat akin to the Tractarian or Anglo-Catholic movement in Anglicanism
but within a Reformation vein. Some leaders, however, saw this platform as an attempt to impose heretical
Catholic
practice and understandings in a Protestant setting. This group, centered in southeastern Pennsylvania in close proximity to a large Catholic population in Philadelphia
and thus motivated by Anti-Catholicism
, objected strenuously to the Mercersburg reforms, going so far as to establish a separate seminary now known as Ursinus College
. After temporarily causing the Ohio Synod to withdraw from the church, tensions mounted until compromises were worked out and parishes of either low
or high church
persuasion were allowed to practice their preferences peacefully.
A later group, settling in the late 19th century, took root in Wisconsin
and spread westward across the Great Plains
region; this group spoke German for several generations after the Pennsylvania Dutch
had thoroughly Americanized themselves, theologically as well as linguistically. These immigrants did not participate in the Mercersburg/Ursinus struggle; their theological persuasion was decidedly confessionalist
, holding to a fairly strict intrepretation of the Heidelberg Catechism
. So strong were the convictions of some that a few churches in that group, most of which were in South Dakota
, defected immediately prior to the 1934 merger, influenced by such strict confessionalism, a belief in biblical inerrancy
, and a fear of losing their Reformed roots. That group retained the name Reformed Church in the United States
.
This schism
aside, by the time of the merger talks, the RCUS had mostly joined the American Protestant mainline, sending missionaries overseas and operating health and welfare institutions (i.e., hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes) throughout much of the United States. Further, the Reformed did some work among Native Americans
in Wisconsin. The RCUS' constituency composed slightly over half of the membership of the new denomination in 1934.
) was founded in 1840 at Gravois Settlement, Missouri
, by a union of Reformed and Lutheran Christians similar to the Prussia Union
in the early 19th century. In its early years it was known as the German Evangelical Church Association of the West.
As for the Evangelical tradition, its epicenter was (and is to this day, in the UCC) Saint Louis, Missouri, with a particularly heavy concentration of parishes within a 75-mile radius, in Missouri and Illinois. Elsewhere, Evangelicals tended to settle in large cities of the Midwest, such as Cincinnati
, Louisville
, Detroit
, Milwaukee
, and Chicago
. Rural Evangelical strongholds included southwestern Indiana, southern Michigan
and Iowa
. In the Southern United States
, the ESNA was found primarily in central Texas
and New Orleans. These concentrations of German settlement also witnessed a large influx of more confessionally-oriented Lutherans, who formed the current-day Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in opposition to the syncretism
they believed the Evangelicals represented.
Although their faith was chiefly the product of a forced union by the government in Prussia
, the Evangelicals by conviction wished to minimize the centuries-old points of contention between Lutheran and Reformed doctrine and practice. This attitude of moderation was enabled in large measure by the rise of pietism, which stressed a more emotional, less rationalistic approach to the teachings of the Bible
, thus disinclining scholars and pastors toward technicalities or polemics. Many Evangelical parishes were founded by pastors trained in interdenominational missionary societies such as the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission in Basel
, Switzerland in the early 19th century; they immigrated to the United States to assist settlers fleeing Prussian militarism.
Even to a greater degree than the Reformed, the Evangelicals became most noted among American Protestants for their establishment and staunch support of hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. Probably most similar in ethos (among English-speaking Protestant groups) to the Methodists, pastors emphasized pietist preaching and catechizing young people for the rite of confirmation, a rite still cherished highly to this day by congregations deriving from ESNA roots. Reflecting a later generation of immigration, the German language persisted for several generations in most congregations before such services were gradually phased out in the era between the World Wars, due in part to anti-German sentiment among some Americans. In 1919, they began missionary efforts in Honduras, establishing what is now called the Evangelical and Reformed Church of Honduras.
In terms of governance, the Evangelicals most resembled American Lutheranism of the time, with high regard for the pastor's authority, but essentially congregational in structure, with a lay council handling temporal matters such as property and benevolences.
, a co-president of the UCC. He and Hoskins held these positions until 1961, when the UCC constitution was ratified by the Evangelical and Reformed synods and the requisite percentage of CC congregations. About 40 percent of the members in the new denomination were members of the E&R Church.
in organization, although it allowed for a greater deal of local congregational decision-making than more typical Reformed bodies such as Presbyterianism
or the Reformed Church in America
did. The church organized into some 30 or so regional synods, culminating in a national General Synod that met annually.
The church used several creed
s: the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism
, Martin Luther's
catechisms, and the early Lutheran Augsburg Confession
; Evangelical and Reformed leaders allowed great latitude in interpretation. In the main, Evangelical and Reformed congregations emphasized piety and service rather than legalistic soteriology
or orthodox dogma
. Styles of worship ranged from revivalism (especially in Ohio and North Carolina) to a Lutheran-like liturgicism (the Mercersburg Movement found primarily in central Pennsylvania parishes). Generally speaking, the theological outlook of most ministers was largely accepting of liberal
trends in Protestant doctrine and higher biblical criticism
, although some pockets of conservative revivalistic pietism and confessionalist Calvinism could be found.
, Franklin and Marshall College, and Ursinus College
in Pennsylvania, Elmhurst College
in Illinois, Eden Theological Seminary
in Missouri, and Heidelberg College
in Ohio. An Evangelical and Reformed seminary, Mission House, previously located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, joined with the school of theology of South Dakota's Yankton College
(a Congregational Christian institution) to form the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
in the early 1960s. The seminary set up operations in New Brighton, Minnesota, outside St. Paul.
In 1946, in cooperation with three other denominations, it formed the United Andean Indian Mission
, an agency that sent missionaries to Ecuador
.
United States President Theodore Roosevelt
attended Washington D.C.'s Grace Reformed Church, an Evangelical and Reformed congregation. Roosevelt originally belonged to the Reformed Church in America
(RCA), a Dutch-American group. Since there were no RCA congregations in Washington, he chose Grace Reformed as perhaps the church most similar liturgically and theologically to Dutch Calvinism.
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) with the Evangelical Synod of North America
Evangelical Synod of North America
The Evangelical Synod of North America, before 1927 German Evangelical Synod of North America, in German Evangelische Synode von Nord-Amerika, was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States existing from the mid-19th century until its 1934 merger with the Reformed Church in the...
(ESNA). After the 1934 merger, a minority within the RCUS seceded in order to continue the name Reformed Church in the United States
Reformed Church in the United States
The Reformed Church in the United States is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. The present RCUS is a conservative, Calvinist denomination. It affirms the principles of the Reformation: Sola scriptura , Solo Christo , Sola gratia , Sola fide , and Soli Deo gloria...
. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the majority of the Congregational Christian Churches
Congregational Christian Churches
The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United Church of Christ. Others created the National...
(CC) to form the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
(UCC).
Origins
Both the Reformed Church and Evangelical Synod originated in the Protestant ReformationProtestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Almost all their churches in America were established by immigrants from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In 1934, both bodies united to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
Reformed Church in the United States
The Reformed Church in the United States, long known as the German Reformed Church, organized its first synodSynod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
in 1747 and adopted a constitution in 1793. Later, in the 1910s, a small group of immigrant Hungarian Reformed congregations joined the RCUS as a separate judicatory, the Magyar Synod.
The Reformed tradition
Reformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
centered in the state of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, particularly the eastern and central counties of that state, and extended westward toward Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and southward toward Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, and North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in the first generation of immigration. Early Reformed adherents settled alongside Lutheran, Schwarzenau Brethren
Schwarzenau Brethren
The Schwarzenau Brethren, originated in Germany, the outcome of the Radical Pietist ferment of the late 17th and early 18th century. Hopeful of the imminent return of Christ, the founding Brethren abandoned the established Reformed and Lutheran churches, forming a new church in 1708 when their...
/German Baptist
German Baptist
The German Baptists movement was founded as a fusion of the Anabaptist and Radical Pietist movements. German Baptists are not to be confused with Primitive, Separate, Southern, Particular, and all other mainline Baptist denominations who, although generally unified on rudimentary doctrines such as...
s, and sometimes Anabaptist
Anabaptist
Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....
/Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
neighbors. Some Reformed congregations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina formed union churches with Lutherans, sharing the same building but operating as separate entities, although they frequently shared Sunday School
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
s and occasionally ministers.
Up until the early 19th century, the Reformed churches ministered to German immigrants with a broadly Calvinist theology and plain liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
. However, revivals
Christian revival
Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches, either regionally or globally...
, inspired by Anglo-Saxon
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
Protestant churches during the Great Awakenings of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influenced the development of the Reformed churches, especially in frontier regions. Some of the more radical practitioners of revivalism and/or pietism
Pietism
Pietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
defected to Brethren
Church of the United Brethren in Christ
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Huntington, Indiana. It is a Protestant denomination of episcopal structure, Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communities of 18th century Pennsylvania, as well as close...
bodies; still others formed the Churches of God, General Conference
Churches of God General Conference (Winebrenner)
The Churches of God, General Conference is a Baptist Christian denomination in the United States originating in the revivalism and evangelistic efforts of John Winebrenner.-History:...
, a conservative
Conservative Christianity
Conservative Christianity is a term applied to a number of groups or movements seen as giving priority to traditional Christian beliefs and practices...
, doctrinally Arminian group.
A backlash set in, however, against revivals in the form of the Mercersburg Theology
Mercersburg Theology
Mercersburg Theology was a German-American theological movement that began in the mid-19th century. It draws its name from Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, home of Marshall College from 1836 until its merger with Franklin College in 1853, and also home to the seminary of the Reformed Church in the...
movement. Named for the Pennsylvania town
Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Mercersburg is a borough in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, southwest of Harrisburg. Originally called Black Town, it was incorporated in 1831. In 1900, 956 people lived here, and in 1910, 1,410 people lived here...
where the Reformed seminary was located in the mid-19th century, scholarly and ministerial advocates of this position sought to reclaim an older, European sense of the church as a holy society that understood itself as organically related to Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
. This implied a recovery of early Protestant liturgies and a renewed emphasis upon the rite of Holy Communion, somewhat akin to the Tractarian or Anglo-Catholic movement in Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
but within a Reformation vein. Some leaders, however, saw this platform as an attempt to impose heretical
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
practice and understandings in a Protestant setting. This group, centered in southeastern Pennsylvania in close proximity to a large Catholic population in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and thus motivated by Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism
Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
, objected strenuously to the Mercersburg reforms, going so far as to establish a separate seminary now known as Ursinus College
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a liberal arts college in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.-History:1867Members of the German Reformed Church begin plans to establish a college where "young men could be liberally educated under the benign influence of Christianity." These founders were hoping to...
. After temporarily causing the Ohio Synod to withdraw from the church, tensions mounted until compromises were worked out and parishes of either low
Low church
Low church is a term of distinction in the Church of England or other Anglican churches initially designed to be pejorative. During the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the established church in the 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups...
or high church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
persuasion were allowed to practice their preferences peacefully.
A later group, settling in the late 19th century, took root in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and spread westward across the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
region; this group spoke German for several generations after the Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
had thoroughly Americanized themselves, theologically as well as linguistically. These immigrants did not participate in the Mercersburg/Ursinus struggle; their theological persuasion was decidedly confessionalist
Confessionalism (religion)
Confessionalism, in a religious sense, is a belief in the importance of full and unambiguous assent to the whole of a religious teaching...
, holding to a fairly strict intrepretation of the Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism
The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine...
. So strong were the convictions of some that a few churches in that group, most of which were in South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, defected immediately prior to the 1934 merger, influenced by such strict confessionalism, a belief in biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy
Biblical inerrancy is the doctrinal position that the Bible is accurate and totally free of error, that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact." Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.Conservative Christians generally believe that...
, and a fear of losing their Reformed roots. That group retained the name Reformed Church in the United States
Reformed Church in the United States
The Reformed Church in the United States is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. The present RCUS is a conservative, Calvinist denomination. It affirms the principles of the Reformation: Sola scriptura , Solo Christo , Sola gratia , Sola fide , and Soli Deo gloria...
.
This schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
aside, by the time of the merger talks, the RCUS had mostly joined the American Protestant mainline, sending missionaries overseas and operating health and welfare institutions (i.e., hospitals, orphanages, nursing homes) throughout much of the United States. Further, the Reformed did some work among Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
in Wisconsin. The RCUS' constituency composed slightly over half of the membership of the new denomination in 1934.
Evangelical Synod of North America
The Evangelical Synod of North America (not to be confused with the Evangelical Church, now part of the Evangelical United Brethren ChurchEvangelical United Brethren Church
The Evangelical United Brethren Church was an American Protestant church which was formed in 1946 by the merger of the Evangelical Church with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ...
) was founded in 1840 at Gravois Settlement, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, by a union of Reformed and Lutheran Christians similar to the Prussia Union
Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)
The Prussian Union was the merger of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church in Prussia, by a series of decrees – among them the Unionsurkunde – by King Frederick William III...
in the early 19th century. In its early years it was known as the German Evangelical Church Association of the West.
As for the Evangelical tradition, its epicenter was (and is to this day, in the UCC) Saint Louis, Missouri, with a particularly heavy concentration of parishes within a 75-mile radius, in Missouri and Illinois. Elsewhere, Evangelicals tended to settle in large cities of the Midwest, such as Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Rural Evangelical strongholds included southwestern Indiana, southern Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
. In the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, the ESNA was found primarily in central Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and New Orleans. These concentrations of German settlement also witnessed a large influx of more confessionally-oriented Lutherans, who formed the current-day Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in opposition to the syncretism
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
they believed the Evangelicals represented.
Although their faith was chiefly the product of a forced union by the government in Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
, the Evangelicals by conviction wished to minimize the centuries-old points of contention between Lutheran and Reformed doctrine and practice. This attitude of moderation was enabled in large measure by the rise of pietism, which stressed a more emotional, less rationalistic approach to the teachings of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, thus disinclining scholars and pastors toward technicalities or polemics. Many Evangelical parishes were founded by pastors trained in interdenominational missionary societies such as the St. Chrischona Pilgrim Mission in Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland in the early 19th century; they immigrated to the United States to assist settlers fleeing Prussian militarism.
Even to a greater degree than the Reformed, the Evangelicals became most noted among American Protestants for their establishment and staunch support of hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. Probably most similar in ethos (among English-speaking Protestant groups) to the Methodists, pastors emphasized pietist preaching and catechizing young people for the rite of confirmation, a rite still cherished highly to this day by congregations deriving from ESNA roots. Reflecting a later generation of immigration, the German language persisted for several generations in most congregations before such services were gradually phased out in the era between the World Wars, due in part to anti-German sentiment among some Americans. In 1919, they began missionary efforts in Honduras, establishing what is now called the Evangelical and Reformed Church of Honduras.
In terms of governance, the Evangelicals most resembled American Lutheranism of the time, with high regard for the pastor's authority, but essentially congregational in structure, with a lay council handling temporal matters such as property and benevolences.
Merger with Congregational Christian Churches
In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined with the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches to form the UCC. The Rev. James Wagner was the last president of the denomination. Upon the union on June 25 of that year, he became, along with former Congregational Christian general minister Fred HoskinsFred Hoskins
Fred Hoskins was an American clergyman who served as first co-president of United Church of Christ with James Wagner from 1957 to 1961.-Life and career:...
, a co-president of the UCC. He and Hoskins held these positions until 1961, when the UCC constitution was ratified by the Evangelical and Reformed synods and the requisite percentage of CC congregations. About 40 percent of the members in the new denomination were members of the E&R Church.
Organization and theology
The Evangelical and Reformed Church was generally presbyterianPresbyterian polity
Presbyterian polity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply...
in organization, although it allowed for a greater deal of local congregational decision-making than more typical Reformed bodies such as Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
or the Reformed Church in America
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 170,000 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819, it...
did. The church organized into some 30 or so regional synods, culminating in a national General Synod that met annually.
The church used several creed
Creed
A creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...
s: the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism
The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine...
, Martin Luther's
Luther's Small Catechism
Luther's Small Catechism was written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews The Ten Commandments, The Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, The Office of the Keys & Confession, and The Sacrament of the...
catechisms, and the early Lutheran Augsburg Confession
Augsburg Confession
The Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
; Evangelical and Reformed leaders allowed great latitude in interpretation. In the main, Evangelical and Reformed congregations emphasized piety and service rather than legalistic soteriology
Soteriology
The branch of Christian theology that deals with salvation and redemption is called Soteriology. It is derived from the Greek sōtērion + English -logy....
or orthodox dogma
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...
. Styles of worship ranged from revivalism (especially in Ohio and North Carolina) to a Lutheran-like liturgicism (the Mercersburg Movement found primarily in central Pennsylvania parishes). Generally speaking, the theological outlook of most ministers was largely accepting of liberal
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
trends in Protestant doctrine and higher biblical criticism
Biblical criticism
Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...
, although some pockets of conservative revivalistic pietism and confessionalist Calvinism could be found.
Educational institutions
As with most Protestant denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed church maintained educational institutions and foreign missions. Affiliated educational institutions included the Lancaster Theological SeminaryLancaster Theological Seminary
Lancaster Theological Seminary, a seminary of the United Church of Christ in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1825 by members of the German Reformed Church in the United States to provide theological education for prospective clergy and other church leaders...
, Franklin and Marshall College, and Ursinus College
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a liberal arts college in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.-History:1867Members of the German Reformed Church begin plans to establish a college where "young men could be liberally educated under the benign influence of Christianity." These founders were hoping to...
in Pennsylvania, Elmhurst College
Elmhurst College
Elmhurst College is a comprehensive private liberal arts college in Elmhurst, Illinois with a tradition of service-oriented learning. It has a rich affiliation with the United Church of Christ.- History :...
in Illinois, Eden Theological Seminary
Eden Theological Seminary
Eden Theological Seminary is a seminary of the United Church of Christ in Webster Groves, Missouri, near St. Louis, Missouri.The seminary was established in 1850 by German pastors in what was then the American frontier. The pastors soon formed the German Evangelical Synod of North America. This,...
in Missouri, and Heidelberg College
Heidelberg College
Heidelberg University is a private liberal arts college located in the city of Tiffin, Ohio in the U.S. state of Ohio. Founded in 1850, it was known as Heidelberg College until 1889 and from 1926 to 2009.- History :...
in Ohio. An Evangelical and Reformed seminary, Mission House, previously located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, joined with the school of theology of South Dakota's Yankton College
Yankton College
Yankton College was a small liberal arts college in Yankton, South Dakota, affiliated with the Congregational Christian Churches .Founded in 1881, it was the first institution of higher learning in the Dakota Territory...
(a Congregational Christian institution) to form the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is an ecumenical graduate school of the United Church of Christ located in New Brighton, MN. The school was formed in 1960 with the merger of Mission House Seminary of Plymouth, Wisconsin, and Yankton School of Theology in Yankton, South Dakota.Like...
in the early 1960s. The seminary set up operations in New Brighton, Minnesota, outside St. Paul.
In 1946, in cooperation with three other denominations, it formed the United Andean Indian Mission
United Andean Indian Mission
The United Andean Indian Mission , was an ecumenical and interdenominational Protestant mission, formed in the United States of America in 1946 with the purpose of working among the indigenous peoples in Ecuador, South America...
, an agency that sent missionaries to Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
.
Famous members
The list includes members of United Church of Christ congregations of Evangelical and Reformed heritage.- Donald Bloesch
- Walter BrueggemannWalter BrueggemannWalter Brueggemann is an American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian.-Life:The son of a minister of the German Evangelical Synod of North America, he was ordained in the United Church of Christ. Brueggemann received an A.B. from Elmhurst College , a B.D. from Eden Theological...
- Leon JaworskiLeon JaworskiLeonidas "Leon" Jaworski was the second Special Prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal...
- John Williamson NevinJohn Williamson NevinJohn Williamson Nevin , American theologian and educationalist, was born on Herron's Branch, near Shippensburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
- Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold NiebuhrKarl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
- Richard Niebuhr
- Philip SchaffPhilip SchaffPhilip Schaff , was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and a historian of the Christian church, who, after his education, lived and taught in the United States.-Biography:...
- Richard SchweikerRichard SchweikerRichard Schultz Schweiker is a former U.S. Congressman and Senator representing the state of Pennsylvania. He later was Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan.-Early life:...
- Bud ShusterBud ShusterElmer Greinert "Bud" Shuster is an American politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from 1973 to 2001. He is best known for his advocacy of transportation projects that critics deride as "pork barrel" spending.-Career:Shuster was born...
- Paul TillichPaul TillichPaul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
- Friedrich Wilhelm von SteubenFriedrich Wilhelm von SteubenFriedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben , also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as inspector general and Major General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
- John WinebrennerJohn WinebrennerJohn Winebrenner , founded the Churches of God General Conference.He studied at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and was ordained in the German Reformed Church in 1820...
United States President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
attended Washington D.C.'s Grace Reformed Church, an Evangelical and Reformed congregation. Roosevelt originally belonged to the Reformed Church in America
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 170,000 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819, it...
(RCA), a Dutch-American group. Since there were no RCA congregations in Washington, he chose Grace Reformed as perhaps the church most similar liturgically and theologically to Dutch Calvinism.
Further reading
- A History of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, David Dunn, et al.; Lowell H. Zuck, foreword. New York: Pilgrim Press, 1990.
- The Shaping of the United Church of Christ: An Essay in the History of American Christianity, Louis H. Gunnemann; Charles Shelby Rooks, ed. Cleveland: United Church Press, 1999.