The Protestant Church in the Netherlands - a united Church

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands is the result of a merger of the Netherlands Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as from 1 May 2004.
For more historical information about the process, see under the heading 'A history of unification'.

In December 2003, the decision to unite was taken. The three former synods accepted a new church order for the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.  All former congregations of the three separate churches belong to the new church. Everyone who is a member of one of these congregations is automatically also a member of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The new church has about 2,5 million members.
The Netherlands Reformed Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church emerged from the Reformation in the Netherlands in the 16th century and since then have existed side by side with each other. The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands were created in 1892 by the merger of two groups of congregations which came into being as a result of schisms in the Netherlands Reformed Church: the Secession in 1834 and the so-called 'Doleantie' in 1886.
The Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands have grown closer together, especially since the Second World War. In 1961 nine ministers of each church gave further impetus to a 'Together On the Way' process, by jointly publishing the declaration of ‘The Eighteen’. Since then the synods of both churches have sought rapprochement step by step. In 1986 they announced that they were ‘in a process of reunification’. From that year the Evangelical Lutheran Church was also involved in the process of unification.