From: Darrell128@aol.com Date: Sun, 6 Oct 1996 04:18:13 -0400 (EDT) NR #1996-105: For Immediate Release Membership Totals for Dutch Reformed Denominations in North America and the Netherlands Editors Note: The following is a complete list of the membership totals for all denominations of Dutch Reformed heritage in North America, based on the most recent official denominational yearbooks or information from denominational officials. The number reported corresponds to the "inclusive membership" figure reported to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches but will often be more recent, and in all cases except that of the RCA is a total of professing and baptized members. RCA totals include 43,634 inactive members, a category included by no other denomination on this list, and this total should therefore be subtracted for comparison purposes. Membership totals for the United Reformed Churches in North America and the independent Reformed churches are produced by comparing the 1996 Alliance of Reformed Churches directory with the synodical reports of the URC synod constituting membership, corrected in three cases to include secessions from the CRC not reflected in the ARC yearbook. These three secessions total 397 members, and while 277 of these members are also counted as members in the 1996 CRC yearbook, this represents a statistically insignificant dual report in the CRC numbers. Reformed Church in America (RCA): 316,126 Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA): 291,796 Canadian Reformed Churches (CanRC): 14,407 Netherlands Reformed Congregations (NRC): 8828 United Reformed Churches in North America (URC): 8343 Protestant Reformed Churches in North America (PRC): 6300 Independent Reformed Churches (IRC): 4804 Free Reformed Churches in North America (FRC): 3500 Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations (HRNC): 1525 Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches (OCRC): 1100 Reformed Congregations in North America (RCNA): unavailable, less than 1000 Equivalent denominations in the Netherlands with customary English translations: Total Dutch population: 17 million RCA: Nederlands Hervormd Kerk NHK: Netherlands Reformed Church Total membership: 2,314,629 CRC: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland GKN or GKN-s: Reformed Churches in the Netherlands or RCN - synodical Total membership: 740,468 CanRC: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland - Vrijiermaakt GKN-v: Liberated Reformed Churches Total membership: 121,000 NRC: Gereformeerde Gemeenten GG: Reformed Congregations Total membership: 94,931 FRC: Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland CGKN: Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands Total membership: 75,200 RCNA: Gereformeerde Gemeenten in Nederland GGN: Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands Total membership: 20,000 URC: no Netherlands equivalent PRC: no Netherlands equivalent IRC: no Netherlands equivalent HRNC: no Netherlands equivalent OCRC: no Netherlands equivalent Denominations in the Netherlands with no American equivalent * Nederlands Gereformeerde Kerken NGK: Netherlands Reformed Churches Membership statistics unavailable * Oud Gereformeerde Gemeenten OGG: Old Reformed Congregations Membership statistics unavailable [Dutch denominational statistics are generally from official denominational yearbooks and provided courtesy of Windmill Herald] ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr96-105.txt .