ABOUT US
We are 100 million Christians from 230+ member churches in 109 countries across the globe.
A Global Communion
- Fostering theological innovation and strengthening common understandings
- Promoting partnership of women and men in church leadership
- Bolstering the voices of churches on critical issues locally and globally
- Enhancing the witness and outreach of member churches
- Actively participating with ecumenical partners
With roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin, the World Communion of Reformed Churches dates its organizational history to 1875 — and has been unifying churches over the course of its existence.
Called to Communion. Committed to Justice.
Through robust engagement with the Word of God and the call of the Holy Spirit, our vision is a world where there is full and just participation for all people.
We work to renew and restore the economy and the earth, so that all humanity and the whole of creation might live life in its fullness (Deuteronomy 30:19; John 10:10).
As it strives to fulfil its vision, the World Communion of Reformed Churches works through following five areas.
Cultivating a Just Communion
This koinonia comes into being as a communion by the openness that allows the Holy Spirit to transform the individual, the community of believers, and the world as a whole. This communion emerges from the contributions of all people of faith and therefore seeks to include persons and perspectives from the Communion’s rich diversity in every aspect of work together. Learn more >>
Covenanting for Justice
The Accra Confession named “empire” as that overarching system under which we live and which as a church are called to resist. This means that the WCRC is focused on economic, ecological, and gender justice, along with forming communities of full and just participation that are resilient against and are able to resist violence, racism, nationalism, authoritarianism, and militarism. Learn more >>
Engaging God’s Mission in a Context of Crisis
God’s mission transforms the church into a missional communion that commits itself to God’s work of renewal and transformation in collaboration with all people of good will, especially endeavouring to do mission from the margins in contexts of crisis and struggle. Learn more >>
Doing Theology for Transformation
Engaging with the unfinished agenda of the Reformation, the WCRC does theology contextually, beginning with discerning processes in which we see the world through the eyes of the powerless and suffering. In their cries we hear the pain of the crucified God. This engagement leads to confessing the faith in language that addresses the present reality. Learn more >>
Working with All the Partners God Provides
The WCRC believes “to be Reformed is to be ecumenical.” Reformed theology sees that God is at work also in other Christian traditions and understands that the unity of the church to which the Apostolic Creed testifies is already there. God gives unity as a gift and invites the church to receive this by reforming itself and its relationships to Christians of other traditions. Learn more >>
Governance
Representatives—men and women, lay and clergy—come from member churches to meet in a General Council every seven years. Gathered together they discern God’s will through Scripture to decide the WCRC’s direction.
The Council also elects leadership to oversee its policies and work. These officers and executive committee members elect the general secretary.