Protestant Church in the Netherlands
| Protestant Church in the Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| Type | United church |
| Classification | Christian |
| Orientation | Protestant |
| Scripture | Christian Bible |
| Theology | Calvinism Lutheranism |
| Polity | Mixture of presbyterian and congregationalist |
| Associations | |
| Origin | 1 May 2004 Netherlands |
| Merger of | |
| Separations | (newly organized denominations; refused to participate in the merger) |
| Congregations | 1,487 |
| Members | 1.4 million (7.9% of the population) |
| Official website | www |
The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (Dutch: de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, consisting of historical Calvinist and Lutheran churches.
It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the vast majority of the Dutch Reformed Church, the vast majority of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The merger was the culmination of an organizational process started in 1961. Several orthodox Reformed and liberal churches did not merge into the new church.
The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) forms the country's second largest Christian denomination after the Catholic Church, with approximately 1.4 million members as per the church official statistics or some 7.9% of the population in 2023. It is the traditional faith of the Dutch Royal Family – a remnant of historical dominance of the Dutch Reformed Church, the main predecessor of the Protestant Church.