Heritage Reformed Congregations

The Heritage Reformed Congregations (HRC) is a Reformed denomination in the United States and Canada influenced by the tradition of English Puritanism and the Dutch Nadere Reformatie.

History
The Heritage Reformed Congregations denomination was established in 1993, when the synod of the Netherlands Reformed Congregations deposed the consistory of the First Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids. The background was, that Beeke had been divorced from his first wife in 1988 and remarried one year later; that leads to the question if he was able to hold offices in the church, which a majority of the synod possibly denied. A letter of the dutch sister church - the Gereformeerde Gemeenten – stated: „Our representatives, who visited your December-meeting, informed us that the discussions during your meeting appeared to have come to a deadlock. In light of that situation they raised a proposal to take a vote to see whether the Synod still had confidence in Rev. J.R. Beeke. They told us that they came to this proposal because they really did not know what could be done in this situation and that they hoped that their proposal might open a way out of an impossible situation.“ However, 780 of the one thousand members of the church could not accept the deposition of their pastor, elders, and deacons.

The consistory felt compelled to form a new denomination named the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation (renamed the Heritage Reformed Congregations in 2003), while Joel R. Beeke continued ministering to the church. Eight other churches soon joined the Grand Rapids congregation to form a new denomination, bringing the denominational membership to about two thousand.

In 1995, the denomination founded Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. Later, the seminary was supported by the Free Reformed Churches of North America.

Starting in the 2010s, the denomination began a dialogue with the Free Reformed Churches of North America about a possible denominational merger. In 2017, the two denominations held simultaneous synods to discuss the proposed merger.

Doctrine
The churches of the Heritage Reformed Congregations subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity (the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession of Faith, and the Canons of Dort) and the Westminster Standards (the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism). The denomination affirms the authority, inspiration, and inerrancy of the Bible and promotes Reformed experiential preaching.

Interdenominational relations
The denomination is a member of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council and the International Conference of Reformed Churches.

Ministries
The denomination has five publishing ministries:


 * The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth (the denominational periodical)
 * The Banner of Truth Tract Mission (the denominational tract ministry)
 * Glad Tidings (the denominational missions periodical)
 * The Gospel Trumpet (the denominational sermon periodical)
 * Inheritance Publishers (a ministry that republishes sermons in the Reformed tradition from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries)

Congregations
The Heritage Reformed Congregations consist of ten congregations.

Schools
The churches of the Heritage Reformed Congregations run three schools.
 * Grace Christian Academy, Grand Rapids, Michigan
 * Jordan Christian School, Jordan Station, Ontario
 * Oxford Reformed Christian School, Mount Elgin, Ontario