REFORMED ECUMENICAL COUNCIL

The Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) is an international association of 39 conservative Reformed and Presbyterian church bodies from 25 countries, the most prominent being the Christian Reformed Church in North America. It has a combined membership of 10 million. The REC was founded in 1946 as the Reformed Ecumenical Synod, assuming its present name in 1988.

Member churches wish to present a united front in witnessing to their Reformed faith. They may express that consensus with any of the classic Reformed confessions. Confessional integrity is seen as essential, as it gives member churches a point of unity amid the diversity of their cultures.

The REC meets in assembly every four years. The assembly designates an executive committee with a permanent secretariat based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Programs cover four major areas: human relations, mission and diakonia, theological education, and youth and Christian nurture.

See alsoEcumenical movement.

■ Jean-Jacques Bauswein and Lukas Vischer, eds.,The Reformed Family Worldwide: A Survey of Reformed Churches, Theological Schools, and International Organizations(Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1999)

■Handbook(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Reformed Ecumenical Council, 1997).