Pastor Zip's Reformed Web Links

Pastor Zip's Christian Links | Pastor Zip's Lutheran Links | Christian Reconstruction

The Evangelical Lutheran Church does not claim to be the "one true" Christian church, so we relate to other Christians and seek to overcome our divisions.
The Lutheran-Reformed relationship has often been difficult. Lutherans and Calvinists debated theology so fiercely in the 16th Century that each side condemned teachings of the other. In the mid-19th Century there was a large immigration of Lutherans from Germany -- people persecuted for their opposition to the King's "Prussian Union" of Lutherans and Reformed into a single Evangelical (Protestant) Church. Their theological descendants in the US are Lutherans of the Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, and the mid-west "German" branches of the ELCA.

Today Lutheran and Reformed Churches are in full communion in Germany and other parts of Europe. Here in the United States, the ELCA and the 3 Reformed church bodies below voted in 1997 to establish full communion. So, it seems that -- 150 years later -- the King of Prussia has nearly succeeded.




Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The largest of the American Presbyterian church bodies.
United Church of Christ
A church of very diverse heritage -- from the New England Pilgrims (Congregationalists) to German Evangelicals (steeped in Luther) -- and practice. The most "liberal" of the USA's "mainline protestant" churches.
Reformed Church in America
A smaller Reformed Church in the USA, mainly of Dutch heritage.

The Formula of Agreement
Approved the Summer of 1997, this "agreement" established full communion between the 3 Reformed churches above and the ELCA.
The Leuenberg Agreement
Reformation Churches of Europe, mainly Lutheran and Reformed, declared fellowship with each other based on this common "understanding of the Gospel" in 1973, forming the Leuenberg Church Fellowship. The Fellowship now also includes Methodist and South American churches. This was a model for the Lutheran-Reformed "Formula of Agreement" in the United States.

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Christian Reconstruction
A movement that comes out of old-time conservative Presbyterianism. Strongly Calvinistic, Christian Reconstructionists take seriously God's command to have dominion over the earth. In a sense they are the theological descendants of the Puritans who came to New England. Prolific writers of books, pamphlets, and articles, they seek to bring all of life under the dominion of Christ's lordship.
You will see their influence within the "Christian Right" of American politics -- though most of those politically-active conservative Christians know nothing about Christian Reconstruction. It's a fascinating movement -- one I've been following for over 20 years -- that offers a powerful critique of the failures of modern Western civilization. Alas, as Calvinists they misunderstand the purposes of God's law and are confused by that "progressive sanctification" nonsense.

The Chalcedon Foundation
Chalcedon was founded by the late Dr. R. J. Rushdoony, the patriarch of the movement.
Institute for Christian Economics
Dr. Gary North has written an economic commentary on (so far) 8 books of the the Bible. He also gives a whole new meaning to "prolific author." Just about everything he has written is now available here for free, as is just about everything ever published by ICE.

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The Rev. Steven Paul Tibbetts, STS
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church
1534 S. Easton Avenue
Peoria, IL 61605-3407
(309) 637-9150

Copyright © 1996-2009 Steven P. Tibbetts. All rights reserved.
Pastor Zip's Christian Web Links Created -- 2 December 1996
Pastor Zip's Reformed Web Links branched -- 11 October 2004
Last Revised -- 9 July 2009
URL: http://www.pastorzip.org/reformedlinx.html