Protestant Church in the Netherlands
Type	United church
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Continental Reformed with a smallLutheran minority
Scripture	Protestant Bible
Theology	Reformed Lutheran
Polity	Mixture ofpresbyterian andcongregationalist
Associations	Conference of European Churches World Communion of Reformed Churches Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe Lutheran World Federation World Council of Churches
Origin	1 May 2004 Netherlands
Merger of	Dutch Reformed Church Reformed Churches in the Netherlands Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Separations	Restored Reformed Church Continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (newly organized denominations; refused to participate in the merger)
Congregations	1,487
Members	1.4 million (7.9% of the population)[1]
Official website	www.protestantsekerk.nl

TheProtestant Church in the Netherlands (Dutch:de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviatedPKN) is the largestProtestantdenomination in theNetherlands, consisting of historicalCalvinist andLutheran churches.

It was founded on 1 May 2004 as themerger of the vast majority of theDutch Reformed Church^[2], the vast majority of theReformed Churches in the Netherlands, and theEvangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.^[3][4] 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 largestChristian denomination after theCatholic Church, with approximately 1.4 million members as per the church official statistics or some 7.9% of the population in 2023.^[1] It is the traditional faith of theDutch Royal Family – a remnant of historical dominance of theDutch Reformed Church, the main predecessor of the Protestant Church.

The doctrine of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands is expressed in itscreeds. In addition to holding theApostles', theNicene, and theAthanasian creeds of theuniversal Church, it also holds to the confessions of its predecessor bodies. From the Lutheran tradition are the unalteredAugsburg Confession andLuther's Catechism, and from the Calvinist tradition are theHeidelberg andGenevan Catechisms along with theBelgic Confession with theCanons of Dordt. The Church also acknowledges theTheological Declaration of Barmen and theLeuenberg Agreement.^[5]Ordination of women andblessings of same-sex marriages are allowed.^[6]

The PKN contains both liberal and conservative movements, although the liberalRemonstrants left talks when they could not agree with the unaltered adoption of the Canons of Dordt. Local congregations have far-reaching powers concerning "controversial" matters (such as admittance toholy communion or whether women are admitted as members of the congregation'sconsistory).

The polity of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands is a hybrid ofpresbyterian andcongregationalist church governance. Church governance is organised along local, regional, and national lines. At the local level is the congregation. An individual congregation is led by a church council made of the minister along withelders anddeacons elected by the congregation. At the regional level were 75 classical assemblies whose members are chosen by the church councils. As of May 1, 2018, these 75 classical assemblies are reorganized into 11 larger ones. At the national level is the GeneralSynod which directs areas of common interest, such as theological education, ministry training and ecumenical cooperation.^[7]

The PKN has four different types of congregations:

1. Protestant congregations: local congregations from different church bodies that have merged
2. Dutch Reformed congregations
3. Reformed congregations (congregations of the former Reformed Churches in the Netherlands)
4. Lutheran congregations (congregations of the former Evangelical-Lutheran Church)

Lutherans are a minority (about 1 percent) of the PKN's membership. To ensure that Lutherans are represented in the church, the Lutheran congregations have their own synod. The Lutheran Synod also has representatives in the General Synod.^[7] Since June 2024Trijnie Bouw has been the president of the synod of Protestant Church in the Netherlands^[8]

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands issues yearly reports regarding its membership and finances.^[9]

Its make-up by former affiliation of its congregations was as follows in 2017:

Trend shows that since 2011 identification with former denominations has been falling in favor of simply identifying as "Protestant".

Secularization, or the decline in religiosity, first became noticeable after 1960 in the Protestant rural areas ofFriesland andGroningen. Then, it spread toAmsterdam,Rotterdam, and the other large cities in the west. Finally, the southern Catholic areas showed religious declines. Research in 2007 concluded that 42% of the members of the PKN werenon-theists.^[10] Furthermore, in the PKN and several other smaller denominations of the Netherlands, one in six clergy were either agnostic or atheist.^[11][12] A Dutch minister of the PKN,Klaas Hendrikse once described God as "a word for experience, for human experience" and said thatJesus may have never existed.^[11][13]

A countervailing trend is produced by a religious revival in the DutchBible Belt.^[14][15]

Only those congregations belonging to the former Reformed Churches in the Netherlands have the legal right to secede from the PKN without losing its property and church during a transition period of 10 years. Seven congregations have so far decided to form theContinued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.^[3] Two congregations have joined one of the other smaller Calvinist churches in the Netherlands. Some minorities within congregations that joined the PKN decided to leave the church and associated themselves individually with one of the other Reformed churches.

Some congregations and members in the Dutch Reformed Church did not agree with the merger and have separated. They have organized themselves in theRestored Reformed Church. Estimations of their membership vary from 35,000 up to 70,000 people in about 120 local congregations.^[16] They disagree with the pluralism of the merged church which maintains, as they see it, contradicting Calvinist and Lutheran confessions. This group also considers same-sex marriages and female clergy unbiblical.

Chart of splits and mergers of the Dutch Reformed churches

In a meeting of eightJewish and eight Protestant Dutch leaders inIsrael in May 2011, a statement of cooperation was issued, indicating, for the most part, that the Protestant Church recognizes the issues involved with thePalestinian Christians and that this is sometimes at odds with support for theState of Israel, but standing up for the rights of thePalestinians does not detract from the emphasis on the safety of the State of Israel and vice versa.^[17]

• Bible Belt (Netherlands)
• History of religion in the Netherlands
• United and uniting churches
• Religion in the Netherlands
• Reformed Association in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands
• Catholic Church in the Netherlands

• Official website (in Dutch)

• Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands
• Reformed Christianity in the Netherlands
• Christian denominations in the Netherlands
• Dutch Reformed Church
• Lutheran World Federation members
• Lutheranism in the Netherlands
• Protestant denominations established in the 21st century
• Reformed denominations in the Netherlands
• National churches
• United and uniting churches
• Christian organizations established in 2004
• 2004 establishments in the Netherlands

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