Three Dutch denominations—the nation's largest two Reformed churches and one Lutheran church—will merge May 1 to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands

Christian Century, Jan 13, 2004

* Three Dutch denominations--the nation's largest two Reformed churches and one Lutheran church--will merge May 1 to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. Its 2.5 million members will make it the second largest church after the 5-million-strong Catholic Church. After 40 years of negotiations, the churches" three synods meeting in Utrecht approved the union December 12, though only with a slim two-thirds majority by the Netherlands Reformed Church.

While the Evangelical Lutheran Church has only 15,000 members, an ecumenical official of the Lutheran "World Federation said the decision had far-reaching significance for Reformed-Lutheran relations.