| Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches | |
| Abbreviation: | CREC |
| Main Classification: | Protestant |
| Orientation: | Reformed |
| Theology: | Evangelical |
| Polity: | Presbyterian |
| Leader Title: | Presiding minister |
| Leader Name: | Uri Brito |
| Congregations: | 140[1] |
| Other Names: | Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches |
The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), formerly the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches,[2] was founded in 1998 as a body of churches that hold to Reformed theology.[3] Member churches include those from Presbyterian, Reformed, and Reformed Baptist backgrounds. The CREC has over a hundred member churches in the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Poland, Brazil, Jersey, and the Czech Republic.[4] These are organised into nine presbyteries, named after figures in church history: Anselm, Athanasius, Augustine, Bucer, Hus, Knox, Kuyper, Tyndale, and Wycliffe.
The denomination began in 1998 as the Confederation of Reformed Evangelicals (CRE).[5] The founding churches were Community Evangelical Fellowship in Moscow, Idaho; Eastside Evangelical Fellowship (Trinity Church) in Bellevue, Washington; and Wenatchee Evangelical Fellowship in Wenatchee, Washington. Its co-founders include Douglas Wilson.[6]
The name was changed to the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches in 2004,[7] and then, in 2011, to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.[8]
The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches holds to Reformed theology as set forth in the Westminster Standards, Three Forms of Unity, and 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. On some doctrines, such as the Federal Vision, paedocommunion, and paedobaptism, the CREC allows each church to determine its own position. The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches requires that all member churches adopt a statement of faith including the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Definition of Chalcedon, and at least one of the following historic confessions:[9]
The CREC rejects both modernism and fundamentalism.[11] It has published a number of "memorials", which among other things affirm Young Earth creationism, deprecate government schooling, and reject women serving in the military.[12] While non-partisan, CREC churches are "uniformly hostile to the leftist agenda".
Churches in CREC generally practise covenant renewal worship.[13]