What Are the Main Presbyterian & Reformed Denominations?

You’ve been studying your Bible. Perhaps you’ve listened to popular Calvinist teachers and preachers. You’ve become convinced that a Calvinistic soteriology, sometimes called “the doctrines of grace,” faithfully expresses what Scripture teaches. God elects from all eternity and gives faith by his Holy Spirit, enabling us to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now what? Where can you find like-minded believers who understand the gospel in the same way?

While I can’t possibly list every Reformed or Presbyterian denomination, in what follows I provide a representative sample of some of the most prominent.

The origins of Reformed denominations

Distinctives in doctrine and practice lead to denominationalism. Protestant denominations can trace their origin to the Reformation, when Luther broke with the Roman Catholic Church. Other Reformers followed suit. Sometimes denominations stem from geographic separation, and sometimes they stem from irreconcilable doctrinal disagreements.

Reformed denominations are largely divided into two groups: Presbyterian and Continental. These two groups are doctrinally in much agreement, and many people may comfortably move between them without changing their basic system of faith and doctrine. Many of these churches are in fellowship with each other through organizations like the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC).

Both groups generally hold to a Calvinistic soteriology and some form of covenant theology. Their sacramental theology is broadly Calvinistic as well, which entails infant baptism and a belief in the real spiritual presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper, as opposed to views of physical presence (e.g., transubstantiation) or a mere symbolic memorial view. The more conservative denominations listed below strongly affirm the authority and priority of Scripture, following the Reformational principle of sola scriptura—the authority of Scripture over all human creeds, councils, and confessions.

Presbyterian denominations

Presbyterians trace their roots back to the English Reformation and the Scottish form of church polity. Presbyterians hold to the Westminster Standards, which were formulated by a church assembly at Westminster during the English Civil War in the 1640s.

The Presbyterian church is governed by a gathering of ministers called a presbytery (from the biblical presbyteros, “elder“). If the region is large (for instance, spanning a whole continent), the denomination may be divided into multiple presbyteries that meet regularly as a General Assembly to conduct church business.

Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)

The older “mainline” denomination from the Presbyterian tradition is the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). Controversy erupted in the PCUSA in 1909 when the denomination licensed three candidates who did not affirm the virgin birth of Jesus.¹ An ensuing decades-long battle in the PCUSA drove many conservatives (including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1923) to leave the denomination.

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC)

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC) has direct roots in Scottish and Irish Presbyterian churches, who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the mid-1700s. The ARPC has 250 congregations in North America and had 25,975 members as of December 2024.² Their worship style is generally traditional, using both psalms and hymns.

Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC)

The OPC was founded in 1936 when J. Gresham Machen broke with Princeton Theological Seminary over controversy regarding theological liberalism. The OPC has remained a bastion of Presbyterian conservatism ever since. As of December 2024, it includes 300 congregations and 32,965 members.³ The OPC’s worship is generally traditional with hymns and psalms, though some diversity in style from congregation to congregation exists.

Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)

Founded in 1973, like the OPC, the PCA separated from the mainline Presbyterian churches because of the issue of theological liberalism. In 2024, they had 1,667 congregations and 400,751 communicant and non-communicant members.⁴ The worship style in PCA churches is diverse, with some following a more traditional worship, but also many contemporary worship services.

Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA)

The RPCNA descends directly from the Scottish Covenanters in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Its first presbytery was formed in 1774.⁵ RPCNA worship is very traditionally Reformed, characterized by exclusive psalmody (the use of only psalms for congregational singing) with no musical instruments for accompaniment. As of 2021, the RPCNA had approximately 100 congregations and 7,000 members.⁶

Continental Reformed denominations

Continental Reformed denominations stem from church bodies on the European continent, and most of them are in the stream of the Dutch Reformed tradition. The Dutch Reformed churches hold to the Three Forms of Unity as their confessional standards. These three standards are the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession of Faith, and the Canons of Dordt.

Continental Reformed polity is similar in many ways to the Presbyterian polity, with somewhat different terminology (e.g., a “presbytery” is roughly equivalent to the Reformed “classis,” and a Presbyterian “General Assembly” is equivalent to a Continental “Synod”) and slight differences in procedure.⁷

Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA)

The CRCNA was founded in 1857 by Dutch immigrants in America, many of whom had fled religious persecution in Europe.

Over the course of its existence, the denomination has undergone a great deal of change and controversy in its outlook on social issues, and these battles rage on even today. Because of theological shifts in the CRCNA, including the approval of women’s ordination, NAPARC suspended and eventually terminated CRCNA’s membership. Since then, struggle in the CRCNA between confessionalism and more liberalizing tendencies continues.⁸

The CRCNA is the largest Continental Reformed denomination, with 981 congregations and 183,710 members. Worship in CRCNA congregations follows traditional forms, though these tend to find expression in diverse contemporary styles of music and liturgy.

Reformed Church in America (RCA)

The RCA is the oldest Dutch Reformed church body in North America. Formerly called the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, the RCA changed its name to the Reformed Church in America in 1867. As of 2025, the RCA had 553 congregations and 74,762 members. RCA worship services are traditional, with psalms and hymnody, along with other historic elements in their liturgy.

United Reformed Churches of North America (URCNA)

The URCNA was formed in 1996 by congregations and ministers who had largely broken with the CRCNA over the theological shifts in that denomination. Issues included inspiration and authority of the Scripture, ordination of women, and evolution. URCNA worship is traditional, with psalms and hymnody.

Theologically adjacent denominations

Reformed Baptists

Reformed Baptists hold to the 1689 Baptist Confession. They are Calvinistic in their soteriology, but hold strictly to credobaptism, the baptism only of those who actively make a confession of faith. There is no official Reformed Baptist denomination, and congregations are autonomously governed, though some may associate with one another informally, or may be members of an organization like the Reformed Baptist Network.

Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)

The ACNA has its roots in the English Reformation and the Anglican Church, and a number of their ministers hold to broadly Reformed doctrine. Their doctrinal standard is the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, and its polity is episcopal (rule by bishops). Their worship is guided by the liturgical tradition found in the Book of Common Prayer, but the style of worship within that tradition is diverse. As of 2024, the ACNA had 1,027 congregations and 130,111 members.⁹

Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC)

The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches was founded in 1998. They have a broad vision for Reformed ecumenism, and may therefore receive congregations that hold to any of several Reformed doctrinal standards, including the Westminster Standards, the Three Forms of Unity, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the 1689 Baptist Confession. Their polity is somewhat presbyterian, but pastors are members of their own congregations rather than of a presbytery. As of October 2025, there were 125 congregations and about 15,600 members in the CREC.¹⁰ CREC worship tends to be traditional in character. The CREC is one of the few Reformed or Presbyterian denominations in which most congregations teach or allow for paedocommunion (i.e., they admit all baptized persons, including children, to the Lord’s Supper).

A Reformed catholic faith

In the Nicene Creed, to which all Reformed and Presbyterian churches hold, we recognize and confess the church “catholic.” This refers not to the Roman Catholic Church, but to the wholeness of Christ’s body throughout the world. In confessing this, we say that we are all members of one body with others who confess and worship the triune God, although separated by oceans or even important theological differences.

Jesus prayed that the church would be one (John 17:11), and God the Father will grant the request of Jesus Christ his Son. Jesus continues to purify his church. So we look for a day when denominations are no longer needed and the church is united visibly, even as it is united spiritually in Christ through the Holy Spirit while we, at present, choose congregations and denominations in which to worship.

Resources on Presbyterian and Reformed denominations

Related content

• What Is Presbyterianism? Its History, Theology & Practices
• What Is Reformed Theology? Its Roots, Core Beliefs & Key Leaders
• 25 Reformed Theology Books Everyone Should Know
• Reformed Bible Study: Its History & How to Do It
• What Is Calvinism—& What Is It Not? A Simple Explanation

1. “The Presbyterian Beginnings of Fundamentalism,” Presbyterian Historical Society (blog), April 13, 2015, https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/blogs/historical-society-blog/beginnings-fundamentalism.
2. Minutes of the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (2025).
3. Minutes of the Ninety-First General Assembly (2025).
4. Presbyterian Church in America Statistics Five Year Summary.
5. W. Melancthon Glasgow, History of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in America (Baltimore: Hill & Harvey, 1888), 64.
6. John D. Edgar, “Introducing the RPCNA,” Reformed Herald 80, no. 3 (May/June 2024): 19.
7. Chris Coleborn, “A Comparison of the Church Order of Continental Dordt and Westminster Scotland,” Standard Bearer 68, no. 15 (1992): 351–53.
8. Alissa Vernon, “Pastors, Churches Leave CRCNA Following Synod’s Ruling on Traditional Sexual Ethic,” Banner, Oct. 3, 2024, https://www.thebanner.org/news/2024/10/pastors-churches-leave-crcna-following-synods-ruling-on-traditional-sexual-ethic.
9. Jeff Walton, “ACNA Sees Multi-Year Growth,” Living Church, June 23, 2025, https://livingchurch.org/news/acna-sees-multi-year-growth/.
10. Uriesou Brito, “New numbers and updates for the CREC, 2025 & Athanasius Presbytery Meeting in Odenville, Alabama,” Perspectivalist (Substack), Oct. 8, 2025, https://www.uribrito.com/p/new-numbers-and-updates-for-the-crec. Uriesou Brito is the current presiding minister of the council.