Reformed Churches In America

The Reformed Church in America has been influenced by the liturgical movement, the renaissance in the arts, and the praise-and-worship movement. While most churches observe a traditional approach to worship, a great variety of worship styles can be found in the RCA. The Reformed Church in America is a semiliturgical church. Its liturgy is a part of its constitution (along with the creeds and the Book of Church Order). New liturgical forms join previously approved ones and together form the total corpus of the liturgy. Because liturgical forms are constitutional, they must be approved by the general synod and two-thirds of the district governing bodies (classes). The use of approved orders for the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper is required. Approach/Word/Response The most significant event for RCA worship renewal in this century was the publication of Liturgy and Psalms in 1968. These new orders, culminating work begun in 1950, constituted the first major liturgical ch…