The United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) is a theologically conservative federation of Reformed churches founded in 1996. Many churches joined the URCNA after splitting from the Christian Reformed Church in North America denomination. Origin The URCNA has grown from the earlier Protestant movements in Europe of the 16th and 17th century, and also from Reformed churches in Belgium and the Netherlands. Like other churches in the Reformed tradition, it traces its interpretation of Scripture back to the sixteenth-century Reformer, John Calvin. Although Calvinism took root in many countries in Europe, it took especial hold in the Netherlands. Dutch immigrants to North America carried their beliefs with them over the subsequent centuries. Rather than joining existing churches of other denominations in North America, these Dutch immigrants started their own churches, churches that became known as the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Over the twentieth century, the Christian Reformed Church grew progressively more liberal, although not all members were pleased by this new direction. Conservative reformed believers were generally concerned that the Christian Reformed Churches were departing from Scriptural teaching to accommodate modern social trends. Specific disagreements arose on issues like women's ordination, evolution cases, and biblical inerrancy. In 1996, the URCNA was founded as a federation of Reformed churches in 1996 at Lynwood, Illinois CRC. Most of the members that founded the URCNA left the Christian Reformed Church, although members of other Reformed denominations quickly joined the new federation. Some 36 churches with 7,600 members joined the federative unity, held their first Synod, and adopted the name United Reformed Churches in North America. Beliefs The URCNA subscribes to three confessions of faith: the Canons of Dordt, written in 1618 and 1619 by an international group of Reformed churches, the Belgic Confession, written by Guido de Bres in the mid-1500s, and the Heidelberg Catechism, formally attributed to Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus in the city of Heidelberg, Germany. Collectively, these statements of faith are called the "Three Forms of Unity." In addition to these forms, the URCNA holds to the three ecumenical creeds: the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. One of the distinct fundamental doctrines the URCNA describes is forensic justification or the glorious exchange of salvation, according to which Christ offers a double benefit: one's sin is imputed to Christ and he suffers for it on the cross, while His perfect obedience is credited