World Reformed Fellowship

Work

The WRF operates commissions that serve its global membership, focusing on evangelism and missions, theological education, and theology. These commissions facilitate dialogue for better partnership between member denominations and organizations, produce and provide resources for the church, operate as theological and ministerial forums between WRF members, and serve as platforms of engagement from the WRF towards other organizations. The theological commission has produced several documents, such as the WRF’s Statement of Faith, a narrative statement on Reformed identity, and a statement on ecclesiology, all designed to facilitate greater theological partnership across cultural and intra-Reformed theological differences. The commissions of the WRF sometimes facilitate larger forums, such as partnering with the Lausanne Movement to host a consultation on theological education in 2014 in São Paulo and a theological consultation on Christian ministry among Muslims in 2011 in Istanbul. The WRF partners with both the World Evangelical Alliance, of which the WRF is an affiliate member, and New Growth Press for book publishing.

The WRF hosts a global general assembly approximately every four years. These assemblies review and direct the work of the WRF’s commissions, are a time of networking and fellowship for the membership of the WRF, and are where the WRF’s membership hears about major issues facing the global church in order to consider and address them.

• 2000 Orlando, United States
• 2006 Johannesburg, South Africa
• 2010 Edinburgh, Scotland
• 2015 São Paulo, Brazil
• 2019 Jakarta, Indonesia
• 2022 Orlando, United States

WRF membership is also divided up into regional boards for planning and implementing fellowship for ministries within their own larger, geographic area. These boards are more contextualized than the general assembly, both in composition and in the nature of their work.

Governance

Governance of the WRF is held by its membership voting at general assemblies. Oversight and operations are carried out by a board of directors and an international director (CEO).

Chairmen of the Board,

• 2000–2016: Rick Perrin, Presbyterian Church in America
• 2016–2017: Solano Portela Neto, Presbyterian Church of Brazil
• 2017–present: Robert M. Norris, Evangelical Presbyterian Church

International Directors,

• 2000–2005: Paul Gilchrist, Presbyterian Church in America
• 2005–2015: Samuel T. Logan, Orthodox Presbyterian Church
• 2015–2017: Flip Buys, Reformed Churches in South Africa
• 2017–present: Davi Charles Gomes, Presbyterian Church of Brazil

Membership

The WRF is similar in theology to the International Conference of Reformed Churches and more conservative than the World Communion of Reformed Churches, though several member churches of the WRF are also members of either the ICRC or the WCRC. The WRF primarily differs from these other groups in that it is a fellowship, not a council, and so includes in its membership not only denominations, but individual congregations, pastors and theologians, and non-ecclesial organizations (e.g. theological seminaries). It conceives of its existence as facilitating dialogue and sharing of resources between the different global branches of Reformed Christians. Unlike the WCRC, which officially supports the ordination of women, and the ICRC, which prohibits denominational members that ordain women as pastors, the WRF as a confessional fellowship recognizes the diversity of positions among its members regarding the ordination women. There are a total of 86 denominational members of the WRF and 155 organizational members, as of February, 2026. The majority (79 of 86, as of February, 2026) of WRF member denominations prohibit women from being ordained as pastors, elders, or deacons.

The WRF has a Reformed, confessional basis for membership. Members have to agree with:

• The statement that "The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are without error in all that they teach."
• At least one of the following historic Reformed Confessions – The Gallican Confession, The Belgic Confession, The Heidelberg Catechism, The Thirty-Nine Articles, The Second Helvetic Confession, The Canons of Dort, The Westminster Confession of Faith, the London Confession of 1689, the Savoy Declaration, or the WRF Statement of Faith.

The largest churches as of 2025 are (membership of 100,000 or more):

1. National Presbyterian Church in Mexico (2,800,000)
2. Presbyterian Church in Korea (HapDong) (2,242,844)
3. Presbyterian Church of Brazil (702,949)
4. Presbyterian Church in America (405,634)
5. Christian Reformed Church in North America (171,380)
6. ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (127,000)
7. Evangelical Presbyterian Church (119,931)

Denominational members

As of February 2026, there are 86 member denominations:

Member Profile

The vast majority of the World Reformed Fraternity (more than 95.58% of individual members) are Presbyterian denominations. The Continental Reformed Churches represent the second largest group within the FRM, with 4.41% of members. The remaining 0.01% of members are Reformed Anglicans, Reformed Baptists and other denominations.

Former members

Former members of the WRF are:

• South Africa
  • Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa
  • Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NHK)
• Bangladesh
  • Peace Church Bangladesh
• Benin
  • Church of the Revival of Nations
• Bolivia
  • Presbyterian Church in Bolivia
• Burundi
  • Reformed Protestant Church of Burundi
• Colombia
  • Reformed Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Colombia
• Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Evangelical Reformed Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo
  • Presbyterian Church in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
• Croatia
  • Protestant Reformed Christian Church in Croatia
• India
  • Presbyterian Church of India
  • Presbyterian Church of South India
• Ivory Coast
  • Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ivory Coast
  • Voile Déchiré Mission, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
• Malawi
  • Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church in Malawi
• Myanmar
  • Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Myanmar
  • United Reformed Church in Myanmar
• Nepal
  • Nepali Reformed Churches
  • Aashish Presbyterian Free Church in Nepal
  • Reformed Church of Nepal
• Nigeria
  • God's Healing Ministry Lagos, Nigeria
• Pakistan
  • United Presbyterian Church of Pakistan
  • Sutlej Reformed Church of Pakistan
• Peru
  • Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Peru
• Philippines
  • General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the Philippines
  • Northern Presbytery of the National Capital Region of the Presbyterian Church of the Philippines
• Rwanda
  • Reformed Presbyterian Church in Africa (Rwanda)
• Sierra Leone
  • Presbyterian Church of Sierra Leone
  • Mount Zion Presbyterian Church of Sierra Leone
• Serbia
  • Protestant Reformed Christian Church in Serbia
• Trinidad and Tobago
  • Reformed Bible Churches of Trinidad and Tobago
• Uganda
  • Orphans and Widows Ministry
• United States of America
  • International Peacemaking Church of Christ, Raleigh NC
  • Reformed Baptist Churches in North America
  • United Christian Church and Bible Institute, USA

Difference from other global communions

The World Reformed Fellowship (WRF) is different from other global Reformed communions in that it allows a wide range of churches for membership. While the International Conference of Reformed Churches only allows membership to Presbyterians and Continental Reformed Churches, the WRF includes, in addition to these, Congregationalists, Reformed Baptists, Reformed Anglicans, and Reformed Pentecostals. This is because its confessional base is extremely broad, allowing any position on baptism, ordination, eschatology, ecclesiology and pneumatology.

Even the largely liberal and ecumenical World Communion of Reformed Churches does not accept Baptists, Anglicans or Pentecostals as full members and considers them other denominational families. From this perspective, the World Reformed Fellowship applies a new concept of Reformed Christianity, giving it greater breadth than it has historically had meant.