De Gereformeerde Kerken Vrijgemaakt en het verval van het narcisme van de kleine verschillen

Samenvatting

Since their inception during WWII, the Re-reformed churches in the Netherlands have cherished their neo-Calvinist, ‘truly reformed’ identity. Early on, they formed a ‘free reformed mini-pillar’, which strengthened once more their ‘narcism of minor differences’. Since the last decade accelerated rationalization processes have slowly affected the ‘truly reformed’ norms and values, their observation, and memberships and participation in the reformed intermediate groupings, resulting in the decay of the narcism of the minor differences. This in its turn has resulted in two fissions, ecclesiastical pluralism, and unchurching. Yet, the unrest is far from over, rumours of new fissions are rampant, and evangelicalization and pluralism can be observed. Apart from the description of the processes, theoretical insights are used to analyze these processes, their causes and consequences.