The
Reformed Ecumenical Council (
REC) was an international organization of
Calvinist Churches. It had 39 member denominations from 25 countries in its membership, and those churches have about 12 million people together. It was founded August 14, 1946 in Grand Rapids, Michigan as the
Reformed Ecumenical Synod. The Reformed Ecumenical Council was the second largest international Reformed alliance and the more conservative of the two largest. In 1953, The Reformed Ecumenical Synod meeting in Edinburgh decided to advise its member churches not to join the
World Council of Churches as currently constituted because it “permits essentially different interpretations of its doctrinal basis, and thus the nature of the Christian faith” and “represents itself as a Community of faith, but is actually not this” due to member churches holding “basically divergent positions.” About two-thirds of REC member churches also belonged to the larger
World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC). The seat of the Reformed Ecumenical Council was
Grand Rapids,
Michigan,
United States.