What is the Belhar Confession?

Belhar is a small suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, that is witness to a great event.  In 1982, the mixed-race mission church which had been excluded from its parent, the Dutch Reformed Church, in the mid-1880's, wrote a confession of faith about justice issues, including a special focus on racism, reconciliation, and unity.  This document, adopted in Belhar in 1986, is now known as the "Belhar Confession."

The Belhar Confession is accepted by a number of Reformed Christian churches in Africa and Europe as a confession, equal in authority to the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordt, and the Heidelberg Catechism.  In June 2009, in North America, the Synods of both the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) will consider recommendations to move toward adoption of the Belhar Confession.  The Presbyterian Church USA will consider this issue in 2010.

The Belhar is relevant to all Christian churches today because it addresses critical issues that are emphasized in Scripture - unity among the people of God, reconciliation within the church and society, injustices of all kinds, and God's bias on behalf of those who have been wronged.

First Seattle CRC Responds to the Belhar Confession

In October 2007 Seattle First Christian Reformed Church became the first assembly of Reformed believers in North America to formally adopt the Belhar Confession as one of its doctrinal standards. These standards define the core of what it means to be Reformed. Belhar is the first such standard to be approved by Reformed believers in 400 years. For us this confession is an instrument helping to rivet our attention on Scripture's guide for how we live our lives and especially how we deal with the issues of injustice, reconciliation and unity in this 21st century.