The
Evangelical Church of the River Plate
(
Iglesia Evangelica del Rio de la Plata
or
IERP
) is a
United
,
Protestant
denomination
with congregations in
Argentina
,
Paraguay
, and
Uruguay
. It is named after the
Rio de la Plata Basin
, where the majority of its congregations are located. The IERP was affiliated with the
Evangelical Church in Germany
from 1934?1965, when it became independent. The church ordains women as ministers and supported civil unions and same-sex marriage.
[1]
[2]
It has approximately 27,500 members.
[3]
The denomination is a member of the
World Council of Churches
and the
Lutheran World Federation
.
[3]
History
[
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]
The Evangelical Church of the River Plate was known as the German Evangelical La Plata Synod (
Deutsche Evangelische La Plata Synode
) since 1899, with the most of its membership coming from German-speaking countries. Its origins go back to the union of reformed and
Lutheran
Christians in Germany, occurred in Germany during the 19th century.
Today has a number of 45 congregations and more than 240 points of predication, counting around 25,000 people in its membership. In 1995 the Swiss Evangelical Church in Argentina - with 600 members, 1 congregation and several house fellowships - become affiliated with the denomination.
[4]
In 2010 the denomination united with the
Reformed Churches in Argentina
.
[5]
Beliefs
[
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]
It is a
Protestant
church, and the basis of its faith are the
Holy Scriptures
, with the message of
God
and its live in Earth in the person of
Jesus Christ
.
As confessional ground it includes the
Apostles' Creed
, the
Nicene Creed
, the
Athanasian Creed
the Reformed
Heidelberg Catechism
,
Luther's Small Catechism
, and the
Augsburg Confession
. It also accepts the
Barmen Declaration
and the
Leuenberg Agreement
.
[6]
[7]
Ecumenism
[
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]
The IERP is involved in several ecumenical bodies such as the Ecumenical Human Rights Movement, Uprooted People and Refugee Ecumenical Service and ISEDET (Ecumenical Theological University) in Argentina, emergency aid in Paraguay, human rights in Uruguay.
The signing of the
Leuenberg Agreement
has helped the IERP to improve its relations with other churches, e.g. the
United Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELU)
, the Waldensian Evangelical Church of the River Plate and the Reformed Churches in Argentina. The IERP has mutual recognition of ministries with the
Methodist Church
, the
Disciples of Christ
and the
Presbyterian Church
and the
Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches
. The church is a member of the
World Communion of Reformed Churches
.
[8]
[9]
[10]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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