Abstract:
This article presents an analysis of the journey of the Dutch Reformed Church (South Africa)
back into the ecumenical fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The first part
contains a brief historical review of the relationships between the WCC and the Dutch Reformed
Church family, underlining the fact that the Dutch Reformed Church family in South Africa is a
founding member of WCC and that it was never excluded from WCC fellowship; rather, this
church itself resigned membership in the WCC after the Cottesloe Consultation (1961) at the
pressure of the South African government of that time. The last part presents in detail the process
of the readmission of the Dutch Reformed Church into the WCC fellowship (2012–2016) as well
as the way this church was active in the WCC after readmission (2016–2018).
