Protestant Church in the Netherlands in the context of "Dutch Reformed Church"

A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions. Multi-denominationalism, or a multi-denominational church or organization, is a congregation or organization that is affiliated with two or more Christian denominations, whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions.

Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state, usually in order to have a stricter control over the religious sphere of its people, but also for other organizational reasons. As modern Christian ecumenism progresses, unions between various Protestant traditions are becoming more and more common, resulting in a growing number of united and uniting churches. Examples include the United Church of Canada (1925), the Church of South India (1947), the United Methodist Church (1968), the Uniting Church in Australia (1977), the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (2004), and the United Protestant Church of France (2013).

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, abbreviated Gereformeerde kerk) was the second largest Protestant church in the Netherlands and one of the two major Calvinist denominations along with the Dutch Reformed Church since 1892 until being merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) in 2004. The PKN is the continuation of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Dutch: Evangelisch-Lutherse Kerk in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden) was a denomination in the Netherlands which under that name existed from 1818 to 2004. In 2004, the denomination became a part of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, which is the continuation of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The first Lutheran congregations in the Netherlands were founded in the 16th century, but an organized 'Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands' did not come into being until 1818. The city of Amsterdam was, and still is, the centre of Dutch Lutheranism. Most Lutherans in the Netherlands are descendants of German or Scandinavian merchants, and the Lutheran church has always been quite small.