The Protestant Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when a German monk named Martin Luther published opposition to certain teachings of the Vatican. Luther was excommunicated (expelled) from the Catholic Church. He then initiated the movement that we now call Lutheranism. Other branches of Protestantism that arose during the 1500s are the Reformed churches, including Presbyterianism, and the Anglican churches — the Church of England and, in other countries, the Episcopal churches. The Congregationalists were an offspring from the Church of England. The E&R denomination emerged from the German-speaking Reformed churches. The UCC was created in 1957 from a merger of the Congregational Christian denomination and the Evangelical and Reformed denomination.
