The church was founded as a union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in 1821, based on the Heidelberg Catechism, Luther’s Catechism and the Augsburg Confession, thereby forming a so-called confessional union. The life of the church is shaped by the diversity of the congregations. There are rural congregations, and congregations in university cities which confront the problems of an industrial society. The central region of the church is the region along the river Rhine where there are many contacts with the churches in France and Switzerland.

The cooperation between different confessional groups is an important feature of the life of the church. It faces theological, ecumenical and diaconal questions on the local level as well as on the European level. Problems of migration in Europe, of human rights and the dialogue with new religious movements are central issues. The church maintains particular relations with the Presbyterian Churches in Ghana and Cameroon, the Church of South India, the National Councils of Churches in Indonesia and Korea, the Moravian Church in South Africa, the Waldensian Church in Italy and the Church of the Czech Brethren.