Why Are There So Many Denominations? (Part 2)

As has already been admitted, there are thousands of Christian denominations.  Some groups claiming the status of "Christian" are not, in truth, Christian, although they pretend to be (Mormonism, for example). Some groups are Christian in that they ascribe to the creeds but lie outside of the scope of this article because they are not reformational, neither historically nor in theological makeup (Oriental Orthodoxy, for example).  

Of the remaining groups, which are creedal in confession and subscribe to the broad tenets of Protestant theology, there are still myriad varieties.  For this article, Protestant denominations will be bundled into groups and treated en masse. Alternative methodologies would make this article impossible to complete (or desire to read).   

What follows is an overview of how different historical movements within Protestantism have answered the questions that were discussed in detail in the previous article in this series. 

The Church of England, Anglican, Episcopal, and Similar Denominations

The Church of England began for political, not theological reasons.  Henry VIII of England wanted to divorce his wife, who had not provided him with an heir.  The Pope refused to grant the divorce. Henry VIII then rejected Papal authority over the churches of England and compelled Parliament to pass laws naming him and his heirs as the head of the churches in his kingdom.  While this less-than-honorable reason for breaking from the Roman Church was clearly self-seeking, the Bishops of England seized upon the opportunity and the spirit of reformation then present in Europe to reformulate the doctrines of the Church of England to embrace the main teachings of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.  The King's legal separation from Rome happened in 1534, 17 years after Luther's Reformation began.  The Church of England was organized under a new set of founding documents, codified in the Book of Common Prayer, by 1549, fifteen years later. 

As a group of denominations that still very prominently wear their Catholic heritage, The Anglican churches are Covenant in their interpretation, Bishop-led in their polity, Liturgical in their worship style, practice Paedobaptism, and Amillennial in their eschatology.  In contrast with Catholicism, they followed the lead of the reformers in embracing Calvinist soteriology, a Cessationist position on the spiritual gifts, and teaching the Real Presence of Christ in the communion elements.  Historically, the Anglican movement had a very High View of Biblical Authority and a moderately Allegorical interpretation of scripture. 

Today, Anglicanism broadly defined has 85 million members worldwide. There are numerous modern denominations derived from the Church of England.  Following the American Revolution, American Anglican bishops found it impossible to swear allegiance to the British monarch as the head of the Church, so they formed the Episcopal Church of America.  Since then, numerous divisions have occurred, more or less over the slow continuous march of the Anglican and Episcopal churches toward liberal and Progressive Christianity.  Sadly, most Anglican and Episcopal churches today have a very low view of Biblical authority and have fully embraced liberal sexual ethics.  

There is a movement within Anglicanism to resist the liberal march and return to a high view of the authority of scripture.  This resistance is a new struggle in the Church of England proper, and the churches engaged in it have not yet formed a cohesive denomination of their own, although there are several schismatic churches that have broken fellowship with their liberal bishops.  Outside of England,  conservative churches have formed the  "Anglican Church of North America."

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Methodism

Methodism grew out of the Anglican movement, so the Methodist Church inherited much of what is true of Anglicanism.  The principal difference that caused the eventual separation of Methodism from Anglicanism was the emphasis by John and Charles Wesley on personal holiness as an outgrowth of Arminian soteriology. Methodism, right out of the gate, had a more Charismatic branch as well as a traditionally Cessationist one.

Modern Methodism, comprising 80 million members, has been splintered into many groups as well.  Like Anglicanism, it has, as a whole drifted more toward a low view of Biblical authority and the embracing of modern liberal sexual ethics.  At various points in history, the Church of the Nazarene and the Wesleyan Churches diverged over minor doctrines and a desire to return to more conservative values. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in the American South for the ordination of Black clergy over black congregations when, sadly, white Bishops were unwilling to recognize this need.  Recently, the Global Methodist Church has emerged as a modern effort to return to a High View of Scripture and Biblical sexual ethics. 

The modern Pentecostal movement, which will be discussed later, is largely derived from the more charismatic members of the Methodist family, although much has changed from their root stock. 

Lutheranism

The reformation church that most exemplifies Protestantism in the minds of most Christians is Lutheranism.  Like Anglicanism, it wears several aspects of its Catholic heritage proudly in the modern day, while distinguishing itself markedly on others.  Like Catholics, Lutherans are Covenant in their interpretation, Liturgical in their worship, Bishop-led in their polity, Amillennial in eschatology, practice Paedobaptism, and hold to Transubstantiation. They differ from Catholics in their Calvinist soteriology and Cessationist views of the gifts.  They have traditionally had a very High View of Biblical Authority and a LIteral Interpreational scheme. 

The worldwide Lutheran movement today has about 75 million adherents. Lutheranism has fractured into more denominations in the modern age than many other historical Protestant churches, with more than 50 Lutheran denominations recognized in America alone.  These divisions have happened over minor doctrinal disagreements or differences in their philosophy of ministry or organization.  The largest conservative Lutheran denomination in America today is probably the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, with 1.7 million American members.  In contrast, the largest liberal movement would likely be the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, with 2.8 million American members. 

Reformed Churches

John Calvin launched his movement after Luther's and the two movements benefitted much from the other. Luther's movement looked less "Catholic" than Luther's in many ways, but the most critical differences between them emerged over the doctrine of Communion.  While Calvin's name is most associated with his God-centered view of salvation, the "Reformed Church" movement has many other remarkable features as well. 

Reformed churches are usually Covenant in their interpretive lens, Elder-led in their polity, Calvinist in their soteriology, holding a High view of Biblical Authority, believing in the Real Presence of Christ in Communion,  and Amillennial in their eschatology. These are the defining characteristics of a reformed church.  On the other issues, there is much agreement, but some diversity of thought, church-to-church.  That being said, most reformed churches are also Liturgical in worship, Cessationist regarding the gifts, and Literal in their interpretation. 

The Reformed Church denominations account for about 80 million believers worldwide.  Well-known movements within this family would be the Presbyterian church, the Dutch Reformed Church, and the Reformed Churches of America.  While there are some liberal, low-Biblical authority movements (like the Presbyterian Church, USA), most churches that identify as "reformed" have a high view of the Bible's authority in the life of the individual believer.  The PCA (Presbyterian Church of America), is the largest conservative reformed movement in America, with 1.3 million members and 1,900 churches in all 50 states. 

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Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches

Within Protestant Churches, Cessationism was normative and unquestioned from the days of Luther and Calvin until sparks of the supernatural started showing up in European Churches in the 1800s.  Missionaries on the cutting edge of the gospel expansion in the modern missionary movements in the early 19th century brought back stories of amazing things happening in the field.  Then, in 1906, the Azusa Street Revival launched an entirely new branch of Christianity, called the Charismatic movement.  The expression of the gifts in the modern age both started unique denominations and caused churches that were part of mainline denominations of the day to break away and form new subsets of those denominations with some degree of charismatic practice. Because of this fact, the Charismatic/Pentecostal branch is less homogenous. 

Most Pentecostal Churches are Dispensational in their interpretive lens, Arminian in their soteriology, Contemporary in their worship, obviously Continuationist in their view of the gifts, Literal in their interpretation of scripture, Premillennial in their eschatology, believe in some kind of Memorial View of communion,  practice Credobaptism, and have a High View of Biblical Authority. There are diverse views on church polity in the movement, but more are Elder-led than not. 

There is a distinction between churches that self-identify as "Charismatic" and those that identify as "Pentecostal." Charismatic churches tend to lean very heavily on a literal reading of passages like 1 Cor 14 where rules are given for the practice of the gifts in the assembly. These denominations probably don't allow tongues in the assembly and practice rigorous elder-led filtering of prophetic words.  These denominations would include the Calvary Chapel movement, Sovereign Grace, or the Convergence Church Network among others.  In addition, there are many non-denominational charismatic churches of various descriptions. 

 

Classic Pentecostalism teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit will result in speaking in tongues.  Therefore, all Christians ought to receive this gift.  There are various diverse expectations of how the gifts will be realized, but churches that describe themselves as Pentecostal will put far less weight on passages instructing them on how to exercise the gifts.  These denominations include the Assemblies of God, the Foursquare Gospel Church, and the Church of God. 

Pentecostalism is by far the largest group of Christian denominations, worldwide.  There are somewhere around 280 million Pentecostal Christians in the world, most of them in Africa and Asia.  When Charismatic denominations are added in, the Continuationist Churches account for nearly half a billion Christians worldwide! 

Baptist Churches

There seem to be more kinds of "Baptist" churches than any other label out there.  The reason for that is that the "Baptist" movement does not have one singular point of origin from which a homogenous family story might be written.  In one sense, Baptist churches are the modern heirs of the Anabaptist movement of 16th-century Europe, although the historical connection is sparse.  In another sense, they are an American invention with roots in colonial Puritanism. In both cases, they are the children of persecution.  To be "Baptist" means really only two things in our list of dividing questions.  

Baptists are Congregational in their polity and practice Credobaptism.  Otherwise, there are Baptist churches on both sides of most other issues.  There are "Reformed Baptists" which are Covenant, Calvinist, and Amillennial.  Then, there are "Independent Baptists" which are Dispensational and moderate between Calvinist and Arminian.  "Free-will Baptists" plant their flag squarely on Arminian theology, but "Primitive Baptists" are staunchly Calvinist.  "Southern Baptists" are Dispensational and emphasize a rigorously literal reading of the text whenever possible.  "The Baptist Alliance" is open and affirming of LGBTQ+ ideologies and highly figurative in the way it reads the Bible.  These examples suffice to demonstrate the diversity of this label across many traditions.  Despite this diversity, it is a huge movement, with 170 million worldwide congregants using that distinguishing identifier in some way. 

The Bible Church Movement and Its Allies

When Darby argued for a consistently literal reading of the Bible in Dispensationalism, many church leaders from diverse church traditions took notice.  Darby himself was from the Brethren Church, and he was successful in capitulating the majority of Brethren churches to his view.  Other notable Christian influencers such as Cyrus Schofield (who produced a widely read study Bible with Dispensational notes), the evangelist D. L. Moody (who led crusades and began a Bible Institute to teach dispensationalism), and Lewis Sperry Chafer (who launched Dallas Theological Seminary on dispensational foundations) spread this view of Bible interpretation to the masses. 

Along with the majority of Brethren Churches, a large segment of the Baptist denominations embraced dispensationalism as well.  Dispensationalism got tilled into the soil of most churches that sprang up in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements after 1906.  

Among other groups to find their origin in the dispensational movement was a network of independent churches with no overarching denominational structure.  They called themselves the "Bible Church Movement." There is no conference, no board, and no central charter under which these churches are organized except that they are theologically conservative and follow Darby's commitment to a dispensational lens in interpretation.  Dallas Theological Seminary and Biola University are the largest academic institutions providing training for these Pastors. 

Bible Churches are by definition Dispensational, Pre-Milennial, and Conservative, with as Literal an interpretive lens as is practical.  They practice Credobaptism and see communion as Memorial in meaning. They have a Very High View of Biblical Authority in the life of the believer. The majority of them are Calvinist and Elder-led, but there is room for diversity on these questions within the movement. Worship styles vary, but they are not liturgical. 

In the early 1900's Lyman Stewart and others from Biola University (Then the Bible Institute of Los Angeles) organized a series of periodical publications laying out dispensational theology for the masses.  This series of articles was published under the collective title of "The Fundamentals."  The Churches and movements that embraced this particular view of theology came to be called "Fundamentalist" churches.  While the mid-twentieth century saw many churches proudly wearing the "fundamentalist" moniker, that term has since found its way to theological position papers and less frequently on church signage. 

Pleasant View Bible Church is a part of this movement.  While the earliest origins of our congregation began as a Methodist church in 1841, our congregation and leadership later embraced the wave of fundamentalism and the "Bible Church" movement in the mid-1900s and reorganized to align with this careful, conservative, literal reading of the Bible that has brought life and purpose to so many Christians who have adopted it. 

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