Christian Denominations

Catholics’ (Roman Pope 1054 AD) The word “Catholic” simply means “worldwide” and indeed the first organized group of Christian churched were worldwide. During the early years of Christianity, there weren’t denominations and therefore no need to refer to a church by a particular tag: Lutheran, Catholic, etc. The Church was unified and each congregation generally denoted by its geographic location. i.e. the church at Ephesus, the church at Antioch, etc. Each region was led by a Bishop.

Writings of Ignatius and Iraneus (Against Heresies) would begin to extol the Apostle Peter as the first Bishop of Rome and the preeminence of the Roman See over all other regions. The term “Pope” derived from the Greek word “Papa” or “Pappas” was not used until the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries to denote the premier Bishop or “Father” over all Bishops. The idea of an emerging, strong, and centrally governed church was taken even further by Augustine, a Bishop of Hippo. Augustine believed a strong Church government was necessary for survival and ultimately defeating heresy. Unfortunately, this introduced abuse by the hierarchy of the governing church against those that would question the unbiblical doctrines introduced by various church leaders. i.e. immaculate conception and assumption of Mary, prayer to the saints as intermediaries, etc. John Hus, and others would be labeled “heretics” and would be martyred for their boldness. To further assert authority over the masses the doctrine of Papal Infallibility would be added to this list of error. Papal infallibility was introduced primarily (and surprisingly) by theologians like Theodore Abu-Qurrah, Thomas Aquinas, and John Peter Olivi, and not by the Popes themselves, as many assert today.
During the Vatican I council in 1870, the dogma of the infallibility of the pope was officially codified and is still preached and practiced today.

(Antioch Pope or Patriarch Michael Cerularius,1054AD) First to break from the “Worldwide” Church due to the disputed authority of the Pope, liturgical practices, and political issues. There was a Pope/Patriarch ‘crowned’ at Antioch in 1054 AD named Michael Cerularius. He was immediately excommunicated by Pope Leo IX of the Western (Roman) Church. Cerularius returned the favor by excommunicating Leo which resulted in an irreparable split between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) church referred to as the “Great Schism”.

Today, the Eastern Orthodox church still has a large number of congregations or “parishes” throughout the world. Widely known as the Greek, Russian, and Serbian Orthodox churches, they do not recognize the authority of the Pope of Catholicism, however, both are considered “high church” and resemble Catholicism in liturgy. Orthodox priests can marry, Catholic priests cannot. Both believe in the practice of Seven Sacraments which are Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick.

(John Hus 1410-15) The Unity of the Brethren actually pre-dates the Lutheran movement in that it can trace its roots back to John Hus’ teachings prior to his execution in 1415 (Hus began a small secret gathering of believers prior to this time). Hus was one of the early 15th century dissenters of Roman Catholic authority and as such, was burned at the stake for his objections to the authority of the Pope. Despite Hus’ martyrdom, the small group continued to practice apart from Catholicism and enjoyed some growth long after Hus’ death. The group officially formed as the Unity of the Brethren in 1457. The Unity of the Brethren churches in the Czech lands actually acted as a safe haven for the Anabaptists. Under intense persecution from the Czech monarchy themselves, many of the UOB movement fled the country and eventually joined the “Moravian” movement. The Unity of the Brethren and Moravian Churches have congregations throughout the world today and both trace their roots to John Hus

Martin Luther 1517 A.D.) Martin Luther was a staunch Catholic Monk that became fed up with the Catholic practice of indulgences (donating to the Church in order to relieve or remove a soul from purgatory). Luther posted his 95 thesis on the Castle Door at Wittenberg, Germany in 1517. Denouncing this and other practices whereby the authority of the Church and the Pope were seen to tread on the authority of God Almighty and of the Believer.


Today, the liturgy would be considered “high church” or “orthodox” in practice, however, in America there is a movement among many Lutheran churches to provide a contemporary worship - with guitars, drums, and contemporary worship music. Ultimately, the main differences between this and the Catholic church is the authority of Scripture superseding the authority of the Pope and Catholic Church (both of which hold no authority in the Lutheran Denomination), the absence of “Icons” (religious statues - often given a sort of “mediator” status whereby they can receive honor and prayers on behalf of the Saint they (the statues) represent.), Lutheran Ministers can marry, Salvation to the Lutheran is by Grace through Faith as opposed to Sacramental observation and adherence to Church authority.

(Henry VIII 1534 A.D.) The Christian church existed in England long before the Christian Church throughout civilization became known as the “Roman Catholic Church”. The patriarchal authors and apologists Origen and Tertullian write of a Christian contingency in the far isles of Breton. Bishops from these small churches managed to attend the councils of Arles and Rimini in 314 and 359 respectively. However, with the invasion of the pagan Germanic tribes - Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, much of this small Christian establishment was disbursed or lost altogether until a mission was sent from the Catholic church in 597. The Germanic Breton, soon to be called “England” or “Land of the Angles” would be part of the Catholic Empire until the English Reformation of the 16th century.

The churches of the Anglican Communion have their historical beginning when King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) wished to obtain a divorce from Anne Boleyn that the pope would not grant. Seizing upon the spirit of emancipation sparked by the boldness of Hus and Luther, the King of England would make an historic proclamation. Through the Act of Supremacy of 1534, the king made himself the "supreme head" of the Church of England in place of the Pope.

When Henry’s daughter, Mary Tudor, ascended the throne, she brought the English country back into the Roman Catholic fold. By this time there were many in England that opposed the idea of going back to papal authority and when they raised their voice in protest, many of them lost their lives. This internal martyrdom earned Queen Mary the title of “Bloody Mary”.

In 1558, Mary grew ill and eventually died. Henry’s other daughter (under Anne Boleyn) Elizabeth succeeded her and restored the Church of England as the official church for England, never to return to Catholicism.

The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 meaning the “English Church”. The liturgy of the Anglican church closely resembles that of Catholicism in that it is considered ‘high’ church or a church of orthodoxy. Today, there is a move within the Anglican church to modernize worship and interaction resulting in a greater appeal to a younger generation in the UK.

(Switzerland 1522 , Ulrich Zwingli) Broke from the Catholic Church as a result of a sausage eating event that was scheduled during a “holy fast” decreed by the Catholic Church. It was from this arguement that man is to obey “Divine Law” over “Man’s Law” that the concept of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) was advanced. Zwingli, a Catholic Priest, was a contemporary of Martin Luther and had a sharp division with Luther on the meaning behind the Lord’s Supper.

Zwingli contended that when Jesus declared “This is my Body, take from it and eat.” He was speaking symbolically of the bread and that the Lord’s supper is a memorial as opposed to the Catholic (and to some extent Lutheran) understanding that the bread is transformed literally into Jesus body and the wine transformed into Jesus blood (transubstantiation).
One of the most famous Reformers of all time is a man named John Calvin from Geneva, France whose idea of double pre destination has spurred theological debate regarding God’s role in the salvation of man, and man’s role in his own salvation. From the Reformed Church came denominations known today as Presbyterian, Church of Scotland, and Evangelical Free.

(Founded 1560 in Scotland by a pupil of John Calvin named John Knox) John Knox was a Catholic Priest that embraced the teachings of his friend and teacher, the Reformist John Calvin. Constantly engaging the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, in debate, Knox was finally brought to trial whereby the Scottish nobles acquitted him and ultimately deposed the Catholic Queen. Thus setting up Presbyterianism in Scotland. Truly, the Church of Scotland is a branch from the Catholic line that joined with a branch from the Reformed Church line in a single man named John Knox. The Church of Scotland is simply the Reformed or Presbyterian Church in Scotland

(Founded in Switzerland by Georg Blaurock, Conrad Grebel, and Felix Manz 1525) This movement began with the birth of a baby to Conrad Grebel. Even though, in Zurich there was reformation everywhere, still Blaurock, Grebel, and Manz could not understand how a baby could choose to be a member of a church when all it could do was cry, eat, and dirty its diapers. This line of thinking was considered rebellious in the eyes of the newly reformed church and these three preachers were ordered to stop such “heretical” teaching or leave Zurich. Blaurock asked to be baptized in the apostolic manner and all others were baptized the same. They were called the “Anabaptists” which means “re-baptizers” by their detractors. Indeed the preachers did leave Zurich and met for the first time in a church free from government influence. The Mennonites, Hutterites, and the Amish are all direct descendants of this group. The Anabaptist belief emphasized: Sola Scriptura, Seperation of Church and State, Baptism of the Believer (not the auto-infant sprinkintile), Freedom of Conscience, and Holiness of Life. It is this last tenant that gets a little legalistic in that they flatly rejected Luther’s Salvation by Faith Alone in Christ alone and felt that it did not emphasize the believer’s responsibility to live a holy life.

(founded by John Smyth in 1609) Started as a Puritan “Seperatist” movement from the Church of England or Anglican Church in Lincolnshire and then moved to Holland. With his colleague, Thomas Helwys chose to be “Baptised” as adults into Christ. Smyth then moved back to England and joined the Waterlander Mennonites and was thereafter identified with the Radical Reformation movement. His colleague Helwys was disillusioned with Smyth’s choice not to break with the past and Helwys moved back to England and formed the first Baptist gathering on English soil in London in 1612. The earliest Baptists can trace their roots to the teachings of John Wycliffe and were referred to as General Baptists. They were staunchly Arminian in theology - making it a core belief that Christ died for ALL and not just the Elect. However, approximately 30 years after Helwys return to England, a branch of his Baptist congregations emerged with Calvinistic theology (Christ died only for the elect) under the leadership of Richard Blunt, who went to Holland to confer with a group that stressed baptism by total immersion. He returned to England and baptized himself and 53 others in like manner. It is from this branch of Baptists that many of the American Baptists owe their Calvinistic beginning.

Perhaps the most famous of Baptist preachers is John Bunyan (1628-1688) who was arrested on a number of occasions in England for “preaching without a license”. Bunyan is responsible for writing the second best-selling book in history called “Pilgrims Progress” - an allegory about the journey of discipleship for the everyday Christian. Bunyan believed in water Baptism as a consenting Christian but had a sharp disagreement with many in the Baptist movement in England over this same issue. He refused to “make an idol” of Baptism and fully accepted any who were pedobaptists (believed and practiced the baptism of infants) i.e. Presbyterians, and other Calvinists of the day. This was sharply contested by two Baptist leaders named Kiffin and Paul who contended that the Lord’s Supper should be refused to any who practice the baptism of infants. Bunyan was not formally educated, but like the disciples, he knew the Bible front to back better than any of his time. Bunyan died in London in 1688 of a severe cold but Pilgrim’s Progress remains a widely read primer on Christian discipleship to this day

(Leicester, England - Founded by George Fox 1647) This movement, first called the Society of Friends, broke from the “Puritan” movement within the Church of England and coincided with the “Dissenters” movement of England. The term “Quaker” was a derisive term by the detractors of the FRIENDS movement because some would “Quake” while preaching under the power of God. They met with tremendous persecution by the Puritans and the Church of England which eventually forced a great number of them to immigrate to the New World in 1656. Primarily they settled in Pennsylvania, wherein Sir William Penn declared the colony to be a “safe haven” for Quakers.

(Alexander Mack 1709) From the Anabaptists and Pietists in Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1709 came a miller named Alexander Mack who, to express outwardly, a new faith inwardly, along with 7 others asked to be baptized as an adult (despite Anabaptist influence, they had only been baptized as infants). This new group called themselves “Brethren”. This group is distinctly different from the Unity of the Brethren/Moravian church which was started under Hus and most closely resembles the now-defunct Anabaptist denomination. Like most of the Reformed church offspring, the Brethren are strongly evangelical with a solid adherence to Sola Scriptura.

(Founded in London, England by John, and Charles Wesley 1738) Began as movement from within the Church of England. John Wesley is quoted as saying, “The Church of England has never had a more faithful son than I!”. However, they would apply a more Arminianist outlook on the Anglican Churches’ 39 articles of Religion. Although the brothers only traveled to America once, as missionaries in 1736, they quickly returned home, dejected and down about their experience. Then in 1738 they both would have a “religious experience” whereby they were awakened and began to preach a Christian lifestyle within the church, based on the “Methods” used by their grandmother. Thus Methodism was born. The most prolific of speakers for this movement, was a pupil of the Wesley brothers named George Whitefield. Whitefield was a thespian in his early years but came to preach against the theater. It is Whitefield’s preaching in America that is responsible for the growth of the largest Methodist population in the world. Whitefield drew large crowds wherever he preached and was responsible for much of the growth of Methodism in Scotland as well.

(1776) The Anglican church had many congregations in the American colonies by the 18th century, however, as tensions grew between the colonists and mother England, Church of England pressure was exerted on the American Anglican leaders to declare loyalty to England or be cut off. The American Anglican pastorates chose the latter and formed the American version of the Church of England known as Episcopalianism. Today, Anglicanism in America is simply referred to as “Episcopalian”. If a member of the Anglican church in England were to visit an Episcopal church in American today, they would find the belief system and liturgy to be virtually the same in most respects. Perhaps the accents would be a bit different.

(based on teachings of John Calvin) A denomination that arose from the Reformed Church in Switzerland started by Zwingli and promoted by John Calvin, whereby the method of church governance was by the elders (presbyters) of the congregation. John Knox took the ideas of his teacher John Calvin and brought Presbyterianism to Scotland. It was embraced as the official Church of the State. The Presbyterians also came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia forming in 1716. and were influential in the anti-slavery movement long before America was a nation. The only active preacher during the Revolutionary war to sign the Declaration of Independence was a Presbyterian named John Witherspoon. Probably the most dynamic leaders of Presbyterianism in America was Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield whose preaching is credited with sparking “The Great Awakening”.

Perhaps the most famous of recent Presbyterian preachers was the late Dr. D. James Kennedy who was famous for his daily radio broadcast, apologetics for Christianity, and his desire to see Christians involved in making a difference politically.

Ultimately, this movement was birthed as part of the “Restoration Movement” in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Founded by a Methodist preacher named James O’Kelly in 1793. O’Kelly sought to escape the control of the Methodist church and broke away to form a new group called the Republican Methodist Church which, as it moved from Virginia, south and west, the name was changed to the “Christian Church”. O’Kelly in the southern states was joined by a group of Baptist preachers, Abner Jones and Elias Smith, in New England who shared his zeal to return to a “first century church” and they taught followers to scorn all of the denominations or “creeds” formed by man and embrace the Bible, specifically the New Testament, as the sole authority in life. They believed in baptism for the believer and not as infants, as did O’Kelly. Another group of early charismatic leaders/founders for the Church of Christ were the Presbyterian ministers Barton Stone and the Scottish immigrant father-son team Thomas and Alexander Campbell. With Methodist, Baptist, and now Presbyterian influence, ultimately this group merged in Kentucky in the 1830s and to this day, rejects denominationalism i.e. the “creeds of man” in favor of the Bible alone to pursue a more pure form of New Testament Christianity. This group became the denomination known as the Church of Christ. One of the unique characteristics of this denomination is the absence of a clear cut hierarchal
structure among its many churches. They seem to each exist to themselves and answer to no “main office” however, they tend to share a common bond of doctrine, practice, and liturgy across the thousands of churches around the world. A Church of Christ website (I am not sure if it is THE Church of Christ website) gives an explanation for this characteristic with the following statement:

We are undenominational and have no central headquarters or president. The head of the church is none other than Jesus Christ himself (Ephesians 1:22-23). Each congregation of the churches of Christ is autonomous, and it is the Word of God that unites us into One Faith (Ephesians 4:3-6). We follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and his holy Apostles, and not the teachings of man. We are Christians only!

Those groups that did not merge with the Stone, O’Kelly, and Campbell groups, merged with the Congregational Church, Evangelical, and Reformed church and then eventually emerged as the denomination known as the United Church of Christ (UCC) in 1957. The UCC recounts their history as follows:

The United Church of Christ came into being in 1957 with the union of two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. Each of these was, in turn, the result of a union of two earlier traditions.
The Congregational Churches were organized when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation (1620) and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629) acknowledged their essential unity in the Cambridge Platform of 1648.
The Reformed Church in the United States traced its beginnings to congregations of German settlers in Pennsylvania founded from 1725 on. Later, its ranks were swelled by Reformed immigrants from Switzerland, Hungary and other countries.
The Christian Churches sprang up in the late 1700s and early 1800s in reaction to the theological and organizational rigidity of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist churches of the time.
The Evangelical Synod of North America traced its beginnings to an association of German Evangelical pastors in Missouri. This association, founded in 1841, reflected the 1817 union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in Germany.

The UCC is considered by many to be the most liberal of all Christian denominations today. The most famous of UCC current events is the Reverand Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Southside Chicago. He repeatedly preached tirades against the evils of all white people, and the evils of the United States in particular. Wright considered the attacks of 9/11 to be some sort of righteous punishment on an evil nation, “The chickens have come home to roost” is a direct quote from a sermon given only 5 days after the horrific loss of life. His fanatical racist preaching of this UCC minister would have gone largely unnoticed were he not the pastor for 20 years to a man named Barrack Hussein Obama who would eventually be elected the 44th President of the United States. Barrack Obama distanced himself from the preacher and left the Chicago church only after the racist doctrine of his church was exposed by the mainstream media - Wright and Obama Controversy.

The Church of Christ is not to be confused with the “International Church of Christ” (ICC or ICOC) which, as of 1993, is the new name for the “Boston Church of Christ” disciples movement. The Boston Church of Christ was founded by Kip Mckean of the Crossroads Church of Christ movement in 1967, itself an offshoot of the mainline Church of Christ. Unlike the mainline Churches of Christ who do not have a “headquarters” per se, The ICC has a main HQ location in Los Angeles called the Los Angeles International Church of Christ. The ICC Disciples church takes the anti-denominationalism of the early Church of Christ a step further, actually referring to the denominations as “sin”. There is a very rigid and strict observance of McKean’s discipleship programs which borders on hyper-control and legalism. The ICC believes in Baptism by immersion for salvation, a tenant of faith that has been rejected by mainline Churches of Christ. However, aside from these somewhat unorthodox beliefs and practices, the ICC adheres to the essentials of the Christian faith that would call for its inclusion in the pale of orthodoxy.The ICC is considered by many in orthodox Christianity (including some mainline Church of Christ leaders) to be a cult, others like the website CARM.org, simply consider it to be orthodox in doctrine but problematic in its control over its believers and its belief to be the one true restored church (cultic in behavior). I tend to agree with carm.org regarding the International Church of Christ.

Founded upon the “camp meeting” style preaching of Charles G. Finney in 1867, this was a Methodist “revival” to return to the Wesleyan sanctification process of “holiness” or “love”. It was comprised mostly of groups of believers that rallied around holy living, scorning the pleasures of the world that might render a believer as “unholy”: smoking, drinking, theater, etc. The Holiness churches soon became an entity unto themselves, moving beyond the “Methodist Movement” by which they had previously been defined. They were (and still are) Arminianist in theology, rejecting the predestination position of Calvinists altogether and were great proponents of abolition, anti-slavery, and equal rights for women issues.
Many great denominations came from this movement: Salvation Army, Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist Church, Church of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and at the turn of the 20th century, pentecostalism. Contrary to popular myth Holiness Churches are still in operation today and tend to be more traditional evangelical in doctrine and liturgy and are not “Pentecostal” in practice. c.f. Pentecostal-Holiness churches.

Birthed by the teachings of a Deist turned Baptist preacher named William Miller who began in 1831 to declare that the second coming of Christ (The Advent) would occur sometime between 1843 and 1844. He was soon joined by many congregants of the “Christian Connection” (Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian groups that were the early forerunners of the Church of Christ) and when, after the false prediction of the “advent” bombed, William Miller faded into obscurity and his followers, called “Millerites” shrank to only a few followers. In 1844, a woman named Rachel Oakes Preston introduced the idea of the Saturday Sabbath observance or the “Seventh Day”. This was quickly accepted by the small group that included James and Ellen White. An alliance was formed with other disillusioned “Millerite” groups in the region and in 1860 this sparse group settled on the name “Seventh-day Adventist”. In 1863, the movement became an official organization.

Founded in London by a Methodist street preacher named William Booth in 1865. Booth was dissatisfied with what he felt was an all too traditional approach to evangelism and he set out to form a group of evangelical street preachers with a focus to bring the poor, thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and drunkards to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He preached hope and salvation with an intent to connect them with a church where they could be discipled. A printer called his growing group a “volunteer army”. When Booth saw this in print, he crossed out “volunteer” and replaced it with “salvation”. This group is theologically akin to the Arminianist Methodist movement of the day. It has grown to a worldwide membership and has become most well known for charitable work

Discovered by AB Simpson in 1887 (conflicting reports). Simpson became a Presbyterian minister in 1873 and after several years in Louisville and New York, he left the Presbyterian Denomination and began preaching what he called the “Fourfold Gospel” which is the codification of Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, Coming King. This Fourfold Gospel was adopted by the Assemblies of God and then was used as a cornerstone to the founding of the Foursquare Gospel Pentecostal movement a couple decades later. Simpson had a significant influence on the Pentecostal movement but after Simpson’s death in 1919, the movement dissociated itself largely from Pentecostalism and the doctrine of speaking in tongues as proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Christian and Missionary Alliance movement would not “officially” become a denomination until 1974, but as with most major movements, by virtue of the membership and number of worldwide churches, they would have been considered a denomination long before they considered themselves one. CandMA has a strong emphasis on Global evangelism that dates all the way back to Simpson’s outreach to the African Congo in the late 19th century.
Whereas they are no longer considered “pentecostal” they are considered a solid evangelical denomination adhering to the essentials of the Christian faith with an emphasis on living it out daily.

Perhaps the most well known CandMA preacher was A.W. Tozer who was both an author and Christian theologian. His books “Knowledge of the Holy” and “The Pursuit of God” are still incredibly influential and even instrumental in Christian discipleship across most denominations.

Birthed from the Holiness Movement as a merger of 7 Holiness and/or Pentecostal denominations in 1907-08: the Central Evangelical Holiness Association (New England), the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America (Middle Atlantic States), New Testament Church of Christ (South), Independent Holiness Church (Southwest), the Church of the Nazarene (West Coast), the Pentecostal Church of Scotland, and the Pentecostal Mission (Southeast).

It was founded primarily by a Methodist minister named Phineas F. Bresee, who pastored a “Nazarene” church in 1895 and Pentecostal Missions leader Hirum F. Reynolds. The theology of this Nazarene offshoot from The Holiness Movement greatly resembled, and still resembles, Wesleyan Methodist theology in that it is Arminian in regards to man’s free will and salvation and that Sanctification is a separate event from justification. The Church of the Nazarene position on sanctification is a bit peculiar compared to many Christian denominations in that sanctification is believed it to be, although separate, a one-time event and not necessarily a process.

The Pentecostal influence still remains with the liturgy of this denomination in the form of anointing with oil, laying on of hands for healing, and other practices of the gifts, However, the gift of tongues is not necessarily practiced in the vast majority of Nazarene churches. In fact, they are most often said to resemble a Methodist liturgy more than anything else.

One of the most famous members of the Church of the Nazarene is a radio minister named Dr Charles Dobson. He conducts a conservative Christian radio program called “Focus on The Family”. and is regarded as a sound leader of the church on the whole regarding matters of the family and possesses inter-denominational influence and respect within the Christian Community.

There could be a denominational family tree just for the Church of God alone that would nearly rival the size of the entire Christian Denominations tree. There is a Church of God founded in Tennessee, A splinter Church of God (Jerusalem Acres) a splinter from that splinter called the Church of God for All Nations. There is a branch called Church of God prophecy and a splinter from that group called Church of God with Signs Following. There is a related denomination called the Church of God in Christ or COGIC and an unrelated Church of God that is non-pentecostal and headquartered in Anderson, IN. I will keep the differentiations brief of the major 3: Church of God (Cleveland, TN), Church of God in Christ, and the Indiana-based Church of God.

Founded in Anderson, IN in 1881 by Daniel S. Warner and others who sought to do away with denominational hierarchies and formal creeds. In government, this Church of God is primarily congregational and Wesleyan-influenced in doctrine. It is an Arminian denomination with a devotion to the idea of holiness and sanctification of Methodism. Whereas the Church of God (Indiana) shares the same name as a few other Church of God denominations it is unrelated to, and does not share the Pentecostal practices of, either the Holiness birthed Church of God (Cleveland, TN), or the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ.

This Church of God denomination was founded in 1886 (oldest American Pentecostal denomination) in a small meeting house on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. As with other denominational beginnings, a small group opted to begin their own movement rather than reform the churches of which they were a part. They were birthed from the Holiness movement of the late 19th century This small group has grown to a worldwide membership of 6 million today.

Founded by a Baptist Preacher in Jackson, Mississippi, named Charles Harrison Mason in 1896. CH Mason, along with his closest companions, began to preach a dogmatic form of sanctification as an “event” and not a “process” as the historical Biblical Christian denominations had taught. In 1897, due to this sanctification teaching, Mason was shut off from the Baptist church and then organized his small groups in the Church of God. In that same year, Mason, basing his decision on IThessalonians 2:14 in the Bible, would officially change the name of his movement to Church of God in Christ to differentiate it from other churches at the time calling themselves Church of God.

Outside of the sanctification error, this denomination holds to Biblically-based belief structure. Today, this is a staunchly Pentecostal denomination that teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit will be evidenced by speaking in tongues.ll COGIC reports 5.2 million adherents, near doubling in the 25 years.

Although the central focus of COGIC was sanctification by the one-time outpuring of the Holy Spirit, Mason and COGIC were not pentecostal or charismatic in practice whatsoever. This would happen 10 years later when at a meeting in Los Angeles led by WJ Seymour in 1907, CH Mason would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues on a regular basis. Mason’s new-found pentecostalism did not bode well with his fellow COGIC leaders and there was an attempt to shut him out of the movement altogether. Mason called a meeting of all his leaders who believed in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the re-organized Pentecostal Denomination called Church Of God In Christ was born.

Pentecostal - A major outgrowth of the Holiness churches started with the Pentecostal teaching of Charles Parham as a result of an “outpouring of The Holy Spirit” whereby congregants began spontaneously speaking in tongues in 1901 at a church in Topeka, KS. From Charles Parham came a student by the name of William J Seymour who founded the Azusa Street Revival, another Pentecostal outpouring in 1906 at an old Faith Mission in Los Angeles, CA. Again, the congregation began speaking in tongues (a gift of the Holy Spirit to believers) spontaneously, resulting in a widespread revival of sorts.

A gathering of church delegates from independent churches, Association of Christian Assemblies, Church of God in Christ and in Unity with the Apostolic Faith Movement, met in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1914 to bring about greater organization and accountability to this new Pentecostal movement. Immediately, this young AG movement found itself confronted with the decision of whether or not to accept the heresy known as “modalism” (God is not Triune but One revealed as a different Person or ‘mode’ over time - OT times - Father, Early ministry of Jesus - He is no longer “Father” but “Son” to us all, at Pentecost - God is no longer known as son but is now to be related to as “Holy Spirit”). This “Oneness” theology is embraced even to this day by the Oneness Pentecostal cult.

Fortunately, the Assemblies of God in their infancy, were wise enough to reject this error and affirm the sound, Biblical doctrine of a Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - One God in three persons. Today, the Assemblies of God claim to have 2.8 million adherants across 12,300+ churches. There wasn’t a clear cut “founder” as this was a delegation of several churches. The first Chairman/ General Superintendent elected by the first AG council was a man named Eudorus N. Bell.

Officially founded in 1927 by Aimee Semple McPherson - Aimee Semple McPherson was raised by parents actively involved in the Salvation Army denomination. McPherson claimed to have been born again as the result of the preaching of her first husband Robert Semple. Little is known about Mr. Semple except that he was a Pentecostal preacher that died in 1910, leaving Aimee a widow. It is safe to say that at the time of her conversion (1907-1908), the prominent Pentecostal movement at the time was through Charles Parham, a Holiness Pentecostal preacher in Topeka, KS, whose methodology of preaching was in the manner of "tent revivals", the same manner of preaching adopted by Robert Semple and, eventually, his wife and ministry partner, Aimee Semple. Although Aimee was raised in the Salvation Army church, it was clearly the Robert Semple's discipleship and influence via the Holiness Pentecostal movement that shaped the early years of Aimee's Christian life and eventually the Foursquare Movement she would found.

Robert Semple died shortly after his marriage to Aimee, while on a short term mission to China. Aimee Semple McPherson returned to the U.S., remarried, and continued to travel and preach in tent revivals. She divorced her second husband, Harold McPherson, and in 1918, she settled in Los Angeles, again went on the revival tent preaching circuit for 5 years and returned to Los Angeles to build Angelus Temple. She then founded a radio station and established herself as the first woman to regularly preach the Gospel via mass communication. She also established L.I.F.E. Bible College to disciple Christians for a life of Ministry. LIFE Bible College is still the primary college of the Foursquare Denomination to this day.

The Foursquare Denomination is Pentecostal/Charismatic without the necessary dogma of other Pentecostal denominations like Assemblies of God, Church of God, etc. The Foursquare Gospel was not founded by Aimee Semple McPherson, she was just the founder of this denomination that calls itself by the Foursquare concept. The “Foursquare” Gospel is a derivative of AB Simpson’s “Fourfold Gospel” with the four pillars being:

• 1. Jesus Christ the Savior
• 2. Jesus Christ Baptizer in The Holy Spirit (‘Sanctifier’ in the “Fourfold” of Christian
••••• Missionary Alliance-a doctrine that often times resembled a one-time event like the
• ••••Pentecostal “Baptism of the Holy Spirit)
• 3. Jesus Christ the Healer
• 4. Jesus Christ the Soon Coming King

Many Pentecostal denominations had already adopted and preached this Foursquare derivative of Simpson’s “Fourfold” gospel, including the Assemblies of God, by the time that the Foursquare Movement had been made official in 1927. In the early days, this denomination was wrongly accused of being a “cult” due, partly, to its flamboyant founder, but mostly because of the charismatic theology and practice. It is, however, quite orthodox and Biblically centered with the majority of its congregations being charismatic in practice.

Today, there are a purported 30,000 Foursquare Churches with approximately 7 million members. This group carries a strong missions emphasis and a decidedly de-emphasis of uniform liturgy. The denomination is officially Pentecostal/Charismatic but the de-emphasis of set liturgy could mean that many Foursquare Churches are, like Calvary Chapel, Pentecostal in theology only but not in practice. This can be freeing for some congregations to worship in the manner they are accustomed to (i.e. non-charismatic, etc) but can be challenging for members of other Foursquare churches who are looking to worship in a charismatic church (tongues, prophecy, etc) but have no idea what to expect when entering a particular Foursquare church.

(Swedish/Danish Evangelical Free earliest preacher of note: Fred Edquist in 1882, American EFCA founded by merger in 1950)
Began with a 1950 merger between the Evangelical Free Church of America (Swedish) and the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Free Church Association. The Swedish group had its formal beginnings in Boone, Iowa, at a conference held in October of 1884. Although, there is historical evidence that a Swedish preacher named Fred Edquist began preaching in McKeesport, PA 2 years earlier and named his church the first Swedish Evangelical Free Church. Also in 1884, two Norwegian-Danish groups began to worship and fellowship together in Boston, Massachusetts and Tacoma, Washington. Ultimately, the Evangelical Free Church can trace its roots back to the Church of Sweden which is the state-recognized Reformed Church of Sweden. In the 18th and 19th centuries, strict religious regulation inhibited the free practice of religion by many and many of those that did not adhere to the Church of Sweden liturgy, immigrated to America and began to set up churches “free” of government control, as in the case of Fred Edquist.
As a result of the EVFCA’s direct lineage to the Reformed Church, they are decidedly “Calvinist” in their theology and adhere to Sola Scriptura, Salvation by Faith alone through Grace in Christ Alone.

Founded by Chuck Smith in 1965 in the midst of the “Jesus Movement” among the hippie culture of Costa Mesa, California. Chuck Smith and a small group of about 25 broke from the International Foursquare Gospel Denomination and began a ministry to hippies, surfers, and drug addicts. This small movement spread like wildfire and now the denomination has grown to over 1000 churches and counting. In government, this group is primarily a pastor-led congregation but often times a Calvary Chapel church will be more of an episcopal or presbyterian elder-led style of government. Whereas Calvary Chapel does not consider themselves to be a “denomination” i.e. they claim to be non-denominational, they accept the idea of other denominations but reject the over emphasis of denominational doctrine and practice.

They are a balanced blend of Calvinism and Arminianism theology (if such a thing could be possible) whereby they believe in a dual role of God’s sovereign choice of an individual for salvation, coupled with that individual’s free will acceptance of God’s offer. They fancy themselves directly in between fundamentalism (Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc) and pentecostalism (Assembly of God, Church of God, Foursquare etc). They adhere to sola scriptura and the inerrancy of the Bible while adhering to the fundamentals of the Christian faith: Trinity, Deity of Jesus, Salvation by Grace, etc just as fundamental evangelicals do. The difference is that Calvary Chapel believes in the perpetuity of the spiritual gifts (i.e. tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge etc) as a theological position, but they do not believe in practicing the gifts in their church services. It is this position that caused a friendly “split” by John Wimber and others who broke off from Calvary Chapel to form the Vineyard pentecostal denomination (formerly a ‘movement’)

WCA- seeker sensitive (Bill Hybels 1975) Researching the history of Willow Creek turned into the most difficult pursuit of information yet. Part of the problem is, the history of the Willow Creek Movement has been largely doctored on church historical sites and/or removed entirely from the Willow Creek website. In fact, of all the active denominations that I have researched for this site, Willow Creek is the only movement/denomination with absolutely no self-reported historical information. That is alarming to say the least.

This “movement” does not consider itself a denomination, however, its late-20th century philosophy and theology termed “seeker sensitive” has permeated many evangelical, pentecostal, and mainline Christian denominations today. It was founded in 1975 by a man named Bill Hybels who was a youth pastor at South Park Church, a non-denominational evangelical church in Park Ridge, IL. According to the South Park Church website, it began in the 1940s as a non-denominational church. However, historical archives of the Chicago Tribune report that there was a Congregational South Park Church in existence as early as 1890. It is safe to say that Bill Hybel’s church began in the early 20th century as a non-denominational offshoot from a Congregationalist and Friends background and still maintains an evangelical liturgy to this day.

In 1975, Hybels and a friend joined together to form a church that would reach out to the “irreligious” by making their church as “irreligious” as they could. Crosses were removed, talk of the atoning blood of Christ, the fallen sinful nature of man and his subsequent need for repentance were also removed and were replaced with pop culture reference and entertainment and state-of-the-art media presentation. They also shortened sermons to 20-30 minutes and praise and worship was reduced to performing bands for 10-15 minutes, all to accommodate that “irreligious” soul with an attention span problem. Biblical terms like “altar” and “sanctuary” are replaced with entertainment cultural terms like “stage” and “auditorium”. The liturgy resembles more of a entertainment variety show than a Christian gathering of corporate worship. The common The term used for this approach in reaching the irreligious or “seeker” is called a seeker sensitive approach. However, this approach has taken on certain negative connotations in recent years and the term for this approach has been changed internally to “culturally relevant church”

This irreligious approach worked in drawing in the numbers and church attendance grew. Today, according to an article on sermoncentral.com listing the top 100 largest churches, the largest church in America is a Pentecostal seeker sensitive church called Lakewood Church at 43,500 visitors per week. Lakewood is followed at a distant second by a Baptist seeker sensitive church called Second Baptist Church with 23,500+ attendees and third by a church called Northpoint Community Church, founded by Andy Stanley, the son of Charles Stanley, a prominent mainstream Southern Baptist Pastor. Willow Creek, founded by Bill Hybels comes in at number four with a weekly attendance of 22,500 but in 2008, according to an article on Willow Creek Shifting Focus, Christianity Today reports that Willow Creek has, through the same straw polls that founded its irreligious approach, recognized the deficiency of the seeker sensitive doctrine in bringing about real fulfilling discipleship and “closeness to Christ” and has begun to move away from the irreligious appeal to offering Bible and theology courses during its mid-week services.
Cultural Relevance = Spiritual Irrelevance

Pentecostal (Gullickson 1974, Wimber 1982)Founded by Kenn Gullickson in 1974 as a group of small churches and bible study groups affiliated with Calvary Chapel.
These groups existed in practical anonymity until 1982, when a charismatic seminary professor, Calvary Chapel Pastor, and former professional musician named John Wimber, came to experience the gifts of the Spirit (prophecy, speaking in tongues, word of knowledge, etc) in reality and not just doctrinally. This brought about a new emphasis from Wimber on the day to day use of the gifts in the Christian life which was unacceptable to Chuck Smith, the leader of Calvary Chapel. In Chuck Smith's words, the disagreement was an amicable one and the two "agreed to disagree" and, in 1982, Wimber removed himself and his Yorba Linda congregation from the Calvary Chapel fold.

What began as a few small groups under Gullickson quickly became a nationwide movement and denomination under Wimber.
The denomination has since experienced mixed responses from the rest of Christianity mainly as a result of its affiliation with controversial movements and figures such the Kansas City Prophets and the embarrassing "Laughter in The Spirit" fad of the early '90s. Both of which claimed to be the "great revivals" but in truth, fizzled out with little to no impact whatsoever on their communities, thus negating any possible comparison to true Christian revivals like the first or second "Great Awakenings", or the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in the early 20th century. 

Because of Vineyard's association with these events, many came to mistrust what was formerly a very trustworthy movement. This caused a number of Vineyard churches to openly declare their disassociation with the "Laughter" craze and the Toronto Airport Vineyard in particular.

Shortly after this, in 1997, John Wimber passed away and left behind a legacy of successful Christian churches and a denomination, that for the most part, is consistently and properly balanced between evangelicalism and pentecostalism. He also left behind a collection of Spirit-inspired worship music that has blessed the worship lives of many Christians: Catholic and Protestant alike.

Today the Vineyard denomination has over 1500 congregations worlwide and over 550 in the US alone.

Listed below, are a few of the more widely known Christian organizations that work among the different denominations (interdenominational) but are not denominations themselves. Because they have grown to such a large size of volunteer workers and ministries that are reaching millions of people, they have been referred to as “para-church” or “church-like” organizations. In reality, they are all more than "church like" but are simply part of the Christian church on the whole. However, they do not profess to belong to any particular denomination, but often times belong to churches of various denominations within their communities.

Started by Loren Cunningham in 1960 as a Christian missions organization for youth. Cunningham had a vision in 1956 while in the Bahamas, where he saw “waves crashing on the shores of the continents, completely covering them up...” The waves in the vision became young people preaching to the lost outside bars, on the streets, etc.

Cunningham then shared his vision with his denomination (Assemblies of God) and they kindly offered to “pray about Loren’s vision” . They returned to him a short time later to claim that Loren’s vision “was not from God”. Cunningham disagreed with their findings and pursued the vision, knowing that it was from God. He began to establish small inter-denominational bases that mobilized young Christians for short term missions. The YWAM movement flourished and by the year 2000, there were 11,000 staff missionaries in/from over 130 countries.

Whereas YWAM is inter-denominational, it is widely regarded from within and from outside the movement as pentecostal. This can be attributed to its Assembly of God roots. There are no “YWAM” churches as the volunteer staff at the various bases, seek out appropriate home churches in their communities of which to be a part.

As a post script: the Assemblies of God, seeing the success of the YWAM movement, attempted their own version of a “youth driven missions and service movement” called “Masters Commission”. With this, its safe to say the Assemblies of God have “reconsidered” their response to Cunningham’s vision from God although they have never publicly admitted it.

Founded by Bill Bright in 1951 on the campus of UCLA as an evangelical outreach to students on college campuses across America. Bright was a recently born again Presbyterian and the evangelical views of Campus Crusade for Christ still reflect Reformist theology.

“CCC” is a sound Christian organization adhering to the primary fundamentals of the Christian faith. The organization came under criticism from atheist groups and others after many cults imitated the approach taken by Campus Crusade.

Bill Bright was a driving force behind CCC and in 1956, he penned the Four Spiritual Laws which provided an easy condensed codification of the Biblical view of Christian salvation.
There are hundreds of thousands of tracts and brochures that are distributed throughout the world that reference the “Four Laws”.

Bright also commissioned the JESUS film in 1979 which documented the life of Jesus according to the Bible which was a departure from the movies about Jesus life that were told from a liberal perspective. The JESUS documentary has, according to billbright.ccci.org, been viewed by over 5 billion people in 234 different countries. According to this same source, Campus Crusade for Christ, as of July, 2003, serves in 191 countries with a staff of 26,000 full time employees and 225000 volunteers.

Worldwide Missions organization with an emphasis on material support for third world families.