Baptist Churches Turning Non-Denominational?

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Tonks40

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Hi y’all!

I was talking to one of my girlfriends the other night, and we were talking about how her husband is Baptist. Which is fine and dandy for her, but she told me when she found out from her husband before they got married, she said to him, “Oh, good! Coz our church is actually a Baptist church!” She’s a member a church that labels themselves “non-denominational” - and despite the fact that their pastor went to a Baptist college for his studies, it kinda came as a surprise to me.

Are non-denominational churches actually Baptist churches in disguise??? :confused:
 
Why be part of a denomination when all you need is God and His Word? This logic is derived from Sola Scriptura.
 
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Tonks40:
Hi y’all!

I was talking to one of my girlfriends the other night, and we were talking about how her husband is Baptist. Which is fine and dandy for her, but she told me when she found out from her husband before they got married, she said to him, “Oh, good! Coz our church is actually a Baptist church!” She’s a member a church that labels themselves “non-denominational” - and despite the fact that their pastor went to a Baptist college for his studies, it kinda came as a surprise to me.

Are non-denominational churches actually Baptist churches in disguise??? :confused:
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Press any non-denominational Christian long enough and they will admit that they are Baptist.

It is funny to say, but all non-denominational Christians I know, when questioned about thier beliefs, are full blooded Baptists.

So I guess we could say that “non-denominational” is actually the denomination of “non-denominational”. Ironic.

Adam
 
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Tonks40:
Hi y’all!
Are non-denominational churches actually Baptist churches in disguise??? :confused:
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About 3/4 are. The rest are Asemblies of God in disguise. A of G are pentecostal without all the holiness rules (no makeup, no jewelry).
 
Yes, non-denominational simply means an denomination unto itself. The theology is based upon the pastor alone, though as other people pointed out it is typically Baptist with a small dose of charismatic thrown in.

Most non-denominational churches proclaim “no creed but Christ,” without realizing that is a creed.
 
Alot of Baptist churches are leaving the official Baptist Convention because the Southern Baptist convention has lately taken on some crazy ideas. Like banning Disney, or Teletubbies, or the Harry Potter books.

One church I went to for a long time was SB during the ‘disney’ ban. He got up and preached that first of all a ban on disney isn’t going to do much good. And second, banning disney means banning all of disney, ABC, Disney movies, disney products, etc… Most people were just chanting “ban disney” and the only way they were actually doing that was to not go to disney world that year. That wouldn’t do any good.

And then the whole harry potter thing is a bit overdone.
The SB recently has made everything a spiritual battle and I don’t think everything is.
That and it blatantly supports the Republican party, which I won’t argue for or against here, but because so many pastors were supporting Bush from the pulpit church member left to find less political denoms.

That’s just my experience.
 
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Tonks40:
Hi y’all!

I was talking to one of my girlfriends the other night, and we were talking about how her husband is Baptist. Which is fine and dandy for her, but she told me when she found out from her husband before they got married, she said to him, “Oh, good! Coz our church is actually a Baptist church!” She’s a member a church that labels themselves “non-denominational” - and despite the fact that their pastor went to a Baptist college for his studies, it kinda came as a surprise to me.

Are non-denominational churches actually Baptist churches in disguise??? :confused:
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Thats the feeling I have my daughter is now going to a ND church and is Baptist,I went to a service there and I meet a lot of people that I knew and most where Baptist. The preach was also a Baptist from another Baptist church
 
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Psalm89:
Yes, non-denominational simply means an denomination unto itself. The theology is based upon the pastor alone, though as other people pointed out it is typically Baptist with a small dose of charismatic thrown in.

Most non-denominational churches proclaim “no creed but Christ,” without realizing that is a creed.
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“Each congregation is a denomination unto itself” is really the best way to put it. Some are really charismatic, some are anti-charismatic. Some preach topical sermons, some preach expository sermons (like my dad does, preaching through a book of the bible, one passage, verse, or word at a time.) Some are seeker-sensitive (sunday service made less offensive to non-christians) some are not. You could go on and on about their distinctives.

There are many kinds of baptists as well. An adherance to some definition of sola scriptura and sola fide and “believer’s baptism” would be, in my opinion, the tie that binds baptists and most non-denoms.
 
Some Baptists are offended by other Baptists dropping the “baptist” label. They associate the name with the great sacrifices earlier Baptists made under great persecution, and consider it a sellout to drop the name.

I wouldn’t call the name change deceptive, so long as the church’s doctrinal position was easily available to anyone who wanted to know it. If the church belonged to a denomination, I certainly think that the fact should be immediately displayed so that anyone giving money knows what they are supporting.

Charismatic churces tend to be baptistic, but neither they nor the Baptists would want to call them “Baptist.” My experience makes me think that most nondenoms are charismatic.
 
Most non-denominational mega churches belong to a denomination called Willow Creek! 😃
 
Baptists are NOT expanding in numbers (in the US anyway).

They are now fewer then 10 Million Southern Baptists in the US.

They are leaving off the name “BAPTIST” from churches to keep from scaring off newbies.

Click here and then here and of course here too.

I am an EX-Baptist PRAISE GOD!

Now I am a BORN AGAIN CATHOLIC! HALELUYA! AMEN Brothers and Sisters! I saw the light and followed the Christ home to His visible body on earth, His Catholic Church established by Him on Pentecost in 33 A.D.

JMJ
 
There’s always a lot of confusion on this board about what a “denomination” is. A “denomination” usually refers to an organized group of local churches that have some kind of centralized structure. Baptists tend to fight shy of that kind of thing. So many Baptists can honestly claim to be “non-denominational”–indeed in a sense this kind of “non-denominationalism” is central to Baptist tradition, and many Baptists claim that the Southern Baptist leadership has betrayed its own heritage by trying to establish a more centralized structure.

But I admit that there is more to “non-denominationalism” than this. It usually involves the idea that one can somehow free oneself from tradition and go straight to the Bible (an idea that many of you mistakenly think is central to historic Protestantism). And for many, that means that they don’t even want to call themselves “Baptists,” because that implies that they are tied to some particular tradition rather than simply to the Bible.

Furthermore, as bauerice noted, a substantial number of non-denominational churches are Pentecostal or charismatic. *Not *“Assemblies of God in disguise”–Assemblies of God are a particular Pentecostal denomination. And you can find “non-denominational” churches with all sorts of beliefs. The majority look a lot like Baptists, because non-denominationalism springs from the same cultural and theological roots that have caused Baptists to flourish in the U.S. But it’s unsafe to generalize. Certainly there’s no “disguise” about it–there’s a very sincere (though delusive and deluding) belief that calling oneself by the name of any particular tradition is limiting and somehow makes one less than “just Christian.”

Edwin
 
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Contarini:
There’s always a lot of confusion on this board about what a “denomination” is. A “denomination” usually refers to an organized group of local churches that have some kind of centralized structure. Baptists tend to fight shy of that kind of thing. So many Baptists can honestly claim to be “non-denominational”–indeed in a sense this kind of “non-denominationalism” is central to Baptist tradition, and many Baptists claim that the Southern Baptist leadership has betrayed its own heritage by trying to establish a more centralized structure.

But I admit that there is more to “non-denominationalism” than this. It usually involves the idea that one can somehow free oneself from tradition and go straight to the Bible (an idea that many of you mistakenly think is central to historic Protestantism). And for many, that means that they don’t even want to call themselves “Baptists,” because that implies that they are tied to some particular tradition rather than simply to the Bible.

Furthermore, as bauerice noted, a substantial number of non-denominational churches are Pentecostal or charismatic. *Not *“Assemblies of God in disguise”–Assemblies of God are a particular Pentecostal denomination. And you can find “non-denominational” churches with all sorts of beliefs. The majority look a lot like Baptists, because non-denominationalism springs from the same cultural and theological roots that have caused Baptists to flourish in the U.S. But it’s unsafe to generalize. Certainly there’s no “disguise” about it–there’s a very sincere (though delusive and deluding) belief that calling oneself by the name of any particular tradition is limiting and somehow makes one less than “just Christian.”

Edwin
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I liked what you said, Edwin.

I can understand why “non-denominational” denominations like to disassociate themselves from a particular Christian faith tradition - to make their churches appear open to anyone no matter what their own faith background brings to the church - just as long as they come to follow Christ.

But what it comes down to, the nitty-gritty, is that they don’t have a solid dogma of beliefs - I just get the sense that “anything goes” with them. And a lot of it comes from the Baptist/Pentacostal tradition - try as they might to reject it. There seems to be no denying of that (my girlfriend literally spelled it out for me), and THAT to me is deceptive. 😦

That’s just how I see it.
 
I’ve known people that go to “Non-denominational” churches and say, “You could go too, they are non-denomination-all denominations are welcome!”

Well folks, I belong to the original “non-denominational”-the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ Himself. So, no thanks! 👍
 
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ComradeAndrei:
I’ve known people that go to “Non-denominational” churches and say, “You could go too, they are non-denomination-all denominations are welcome!”

Well folks, I belong to the original “non-denominational”-the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Christ Himself. So, no thanks! 👍
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No no, you are welcome just so long as you are Protestant. Ever try and go into a non denominational church and say that sola scriptura is not scriptural?

I have also found that people in non-denominational churchs tend to just “church hop” until they find one that fits thier personal interpretation of the Bible. But I guess that is okay in Protestant circles.

Adam
 
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Unfinished:
No no, you are welcome just so long as you are Protestant. Ever try and go into a non denominational church and say that sola scriptura is not scriptural?

I have also found that people in non-denominational churchs tend to just “church hop” until they find one that fits thier personal interpretation of the Bible. But I guess that is okay in Protestant circles.

Adam
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I have a friend who is Church of Christ (and inquiring about Catholicism–I answer his questions and let him read my books) and his mother has led his family into a couple different churches over the last few years. They were Baptist for a while, if I’m not mistaken. Then they became Pentacostal–because his mother “felt that’s where (they) needed to be.” Then, following her feelings again, went to CoC. She can’t figure out why a church that professes “Speaks where the Bible speaks and silent where the Bible is silent” doesn’t annoint the sick, as Jesus commanded, or require women to wear headcoverings. But the people at this church are convinced that they are the NT church.

-ACEGC
 
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Tonks40:
Hi y’all!

I was talking to one of my girlfriends the other night, and we were talking about how her husband is Baptist. Which is fine and dandy for her, but she told me when she found out from her husband before they got married, she said to him, “Oh, good! Coz our church is actually a Baptist church!” She’s a member a church that labels themselves “non-denominational” - and despite the fact that their pastor went to a Baptist college for his studies, it kinda came as a surprise to me.

Are non-denominational churches actually Baptist churches in disguise??? :confused:
Click to expand...
My parents go to a “non-denominational” church which is a branch from a baptist church. So I’m not sure but there seems to be a pattern.
 
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