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Faith1960
Guest
I’ve read that there are over 20,000 Christian denominations. Does this mean 20,000 DIFFERENT denominations or does it include the x number of Baptist, x number of UCC etc.?
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JRKH
Guest
Actually around here I’ve heard numbers of 33,000 and more.
However these numbers are somewhat suspect in that Chruches in different countries were couned seperately, for instance the Roman Catholic Church wasn’t counted once for the world, but rather counted once for each country that it functions in.
So I would say that it is including the x numbers you suggest above.
That being said, since many of these churches have no central, authoritative, body to hold them together doctrinally, they might just as well be counted individually.
Peace
James
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Soutane
Guest
There is only one Church as founded by Christ.The rest are Eclaisial groups founded by men.We often refer to Protestant bodies as churches out of civility and kindness but they are by no means "churches"as Christ instituted one Divine Church the Holy Catholic Church which is one ,catholic ,apostolic and holy.No other eclasial body can make that claim as they were founded by men, except for the Orthodox Church which is in temporary Schism
The fact that there are 36,000+variations of protestantism is a pretty good indicator that they are not guided by the Holy Spirit but by the the prejudices and lack of authority of mere men yet in some mysterious way they are still connected to Holy Mother Church which through various heresies they have denominated from.
After all Christ in His Passion prayed that we all might be ONE,which we are not.
The fact that there are 36,000+variations of protestantism is a pretty good indicator that they are not guided by the Holy Spirit but by the the prejudices and lack of authority of mere men yet in some mysterious way they are still connected to Holy Mother Church which through various heresies they have denominated from.
After all Christ in His Passion prayed that we all might be ONE,which we are not.
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Izdaari
Guest
WARNING: a very Protestant viewpoint follows – 
Well, this much is right: there is only one universal Church. All who follow Jesus Christ are members of it, regardless of which earthly ‘church club’ they belong to. There are Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox in it… and likewise, there are members of all three who aren’t in it, because being in a church doesn’t make you a Christian, just like being in a garage doesn’t make you a car.
Well, this much is right: there is only one universal Church. All who follow Jesus Christ are members of it, regardless of which earthly ‘church club’ they belong to. There are Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox in it… and likewise, there are members of all three who aren’t in it, because being in a church doesn’t make you a Christian, just like being in a garage doesn’t make you a car.
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JRKH
Guest
Point taken Izdaari, but remember the OP is not aout how many different churches but about how many different “Christian Denominations” there are.WARNING: a very Protestant viewpoint follows –
Well, this much is right: there is only one universal Church. All who follow Jesus Christ are members of it, regardless of which earthly ‘church club’ they belong to. There are Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox in it… and likewise, there are members of all three who aren’t in it, because being in a church doesn’t make you a Christian, just like being in a garage doesn’t make you a car.
Peace
James
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rtconstant
Guest
I’m not sure there has ever been an accurate count on denominations. As a rule a denomination would be any Christian or pseudo-christian organization that constitutes itself independently from other bodies. The reasons can range from the theological, governmental, political, and geographical. Some denominations have several centuries of history others only last a generation. In the end I think the only thing that can be said with 100% accuracy is that there are too many.
As an aside, “Baptist” really isn’t a denomination in and of itself it refers to a particular common point of origin for several denominations who while sharing the name can sometimes have very different theological, or political views.
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Hisalone
Guest
20,000 to 30,000 some have it as high as 43,000 just wait a few minutes and someone will claim 50,000 
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Publisher
Guest
For the most part, denominational differences center around very minor issues…church government…Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregationalist…or around IMO on minor teachings such as sprinkling verses pouring verses immersion…Mennonite, Mennonite Brethren, Brethren in Christ, Brethren…others differ with the focus of an experience or belief that grabbed a large group of people at the time it was expounded upon and it shaped their spiritual lives…Methodists, Salvation Army, Free Methodist, Nazarene, Alliance churches…or others like the Friends they chose to dispense with the outward forms which most Christian bodies accept as part of a historical record…Friends and the Salvation Army don’t perform rites or rituals…but each DID set themselves apart by the way they dress and the way each of us conducts our religious lives and worship.
In all of these…be they 100 or 100,000 each of these “denominations” are “man made”…they each formed as separate bodies because they were removed from their originating bodies by disipline…or decided to begin worshipping at different times to finally in different locations. Friends meetings separated between “non-programmed” and “programmed”.
In the majority view among Protestants the Catholic church…Orthodox church…Anglican church, are all “man made institutions” which formed along heirarchal lines and it’s own particular religious mythology…some “man made” groups separated along new scripture like the Mormons and Christian Scientists…or claimed because their particular “man made” organization was formed in the very early 2nd century under the ECF’s on through Constantine…and was the predominant form of Christianity in a particular city…namely Rome…took on very Roman governments and praxis…no matter their claim of divinely sanctioned back to Christ.
It’s wonderful to believe one is the “True Church”…but it doesn’t make it so…God’s True Church are made of those who live a Christian life and display a faith in Christ.
In all of these…be they 100 or 100,000 each of these “denominations” are “man made”…they each formed as separate bodies because they were removed from their originating bodies by disipline…or decided to begin worshipping at different times to finally in different locations. Friends meetings separated between “non-programmed” and “programmed”.
In the majority view among Protestants the Catholic church…Orthodox church…Anglican church, are all “man made institutions” which formed along heirarchal lines and it’s own particular religious mythology…some “man made” groups separated along new scripture like the Mormons and Christian Scientists…or claimed because their particular “man made” organization was formed in the very early 2nd century under the ECF’s on through Constantine…and was the predominant form of Christianity in a particular city…namely Rome…took on very Roman governments and praxis…no matter their claim of divinely sanctioned back to Christ.
It’s wonderful to believe one is the “True Church”…but it doesn’t make it so…God’s True Church are made of those who live a Christian life and display a faith in Christ.
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Soutane
Guest
Christ created one Church on the Rock which is Peter.There was no such thing as Protestant churches for the first 1500 years of Christendom and there is no way around that no matter how many verbal contortions one indulges in.Protestantism is a man made heresy founded by disobedient Catholic Priests and a disgruntled King.Period
Christ in His Passion prayed that we would all be "one"and due to human pride and hubris we are not.
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Publisher
Guest
I understand what you have stated is your belief. I disagree with it…the Catholic church is simply another man made organization which gained prominence as the dominant “flavor” of Christianity by the fourth century. It was one of the competing “flavors” of Christian thought which joined together under bishops who held similar beliefs and supressed all other “flavors”. It became the victor of the competing “denominations” in those first few centuries and manufactured a history to bolster it’s claims.
Critical scholars today are “revisiting” that history with the archeological discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries and now realize that Christianity in the first few centuries was even more diverse in belief than today.
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Gerry_Hunter
Guest
Well, critics they certainly are.
We must beware of the classic seminar room error, that being to assume that factors that govern today also governed in the past.
What seems to be missed is that in “the first few centuries,” things were, as it were, being sorted out. The Deopsit of Faith was in place, but the process of exploring and interpreting it had just begun. However, the same authoritative faculty and its structure that are still with us today, the Magisterium of the Church, then as now, determined what, among the choices, was the proper interpretation - if indeed an interpretation on the questioj was appropriate.
Many important things were being sorted out. What were the implications of the Holy Trinity? Of the real presence in the Holy Eucharist? And so on. (Matters of discipline and administration were being seen to as well, but those were not only separate issues, but issues of a different nature.)
The fundamental (and overlooked) difference is that today many Christians, separated from full communion with the hurch, have gone their own ways and varied many things to suit their own agendas. For example, some auhorize marriage after divorce, or condone murder in the form of abortion. Comparing the “diversity” of today with the diversity of the early Church without recognizing their differing bases is a misleading exercise.
Blessings,
Gerry
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Publisher
Guest
Up until the 19th century the accepted church histories of Eusebius and Tertullian were accepted out of hand. A 19th century German scholar…don’t remember his name…wrote several books outlining the inconsistancies of these histories.
The “deposit of faith” was worked out over centuries by those who came to call themselves “orthodox”…these ‘proto-orthodox’ believers consolidated against the competing versions of Christianity. There was no “deposit of faith” which reflected only “orthodox” teachings…“orthodoxy” was a development in the second century when those bishops began consolidating and joining together with their “version” of Christianity to gain dominance over the other groups of the people called Christians.
While I understand that for most Catholics an “approved” church history is to be accepted…for me a brief history outlined in “Lost Christianities” by Bart Erhman is much more believable than the pious history of Eusebius or Ireanaes.
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Gerry_Hunter
Guest
Inconsistencies do not invalidate records in history. Indeed, they are not at all unexpected. Much of the problem arises when people assume that what we do today in that regard is what was, or shoulod havce been done back then.
The Deposit of Faith was given into the care of the Church by her founder and his apostles. Anything “worked out over the centuries” and given the same name is a different entity altogether. No Catholic will ever countenance the assertion that there was no Deposit of Faith. To insist they do so is to be belligerently provocative.
Of course you do! It’s a work written by a man steeped in anti-Catholic tradition. That no more makes it right than the piety of Eusebius or Ireanaes makes theirs wrong. Amazing, though, how a man who lived and wrote centuries after those authors can be more accurate about writing about the events they set down. What dis he use: tarot cards? ouija board? crystal ball?
Catholics have seen plenty of histories concocted to undermine the Church, and are impressed by none of them.
Blessings,
Gerry
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Nicea325
Guest
Sorry,but that is being extremely ignorant of history. If you put all of your marbles on one source,then that is very subjective. Second of all,why one earth would anyone take the word of a man 2,000 years separated from Christ and the Apostles? I prefer to listen to the very men who lived much closer to the Apostles.
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roveau
Guest
Can we all at least agree that we’ve wandered off the topic?
Obviously the number 20,000 was dreamed up to make some point. In my life I’ve heard about maybe 40 or 50 denominations. Of course there are more - perhaps a couple of thousand if you include minor splits.
Who’d like to start making a list?
Obviously the number 20,000 was dreamed up to make some point. In my life I’ve heard about maybe 40 or 50 denominations. Of course there are more - perhaps a couple of thousand if you include minor splits.
Who’d like to start making a list?
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Publisher
Guest
I don’t “take the word of a man”…I have read many other books in my 50 some odd years that confirm the position of Bart Erhman…oh not in every detail…he is one of the most recent and “easy” to understand historians concerning the first centuries of Christianity. It is a far more believeable history than the “official” history of the church…much like the “real” history of the LDS/RLDS does not match up to the volumes of “History of the Church” they wish to present to the faithful and the world at large…the historical conflicts are too great…they present a “sanitized pious history” much like the ECF’s did.Sorry,but that is being extremely ignorant of history. If you put all of your marbles on one source,then that is very subjective. Second of all,why one earth would anyone take the word of a man 2,000 years separated from Christ and the Apostles? I prefer to listen to the very men who lived much closer to the Apostles.
Eusebius and Tertullian and Ireanaeus etc all had “proto-orthodox” agendas…they had to “win” the dominant position of the various Christian sects of the first few centuries and they did with speed and a ruthlessness to stamp out all competing “flavors” of Christianity.
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PJM
Guest
I have no idea what the REAL number is?
What I do know are two things are certain.
The number is caused more than anything else by everyone being “permitted” there own understanding of what the bible is saying and means. This is S.S. … Sad and silly!
The second thing I know is that Jesus Christ wanted ONLY ONE CHURCH; ONE FAITH and that is exactly what He founded. [By the way…He’s God!]
John 10:16 “And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.”
**Eph. 2:19 **So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, SINGULAR] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; SINGULAR] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
**Eph. 4: 4 **“There is one body ONLY One Church] and one Spirit, One heart and One mind] just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, [One Triune Triune God] one faith, [One set of doctrine and dogma and Tradition[/COLOR]] one baptism, By water in the Trinity] 6 one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift”
The key WORD here is “ONE”
God’s continued Blessings friends,
U
ufamtobie
Guest
WARNING: a very Protestant viewpoint follows –
Izdarri,
Being on Noahs Arc meant those who were on it were the only one saved, I’m sure that may other people in the days of Noah when the flood came had their tiny boats, but they all sank.
So yes it does matter what “club” one belongs to, because no body wants to sink. Amen
Ufamtobie
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