I am a convert to Catholicism from evangelical Protestantism.
I think that you should be really skeptical of the claim that there are 33,000 Protestant denominations.
The question is, What defines a “denomination”?
When my husband did some research on this question, he discovered that the person who claimed that there are 33,000 denominations had a loosey-goosey definition that defined “denomination” using national boundaries as one of the main criteria.
I don’t hear too many Catholics mention this disturbing little fact (because it would weaken their argument), but the gentleman not only came up with 33,000 Protestant denominations, he ALSO came up with a large number of CATHOLIC denominations (243? We can’t remember the exact number). Upon examining his criteria, it was apparent that he considered each Catholic church in each NATION a separate Catholic “denomination”.
Of course, by this reasoning, the number of denominations in any religion will be hugely inflated.
And this rather dicey use of statistics really causes us to question the validity of any of his conclusions. It is so easy to twist statistics and make them say whatever you want them to say. It would be interesting to study what other criteria he used to define “denomination.” E.g., how about churches in different states? Or churches who use a different Confession or Catechism? Or which translation of the Bible is used in the worship services, or which version of the hymnal? Or practices in each church; e.g., those who require abstainence from alcohol and those who do not require this. If you add any of these criteria to the definition of “denomination,” you increase greatly the number of denominations.
I would also ask you to think about this question–“What USE is it to know the exact number of denominations?”
The Lord Jesus founded ONE Church, and in His prayer (John 17), He prayed that His followers would be ONE. Clearly, then, if there are just two denominations, that is out of God’s will. If there are a hundred denominations, that is out of God’s will.
So the exact number doesn’t matter. What matters is the lack of unity. That’s the issue at stake, not the exact number.
Within the Catholic Church, there are a number of RITES (22?). But they are all united under the Pope, the Vicar of Rome. So it is possible for Christians to have cultural and national diversity but still have unity.
Here’s my take on your question–rather than trying to get an exact list of denominations, it is much more useful practically to try to come up with general “categories” of Protestantism. Almost all of the denominations will fall into one of those categories.
Here’s my list of categories:
Mainline–the older Protestant denoms, e.g., Lutheran, Calvinist (Reformed and Presbyterian), United Church of Christ, Methodist, etc.
Evangelical–emphasis on evangelism. This is a huge group encompassing many Protestant denom. For a complete list of denominations that consider themselves “evangelical,” see the website of the National Association of Evangelicals. Baptist is one of the main denominations in this group.
Fundamentalist–accept the Five Fundamentals. Tend to be separatists (stay away from all the other Christians).
Pentecostal–came into existence after the Azusa Street Revival in the early 20th Century. Essential part of doctrine is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues.
Other–Quakers, etc.
Non-denominational–not one of the groups of above, but contain bits and pieces of these denoms.
Ethnic Christian churches e.g., the various African American denoms. Contain bits and pieces of other denoms.
Non-Christian sects that resemble Christianity–LDS, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, etc. These sects deny that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
I admit that my categories are very sparse. You can find better classification systems all over the internet. These systems are very useful, because you can then get a handle on almost any Protestant group and have a basic idea of what their basic teachings are.
One more thing to think about–rather than trying to find out all the issues that divide Protestants, it is much more useful and constructive to study the doctrines and beliefs that they hold in common. There is another thread on this topic, and I posted my answer to this question there. Yes, Protestants are divided, but not nearly as divided as some Catholics seem to think they are. It simply isn’t accurate to say that Protestants are “divided” in such a way as to be counter-productive to the Kingdom of Christ. Many Protestant denoms work alongside of each other and freely move back and forth for social and service reasons.
The differences between some Protestant denoms are often trivial; e.g., in the Christian churches (Campbellites), there is one denom that uses instruments in their worship music, and another group that believes that the use of instruments is not allowed in the church. For this reason, because of two different “practices,” these two groups are different “denominations.” But in all the Christian doctrines, these groups are essentially identical, so it really doesn’t seem right to say that they are two separate “denominations.”
Same situation for two Reformed denominations: The Reformed Church in America (RCA) and the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). The basic doctrines of these two groups is almost identical, but they have a different approach. (Also, there is an understanding that the CRC is more socially conservative.) So again, these two groups are basically the same denomination–Reformed–but two different spinoffs of the Reformed denominations.
Do you see what a difference it makes depending on how you define “denomination?” That has to be decided before you can just start listing all the different groups.
Just names, like for example:
