How many Protestant denominations are there?

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I don’t think that matters. It is the reality of the situation.
 
VeryBlessed said:
It is more interesting to discuss why this number is so hard to pin down, whatever it is. What drove me from evangelicalism back to the church was the lack of any authoritative interpreter of absolute truth. Without sacred tradition or the magisterium anchoring them, each theological disagreement can lead to a new church. They mean so well and try so hard but division is endemic in a world with no real authority. The divisiveness flies in the face of Jesus’ impassioned prayer before going to the cross in John 14 “that they might be one”. It breaks my heart.
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I believe you are genuine and really mean what you are saying. I agree that ideally it would be great to have one central authority. I once had a Catholic priest tell me that the Reformation was inevitable because of the corruption within the Church hierarchy. Centuries have passed and here we are…There are huge problems in both camps.
 
Yes, I experienced this, too. It seemed that some ministers couldn’t leave a church without drama & half the congregation leaving with him. I’d witnessed this more than once.
 
With some churches there is much in common with the Church, but there is much disagreement, too.

Churches can disagree over things like:

Interpretation of Scripture;

Baptism - does it save or not; Is a sacrament or symbolic; Is it even needed or not;

Crosses or no crosses;

Music - to have it or not; tradition hymns or not; musical instruments or not;

Podium or altar;

Stage or other; my family still attends at a local Nondenominational church in what used to be an old theater, & sermons & rock music are played onstage;

Works or no works - this is actually an interesting point of contention with Protestants towards Catholics because they view it as a works-based theology, but the Church doesn’t teach that works save; it’s Christ Who does the saving, & we do works as a sign of a living faith out of love for God & fellow man. I honestly believe many Protestants hear works & instantly go on the offensive to counter it - despite that many of them do good works for the poor, the hungry, refugees, those needing work, the hurting from the past from abuse, trauma, divorce, etc. These are just some examples;

Pro-life or Pro-Choice or even Pro-Abortion;

Traditional Marriage vs Same-Sex Marriage;

These are just a few that come to mind…& they all assert that their beliefs are Bible-based, yet they can’t even always agree on essentials - whatever those are. But they can be very devout. Many of them know their Scripture (whether or not it agrees with the Church is another matter); they love God’s Word - even if they have a different understanding of things; they are passionate about witnessing for Christ; they are strong on evangelization; & some are willing to meet together to serve their local communities.
 
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Yes, I agree, but it can sure feel like an uphill battle with all of the differences & challenges.
 
I had a great-great-Uncle who communed with no one save his own family and held services in his home. He believed that every local church was in error. He led an unincorporated denomination of literally a few people. I’m sure there are many examples like that.
 
AugustTherese said:
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Wannano:
feels like it is coming from a desire to dominate or put down non-Catholics.
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I am sorry if it felt that way. I want all to be One.
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Thanks, I appreciate that.
 
Thank you for that.

The song “And They’ll Know We Are Christians” used to be sung often when I was a kid - both in Catholic school at mass & at our Baptist services. I hardly ever hear it anymore, but it renews that hope & that longing for One, Holy, Catholic, & Apostolic Church.
 
twf said:
I had a great-great-Uncle who communed with no one save his own family and held services in his home. He believed that every local church was in error. He led an unincorporated denomination of literally a few people. I’m sure there are many examples like that.
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I tend to agree that all churches have some error, however, I have never thought about starting my own!
 
I had family members who stopped attending church & stayed home to listen to Family Radio with Harold Camping before he’d passed away. My dad had told me that this man preached that all the churches were corrupt, that the Holy Spirit had left all of the churches - except Family Radio, & that Harold Camping had predicted the date of the Second Coming. His predictions all failed. Dad in the end started attending church again, but still kept that station playing in his house almost 24hrs a day til he died.
 
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AugustTherese said:
Do you want me to lie and say that Protestantism is perfectly united?
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Do you want me to lie and say Catholcism is perfectly united. A few days on these threads should clear that from anyones mind if they even welcomed the thought!
 
AugustTherese said:
Just because some have a ‘hard time calling Protestant’ those certain denominations, does not inherently make them non-Protestant.
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If normal mainline Protestants get put in the same catagory as “Hidden Buddhist believers in Christ” (Which I never knew was a thing and even 9 denominations) and that’s how it should be counted then I would guess there could even be 100 000 “Protestant denominations”. And you would be very correct. But that just so much more proves that number means absolutely nothing in any sense.
 
Every protestant is their own denomination if they’re trying to interpret the Bible on their own with no frame of reference as provided by the very organization to compile the Bible; the Church.
 
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DignumEtJustum said:
Every protestant is their own denomination if they’re trying to interpret the Bible on their own with no frame of reference as provided by the very organization to compile the Bible; the Church.
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I would think your statement would also apply to Catholics. Very few legitimate Christian non-Catholic churches or individuals interpret the Bible without using some inherited frame of reference .
 
phil19034 said:
I’m a proponent of the several thousand number because I consider each non-denominational Church pastor to be the leader of his/her own denomination.
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Actually, quite true. outside of mainline Protestant (Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, etc) and the Assemblies of God and Church of Christ in the Pentecostal/fundamentalist camp, every church with a name like the Church of the Nazarene, the Church of Jesus Christ, Incorporated, and all the others with no affiliation to an organized group, are a denomination unto themself. And even among the mainline denominations, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, there are splinter churches that follow their own path. Every “minister” who graduates from a “Bible” college is free to form his own congregation/denomination and preach the “gospel” his or her own way.
 
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