Non Denominational and Community Churches

[Faith1960]

We have a church here in St.L. that is calls itself a “Community Church” and meets in a movie theater on Sunday mornings. I asssume it’s a non-denominational church. What are these, exactly? How do they get started and do they kind of make up their beliefs or do they adhere to the Bible, interpreting it on their own?

 

[Nicea325]

We have a church here in St.L. that is calls itself a “Community Church” and meets in a movie theater on Sunday mornings. I asssume it’s a non-denominational church. What are these, exactly? How do they get started and do they kind of make up their beliefs or do they adhere to the Bible, interpreting it on their own?

Good question. I hear it a lot today,the term non-denominational. Perhaps those more involved or personal experiences can tell us the difference.

 

[puzzleannie]

We have a church here in St.L. that is calls itself a “Community Church” and meets in a movie theater on Sunday mornings. I asssume it’s a non-denominational church. What are these, exactly? How do they get started and do they kind of make up their beliefs or do they adhere to the Bible, interpreting it on their own?

where I come from, Ohio specifically the Western Reserve, the “Community Church” is often the historic Congregational Church, often the first or foundational church of those old early 19th c. towns. This part of Ohio was first settled by those from Connecticut, Massachusetts or Vermont who brought their new England Congregational heritage with them. The original church foundation often was called “Plymouth” reflecting that NE origin. Today those congregations are often a meld of the older Congregational and Presbyterian “parishes” as those bodies merged not to long ago, or branches of them did, but they seem to operate on the basic “non-denominational” model. These buildings are often preserved as they are historic landmarks but how the congregation operates and the style of worship varies widely.

 

[Faith1960]

Good question. I hear it a lot today,the term non-denominational. Perhaps those more involved or personal experiences can tell us the difference.

I read their website but I still don’t understand it. It seems to me that some people got together and started their own chuch, but I may be wrong.

 

[Nicea325]

I read their website but I still don’t understand it. It seems to me that some people got together and started their own chuch, but I may be wrong.

You could be right. From what I have been told by those who attend such churches,it is very ‘basic’ or ‘vanilla’ in their teachings. Not sure what they mean by that comment. Some say they mix teachings? I cannot comment because I do not know what they teach or doctrines they profess?

May you provide the link? Thanks!

 

[Faith1960]

You could be right. From what I have been told by those who attend such churches,it is very ‘basic’ or ‘vanilla’ in their teachings. Not sure what they mean by that comment. Some say they mix teachings? I cannot comment because I do not know what they teach or doctrines they profess?

May you provide the link? Thanks!

Sure, here it is: oakbridgecc.com/
I think there may be others, but this is the one I recently heard of.
This is another “community church” here that, as far as I know, doesn’t meet in a theater. I assume they have their own buildings. wcrossing.org/

 

[Nicea325]

Sure, here it is: oakbridgecc.com/
I think there may be others, but this is the one I recently heard of.
This is another “community church” here that, as far as I know, doesn’t meet in a theater. I assume they have their own buildings. wcrossing.org/

Thanks! Go to the section where it reads: About Us. It provides their mission. I am not sure if that really answers your question(s) or mine for that matter? I mean do they believe in the Trinity? Incarnation? Many claim to be Christians and yet deny those fundamental core doctrines.

 

[Faith1960]

Thanks! Go to the section where it reads: About Us. It provides their mission. I am not sure if that really answers your question(s) or mine for that matter? I mean do they believe in the Trinity? Incarnation? Many claim to be Christians and yet deny those fundamental core doctrines.

I read it but I’m still not sure what they’re really all about.

 

[graceandglory]

Good question. I hear it a lot today,the term non-denominational. Perhaps those more involved or personal experiences can tell us the difference.

Denominational churches usually have pastors who have been through it’s denominational seminary or have chosen to be “underneath” the leadership, or are a member of a denominational organization like the Assemblies of God, and choose to teach what the denomination teaches.

Non-denominational or community churches usually have pastors who have not been to seminary who become pastors. They aren’t connected to anyone for the sake of accountability and consistency and continuity, and can teach whatever bible “truths” become apparent to the pastor during his weekly studies writing his sermon.

Anyone really can become a non denominational pastor who “loves the Lord and can preach and teach from the Word of God.” (which of course, as we know… can mean anything.)

 

[graceandglory]

I read their website but I still don’t understand it. It seems to me that some people got together and started their own chuch, but I may be wrong.

YES. YOU are exactly right. Anyone can get together and start their own church. Ask around and find out how the church was started. Usually it’s a bunch of families and friends of one person who is particularly charismatic and has a gift of oration.

 

[graceandglory]

Thanks! Go to the section where it reads: About Us. It provides their mission. I am not sure if that really answers your question(s) or mine for that matter? I mean do they believe in the Trinity? Incarnation? Many claim to be Christians and yet deny those fundamental core doctrines.

They are often starting from the ground up. Piecing biblical truths together as they go. Depending on how long they have been Christian, they may not have come upon the teaching of the Trinity yet. If so, they may not have an orthodox understanding of it.
Give them 20 yrs and they might become Catholic.

 

[graceandglory]

Sure, here it is: oakbridgecc.com/
I think there may be others, but this is the one I recently heard of.
This is another “community church” here that, as far as I know, doesn’t meet in a theater. I assume they have their own buildings. wcrossing.org/

Virtually every non-denominational and community church I’ve been in provides its statement of faith, usually a bulleted list of what they do believe. (The Catholic statement of faith is in our Creed as well as our catechism)

Here is the what the oakbridgecc believes.
storage.cloversites.com/oakbridgecommunitychurch/documents/community_guide_2.pdf

 

[Faith1960]

Virtually every non-denominational and community church I’ve been in provides its statement of faith, usually a bulleted list of what they do believe. (The Catholic statement of faith is in our Creed as well as our catechism)

Here is the what the oakbridgecc believes.
storage.cloversites.com/oakbridgecommunitychurch/documents/community_guide_2.pdf

At least they do believe in the Trinity. I’ll give them that.

 

[graceandglory]

We reject claims that any human or ecclesiastical intermediary
is necessary for us to know and relate to God – we have His
Word, and we are each individually responsible to learn what
it says.

“each individually responsible to learn what” the bible says…

Good luck with that.
A belief in man’s self sufficiency.

They seem to have their heart in the right place. They are definitely protestant.
I think of those places as “saving stations.”
They are on the streets converting atheists and agnostics to belief in the True God and in his only begotten Son, who lived and died for them and their sins.

I think they have the basics down.

I would absolutely steer clear of them, however.

 

[Faith1960]

YES. YOU are exactly right. Anyone can get together and start their own church. Ask around and find out how the church was started. Usually it’s a bunch of families and friends of one person who is particularly charismatic and has a gift of oration.

The second church I linked to says this: "At first, the concept of Windsor Crossing Community Church began with just a handful of folks in a living room with a common vision; to create a church where people’s lives are radically changed through Jesus Christ in radical ways. A place where they could bravely ask even the most basic questions about God without feeling out of place. While the number of people has grown beyond the limits of a living room, the vision has never strayed—It’s only gotten more interesting. The Crossing has become more than just a “place”. It’s a community that’s fresh, real, raw, alive and committed to telling an ancient story to break through even the most hardened of hearts.

By using unconventional teaching methods and various art mediums and technology, Windsor creates experiences rooted in scripture that are both culturally relevant and deeply personal. Focusing less on a “demographic” and more on a state of mind, the pallet at Windsor spans every age, religious background (or none at all) and ethnic group. Windsor is constantly mining new ways that encourage people to explore, experience and express who God is and how His teaching can foster real change in people’s lives."

 

[Izdaari]

A lot of different kinds of churches are called “________ Community Church”. Most commonly they’re non-denominational, but not necessarily. My Assemblies of God church is named that way. There wouldn’t necessarily be a lot of commonality of doctrine, except that most such churches, whatever their affiliation, would probably be moderate to conservative (probably not liberal or fundamental), and evangelical. We certainly are that, and Pentecostal, and Emergent-friendly. And btw, our pastor has an earned, accredited doctorate as well as ever 30 years of experience.

 

[Alan55]

The second church I linked to says this: "At first, the concept of Windsor Crossing Community Church began with just a handful of folks in a living room with a common vision; to create a church where people’s lives are radically changed through Jesus Christ in radical ways. A place where they could bravely ask even the most basic questions about God without feeling out of place. While the number of people has grown beyond the limits of a living room, the vision has never strayed—It’s only gotten more interesting. The Crossing has become more than just a “place”. It’s a community that’s fresh, real, raw, alive and committed to telling an ancient story to break through even the most hardened of hearts.

By using unconventional teaching methods and various art mediums and technology, Windsor creates experiences rooted in scripture that are both culturally relevant and deeply personal. Focusing less on a “demographic” and more on a state of mind, the pallet at Windsor spans every age, religious background (or none at all) and ethnic group. Windsor is constantly mining new ways that encourage people to explore, experience and express who God is and how His teaching can foster real change in people’s lives."

I’m quite familiar with Windsor Crossing Community Church, having attended it for a couple of years. The pastor, Greg Holder, is not seminary trained. Like many nondenominational or community churches, it is evangelical in theology, in the case of WCCC, mostly Baptist. Greg is one of the most gifted preachers I’ve ever heard, by the way, and their music was pretty terrific. No sacraments, as one would expect from a Baptist-like church. And deep down, they’re pretty anti-Catholic. Catholics are targets for evangelism, not true Christians. That was my experience anyway, and I was very involved.

People form nondenominational churches for a number of reasons. One is to appeal to those who are curious about Christianity but had bad experiences or heard bad things about one denomination or another. It’s hard to be prejudiced against a church that doesn’t associate with any recognizable denomination. Another reason is for pastors to avoid some of the restrictions denominations place on their churches.

 

[Georgia]

Dig around the web site of a community church near my home and you will find that it is Baptist. Another nearby community church has a note on its web site that it is Methodist. The term means whatever the organizers choose.

Most in my area seem to be what I see as churches high on multi-media and low on creeds. At least two in my area have advertisements that make them appear like rock music clubs with religious themes. Rock bands, purple tint to the advertisements, come-as-you-are, and statements about not being your parents’ church seem to be common in advertisements.

 

[manualman]

You simply cannot tell anything by the label “ZZZ Community Church”. I have relatives that belong to one that is Dutch Calvinist based. And there is always Willow Creek Community Church, which is now so big as to practically constitute its own denomination, but is quite certainly NOT Dutch Calvinist like my relative’s.

I also don’t think it’s fair to assume the pastor is self-appointed / self-educated or that they’ve thrown out such basic truths as to make their baptisms invalid. You simply don’t know until you check.

The one thing you CAN be sure of is that any such named entity is NOT a catholic parish. What more DO you need to know? (kidding! - kinda…)

 

[lizferg]

I was very much involved in the “planting” of these churches growing up. And it’s very much what another poster said, they start out with a pastor who has a passion for spreading the gospel and they’d meet in small groups until they raise enough funds to find a place to meet (i.e. movie theater). They can also get financial help from Baptist, Methodist, Missionary Alliance headquarters, whatever they spring from, but they take the denomination out and replace it with “community church” to sound more appealing to people who have had bad past experiences with church.
There was actually one man that started meetings and called it “Beer and Bible study” because he worked at a bar trying to get through college and wanted to minister to his co-workers.
These pastors want to introduce church to people who hated going to church in the past. They have sayings like “come as you are”, and “culturally relevant messages”. It’s very casual and they mostly use secular media to attract people to come and then put a feel good, gospel message to it. They rarely had communion, and if they did, it would be on a Wednesday night service, because Sunday mornings were reserved for “seekers” and they didn’t want to make them uncomfortable. You would rarely see an alter.
I could go on all day, but I think the turning point with my family leaving this type of church was when some of these pastors would push the envelope in their messages and they began to sound vulgar and disrespectful. I distinctly remember them announcing one Sunday that the service was “going to be PG-13, so please take your kids to the nursery, youth classes”
I very much like that my children sit with me during mass now, and I don’t have to be on the edge of my seat, afraid of hearing something offensive NOT ALL COMMUNITY CHURCHES DO THIS I’M SURE, but this was my experience.