What does "Non-denominational church" mean?

[frnate]

I don’t know where they come up with the idea that the 1st century church to have a “simple and local nature”.

Having been raised a “Bapticostal” I have some first hand knowledge about the mindset of these folks. It’s not so much that they actively teach that their way of doing things is how the first century Church did them, rather it is the natural assumption that it is so.

Anyone who actually takes the time to read the Early Church Fathers, will quickly be disabused of that idea.

And that is the real crux of the problem. If any of them are even aware of those writings most of them wouldn’t dare read them for fear of tainting their most revered doctrine of “sola scriptura.” Keep in mind I am speaking here without malice. It is a case of “my mind is made up, so don’t confuse me with the facts.” I know this is true because I lived it until I was 30. I would dare to wager that 99% of them have never heard of nor read any of the writings of any early church father, outside of Fox’s Book of Martyrs and those are mostly stories about Reformation martyrs.

The church did not start out like the Baptists or church of Christ only to become the Catholic Church out of nowhere, and the Baptists or other so called “non-denominationals” had to restored back into existence.

The Church of Christ teaches that the Catholic Church broke away from them.

The so called “non denominational” denominations to put it simply do not exist. They are all Protestants, sectarians, all Evangelicals sectarians, overwhelmingly fundies sectarians, and usually Baptists who are a denomination, and most often charismatic/pentecostals, all of these are names and descriptions of sects, denominations.

These people can call themselves whatever they want, it’s a free country, but they lie. They are denominations no matter what they call themselves, realistic people know this.

I think what boppysbud is trying to say here is that the existence of the term “non-denominational” is an oxymoron because it is used by a group of people who want to distinguish themselves from other denominations and the word “denomination” MEANS “name.” So the name this group essentially has taken for itself is “non-named,” which is fairly non-sensical.


Peace,
+Nathan

 

[JoeyWarren]

Iwhen I want answers about faith, I’d really rather look to the Pope and the Magesterium, who have a bit of experience and learning in these matters than to Rev. Ricky Bobby who was working at Wal-Mart last week before he “ordained” hisself.

Amen my brother!

 

[maurin]

Hi everyone,

I asked the original question.

Noone has answered the other part of the question, which is “are they all united in doctrine?” And, “how many different types of non-denominationalism are there?”

If they are all united in doctrine, are they not just another denomination, and if they are not, is this another way of saying, “I’ll believe what I want, so I’ll just start another church.” ?

Someone raised the point of saying that non-denominationalists believe they are worshipping as the first century Christians worshipped. How do they arrive at that belief? “The Didache” was written as early as AD 70, and without question teaches how to celebrate the Eucharist.

 

[frnate]

If they are all united in doctrine, are they not just another denomination, and if they are not, is this another way of saying, “I’ll believe what I want, so I’ll just start another church.” ?

That is exactly what happens because the logical conclusion to the Reformation is that everyone becomes their own ultimate authority, i.e. pope.
What I have heard from some who have been pastors in the “ND” scene is that it is impractical to teach any certain doctrine because no matter what they teach there may be any number of people in the congregation who believe the exact opposite. So the services have degenerated into a mish-mash of pumped up emotions, feel-goodism and prosperity gospel. A poor replacment for the Eucharist.
imho

Peace,
+Nathan

 

[JoeyWarren]

Originally Posted by maurin
If they are all united in doctrine, are they not just another denomination, and if they are not, is this another way of saying, “I’ll believe what I want, so I’ll just start another church.” ?

YES, most of the time.

Some other reasons are financial reasons, if they belong to an established denomination they are required to send a percentage of tithes and offerings to the Corporate Office, otherwise forming their own denomination of one, all the money stays in the local church.

 

[kepha444]

This is a serious question.

What does it mean, and how many different “Non-denominational” churches are there? Are they all united in doctines, or are they fragmented?

Basicly it means Fudamentaslism…

 

[mozart-250]

Hi everyone,

I asked the original question.

Noone has answered the other part of the question, which is “are they all united in doctrine?” And, “how many different types of non-denominationalism are there?”

If they are all united in doctrine, are they not just another denomination, and if they are not, is this another way of saying, “I’ll believe what I want, so I’ll just start another church.” ?

Well, I have been in two non-denom churches so I will give this a stab.

I am not sure you can answer the first question without an agreed definition of what a denomination is. For example Assemblies of God claims they are a fellowship, not a denomination. I think most other folks would disagree. I would think a denomination would be characterized by some type of central “headquarters” defining some level of commonality and standards over those local churches under its umbrella.

The two churches I attended certainly were not united in doctrine, so that was an easy question. In fact they both were not consistent within themselves in doctrine over time (the tendency of evangelicals to reinvent themselves constantly I find very annoying).

The one non-denom church I was the longest considered it not Biblical for any organization between churches other than mutual coorperation for mission and stuff like that. Certainly no central headquarters imposing a common creed and standards. I am not sure the earliest Christians would have agreed with that, but I haven’t studied that in detail.

Observing both in operation over time, I have concluded that the denominational approach on the balance works better than the non-denominational approach for a number of different reasons.

 

[Syele]

“are they all united in doctrine?”

not really, Most I have attended though had such vague “official” Doctrines" that very few people would disagree with the ones that are there (maybe disagree that there shouldn’t be more of them) But there is not central group deciding what that doctrine should be so it will vary.

“how many different types of non-denominationalism are there?”

No one can possibly know this answer.

 

[tracydaisy]

All I know about non denominational churches is that many of my friends have gone there to learn more about the bible, because they offered and advertised a bible study. And now after attending a non-denominational church they no longer want to be Catholic. They even seem mad at the church. So everytime someone asks me to go I say no and tell them why.

I don’t understand if a church is called non denominational why is it tearing people away from the True Church. I’m a little upset over the whole thing. This whole idea of non denominational sounds like this good thing “people from all denominations coming together”, but then I watched Catholic after Catholic leave the True Church, I was no longer convinced of it’s goodness.

I don’t understand what goes on at their meetings. It seems to me that non denominational churches can’t peirce deep into the truths that Jesus taught, otherwise they become a denomination.

Maurin,
Thanks for asking this question I was curious myself.

 

[rr1213]

All I know about non denominational churches is that many of my friends have gone there to learn more about the bible, because they offered and advertised a bible study. And now after attending a non-denominational church they no longer want to be Catholic. They even seem mad at the church. So everytime someone asks me to go I say no and tell them why.

I don’t understand if a church is called non denominational why is it tearing people away from the True Church. I’m a little upset over the whole thing. This whole idea of non denominational sounds like this good thing “people from all denominations coming together”, but then I watched Catholic after Catholic leave the True Church, I was no longer convinced of it’s goodness.

I don’t understand what goes on at their meetings. It seems to me that non denominational churches can’t peirce deep into the truths that Jesus taught, otherwise they become a denomination.

Maurin,
Thanks for asking this question I was curious myself.

Maybe non-denominational churches do not believe that the catholic church is the true church.

 

[Syele]

All I know about non denominational churches is that many of my friends have gone there to learn more about the bible, because they offered and advertised a bible study. And now after attending a non-denominational church they no longer want to be Catholic. They even seem mad at the church. So everytime someone asks me to go I say no and tell them why.

I don’t understand if a church is called non denominational why is it tearing people away from the True Church. I’m a little upset over the whole thing. This whole idea of non denominational sounds like this good thing “people from all denominations coming together”, but then I watched Catholic after Catholic leave the True Church, I was no longer convinced of it’s goodness.

I don’t understand what goes on at their meetings. It seems to me that non denominational churches can’t peirce deep into the truths that Jesus taught, otherwise they become a denomination.

Maurin,
Thanks for asking this question I was curious myself.

This sounds to me like Catholics who do not properly understand their own faith. Aren’t there Bible Studies at your Parish? Why aren’t parishes working harder to teach their members about God? You seem quick to blame the non-denominational church, but you should be looking at why your friends were so easily swayed from their convictions. Most Catholics on this board are well-versed in the teachings of their Church, this has not been my experience with Catholics I’ve met in person. Someone who is wellgrounded in their faith would not be swayed by a non-denominational Bible study.

 

[Mickey]

A Baptist flavor? What in the world you mean by that? every non-denominational church I ever visited was charasmatic and pretty far from being Baptist.

Around here, the ND church is just like the baptists. Perhaps I generalized based on geography?

 

[Syele]

Around here, the ND church is just like the baptists. Perhaps I generalized based on geography?

It’s possible, Every non-denominational church I ever saw was not clear enough on Doctrine to be considered Calvinist (Or even arminian) and was very charasmatic. I have always lived in Texas and New Mexico though. (Except for India… technically that was a non-denominational church too, but it was less like baptists. )

 

[JoeyWarren]

All I know about non denominational churches is that many of my friends have gone there to learn more about the bible, because they offered and advertised a bible study. And now after attending a non-denominational church they no longer want to be Catholic. They even seem mad at the Church.

Sounds like they have listened and given into the false information and misinformation that most of these churches give out.

 

[Kuriakos]

Basicly it means Fudamentaslism…

Do you know the origin of the term Fundamentalist?

 

[boppysbud]

Someone said that the so called “church of Christ” has the idea that the Catholic church broke away from them, that is almost funny. The Catholic church goes back all the way to the beggining, in 33 AD, it is the original church.

The campbellite sect, the so called “church of Christ” started breaking away from the Christian Church Disciples of Christ during the civil War; following North/South lines, the break was not complete until the year 1906.

So how in the world could the Catholic Church split from a denomination that has only existed for 100 years?

These people are operating in their own little fantasy world, outside of reality.

 

[boppysbud]

BTW, the members of the so called church of Christ, have their own take on things. They will tell you that they are the only church that exists, the one an only church Christ has, everyone before them goes right to hell.

They do not call themselves “non-denominational” they have their own term, they call themselves “UN-denominational”.

 

[rr1213]

There are a number of “Churches of Christ”…they are not all the same, so be careful of generalizations.

 

[hosemonkey]

IMHO, the greatest danger to Catholics is poor catechesis. You can not defend what you do not know. Protestant have a fairly short list of “proof texts” that they will trot out when attacking Catholicism. If the Catholic is poorly informed as to the basis of his belief, he’s an easy target. Study your faith! Know what the Church teaches and you can eat Protestants for lunch.

 

[maurin]

This sounds to me like Catholics who do not properly understand their own faith. Aren’t there Bible Studies at your Parish? Why aren’t parishes working harder to teach their members about God? You seem quick to blame the non-denominational church, but you should be looking at why your friends were so easily swayed from their convictions. Most Catholics on this board are well-versed in the teachings of their Church, this has not been my experience with Catholics I’ve met in person. Someone who is wellgrounded in their faith would not be swayed by a non-denominational Bible study.

Syele and hosemonkey,

You both raise a fantastic point. I am a native New Yorker, move to East Texas at 31, moved to Charleston, SC at 41, and on Saturday I am moving to South Florida (pray for my safety on the journey, please).

In New York and in East Texas the Parish was the center of Community life. Scripture classes, etc. were offered at least 2 nights a week, more in Texas. I have been in Charleston a year and a half and I call it my desert experience because the Parishioners are cliquish, the Priests do not teach, and haven’t seemed interested in doing so. (Of course I am such a nice guy I worked my into the community as a Cantor , ha ha ha)

But I agree with what you said above. Poor catechesis leads to apathetic Parishioners. It’s quite sad.