What does "Non-denominational church" mean?

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rr1213 said:
There are a number of “Churches of Christ”…they are not all the same, so be careful of generalizations.
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In this case I know exactly what I am talking about, no generalisations, unless someone speaks of the UNITED Church of Christ, which is a mainline Protestant denomination, and redily admits it.

The church of Christ (their spelling with lower case c in church of Christ) makes a big deal out of being UN denominational not non-denominational. They beleive they are the original church from 33 AD even though they go back no further than 1906.

I was raised in that denomination, by c of C parents, I was baptised by drowning in that denomination at age 16. I am the only one in my family that does not still belong to it. I have been shunned by family members, “disfellowshipped” for “leaving Christ and his true church”.

The beleive that the bible sets up a “blueprint” or “roadmap” for recovering or “restoring” the “true church” back into existence. They beleive that anyone at anytime can “restore” the church by following that “blueprint” to the exacting legalistic tee. They kind of ignore the fact the the REAL church existed for nearly 400 years before the bible was written.

Even though this sect is organised with each congregation being completely independent of each other, they all have basically the same doctrine. They have the same “steps to salvation” in each congo, hear the WORD, beileve, confess before “men”, repent, and then be baptised as an adult only for the remission of sins, by submerrsion only. Other people according to them are no baptised, they are only “sprinkled as babies”.

They all have the same “acts of worship” in all of there congregations. Prayer, reading the scriptures, taking up a collection, preaching, and “observing the Lard’s Supper”, and singing accapella only. Every single “churchofChrist” will do these exact same “acts of worship” every Sunday. They “take the Lard’s Supper” each and every Sunday, but on no other day but Sunday. They get it over with as fast as possible leaving more time for the “praychin”, and they beleive that is only symbols and nothing else. They pass aluminum trays (most often, they are cheap) back and forth sitting on their hineys. One tray has matzo crackers (the same as Jewish people eat on Passover) and the other tray has tiny glasses of Welches Grape Juice.

Every thing that the bible does not explicitly demand in thought of as forbiddenm that is why they do not use organs or musical instruments.

They go by the CENI for worship. Command, Example, Neccesary Inference.
 
boppysbud said:
The church of Christ…“take the Lard’s Supper” …They get it over with as fast as possible leaving more time for the “praychin”…They pass aluminum trays (most often, they are cheap) back and forth sitting on their hineys…
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Do you not like mountain folk?
 
maurin said:
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.
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I think you did get your answer, just not directly. Go back and re-read this thread and you will see what I mean. All of the ones who responded as having knowledge about the ND’s (because they currently attend, have attended, etc.) can’t agree even with each other on what the teachings of the ND is! So, there’s your answer…no. It also explains why I’ve heard ND’s complain that when they move they have a terrible time finding another church…in which case, some of them start their own, and so the cycle goes.

Just an observation from reading through! 🙂
Lisa
 
Ahh, non-denominational, I call it Seinfeld Church…

“It’s a church about nothing”
 
Syele said:
Nah, that’s the Unitarian Universalists.
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I dunno why, but man do they scare me.

Here at my campus their table was set up right next to the CSA(Catholic Student Association)…lets just say our pamphlets differed a little.

My sister goes to a non-denom church.I think its pretty much what others have said: someone who wants to have their own church and their own rules. If you have the money to do it, its not that hard. I’ve seen non-denoms who are charistmatic, others not so much. None of them really teach the same thing(that I know of). I definitely’ always found it funny that when they’re asked what denomination they are they say “non-denominational” They should vote on a new name I think.
 
I attened a Unitarian Universalist church for like three weeks at the request of a friend… I really couldn’t see the point of singing hymns about being happy and keeping the earth litter free. The “Sermons” were what I would expect from a secular world religions college course.
 
I wouldn’t even list Unitarian Universalists among Christian Churches. Not because I have anything against them personally, but if you look at their doctrine it is not Christian. It is what it is.
 
I think that the UU’s are the opposite of the Baha’i’s. Neither are Christian.

The UU’s don’t believe in anything, and the Baha’i’s believe in everything.
 
My sister in law had herself ordained a minister and started her own church. She described it to me as “non-denominational.” When I pressed her to explain a bit further–and she babbled a bit while trying to formulate a creed for her “religion” that didn’t exist, my late husband butted in.
“She means that they haven’t a clue as to WHAT they believe in.”
Subsequent experience has taught us that he had that nailed.
 
Madzi said:
My sister in law had herself ordained a minister and started her own church. She described it to me as “non-denominational.” When I pressed her to explain a bit further–and she babbled a bit while trying to formulate a creed for her “religion” that didn’t exist, my late husband butted in.
“She means that they haven’t a clue as to WHAT they believe in.”
Subsequent experience has taught us that he had that nailed.
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He he he i was gonna say that too...in soo many words..Bill A.
 
While I understand that many, many, many non-denom churches were started by people who simply wanted to be pastors minus training and hierarchy. I think it also important to note that many non-denom churches were in fact, at one time or another, affiliated with a denomination.

Say you are a member of a Southern Baptist Church. You disagree with the Southern Baptist Convention. You disaffiliate. Welcome to the non-denominational extravaganza!

There is a “church” (I use the term lightly) which would technically fall under non-denominational. Located in Wisconsin, it is staffed by three former Catholic priests who left to mary. It affiliates with no particular group and all of its members congregate under one roof.

So really, non-denominational is just a general term for the loner churches that don’t belong to any organization, convention, confederation or larger communion.
 
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