What is a non-denominational primitive fundamentalist Christian sect?

[tad]

I was reading my pastor’s intro letter and he described himself as to belonging to the above before converting to Catholicism.

What is it?

 

[Augustinian]

There are any number of independent unaffiliated protestant churches out there, particularly here in America.

Some have always been independent, others were previously affiliated with one or another denomination but withdrew for any number of reasons.

That really isn’t a logistical problem, the local congregation owns their own property and can do what they want. In the Catholic Church and some of your “mainline” Protestant churches, property is in the name of the bishop, so congregations can’t withdraw.

 

[Childoftheday]

My maternal grandmother belonged to the Primitive Baptists… perhaps he was more aligned with such a group?

 

[ltwin]

What is it?

Without knowing your particular pastor’s beliefs, it’s tough to say exactly. However, we can generalize based off the description provided: non-denominational primitive fundamentalist Christian sect.

Non-denominational means it is an independent congregation not under any church authority beyond the local congregation. Not unusual.

Fundamentalists are a type of Protestant. Think very old fashioned and strict evangelicals or Baptists. Bob Jones University is fundamentalist. Often, these are Independent Baptist churches.

Primitive simply refers to their belief that they practice primitive Christianity–i.e. straight Bible, no deviation in belief or worship. No “accretions”.

Fundamentalists are different from your more mainstream evangelicals in that Fundamentalists practice “secondary separation”. A responsible Christian should practice “primary separation”–i.e. distancing themselves from false teachers. By practicing “secondary separation”, Fundamentalists separate from faithful, orthodox Christians who don’t practice “primary separation” to their satisfaction. So, you get denounced by Fundamentalists for not being in complete agreement with them even though you are otherwise a faithful Christian.

Billy Graham, who agreed with the Fundamentalists in just about every way, was a victim of “secondary separation” because he was friendly toward Roman Catholics.

And of course, Fundamentalists don’t agree, so they often separate from other Fundamentalists over things like Bible translations and worship music.