Denominations

Protestantism is a form of Christianity that emphasizes justification of sinners through faith alone, the teaching that salvation comes by unmerited divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice.Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies.[3][b] The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire[c] in 1517, when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as a reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the temporal punishment of sins to their purchasers.[4] Luther's statements questioned the Catholic Church's role as negotiator between people and God, especially when it came to the indulgence arrangement, which in part granted people the power to purchase a certificate of pardon for the penalization of their sins. Luther argued against the practice of buying or earning forgiveness, claiming instead that salvation is a gift God gives to those who have faith.

Adventist Churches (c.1830)

Adventism began in the 19th century in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming of Christ. William Miller started the Adventist movement in the 1830s. His followers became known as Millerites.Although the Adventist churches hold much in common, their theologies differ on whether the intermediate state is unconscious sleep or consciousness, whether the ultimate punishment of the wicked is annihilation or eternal torment, the nature of immortality, whether or not the wicked are resurrected after the millennium, and whether the sanctuary of Daniel 8 refers to the one in heaven or one on earth.[144] The movement has encouraged the examination of the whole Bible, leading Seventh-day Adventists and some smaller Adventist groups to observe the Sabbath. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has compiled that church's core beliefs in the 28 Fundamental Beliefs (1980 and 2005), which use Biblical references as justification.In 2010, Adventism claimed some 22 million believers scattered in various independent churches. The largest church within the movement—the Seventh-day Adventist Church—has more than 18 million members.

Advent Christian Church

Seventh-day Adventist Church

Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement

Baptist Churches

Baptists subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers (believer's baptism, as opposed to infant baptism), and that it must be done by complete immersion (as opposed to affusion or sprinkling). Baptists also claim that infant baptisms are false due to the infant's lack of understanding of virtues and sins, making them not able (according to Baptists) to confess their faith, which also regarded their lack of being able to speak at such a young age, compared to adults. Other tenets of Baptist churches include soul competency (liberty), salvation through faith alone, Scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local congregation. Baptists recognize two ministerial offices, pastors and deacons. Baptist churches are widely considered to be Protestant churches, though some Baptists disavow this identity.
Diverse from their beginning, those identifying as Baptists today differ widely from one another in what they believe, how they worship, their attitudes toward other Christians, and their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship. The separation of Church and state is also a huge belief of Anabaptists. They have strongly supported this because they believe its a Biblical concept to follow, and they were persecuted by Protestant and Catholic authorities. Arguing that Christ did not give magistrates the power to form churches or constrain citizens in matters of religion. There is some disagreement regarding the precise origins of the Anabaptists, but majority of scholars claim that the Anabaptist religion began around 1525 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Historians trace the earliest church labeled Baptist back to 1609 in Amsterdam, with English Separatist John Smyth as its pastor. Baptist practice spread to England, where the General Baptists considered Christ's atonement to extend to all people, while the Particular Baptists believed that it extended only to the elect. In 1638, Roger Williams established the first Baptist congregation in the North American colonies. In the mid-18th century, the First Great Awakening increased Baptist growth in both New England and the South. The Second Great Awakening in the South in the early 19th century increased church membership, as did the preachers' lessening of support for abolition and manumission of slavery, which had been part of the 18th-century teachings. Baptist missionaries have spread their church to every continent.
The Baptist World Alliance reports more than 41 million members in more than 150,000 congregations.[158] In 2002, there were over 100 million Baptists and Baptistic group members worldwide and over 33 million in North America. The largest Baptist association is the Southern Baptist Convention, with the membership of associated churches totaling more than 14 million.

American Baptist Association

American Baptist Churches USA

Converge Worldwide

General Association of General Baptists

General Association of Regular Baptist Churches

National Association of Free Will Baptists

National Baptist Convention of America

National Primitive Baptist Convention

New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches

North American Baptists

Primitive Baptists

Progressive National Baptist Convention

Reformed Baptist Church

Southern Baptist Convention

Brethren Churches (c.1708)

The Brethren church tradition traces its roots back over 300 years to 1708. Eighteenth-century Europe was a time of strong governmental control of the church and low tolerance for religious diversity. Nevertheless, there were religious dissenters who lived their faith in spite of the threat of persecution. Some of these dissenters found refuge in the town of Schwarzenau in present-day Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany. Among them was Alexander Mack, a miller who had been influenced by both Pietism and Anabaptism.
Religious persecution drove the Brethren to take refuge in Surhuisterveen, Friesland, in the Netherlands. They settled among the Mennonites and remained there until 1729. Eventually all but a handful emigrated to America in three separate groups between 1719 and 1733. Because of growing persecution and economic hardship, Brethren began emigrating to Pennsylvania under the leadership of Peter Becker. Most Brethren left Europe by 1740, including Mack, who brought a group over in 1729. The first congregation in the New World was organized at Germantown, Pa., in 1723. Soon after its formation, the Germantown congregation sent missionaries to rural areas around Philadelphia. These missionaries preached, baptized, and started new congregations.
In 1781 these Brethren adopted the title "German Baptist Brethren" at their Annual Meeting; in 1782 they forbade slaveholding by members.The group continued to expand and from Pennsylvania, they migrated chiefly westward. By 1908 they were most numerous in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and North Dakota.

Church of the Brethren

Brethren Church (Ashland, Ohio)

Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches

Brethren in Christ Church

Church of the United Brethren in Christ

Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)

Evangelical Covenant Church

Evangelical Free Church of America

Moravian Churches

Calvinism

Catholic Churches

Roman Catholic Church

Eastern Rite Catholic Church

Old Catholic Church

Polish National Catholic Church of America”

Christian Churches

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Christian Churches and Churches of Christ

Christian Congregation

Churches of Christ

Congregational Churches

Congregational Christian Churches (National Association)

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference

United Church of Christ

Episcopal and Anglican Churches

Episcopal Church

Reformed Episcopal Church in America

Anglican Orthodox Church

Anglican Catholic Church

Friends (Quaker) Churches

Quakers, or Friends, are members of a family of religious movements collectively known as the Religious Society of Friends. The central unifying doctrine of these movements is the priesthood of all believers.[146][147] Many Friends view themselves as members of a Christian denomination. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional conservative Quaker understandings of Christianity. Unlike many other groups that emerged within Christianity, the Religious Society of Friends has actively tried to avoid creeds and hierarchical structures.[148]

Friends General Conference

Friends United Meeting

Religious Society of Friends (Conservative)

Evangelical Friends International

Fundamentalist, Bible, and Conservative Evangelical Churches

American Evangelical Christian Churches

Baptist Bible Fellowship International

Baptist Missionary Association of America

Christian and Missionary Alliance

Conservative Baptist Association of America

IFCA International

Plymouth Brethren

The Plymouth Brethren are a conservative, low church, evangelical denomination, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s, originating from Anglicanism.[149][150] Among other beliefs, the group emphasizes sola scriptura. Brethren generally see themselves not as a denomination, but as a network, or even as a collection of overlapping networks, of like-minded independent churches. Although the group refused for many years to take any denominational name to itself—a stance that some of them still maintain—the title The Brethren, is one that many of their number are comfortable with in that the Bible designates all believers as brethren.

Holiness Churches

Church of Christ (Holiness) USA

Church of God (Holiness)

Church of the Nazarene

Churches of Christ in Christian Union

Wesleyan Church

Lutheran Churches

American Association of Lutheran Churches

Association of Free Lutheran Congregations

Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod”

Mennonite Churches

Beachy Amish Mennonite Churches

Church of God in Christ, Mennonite

Conservative Mennonite Conference

General Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches

Mennonite Church

Missionary Church

Old Order Amish Churches

Methodist Churches

Methodism identifies principally with the theology of John Wesley. This evangelical movement originated as a revival within the 18th-century Church of England and became a separate Church following Wesley's death. Because of vigorous missionary activity, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond, today claiming approximately 80 million adherents worldwide.[138] Originally it appealed especially to laborers and slaves.

Soteriologically, most Methodists are Arminian, emphasizing that Christ accomplished salvation for every human being, and that humans must exercise an act of the will to receive it (as opposed to the traditional Calvinist doctrine of monergism). Methodism is traditionally low church in liturgy, although this varies greatly between individual congregations; the Wesleys themselves greatly valued the Anglican liturgy and tradition. Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition; John Wesley's brother, Charles, was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church,[139] and many other eminent hymn writers come from the Methodist tradition. The Holiness movement refers to a set of practices surrounding the doctrine of Christian perfection that emerged within 19th-century Methodism, along with a number of evangelical denominations and parachurch organizations (such as camp meetings).[140] There are an estimated 12 million adherents in denominations aligned with the Wesleyan-holiness movement.[141] The Free Methodist Church, the Salvation Army and the Wesleyan Methodist Church are notable examples, while other adherents of the Holiness Movement remained within mainline Methodism, e.g. the United Methodist Church.[1

African Methodist Episcopal Church

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church

Congregational Methodist Church

Evangelical Church of North America

Evangelical Congregational Church

Evangelical Methodist Church

Free Methodist Church–USA

Southern Methodist Church

United Methodist Church

Orthodox Churches

Orthodox Church in America

Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA

Pentecostal Churches

Pentecostalism is a movement that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the second chapter of the Book of Acts.

This branch of Protestantism is distinguished by belief in the baptism with the Holy Spirit as an experience separate from conversion that enables a Christian to live a life empowered by and filled with the Holy Spirit. This empowerment includes the use of spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues and divine healing—two other defining characteristics of Pentecostalism. Because of their commitment to biblical authority, spiritual gifts, and the miraculous, Pentecostals tend to see their movement as reflecting the same kind of spiritual power and teachings that were found in the Apostolic Age of the early church. For this reason, some Pentecostals also use the term Apostolic or Full Gospel to describe their movement.

Pentecostalism eventually spawned hundreds of new denominations, including large groups such as the Assemblies of God and the Church of God in Christ, both in the United States and elsewhere. There are over 279 million Pentecostals worldwide, and the movement is growing in many parts of the world, especially the global South. Since the 1960s, Pentecostalism has increasingly gained acceptance from other Christian traditions, and Pentecostal beliefs concerning Spirit baptism and spiritual gifts have been embraced by non-Pentecostal Christians in Protestant and Catholic churches through the Charismatic Movement. Together, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity numbers over 500 million adherents.[145]