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To: Skooz

What is a mainline church exactly??? That term is confusing because to me it implies on the straight path?


12 posted on 05/17/2004 7:30:50 AM PDT by mel
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To: mel

Pretty much any church with a denomiation. Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, etc.

If you can call yourself anything other than "Christian" and have people recognize what you mean, chances are it's a mainline church. (ie, "I'm a Pentecostal", etc.)


19 posted on 05/17/2004 7:35:07 AM PDT by jtminton (<><)
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To: mel

"Mainline" is a term coined by the media to reference non-Evangelical, non-Fundamentalist and non-Catholic denominations.

Mainline Protestant denominations include Presbyterian, United Methodist and the Episcopal Church. The leadership of these bodies is almost completely liberal, far moreso than the people in the pews.

That is not to say that everyone who attends these churches agrees with the leadership. I have a friend who is a Prebyterian minister who is deeply devout and is quite conservative.


25 posted on 05/17/2004 7:39:09 AM PDT by Skooz (My Biography: Psalm 40:1-3)
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To: mel
Mainline refers to the traditional nationally-based (as opposed to more regionally oriented) Protestant churches, almost all of which accepted the 'higher criticism' in the 19th and early 20th centuries, did not reject science where it clashed with the Bible, and most of which, to one degree or another, were involved in the 'social gospel' liberalism in the 20th century. They were, and to a large extent are, the churches of educatated opinion in the United States. The most generally agreed "mainline" Protestant Churches are: the Episcopal Church in America, United Church of Christ (Congregational in New England), Presbyterian Church USA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Sometimes the United Methodist Church is considered mainline, sometimes not, likewise the northern Baptists. If there are any Dutch Reformed Churches still around (mostly NY), they're mainline. The Southern Baptists are not mainline, nor are the Missouri Synod Lutherans. If the Unitarians (19th Century derivative from Congregational) are considered Christians, they'd be mainline.

Everything else is not 'mainline': Assembly of God, Disciples of Christ, Covenant Church, Pentacostals, etc., etc.

48 posted on 05/17/2004 7:58:26 AM PDT by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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To: mel

Alright.....here it is......the UMC, ELCA, PCUSA, Episcopal Church.

Basically these are the biggies.....mainline means biggest of the Protestant denominations (they tend to be the most liberal).

There are more conservative branches of these churches that are not considered mainline, such as the Presbyterian Church in America or the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod).


160 posted on 05/17/2004 12:07:09 PM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" -- Abraham Lincoln)
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To: mel

Lutheran, Congregational, Episcopal, United Methodist, some Baptist & some Presbyterians. They tend to be liberal in their theology & rules.

Other, newer conservative denominations have broken away from the above to form new ones. For instance, the Wesleyan Church broke away from the United Methodists over slavery in the 1860's. Those breaking away thought it was wrong.


219 posted on 05/17/2004 3:47:02 PM PDT by madison10
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