Posted on 01/10/2025 8:59:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
One of the most wonderful things about Christianity is that there’s remarkable diversity in the way we can worship, provided we believe in the essentials of the faith. After the Protestant Reformation, denominations sprang up that allowed for variations in thoughts on secondary theological issues as well as styles of worship.
In more recent years, the “mainline” denominations, so called because they were the churches along the main roads in towns, have opted for theological and political liberalism (and downright heresy) and have seen a resulting decline. Denominations still loom large on the landscape of American Christianity, but their influence is on the downslope, according to some new research.
Ryan Burge writes at Graphs About Religion about the rise in non-denominationalism in the U.S. Against the backdrop of the constant refrain of the decline of religious observance in this country, Burge explains how the rise in non-denominational Christians is a factor that we can’t ignore.
“However, there is one group that is much larger and is growing,” Burge writes (emphasis in the original). “It’s not really a denomination. And it’s not really a tradition. They are united by what they reject — that is the idea of organized denominations.
I always tell people that the rise of the nones (those who reject religion entirely) is the biggest story in the faith space. But the second most important story is the rise of the nons — that is those folks who identify as non-denominational Christians.”
Burge cites General Social Survey data from 1972 to 2022 that shows the rapid growth of non-denominationalism in the last five decades (emphasis in the original):
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
In the early 1970s, non-denominational Protestants were little more than a rounding error. Just 2% of all respondents said that they were non-denominational — it was 3% of the Protestant sample. You could forgive any religious demographer for ignoring this part of the sample. Both figures slowly began to increase over the next couple of decades. But really noticeable growth would not begin until the mid-1990s. By 2000, about 10% of all Protestants and 5% of the entire sample were non-denominational.
By 2010, the percentage of Protestants who were non-denominational would rise to about 20% and they were about 10% of all Americans. In the most recent survey, which was collected in 2022 — one in three Protestants did not identify with a denomination like Southern Baptists or Evangelical Lutherans. That was a twelve-point increase from just a few years earlier. Nearly 15% of all American adults identify as non-denominational now. For comparison, about 22% of the sample said they were Roman Catholic.
I have belonged to what has been deemed as "Main Stream" Protestant Churches, and I can tell you that their left wing radicalization and departure from scripture and tradition, along with total hypocrisy and greed, are why I no longer wished to be associated with either one of them! I guess I am now among the Non-Denominational Christians.
My wife worked for a Presbyterian Church that decided to cater to the gay community. She quit.
We belonged to a United Methodist Church congregation. They now have rainbow flags and banners hanging in the pulpit.
Currently we are unaffiliated Christians. We hold Bible studies with our friends and family. We pray together. We do not visit a building on Sundays.
Ping.
Which would make us Originalist Christians...
In southern Arizona, most SBC and/or Baptist churches do NOT include “Baptist” in their name. I understand not wanting to claim SOUTHERN Baptist, but think Baptist churches SHOULD be glad to proclaim their heritage.
Burge hits the nail on the head when he ties the rise in non-denominational believers and churches to the rise in conservatives’ distrust of elites.
Amen
Trump critic, pro-LGBT: 4 things to know about cardinal Pope Francis picked to head DC archdiocese
Same here.
I grew up Baptist, found the Lord Jesus in a Free Methodist church, attended an Assembly of God church when I was stationed overseas, and most recently I attended a small Wesleyan church. Now I don't darken the doorways of any of those.
BINGO
Wesley would be proud if he was alive today. He was very much a part of the First Great Awakening and the Holiness Movement. That's what the modern day house cleaning in the Methodists is all about. As well as the rise in non-denominational churches and Assembly of God churches.
We may be in the early stages of the next great awakening and we can't see it because we're in it.
I'm one for a simple and undeniable reason. All church's are institutions of men, and men are corrupt.
Let’s hope the Blinders come off.
Hispanics
It is a sad thing.
Church leadership is mostly to the (far) left of their members.
That seems to be supported by many studies.
The leaders somehow think that they need to accommodate the leftists and that the conservatives have nowhere else to go.
Or they are just under the pressures of the media, world and the culture.
But the conservatives have places to go, and they often do go!
As a result, the leftie churches seem to go out of business en masse, while new, mostly nondenominational churches flourish!
RE: The first 300 years of the Church, EVERYONE was non-denominational
It’s amazing how non-denominational churches everywhere in the Roman Empire could come together to formulate the Nicene Creed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.