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Meta-groups, wings, families, denominations, faith groups,
and belief systems

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What is a Christian?

To avoid confusion, we repeat here our site's simple definition of "Christian:"

"We accept as Christian any individual or group who devoutly, thoughtfully, seriously, and prayerfully regards themselves to be Christian. That is, they honestly believe that they follow Yeshua of Nazareth's (a.k.a. Jesus Christ's) teachings as they understand them to be. "

Other individuals and groups have much narrower definitions of the term. They often believe that their faith group is the "true" Christian religion, and that others are in error. That is certainly their right, but it does cause a great deal of confusion, frustration, anger, and conflict.

Sorting Christian faith groups:

Except perhaps for a few years between the execution of Yeshua of Nazareth (circa 30 CE) and the start of Paul's ministry (circa 36 CE), the Christian religion has never been unified.

	Throughout the second half of the first century CE,  the Christian religion was divided into three main main religious movements: the Gnostics, Jewish Christians, and Pauline Christians. Gnostic Christians still survive today. All of the rest of today's Christian faith groups trace their history back to the Pauline Christian movement.
	Currently, there are over 1,200 Christian denominations in North America. 1
	According to David Barrett et al, editors of the "World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of churches and religions - AD 30 to 2200," there are 34,000 separate Christian groups in the world. 2

Sorting them into categories is a difficult task. Six ways of classifying them are into:

1. Many thousands of denominations:

   	There are on the order of 1,200 Christian organizations in North America, and over 30,000 in the world.
   	Their names range from the Amish to The Way.
   	We have essays describing some of them.

2. Four to eight meta-groups: Most of the Christian denominations and sects in the world can be sorted into about eight segments or branches:

   	Roman Catholicism,
   	Eastern Orthodoxy,
   	Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Churches,
   	Protestantism
   	Restorationists
   	Anglican Communion
   	Pentecostals
   	Others

   Unfortunately, there is no consensus about which faith groups should be embraced by the term "Protestantism." For example:

   Some theologians split out the Anglican Communion from Protestantism. Others consider Pentecostalism to be separate from Protestantism. Others separate the European Free-Church Family out as a separate group. Some include the Restorationist denominations, which includes the Mormon church (a.k.a. LDS) within Protestantism. Some consider them to be a separate Christian group. Still others consider them to be non-Christian.

   The organization Christian Churches Together (CCT), a broadly based, inclusive, Christian ecumenical movement, suggests still another classification of U.S. faith groups. They group Christian denominations into five families" Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Historic Racial/Ethnic, Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholic.
    

3. Two or three "wings": Like in the area of politics, Christians and Christian groups can be divided into conservative and liberal wings, according to their belief systems. Their teaching on abortion access, origins of the earth and the rest of the universe, equal rights for gays and lesbians, and same-sex marriage, are four indicators of their location on the liberal- conservative continuum.

   Fundamentalists, other Evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodoxy, and such varied groups as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Unification Church, etc. generally form the conservative wing; The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Progressive Christianity, Evolutionary Christianity, United Church of Christ, United Church of Canada and others form the liberal wing. Often, a third, mainline wing is added, composed of such denominations as: American Baptist Churches in the USA, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, etc.

4. Fifteen religious families:

   Denominations can be sorted into 15 families, according to their historical roots. 1 Examples are the Adventist, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian families.

5. Theological beliefs:

   There are many systems of theological beliefs within Christianity. They often cut across denominational boundaries. Members of an single congregation may hold conflicting belief systems. Examples are Arminianism, British Israelism, Calvinism, Christian Identity, Universalism, etc. The Barna Research Group, arguably the most important polling group working in the religious and spiritual area, sorts individuals into five faith segments according to their theological beliefs.

6. Five religious groupings:

Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT) recognizes six families of Christian faith groups:

	Evangelical,
	Pentecostal,
	Historic Protestant,
	Historic Racial/Ethnic,
	Eastern Orthodox, and
	Roman Catholic 3

Additional information:

	Which is the "true" Christian denomination?
	Denominations: Origins of denominations (their founders, starting date, and initial location)
	Umbrella organizations U.S. national organizations Worldwide organizations
	Other church groups: Para-church organizations: Promise Keepers, P-FOX, Boy Scouts, etc. Cell churches House churches
	Conflicts: How religions established, changed, and continue to change their teachings on slavery, the role of women, sexual orientation, etc. Religious friction within mainline denominations Religious differences among denominations Destructive, dangerous, doomsday Cults Disagreement over which is the "true" church. Which do some Mormons believe is the true church?
	Off-site material: The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) has created a series of denominational family tree graphs of the Baptist, Mennonite, Presbyterian/Reformed, Restoration movement and other families. See: http://www.thearda.com/

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References used:

1. J. Gordon Melton, Ed, "The Encyclopedia of American Religions," 6th edition, Gale Group, (1998). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store

2. David B. Barrett, et al., "World Christian Encyclopedia : A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World," Oxford University Press, (2001). Read reviews or order this book

3. "Christian Churches Together in the USA," at: http://www.christianchurchestogether.org/

Last updated 2009-MAR-25

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