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What denomination are you?  

179 members have voted

  1. 1. What denomination would currently suit you the best?

    • Catholic
      26
    • Eastern Orthodoxy
      17
    • Oriental Orthodoxy
      0
    • Church of the East
      0
    • A Proto-Protestant group
      0
    • Lutheran
      10
    • Anglican
      11
    • Continental Reformed church
      1
    • Presbyterian
      11
    • Congregational
      3
    • Anabaptist
      5
    • Plymouth Brethren and Free Evangelical church
      2
    • Methodist
      4
    • Pietism and Holiness Movement
      0
    • Baptist
      23
    • Pentecostal
      3
    • Charismatic Movement
      0
    • Neo-Charismatic Movement
      0
    • African Initiated churches
      0
    • My choice is on the next list
      63
  2. 2. More Choices

    • United and uniting churches
      0
    • Quaker
      2
    • Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement
      3
    • Adventism
      0
    • Church of God
      1
    • Sabbath-Keeping movements, separated from Adventism
      0
    • Sacred Name groups
      0
    • Other Protestant churches
      13
    • Latter Day Saint movement
      15
    • Oneness Pentecostal
      0
    • Unitarianism and Universalism
      13
    • Bible Student groups
      0
    • Swedenborgianism
      0
    • Christian Science
      0
    • Other Nontrinitarian churches
      0
    • New Thought
      0
    • Esoteric Christianity
      0
    • Racialist groups
      0
    • nterdenominational (ecumenical) churches and organizations
      2
    • My choice is on another list
      130
  3. 3. More Choices

    • Southcottism
      0
    • Apostolic churches and Irvingism
      0
    • Messianic Judaism / Jewish Christianity
      0
    • I'm not a Christian but I wanted to vote anyway.
      15
    • My choice is on another list
      159
    • Jehovah's Witness
      5


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That's awkward!

You know, I think it depends on the congregation. We have a lovely Presbyterian church here that several of our friends attended after our current congregation wasn't a good fit (long story). We are all credobaptist, and they discussed it in depth with the elders before attending there. It wasn't a deal breaker for them because the elders respected their differing conviction on baptism of their children and allowed their older girls to be baptized after professions of faith without any adieu. They were otherwise in agreement in substance and style, it was just the paedobaptism issue that was a problem, and it wasn't a hill either the elders of that body or the family wanted to die on. They had a wonderful fellowship there for several years before moving.

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Wouldn't let me vote because I need at least one post on the forums.  :)

 

Anyway, I identify and feel kinship to the Reformed Church because that is how I was raised, but now I go  to a Methodist church because Reformed churches are rare in these parts and there isn't one near me. 

 

I'm in the same boat.  Baptists are the predominate denomination where we live, but we did find a Wesleyan church which we prefer and really like even though we are also more of the Reformed persuasion.  We have to travel 45 mins. to our church, but it's worth it to us.

 

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I lean Anabaptist, but have attended Reformed Baptist, Regular Baptist, and non-denominational churches.  I'm theologically conservative and a member of a small Bible church.  I'm very happy there, but wish we took communion every week. I wear a head covering and skirt with my eyeliner and message t-shirts.  :)

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Did I miss something? Why would JWs be mad?

 

Interesting poll. I always enjoy these.

In my experience from my family, they get told a lot that they are not Christians, just like LDS are often told that. Then again when my DH was Catholic he was told several times that he wasn't christian either. 

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I didn't vote as I don't tend to fit into any denomination. For me it's about the congregation. I've attended churches on all ends of the spectrum and loved/disliked plenty on all sides. I'm just too unique in my beliefs to fit in anywhere. I headcover in services and wear conservative clothes, and homeschool for partly religious reasons. I believe in a very literal interpretation of the bible and look to a lot of older sources to find information about how the church acted in history as a guide for how it should still be acting. Other christians who attend church weekly think I take the bible 'too seriously' and I refer to it for guidance when I am not sure what to do. All fairly conservative traits.

 

But I also love rock and metal music, drink alcohol and do not exclude myself from many worldly activities (except those which are directly sinful of course). I still have a Pentecostal streak, my praise and worship is active and loud and I am somewhat divided on topics like speaking in tongues, plus I am fairly Arminian, while most of the conservative churches I've attended are Calvinist. My husband and I certainly have disagreements of theology where he is more in the direction of conservative churches than me.

 

So, essentially, I accept from the start I will never find a church who's beliefs I fit in with. A church who teaches headcovering and male headship will likely also teach moving away from worldly things and not consuming alcohol. But a church which uses modern worship music and connecting with the world on their level will likely also dislike religious homeschooling and discount what I believe to be fairly clear biblical teachings in favour of the currently popular theological theories, which I am intentionally avoiding so as to not offend anyone. So, we go into a church looking, primarily, for one thing. Fellowship. That is the only thing we cannot give ourselves. The rest is just extra bonuses.

 

Our compromise right now is an australian-style baptist (as far as I can gather, this is much more liberal than american baptist)  church, which treats itself as fairly non-denominational. The worship isn't quite what I would like but it's not dull either, think old-school charismatic, the teaching isn't quite what we would like but it's not all modern theology either, mostly the pastor keeps to non-controversial topics. half the children who attend are homeschooled (though that is a little skewed as the homeschooling families are larger, there's 6 of us I think, among, perhaps, 15-20 families with at least one child)  and there are three families (so far) with 5+ children. I am the only headcoverer, but much of the congregation lives up to the phrase 'be in the world, but not of it', which is what I try to structure my life on. They never question my personal theology choices and the leadership of the church is all male, and there is nothing in the church that I don't want my children exposed to, the young people coming out of it seem to be staying mostly on the right path. I've even had a few people ask about my slightly more conservative beliefs. It's a good compromise for us right now, the fellowship is great and we are not looked down upon at all. So, it works for us. 

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LDS, although I don't know of anyone who refers to it as the "Latter Day Saint movement".  The actual name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

I'd imagine the wiki page is trying to include the off-shoots, none of which are correctly called "Mormon".  (but the press frequently does anyway, and which just leads to more confusion.)

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I'd imagine the wiki page is trying to include the off-shoots, none of which are correctly called "Mormon". (but the press frequently does anyway, and which just leads to more confusion.)

I'm glad the wiki page indicates that there are many branches of the Latter-day Saint tree. The Brighamite branch (mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is not the only church within the religious movement started by Joseph Smith and not the only branch that uses the nickname Mormon. After Smith died, several different leaders emerged as successors. The church split into multiple groups. Brigham Young took the largest group to Utah, which is where the mainstream LDS church and most of the polygamous offshoots originate. These polygamous groups broke off the Brighamite church after the Second Manifesto banning polygamy in this life. They aren't the LDS church, but they have the same origins.

 

The other groups that remained in the Midwest after Brigham left for Utah also formed churches and also claimed to be the legitimate successors to Joseph Smith's original church. (Smith named several different successors, including his son Joseph Smith III and his brother Hyrum among others.) The succession crisis caused the church to schism, with various members following whichever leader they thought had the best claim.

 

So while there is confusion in some news articles about polygamous sects being conflated with the LDS church, any discussion of the Latter-day Saint movement must include all the groups that originated with Joseph Smith.

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That's a tough one for me, because I don't think of myself as a particular denomination.  I was baptized and raised in a Lutheran church, but together my husband and I have attended Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Bible/Non-Denominational, and now Baptist.  (But I'm not officially a member of the Baptist church.)  Who knows, in the next place we live, we might attend a Presbyterian church!  It just depends so much on the particular congregation, the preaching there, etc.

 

 

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That's a tough one for me, because I don't think of myself as a particular denomination.  I was baptized and raised in a Lutheran church, but together my husband and I have attended Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Bible/Non-Denominational, and now Baptist.  (But I'm not officially a member of the Baptist church.)  Who knows, in the next place we live, we might attend a Presbyterian church!  It just depends so much on the particular congregation, the preaching there, etc.

 

This is more or less us too.  We've been to Methodist, Baptist, Friends, Mennonite, Brethren, Evangelical Free, non-denominational, and now the Churches of God church we attend.  I grew up OPC (Pres).  Hubby grew up Methodist.  We have so many in our "regularly attended" list due to several moves and swapping churches when leadership changes (sometimes) locally.

 

To us, it's not the denomination.  It's the individual church and preaching.  We've never found one we agree with 100% because our beliefs seem to have mixes of main thoughts, so we go with "close enough" as well as "we like what's being preached."  We also switched once to have a better youth group for our teens (we still like the preaching of the church).

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The Eastern Orthodox numbers really surprise me. I didn't realize how much they were represented here. 

 

I'm actually surprised at how few people have responded.  Perhaps I'm just remembering the day when we had 700 people online at any one time...and I know a lot of people avoid the Chat board nowadays.  It would be interesting to go back to previous posts on this topic (this question has been asked a couple of times before) and compare overall voting counts.

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I voted Other Protestant. We are reformed in theology and like praise music with bands instead of piano and organ. We've attended Calvary Chapel, Bible church, non denominational church, Bible Presbyterian (married us), PCA, Nazarene, and we are currently looking for a church In our new area.

 

I attended a legalistic church when I was a child and I don't want a church like that. We are still looking.

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grew up Nazarene which is a more fundamental version of Methodist when I was a kid.  They are both from the wesleyan theology.  I still actually agree with this theology but choose not to attend the denominations that follow it

 

I choose non denomination protestant church because I dont' like the whole "joining" the church to be a full participant  .  Then with that membership you are suppose to have all those "same" convictions.  

 

I like the non denominations because they are about 'loveing and serving Jesus" without memebership.  They don't call each member to a particular  life sttyle.

 

There are those that attend that dont' believe in any alchol and others that believe in moderation.  There are those that choose to wear dresses only and others that wear shorts.

 

I like its a real community of people loving jesus  and respecting each individuals convictions.

 

 

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Yup. I consider us doctrinally conservative/traditional. We can align with multiple credal statements like Westminster or London Baptist Catechisms, but we wear pants, cut hair, dance, drink if one desires, allow public school, etc. So while I consider myself doctrinally very conservative I've seen some pretty extreme definitions of that which don't fit us at all. At a soccer game or in the grocery store you wouldn't be able to tell us apart from anyone else without striking up a conversation specific to morality and religion. Maybe a lack of cursing would distinguish?

 

Anyway... Off the bunny trail!

 

Probably more of the conversation as one gets to know you.... I kind of doubt that lack of cursing would distinguish. I know plenty of people who are not Christians that do not curse.

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I voted Presbyterian but just wanted to note that there are some pretty significant differences between Presbyterians.  PCUSA is the largest and (based on my understanding) the most liberal/least traditional of the Presby. groups.   

 

Presbyterian Church in America, Orthodox Presbyterian, and Evangelical Presbyterian are (again, based on my understanding) much more conservative/traditional.

 

Then there are other smaller Presbyterian denominations that I don't know anything at all about.

 

I also voted "Presbyterian," but we are members of the PCA, which is much more conservative than PCUSA.

 

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I'm actually surprised at how few people have responded.  Perhaps I'm just remembering the day when we had 700 people online at any one time...and I know a lot of people avoid the Chat board nowadays.  It would be interesting to go back to previous posts on this topic (this question has been asked a couple of times before) and compare overall voting counts.

 

 

There is this poll from Dec 2014

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/536284-spirituality-poll/?hl=%2Bdenomination+%2Bpoll&do=findComment&comment=6075344

 

400 people replied.  264 self identified as Christian.

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I'm an Eastern Orthodox Christian. We may seem like we are divided by nationality (Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Greek, Antiochian, etc.), but we are united in faith and doctrine. I could attend an Eastern Orthodox church anywhere on the planet (and on every continent) and know what is happening (except understanding the homily if not in a language I know) and follow the service and receive the holy sacraments. Glory to God!

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grew up Nazarene which is a more fundamental version of Methodist when I was a kid.  They are both from the wesleyan theology.  I still actually agree with this theology but choose not to attend the denominations that follow it

 

I choose non denomination protestant church because I dont' like the whole "joining" the church to be a full participant  .  Then with that membership you are suppose to have all those "same" convictions.  

 

I like the non denominations because they are about 'loveing and serving Jesus" without memebership.  They don't call each member to a particular  life sttyle.

 

There are those that attend that dont' believe in any alchol and others that believe in moderation.  There are those that choose to wear dresses only and others that wear shorts.

 

I like its a real community of people loving jesus  and respecting each individuals convictions.

 

Interesting, because all of the non-denominational churches I attended in the past did have membership rolls and you were expected to have the same convictions. Granted there was a bit of variety in clothing, but there was plenty of pressure to conform. You could also be called before the elders and put under "discipline".

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There is this poll from Dec 2014

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/536284-spirituality-poll/?hl=%2Bdenomination+%2Bpoll&do=findComment&comment=6075344

 

400 people replied.  264 self identified as Christian.

 

thanks!  how did you find it?  I did a search and came up with nada..

 

I did mean to say I was surprised that how few have responded *overall* to this particular poll.  I realize coming back after being gone all day, that my post made it sound like I was just speaking about my faith tradition.

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Interesting, because all of the non-denominational churches I attended in the past did have membership rolls and you were expected to have the same convictions. Granted there was a bit of variety in clothing, but there was plenty of pressure to conform. You could also be called before the elders and put under "discipline".

 

interesting.  My experience is more like Cafelatte's... although I know there were a few non-denom. churches in my area that were much more discipline oriented (Shepherding movement et al and/or heavily influenced by Gothard), most were pretty laid back.  This especially became true when the whole "Seeker Friendly" movement hit it's stride in my area.

 

One of my previous church's self-described itself as non-denom.  Our pastor was a Calvinist and it seems that the church covenant had some language to that effect....but we didn't have to sign on the dotted line or anything.  It was very laid back about theology.  My husband taught small groups even though he was very up front with the pastor that he didn't agree with Calvinism. 

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thanks!  how did you find it?  I did a search and came up with nada..

 

I did mean to say I was surprised that how few have responded *overall* to this particular poll.  I realize coming back after being gone all day, that my post made it sound like I was just speaking about my faith tradition.

 

 

I understoood you.  ;)  I am surprised too at how few responded.  Maybe everyone is off getting ready for school to start.

 

I searched Denomination poll.

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I have attended several different churches since I left home since we move with Dh's job. They have mostly had a Baptist influence even though only one really called itself Baptist. I grew up Mennonite and identity strongly with Anabaptist. It is my heritage. I don't know that I would attend an Anabaptist church now, but my worldview, daily life and religious views are heavily influenced by Anabaptist teaching.

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We go to an Anglican church, which we enjoy.  However, it used to be a Vineyard church, and the whole church became Anglican about 5 years ago.  That gives it a decidedly more charismatic feel than a lot of other Anglican churches.  And we like that, a lot. 

 

If we were to change churches, we'd head towards charismatic, I think.  We also send our kids to a lot of childrens' programming at a local southern Baptist church.  I like their theology for elementary age kids, so it's a good fit for us.

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We go to an Anglican church, which we enjoy.  However, it used to be a Vineyard church, and the whole church became Anglican about 5 years ago.  That gives it a decidedly more charismatic feel than a lot of other Anglican churches.  And we like that, a lot. 

 

If we were to change churches, we'd head towards charismatic, I think.  We also send our kids to a lot of childrens' programming at a local southern Baptist church.  I like their theology for elementary age kids, so it's a good fit for us.

 

Another possibility might be the Charismatic Episcopal Church if you have to change. 

 

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I voted Anglican, since my parish belongs to the Anglican Church of Canada.  I suppose though that to get a real sense I would say I am what you might call a traditional or orthodox Anglican.  Very Oxford movement, you could probably have a good feel for it if you have ever seen western rite Orthodoxy - the Church in the English tradition, in a sense.  I tend to be somewhat high liturgically, but as far as that goes I am really more concerned with avoiding the use of faddish liturgy.

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