‘Denomination’ (di-nom-i-NAY-shuhn) can be used in a few different ways. Pay attention to the context so you know which one is meant!

• A denomination is a group of Christians who have agreed to follow a set of rules about how (and by whom) decisions get made.

• For example, the Church of England is a denomination.

• Decisions about its beliefs and practices are made by the General Synod.

• What they decide becomes the official belief and practice of the Church.

• In contrast, Baptists are NOT a denomination.

• Though most Baptist Christians have similar beliefs and practices, no one has the power to make decisions for all the Baptists in the world.

• Each group of Baptist worshippers makes decisions for themselves.

• Some Christians use ‘denomination’ in a special sense, to mean ‘Christians who do not recognise the correct decision-makers for Christianity’.

• Some Catholics, for example, say the Catholic Church is the true Church, and the Churches which do not accept the Pope’s authority are ‘denominations’.

• Some Christians and Churches call themselves ‘non-denominational’.

• They mean that their group of worshippers makes decisions for itself.

• They do not recognise any decision-makers outside of their own group.

• You will sometimes hear ‘denomination’ used to mean ‘ANY group of Christians who have something in common’.

• For example, you might hear people refer to the ‘Lutheran denomination’.

• They mean ‘ALL the churches that take Martin Luther’s theological teachings as the basis of their own’.

• Be careful with this usage!

• BOTH these Churches follow Luther’s theology:

  • The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod

  • Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland

• But, they DO NOT make decisions for each other, and they disagree on many theological issues.

• It does not make sense to treat them as one denomination!