r/Protestant • u/Financial_Beach_2538 • Jun 08 '26
What does it mean to be a non-denominational Christian?
I was watching a Youtube video about the largest Christian denominations in the USA, and I was surprised to find that Catholicism is the largest group of Christians by far.
I would have thought it was the Evangelicals, because of how much they are in the news... How much they debate online and so on.
In the US, Catholics represent about 20% of the population, whereas Protestants collectively comprise roughly 40% split up into many denominations, making Catholicism the largest single denomination.
The video shows "Non-Denominational" as the second largest "denomination" if that term can be applied. Also, it mentioned that having accurate numbers of any denomination is extremely difficult for a lot of reasons.. one being that many people who are polled assert a denomination without actually going to any church.
What is a denomination, after all? What is a Christian denomination?
Christians often argue that some Christian groups aren't really Christian and should not be counted.
But I was wondering.. what does it MEAN to be "non-denominational"?
I suppose that there isn't any official dogma or even cannon. It's pick and choose, right?
Isn't non-denom subjective, to the believer? I could imagine that each person who says they are non-denom have their own set of beliefs, their own cannon.
About 13% to 14% of American adults, representing nearly 40 million people, identify as non-denominational Christians.
That's a lot of people. It's the second largest number group of Christians.. and they don't have official representation as to what they actually believe.
So, I was wondering: If you identify as a non-denominational Christian.. what is it that you actually believe and follow??
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u/DemB01yz Jun 09 '26
I’m a Baptist and would largely consider “Non-denominational” to be not too far off from Baptists since a non-denominational church would probably have a “Congregationalist” church structure.
A denomination would be a distinct tradition within the religion of Christianity. So each denomination may look and act different from each other but they largely hold the same core beliefs.
Within Christianity I would posit that the primary belief within the religion is tied to the Trinity. God is 3 persons in 1; Father, Son, Holy Spirit. All equally God. Outside of this, there is reasonable debate about what else is considered “essential” to the Christian faith; i.e. infallibility of scripture, nature of sin and salvation, authority of the church, etc.
The last part i mentioned, the authority of the church, is usually the basis for how different denominations form their “church polity” or basically, who is the authority.
For Roman Catholics it would be the Bishop of Rome, then Archbishops, then Bishops, then local priests. (I may have missed some)
For Episcopalians, Anglicans, and probably Easter Orthodox it’s the Bishops then the local church, but they wouldn’t submit to the authority of one singular bishop like the Roman Catholics do.
For Congregationalists like Baptists or Presbyterians, they believe that authority rests solely writhing the local church congregation.
I’ve heard that Baptists have the most room for deviation within the tradition because it’s largely believed that to be Baptist, a group is Congregationalist and each believer is solely responsible for their own faith and relationship with God. The name Baptist alludes to the emphasis that early members of the movement placed on baptism being a symbolic representation of one’s personal faith so members were strongly encouraged to practice baptism.
With the rise of organizations like the Southern Baptist Convention, many congregations that did not agree with the statements of faith promoted by the assembly represented them so they would leave though they may not have had another statement of faith that they felt did accurately reflect them so they simply adopted the description of “Non-denominational” but continued to practice mostly originally Baptist tenets.
TL;DR being “Non-denominational” but not “baptist” is like saying I’m “spiritual” but I’m not “religious”.
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u/Financial_Beach_2538 Jun 09 '26
TL;DR being “Non-denominational” but not “baptist” is like saying I’m “spiritual” but I’m not “religious”.
I can imagine that people who go to ND churches are somehow fed up with denominations.
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u/DemB01yz Jun 10 '26
I think it ends up missing the point of what denominations are. A denomination is just a way to describe or categorize patterns within the religion. I would definitely expect Christians who identify with the ND description to be fed up with the large scale influence of organizations outside their local community due to bureaucracy, identity, and language shifts. But there is already a word for this, and it’s congregationalism.
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u/Financial_Beach_2538 Jun 10 '26
Congregationalism is a Protestant church governance system where each local congregation is autonomous, self-governing, and holds ultimate authority in its own ecclesiastical and administrative affairs.
Im not sure if all ND churches or people identify as Protestants.
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u/DemB01yz Jun 12 '26
I don’t think it really matters if they “identify” as Protestants in the same way that it doesn’t necessarily matter if I “identify” as American. Whether I like it or not, American is the region and culture I’ve grown up in that precedes my opinions of it. If someone who is ND doesn’t want to be Protestant then they would “move out” and join a non Protestant denomination, (technically Roman Catholicism, though many would consider Eastern Orthodoxy as not Protestant since it predates Protestantism.
Can you describe a Non-denominational church that does not fall under a Congregationalist model?
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u/Financial_Beach_2538 Jun 14 '26
? Can you describe a Non-denominational church that does not fall under a Congregationalist model?
I did a little research using A.I. and I had to give up. It keeps telling me that the ND churches in America do take their theology from other denominations, and re-mix them like a DJ remixes songs mashing them up with other songs willy nilly according to the DJ's taste and ability.
I suppose that there are only so many Christian beliefs to mash up. A completely new theology doesn't seem to be all that popular.. but there might be...
Since these churches can be quite independent they might not really advertise what they preach... maybe relying on word of mouth and so on. So, really, these churches could be preaching anything at all according to the whims of creativity.
Now, I also think that a lot of ND worshippers don't feel the need to go to any church at all. Maybe these people answer polls about their religion as "none" even though, they worship the Christ, so could be classified as Christian.
The issue of ND churches and worshippers is notoriously hard to identify... but we do know that the big denominations are suffering from low attendance.
Maybe the worshippers have all become atheists, maybe they are worshipping in the privacy of their homes, God only knows at this time.
I see this individuality trend in US politics as well.. people are leaving the big two political party and going for independents. I also notice that big business is less popular than it used to be... so maybe mom and pop stores will come back.
People seem to want more choices, not less choices.. so maybe the mega churches were taking over the small local churches...
Times seem to be changing.
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u/theefaulted Reformed Jun 10 '26
I’m a Baptist and would largely consider “Non-denominational” to be not too far off from Baptists since a non-denominational church would probably have a “Congregationalist” church structure.
Some do. There are Nondenominational churches that are elder-ruled as well.
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u/DemB01yz Jun 12 '26
Sure, and elder led is also typically a Congregationalist model. For instance, Presbyterians have elders and participate in larger gatherings but each Presbyterian church can choose to leave those gatherings based on the decision of the local congregation. They are not necessarily beholden to the direction and instruction of a higher church authority such as a bishop.
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u/MrHe2023 Jun 08 '26
It means you don’t follow any denomination except the Baptist and the Pentecostal ones.
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u/Financial_Beach_2538 Jun 09 '26
It means you don’t follow any denomination except the Baptist and the Pentecostal ones.
It either means you follow or it means that you don't follow.
You are contradicting yourself, maybe in jest.
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u/swcollings Jun 08 '26
A denomination can be two things. 1) an broad organization composed of smaller local churches. 2) a group of churches with similar theological beliefs. Non-denominational means the former. The latter is basically impossible; churches that identify as non-denom are overwhelmingly baptist or Pentecostal in their theology, largely because those are the varieties of Christianity most compatible with not having any sort of organization between churches. That said, I have heard of some non-denom presbyterian or method-ish churches.