Nondenominational defintion by a nondenominational: Rejects all man-made doctrines and strives to follow only what the Bible teaches.
Nondenominational (secular or unbeliever's) definition: Refers to those churches that have not formally aligned themselves with an established denomination or are not restricted to that denomination.
Thoughts by me (lol): Who decides what makes an established denomination? By naming it? Easy enough to do. By popularity? Should Baptists lose almost all their members, does that take away from its being a denomination?
And most Christians claim to follow only what the Bible teaches, yet we have so many denominations.
Personally, I don't think you can avoid the box. You will always get a title of some sort. Even our fellowship could be denominationalized because we have no clergy or creed.
dear folks, this is the way i see it.. when you have denominations , you have a set pattern of beliefs. you must stick to preaching within those confines.. even if the bible may speak to you in a different way.. because if you preach out of line with those beliefs then you will be punished or even took out the pulpit.. kinda like big brothers always watchin.. youre held accountable to ones placed above you that do keep watch on what you say..
now a non denomination has a little more freedom.. as they dont have a denomination group keepin watch over them..
this can be good and it also can be bad.. cause this preacher can preach what he wants to.. still gotta be out the bible.. but as you know denonminations were started because one set of folks seen scriptures diferently than others.. it can be great because you can preach what was laid on your heart... and not have to worry bout lookin over your shoulder so to speak.. but it does have alot of room for error too.
as a man thats been to different churches to speak.. you always had to remember where you were at.. so you didnt speak about something that went against their certain denominatiional beliefs.. so i always felt like i had my hands tied behind my back hehe,,
ya know either ones ok by me.. as denominations have folks from one walk and non denominations have folks from alot of different walks come.. if the preachers good.. i say amen..
I am concerned with how people define non-denominational.
Some attempt to say non-denominational is about being open, however, every Christian believes the graces of the Holy Spirit are too powerful to be limited. Some denominations or individual members promote grace comes only through the Bible or sacrament or something else. However, these are really unclarified traditions and ignore their believes on the Trinity.
Some attempt to say non-denominational is about church authority. These reject pastoral authority to man, separate from groups or join groups of similarly-minded peoples, and trust in their self-realized truths. In effect, they create their own denomination and their beliefs were likely formed not by the power of the Holy Spirit, but in part out of spite and rebellion of the authority, traditions, teachings or whatever they were objecting to.
I think cattleman was going in a good direction at one point. The point is to remain open to the graces of the Holy Spirit. To seek out the answers found by learned humans through scripture, and I'd add readings, traditions, history, and everything else past, future and present and to apply reason, faith, and contemplate in prayer with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To have faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
--Some attempt to say non-denominational is about church authority. These reject pastoral authority to man, separate from groups or join groups of similarly-minded peoples, and trust in their self-realized truths.--
Please do not group all in such fashion. Our fellowship for example is open to all Biblical interpretation for debate, and other than that read the Bible or sing, no actual preaching in our fellowship unless you count Bible reading. We may all have different thoughts on any given subject, but we do not claim conclusions to be without fault, and continue to allow question and change to them. Even questions on clergy authority may be brought up which means that our fellowship may one day take that route.
I did not mean to pigeonhole any nondenomination denomination, I was speaking broadly about groups and rebellions, and their tendency to not be completely God-centered in their motives.
What you say is very similar perspective we hold and trust in our bishops to perform. The fullness of Christ' message was revealed, but we must continually to process, understand and attempt to express the message.
every other believes than catholic or lutheran-evangelical was overcredulous more likely call�d a sect. in the lasr 15 - 20 years things changed, young people, familys, teens ... you name it, they didn�t get anything out of church anymore, i mean they were craving for Gods word but had no place to turn to because our churches over here they don�t feed you with Gods word like it is in other countrys. you go to church, you sing old songs young folks can�t understand, you listen to the pastor who is reading from the bible but you really don�t get any message out of it, you sing again and then you go home without remembering what was said but at least you were able to say "i was in church"!today we have church-communitys who really have life in them, they are fun to go to, full of teenagers who worship the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart and soul, true believers in Christ. they all believe in one thing, our Lord, the One who made heaven and earth and His word, the Holy Bible! they go home with a message they still remember 2 days later!!! the church i go to is about to burst, 40% adults old and young and 60% TEENAGERS and KIDS!!! the teens and kids are our future, feed �m the Word and watch �m grow with the love for the Lord in their hearts and souls!!!non- denominational to me means that it don�t no matter which denomination you were baptized with, all that matters is our believes, ONE GOD, ONE HOLY BIBLE!!!
Oh, I can certainly understand the part about singing songs you don't understand. But if you look at the verses and liner notes, you'll see they come directly from the Bible. Many lift verses from Psalms or the books of the prophets. It's not something new or weird or unorthodox. It's another way to share the Bible.
And as much as I feel uncomfortable singing, it's a good way to communally worship. Our worship should always be centered on God, for God. Sunday Mass or service isn't supposed to be about us, or what we get out of it. It's all about giving him glory. Songs, and our humility in singing publicly, is just one of the many sacrifices we make for Him.
I often find myself puzled by the same thing. I often take it to refer to the free churches which are not connected to the well-known denominations. "not sure yet" is for non-church-goers.
Still, everyone holds beliefs that fit somewhere in the spectrum and everyone has things that they disagree about. Yet, I often feel as i "Non-Denomination" is being used as a sort of a cover. After all, denominations relate to belief-systems and "non-denominations" do so as well. This is to say that "non-denomination" seems a bit pointless to me. Maybe the term needs to be revised by whoever invented it. No offense meant.
