Is the term Non-denominational Misleading?

Let’s start with a dictionary’s definition of the term, “open or acceptable to people of any Christian denomination.” This definition gets at both the usual meaning of the term, but also its difficulties. Before looking at the difficulties, let’s consider some other ways the term is used. One way is to highlight that a particular worship service, church, or even Christian is not formally tied to a particular denomination of the Christian faith (e.g. Southern Baptist, Roman Catholic, or United Methodist). Sometimes, the term means that a particular resource or curriculum or book is meant for all Christians and not just for one particular group of Christians.

Some Christians, who wish to stress their allegiance to Christ first and foremost, and are hesitant about denominations and the divisions they seem to cause, identify as non-denominational. Often, but not always, these individuals are from or have been greatly influenced by Evangelical or Fundamentalist expressions of Christianity. Others still, who identify as Christian, but are not particularly active in their faith or in the life of the Church will also sometimes use this identification. Often these individuals have a general sense of connection to Christ and His teachings, but have no particular connection to any denomination.

All this is understandable and generally works on the surface level, but when you go below the surface, difficulties can emerge. For example, to be a member of a specific Christian denomination situates an individual with a particular framework of the Christian faith with its own approach to worship, congregational life, and distinctive beliefs. Each denomination is also rooted in a particular historical tradition that makes it both similar to and different from other denominations. Every Christian and every Christian church has been influenced by one or more particular frameworks of the Christian faith (whether they know it or not). 

The person who is explicitly a member of or attending a denominational church is aware of this. They know that the Roman Catholic Church has a particular understanding of the Christian faith and they can research that understanding, read about its history, and study its teachings. A person who identifies as non-denominational runs the risk of not knowing the particular framework of Christian faith they influences them. Sometimes non-denominational Christians will claim they are only following the teachings of the Bible. However, the reality is that every understanding of the Bible is influenced by a particular framework or perspective.

Those perspectives may be Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist, Anglican, Nazarene, etc. with various ways of nuancing those terms (e.g. a liberal Roman Catholic perspective). To state it another way, a person may claim to be non-denominational, and indeed not hold official membership in a denomination; yet, their understanding of Christianity, how they read the Bible, how they practice their faith in daily life, etc. match up almost entirely with a particular denomination or tradition of Christianity. Again, the danger here is that these persons may not be aware of this and thus blind to what is shaping their faith in Christ.

In the same way, a church may identity itself as being non-denominational, but in almost every other respect (how they conduct worship, how they govern themselves, how they approach the Bible, what they believe about X and Y issues), are like a Baptist Church. Christianity has a rich and venerable history. Whether denominations are good or bad is another question (click here), but to pretend that any Christian or Church stands outside of a wider stream of influence or Church history or differing ways of understanding Christianity is to choose to be blind about the richness of Christianity and one’s personal understanding of it.

So what should a Christian do? 1) Choose a denomination; this should not be done lightly, but after a rigorous period of discernment 2) At least recognize what traditions/denominations are most similar to your own understanding of the faith or which of them have shaped your understanding of Christianity the most. A person might say, “I’ve attended a number of churches. I guess I’m officially non-denominational, but my understanding of Christianity is very Pentecostal (or Lutheran, or Baptist, etc.). 3) You could say, “I’m a Christian, but I’m not really sure where I fall in the Christian spectrum, so right now I identify as non-denominational.”