HISTORY OF
DENOMINATIONS

ORTHODOX 1054
      "Scholars estimate there are over 2600 groups today who lay claim to being the Church, or at least the direct descendants of the Church described in the New Testament. Repeat: 2600!
      "But for the first thousand years of her history the Church was essentially one. Five historic Patriarchal centers--Jerusalem; Antioch, Rome, Alexandria, and Constantinople-- formed a cohesive whole and were in full communion with each other. There were occasional heretical or schismatic groups going their own way, to be sure; but the Church was unified until the 11th century. Then, in events culminating in A.D.1054, the Roman Patriarch pulled away from the other four, pursuing his long-developing claim of universal headship of the Church.
      "[In 1054 t]he Great Schism occurs. Two major issues include Rome's claim to a universal papal supremacy and her addition of the filioque clause to the Nicene Creed. The Photian schism (880) further complicated the debate."
      Get more information from the Orthodox Christian Information Center web site.

LUTHERAN 16th Century
      "The world's 59 million Lutherans belong to 250 different autonomous Lutheran churches around the world. Not surprisingly, the largest numbers of Lutherans are to be found in Germany, the place where the Lutheran tradition made its beginning during the early part of the 16th century...
      "The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod traces its origin to 750 Saxon immigrants who came to Missouri in 1839 seeking freedom from religious rationalism in Germany...
      "Well known for its emphasis on Biblical doctrine and faithfulness to the historic Lutheran Confessions, the Synod also manifests an innovative spirit in seeking new ways of proclaiming the Gospel."
      Get more information from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod web site.
      Click here to read Luther's 95 Theses.
      Click here to read the Augsburg Confession of Faith (1530).

CHURCH OF ENGLAND 1534
      "English civil power and the Church developed in an increasingly uneasy parallel. Two points of contention were the Church's wealth and its ties with Rome.
      "These differences came to a head in the 1530s, when King Henry VIII wished to obtain a divorce from Queen Catherine of Aragon for not producing a male heir. The Pope would not grant it. After a long campaign to reverse this decision, the King ran out of patience and proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church of England and the Church began its separate existence from Rome, although, and this is important, its bishops have been consecrated in unbroken succession from St Peter.
      "Innovative from the first, the new Church simplified the liturgy, ensured it was in English rather than Latin and set it out in a new Book of Common Prayer which was designed to give the people of England a commonly held pattern of worship, a sense of oneness of Church and people, with the Church sanctifying every side of national life, giving society a Godward purpose and direction.
      "When the British Empire expanded in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, so too did the Church. Now firmly rooted in more than 160 countries, the Anglican Communion celebrates with the Church of England, the mother church, its diversity and commonality."
      Get more information from the Church of England web site.

PRESBYTERIAN 1560
      "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has approximately 2.5 million members, 11,200 congregations and 21,000 ordained ministers. Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Our heritage, and much of what we believe, began with the French lawyer John Calvin (1509-1564), whose writings crystallized much of the Reformed thinking that came before him.       "Martin Luther, a German priest and professor, started the movement known as the Protestant Reformation when he posted a list of 95 grievances against the Roman Catholic Church on a church door in Wittenburg, Germany in 1517. Some 20 years later, a French/Swiss theologian, John Calvin, further refined the reformers' new way of thinking about the nature of God and God's relationship with humanity in what came to be known as Reformed theology. John Knox, a Scotsman who studied with Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland, took Calvin's teachings back to Scotland. Other Reformed communities developed in England, Holland and France. The Presbyterian church traces its ancestry back primarily to Scotland and England.
      "The Presbyterian church in the United States has split and parts have reunited several times. Currently the largest group is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has its national offices in Louisville, Ky. It was formed in 1983 as a result of reunion between the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS), the so-called "southern branch," and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA), the so-called "northern branch." Other Presbyterian churches in the United States include: the Presbyterian Church in America, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church."
      Get more information from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) web site.

MENNONITES/ANABAPTISTS 16th Century
      "The Mennonite (Anabaptist) faith movement began in Europe in the 16th Century when a small group of believers challenged the reforms of Martin Luther and others during the Protestant Reformation, saying they were not radical enough and calling for adult rather than infant baptism. In 1525, several members set themselves apart from the official church by publicly declaring their faith in Jesus Christ and re-baptizing each other."
      Get more information from the Mennonite Church USA web site.

BAPTIST 1610
      "The line of English churches that can be traced, who called themselves Baptists, began in 1610 in Holland. This is not to say there were no Batpists in Britain earlier, but that this began a line of churches whose history can be traced. It began with a man named John Smyth who was a bishop in the Church of England. In 1606, after nine months of soul searching and study of the New Testament he was convinced that the doctrines and practices of the Church of England were not Biblical, and thus he resigned his position as priest and left the church.
      "Because of persecution by the Anglican church of all who disagreed with it and who refused to submit to its authority, John Smyth had to flee England. In Amsterdam, he along with Thomas Helwys and thirty six others formed the first Baptist church of Englishmen known to have stood for baptism of believers only.
      "Smyth, believed that the only real apostolic succession is a succession of Biblical New Testament truth, and not of outward ordinances and visible organization such as the Church of England or the Roman Church. He believed the only way to recover was to form a new church based on the Bible. He then baptized himself (which is not biblical) and then the others of his congregation. In only a few years however, the church had lost all but ten members to the Mennonites and other groups in Holland. Smyth died in 1612, and the church ended in Holland shortly thereafter with Helwy, Thomas and John Murton returning to England as persecution there had lessened. History records that the members of this Baptist church went back to England or remained in Holland and joined Mennonites. It did not produce a succession of other churches, but those who founded it went on to establish other Baptist churches in England.
      "Back in England these men formed the first recorded Baptist church on English soil. By 1626, the churches had grown from one, to five churches and by 1644 there were forty congregations. Through the preaching of the New Testament, the Gospel went forth in power and the Baptist movement grew rapidly.
      "These first Baptist churches formed in England were Armenian in theology, which taught that all men could be saved. The Calvinistic or Particular Baptists were a different group and believed in limited atonement in which only the elect could be saved. Particular Baptist had their beginnings around 1616, when some "dissenters" left the Church of England and were lead by the Rev. Henry Jacob. By 1644, these congregations grew to seven churches."
      Get more information from Baptist.org.

REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA 1624
      "In the small colonial town of New Amsterdam, on an April Sunday in 1628, about fifty people gathered around a crude Lord's Table in a horse mill loft. Their celebration of the Lord's Supper marks the birthdate of the Reformed Church in America. The congregation they founded still continues today as the Collegiate Reformed Church in New York City, the oldest evangelical church in North America with a continuous ministry.
      "The Reformed branch of Protestantism is rooted in the Reformation of the 1500s. Its primary leader was John Calvin of Geneva, Switzerland, whose reform movement spread to Scotland, where it became the Presbyterian Church, and the Netherlands, where it became the Dutch Reformed Church.
      "While Dutch in origin, the Reformed Church in America today includes North America's ethnic and racial diversity. The church has about 950 congregations in the United States and Canada and a total membership of more than 300,000 adults, youth, and children."
      Get more information from the Reformed Church in America web site.

FREE WILL BAPTIST 1727
      "The Free Will Baptist Church is not a movement which has sprung up within the past few years. History accords a place for this movement as far back as the early seventeenth century. An entire church, consisting of pastor and congregation, came from Wales and settled on the Delaware River on what was known as the Welsh Tract. From this group came several men who preached the Arminian doctrine in contrast to the prevailing Calvinistic doctrine of the day. One of these men, Paul Palmer, is credited with organizing the first Free Will Baptist church in 1727 in Perquimans County, [North Carolina]. The work in the northeast was instituted under the leadership of Benjamin Randall, who organized the first Free Will Baptist Church in that area in New Durham, [New Hampshire], June 30, 1780. The General Conference of Free Will Baptists was organized in 1827.
      "Today the National Association of Free Will Baptists is the largest group of Arminian Baptists in the world. It is active in all types of Missionary and Educational endeavors, promotes its programs from a centralized headquarters in Antioch, [Tennessee], and maintains active membership in the National Association of Evangelicals."
      Get more information from the Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas, web site.

METHODIST 1729
      "'Methodists' was originally a nickname applied to a revival movement in 18th century Britain, based within the Church of England and led by, among others, the brothers John and Charles Wesley.
      "Both brothers studied at the University of Oxford (at Christ Church) and John went on to become a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. In the early 1730s a small group of students met regularly for Bible study and prayer, received Communion frequently and undertook works of charity; such devout behaviour was unusual in those times and they were soon ridiculed. Among others in the 'Holy Club' (another nickname) was George Whitefield who would become the greatest preacher of the time. The Wesleys, Whitefield and other leaders were mostly ordained clergy of the Church of England. The 'Methodists' in Oxford were a short-lived group, but they set a pattern for the 'Evangelical Revival'."
      Get more information from the Methodist Church web site.

EPISCOPAL (AMERICAN) 1784
      "The Episcopal Church is descended from the Church of England, and through the consecration of bishops, has roots all the way back to Jesus and his original followers. The Church of England developed during the 16th century, as it moved away from being overseen by the Pope but did not reject its Catholic origins. Thus, the Church of England grew to be called the via media, or the "middle way," between what became known as the Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church. In this way, churches in the Anglican Communion are both Protestant and Catholic, and maintain traditions found in both of those branches of Christianity.
      "[The Episcopal Church] started when the United States started in 1789. Members of the Church of England started a new, independent church to go along with their new, independent country, and it was based on a lot of the same principles. While we are self-governing, the Episcopal Church maintains a relationship, based on common faith, traditions, history, and use of the Book of Common Prayer, with the Church of England and more than 30 other Anglican churches all over the world. All churches in this tradition make up the Anglican Communion."
      Get more information from the Episcopal Church, USA web site.

MORMON (CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS) 1830
      "1820, Early Spring...The Prophet Joseph Smith received First Vision in a grove of trees in Palmyra and Manchester Townships, New York, near his home.
      "1823, September 21-22...Joseph Smith visited by angel Moroni and told of the Book of Mormon record. Joseph viewed the gold plates buried in a nearby hill (Cumorah).
      "1827, September 22...Joseph Smith obtained the gold plates from Moroni at the Hill Cumorah.
      "1829, May 15...John the Baptist conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in Harmony, Pennsylvania.
      "1829, May...Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James, and John near the Susquehanna River between Harmony, Pennsylvania, and Colesville, New York.
      "1829, June...Translation of the Book of Mormon completed. The Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses shown the gold plates.
      "1830, March 26...First printed copies of the Book of Mormon available, Palmyra, New York.
      "1830, April 6...The Church organized in Fayette Township, New York."
      Get more information from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints web site.
      Click here to read the Book of Mormon.

PRIMITIVE BAPTIST 1832
      "Primitive Baptist ancestors have been called by various names over the ages. The name Primitive Baptist became popular in the early 1800s when the term primitive conveyed the idea of originality rather than backwardness. Accordingly, Primitive Baptists claim to maintain the doctrines and practices of the original Baptists, who are claimed to be the New Testament church.
      "Primitive also conveys the idea of simplicity. This well describes the Primitive Baptists, whose church services consist of nothing more than preaching, praying, and singing.
      "The Articles of Faith and the Abstract to the Doctrine of Salvation will introduce the reader to Primitive Baptist views on doctrine. The Black Rock Address of 1832 will acquaint the reader with the circumstances which lead to the division between Primitive and other Baptists."
      Get more information from the Primitive Baptist Web Station web site.
      Click here to read the Primitive Baptist Creeds (or Articles) of Faith.
      Click here to read the Abstract to the Doctrine of Salvation.
      Click here to read the Black Rock Address.

SOUTHERN BAPTIST 1845
      "Since its organization in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has grown to 15.8 million members who worship in more than 40,000 churches in the United States. Southern Baptists sponsor about 5,000 home missionaries serving the United States, Canada, Guam and the Caribbean, as well as sponsoring more than 4,000 foreign missionaries in 126 nations of the world.
      "The term 'Southern Baptist Convention' refers to both the denomination and its annual meeting."
      Get more information from the Southern Baptist Convention web site.

CHURCH OF GOD (SEVENTH DAY) 1850s
      "The Church of God (Seventh Day) grew from the efforts of dedicated advent believers living in Michigan and Iowa in the late 1850's. In 1863, the Michigan church began to extend its influence into the eastern and central U.S. through a publication called The Hope of Israel. This magazine invited fellow Christians to assemble at conferences and campmeetings, and created interest in their distinctive doctrines: the second advent of Christ and the seventh-day Sabbath.
      "Through these means, the General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh Day) was organized in 1884 and incorporated in Missouri in 1899. Its offices were located in Stanberry, Missouri, until 1950, when they were transferred to Denver, Colorado.
      "The Church of God (Seventh Day) recognizes more than 165 congregations in the United States and Canada. It also has affiliated ministries in more than twenty countries outside North America, with a worldwide fellowship of over 125,000 members."
      Get more information from the Church of God (Seventh Day) web site.

FREE METHODIST 1860
      "The Free Methodist Church was organized in Pekin, New York, in 1860. The principal founder, Benjamin Titus Roberts, was a young Methodist pastor who had been expelled from the Methodist Episcopal Church because of his calls for reform and renewal. Roberts, a graduate of Wesleyan University, had been a successful Methodist pastor and in 1860 founded a monthly magazine, The Earnest Christian.
      "The denomination adopted the name 'Free Methodist' to signify free seats for all (a protest against pew rental), freedom from slavery and slave-holding, and freedom of the Spirit in worship and in daily living."
      "The Free Methodist Church is committed to the doctrines of historic Methodism as represented in the ministry of John Wesley in eighteenth-century England. Its polity is similar to that of other Methodist churches, though from the beginning it has provided for equal 'lay' and 'clergy' representation in church government -- a reform when the denomination was organized in 1860.
      "The denomination grew rapidly during its first three decades, spread across much of the Midwest and to the West Coast, and established foreign mission work in several countries. Free Methodists founded a number of schools, including Roberts Wesleyan College, Spring Arbor College, Greenville College, Central Christian College, and Seattle Pacific University."
      Get more information from the Free Methodist web site.

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 1863
      "Doctrinally, Seventh-day Adventists are heirs of the interfaith Millerite movement of the 1840s. Although the name 'Seventh-day Adventist' was chosen in 1860, the denomination was not officially organized until Ma y 21, 1863, when the movement included some 125 churches and 3,500 members.
      "Between 1831 and 1844, William Miller--a Baptist preacher and former army captain in the War of 1812--launched the 'great second advent awakening' which eventually spread throughout most of the Christian world. Based on his study of the prophecy of Daniel 8:14, Miller calculated that Jesus would return to earth sometime between 1843 and 1844. Others within the movement calculated a specific date of October 22, 1844. When Jesus did not appear, Miller's followers experienced what became to be called 'the great Disappointment.'
      "Most of the thousands who had joined the movement, left it, in deep disillusionment. A few, however, went back to their Bibles to find why they had been disappointed. Soon they concluded that the October 22 date had indeed been correct. They became convinced that the Bible prophecy predicted not that Jesus would return to earth in 1844, but that He would begin at that time a special ministry in heaven for His followers. They still looked for Jesus to come soon, however, as do Seventh-day Adventists yet today.
      "From this small group who refused to give up after the 'great disappointment' arose several leaders who built the foundation of what would become the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Standing out among these leaders were a young couple--James and Ellen G. White -- and a retired sea captain named Joseph Bates.
      "This small nucleus of 'adventists' began to grow -- mainly in the New England states of America, where Miller's movement had begun. Ellen G. White, a mere teenager at the time of the 'great Disappointment,' grew into a gifted author, speaker and administrator, who would become and remain the trusted spiritual counselor of the Adventist family for more than seventy years until her death in 1915. Early Adventists came to believe -- as have Adventists ever since -- that she enjoyed God's special guidance as she wrote her counsels to the growing body of believers.
      "In 1860, at Battle Creek Michigan, the loosely knit congregations of Adventists chose the name Seventh-day Adventist and in 1863 formally organized a church body with a membership of 3,500."
      Get more information from the Adventist Church web site.

OLD CATHOLIC/AMERICAN CATHOLIC 1870

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES 1870s
      "In the early 1870s, a rather inconspicuous Bible study group began in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., which is now a part of Pittsburgh. Charles Taze Russell was the prime mover of the group. In July 1879, the first issue of the magazine Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence appeared. By 1880 scores of congregations had spread from that one small Bible study into nearby states. In 1881 Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was formed, and in 1884 it was incorporated, with Russell as president. The Society's name was later changed to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Many were witnessing from house to house offering Bible literature. Fifty persons were doing this full time in 1888—now the average number worldwide is about 700,000."
      Get more information from the Jehovah's Witnesses: Watchtower Society web site.

CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 1879
      "In 1879, four years after the first publication of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy and some of her students voted to 'organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master [Christ Jesus], which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.' The Church was reorganized in 1892, and the Church Manual was first issued in 1895 to provide a framework for church government and a blueprint for future development of its mission."
      Get more information from the Church of Christ, Scientist web site.

CHURCH OF GOD (ANDERSON, INDIANA) 1881
      "The Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) began in 1881 when Daniel S. Warner and several associates felt constrained to forsake all denominational hierarchies and formal creeds, trusting solely in the Holy Spirit as their overseer and the Bible as their statement of belief. These people saw themselves at the forefront of a movement to restore unity and holiness to the church, not to establish another denomination but to promote primary allegiance to Jesus Christ so as to transcend denominational loyalties.
      "Deeply influenced by Wesleyan theology and Pietism, the Church of God has emphasized conversion, holiness, and attention to the Bible. Worship services tend to be informal, accentuating expository preaching and robust singing.
      "There are Church of God congregations in 85 foreign countries, most of which are resourced by one or more missionaries. There are slightly more Church of God adherents overseas than in North America. The heaviest concentration overseas is in the nation of Kenya."
      Get more information from the Church of God (Anderson, IN) Ministries web site.

CHURCH OF GOD (CLEVELAND, TENNESSEE) 1886
      "It was 1886, in a crude meeting house on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, where the Church of God traces its roots."
      Get more information from the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) web site.

HOLINESS/PENTECOSTAL 1894
      "1867 National Holiness Association formed in Vineland, New Jersey.
      "1879 Iowa Holiness Association formed.
      "1894 Southern Methodist Church rejects Holiness Movement; over 25 Holiness groups form."
      Get more information from the International Pentecostal Holiness Church web site.

TWO BY TWOS/THE CHURCH WITH NO NAME 1903
      "The movement was founded in William Irvine, (1863-1947) a Scotsman. Some sources say that he came from County Tipperary, Ireland; others say he was from Kilsyth, Scotland. He joined the Faith Mission in 1895. Here, he traveled to rural areas of Scotland and Ireland as a lay evangelist. He left in 1901, taking some young preachers with him, including George Walker, Eddie Cooney, Jack Carroll and Irvine Weir. He was inspired by texts in Matthew and Luke and organized a group to continue itinerant preaching in the 20th century. Their first convention was held in Ireland in 1903. 70 followers attended. Irvine then left with two members to evangelize North America. Other pairs of workers were sent to Australia, China, Germany, New Zealand, South Africa and South America. The movement grew rapidly; 2,000 attended the 1910 convention in the UK. They called their spiritual path 'The Truth' and 'The Testimony.' Believers accepted Irvine as the 'Alpha Prophet' spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:18-19 and Acts 3:20-23.
      "In 1908, Irvine developed a two-tier membership structure, consisting of workers and ordinary members. The workers (a.k.a. senior brothers, senior servants) were full-time missionaries; the members typically worked at regular employment and support the workers financially. Irvine also organized a system of overseers to have authority over all of the workers in a given geographical area. The existence of overseers was not revealed to the general membership.
      "Irvine developed some unusual doctrines, He taught: that it might be possible for 2X2 members to travel to other planets and act as saviors of other civilizations. He identified his group with the remnant of 144,000 people mentioned in Revelation. He developed his 'Omega Gospel,' or 'Omega Truth' in which he taught that Christ had chosen him to announce that the end of the 'age of Grace' was coming in 1914-AUG. After that date, no additional people could be saved. The 'final judgement' would then follow. These beliefs were a direct challenge to the overseers and workers; if the group accepted the new doctrines, then the workers would have no further function to perform. A theological split over this prophecy developed. Irvine was ousted from the group in 1914-APR because, it was claimed, he had 'lost the Lord's anointing.' Since the time of Irvine's departure, the organization has been led by the overseers. In time, his leadership and even his existence were forgotten by many. The movement became less open to the public, and disappeared from common view."
      Get more information from the Church With No Name web site.

NAZARENE 1908
      "Organized October 8, 1908, in Pilot Point, Texas, the Church of the Nazarene has made its home in Kansas City, Mo., since shortly after the birth of the denomination.
      "The Church of the Nazarene is the largest denomination in the Wesleyan-Arminian theological tradition. The doctrine that distinguishes the Church of the Nazarene and other Wesleyan denominations from most other Christian denominations is that of entire sanctification."
      Get more information from the Church of the Nazarene web site.

ASSEMBLIES OF GOD 1914
      "The Assemblies of God has its roots in a religious revival that began in the late 1800's...
      "The beginning of the modern Pentecostal revival is generally traced to a prayer meeting at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, on January 1, 1901.
      "By 1914, many ministers and laymen alike had begun to realize the rapid spread of the revival, and the many evangelistic outreaches it spawned had created a number of practical problems.
      "In 1914 about 300 preachers and laymen gathered from 20 states and several foreign countries for a "general council" in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to discuss and take action on the growing need.
      "The five reasons they listed for calling the meeting were: doctrinal unity, conservation of the work, foreign missions interests, chartering churches under a common name for legal purposes, and the need for a Bible training school.
      "A cooperative fellowship emerged from the meeting and was incorporated under the name "The General Council of the Assemblies of God." Most of the delegates had little desire to form a new denomination or sect, and they structured their organization to unite the assemblies in ministry and legal identity while leaving each congregation self-governing and self-supporting. This structure continues to the present."
      Get more information from the Assemblies of God web site.

INTERNATIONAL CHURCH OF THE FOURSQUARE GOSPEL 1923
      "The early 20th century evangelist, Aimee Semple McPherson, was a pioneer of women in religion. Having experienced a profound religious conversion at age seventeen, Aimee began preaching across the United States and later, the world. In 1918, she established her base in Los Angeles, California, where in 1923, the 5,500 seat Angelus Temple was dedicated and became the center of her revival, healing and benevolent ministries.
      "She summarized her message into four major points known as 'The Foursquare Gospel,' and founded a denomination called The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.
      "From its beginning at Angelus Temple, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel has now grown to include more than 1,900 churches in the United States and Canada, and over 24,000 churches worldwide. There are currently more than 2.8 million members in 99 countries around the globe. It presently ranks as one of the three or four most distinguished branches of Pentecostalism. Aimee Semple McPherson died in 1944, while conducting a crusade in Oakland, California."
      Get more information from the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel web site.

THE WAY INTERNATIONAL 1932
      "Victor Paul Wierwille founded The Way International, a Christian group based on idiosyncratic readings of the Bible, in 1942 on a 147-acre tract in rural New Knoxville, Ohio. It just happened to be his birthplace.
      "Wierwille founded what would become The Way after receiving what he claimed was a message from God.
      "Wierwille began teaching unusual beliefs, which most mainstream Christians find disturbing, such as Jesus Christ is not God; today's Jews are actually an impostor tribe from Siberia, not the Bible's chosen people; the Jewish Holocaust is a myth; much of the Gospel doesn't have any real meaning today; and others.
      "Wierwille organized The Way around the structure of a tree. Individuals are Leaves, local home fellowships are Twigs, state advisers are Limb Coordinators, headquarters is the Root."
      Get more information from the Way International Defined web site.

WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD 1933
      "The Worldwide Church of God is a Christian denomination with about 67,000 members, worshiping in more than 900 congregations in about 100 nations. [They] began in Oregon in 1933 and are now headquartered in Pasadena, California. [They] are members of the National Association of Evangelicals."
      Get more information from the Worldwide Church of God web site.

ADDITIONAL LINKS:
      "History of Denominations" on BibleLessons.com
      "Why Are There So Many Churches?" on Padfield.com
      "Seven Myths of Denominationalism" on christianlibrary.org
      "A Study of Denominations" on deusvitae.com
      Yahoo! Denominations and Sects

GO BACK: Introduction to Denominations
CONTINUE TO: Errors of Denominations (coming soon)
E-MAIL: Jason Carter, jt_carter@yahoo.com
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