How many different groups are there that claim to be Christian?

Question

How many different groups are there that claim to be Christian?

My original phrasing of the question was going to be, "How many different denominations are there within Christianity?" But I saw that others had asked similar questions and received silly answers, such as, "There are NO denominations within TRUE Christianity." So, now my question is this.

Approximately, how many different established groups CLAIM to be Christian?

Jehovah's Witnesses do a lot of research, so I often trust their findings. They themselves claim to be Christain and say that there are approximately 35,000 different denominations that claim to be Christian. But who can be sure?

I know that there are NO denominations withing TRUE Christianity. But that is a BIG fight.

So what do we think? 35,000 sound right?

Answer 1

There are less than 500 denominations in the USA.

I've heard many claim there are 35,000 or 37,000 denominations but none of the people who made that claim have ever produced a list.

I did find a list maintained by Gordon Conwell Seminary of about 33,000 denominations, but that counts each denomination again in each country it appears in. So the Roman Catholic Church is counted more than 200 times.

So in the USA there are about 500 and I've seen this list and have a copy of it on my computer somewhere.

At least 50 of those are different types of Baptist, 10 different versions of Lutherans, 10 different versions of Presbyterians and 10 different versions of Methodists and 25 different version of pentecostals.

So the real number of unique denominations is roughly 100 or so.

This list does not count independent churches as if they were unique denominations.

It does list associations such as the Willow Creek Association which has over 80,000 churches as members, but those same churches, most of them anyway, are already part of other denominations.

And if you eliminate the groups from that list with only a handful of members, the list shrinks again.

95% of those in the USA are part of the largest 25 denominational groups ( where I am counting all Baptists as if they were one group even though I know that Southern Baptists are not the same as American Baptists or National Baptists or General Baptists ).

I've listed a link to the members of the NAE. There are about 52 member denominations of the NAE.

There is also a World Council of Churches and a National Council of Churches.

The World Council of churches claims 347 member denominations.

I've included a link showing the member denominations of the National Council or Churches as well.

All of which shows that there are no were near 30,000 denominations.

Pastor Art

PS to Terry: All of the authors of the New Testament were Jewish, not Catholic, with one exception, Dr. Luke who wrote the books of Luke and Acts.

Answer 2

There is a religion that calls itself Christian, and their is Biblical Christianity. The difference is whether a person accepts the finished work of Christ on the Cross, or is trying to do the work themselves.

There are many denominations, many share the same basic beliefs which unite them. There are many different types of Catholics as well.

The Scripture makes it clear that anyone who does not believe that Jesus in the Christ, and that he came in the flesh is of the Anti-Christ! That can be applied to religious groups as well.

Answer 3

No.

The publications of Jehovah's Witnesses seem to indicate a somewhat smaller figure, as least as late as 1984.

January 8, 1984 edition of "Awake!" (page 3)
[quote]
Do you live in a land of Christendom? It has been stated that there are 10,000 denominations and sects. However, the recently published World Christian Encyclopedia claims that there are 2,050 denominations of Christian churches in the United States alone, and worldwide that number runs up to 20,000.
[unquote]

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20020422/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20040301/article_01.htm

Answer 4

i'm a christian and that i've got many times asked this question because of the fact it incredibly is basically a organic extension considering Abraham, Moses , Noah and Jesus are pronounced interior the Koran then Muslims have the comparable God. yet this is my opinion, considering Muslims have ninety 9 names for God and Muslims evaluate themselves slaves to God (no longer liked infants of god), Muslims evaluate God to be Vengeful and to be one entity (incapable of taking human type)... on the different hand Christians have the trinity, Jesus is a factor of God is an unacceptable concept in Islam, the thought God can chop up himself into divine entities or being housed in a individual as Mary being pregnant in Jesus is likewise unacceptable to Muslims. Christians evaluate themselves to be the youngsters of god, they supply concept to all different populations as skill to alter no longer as enemies of the call of God for refusing to stick to the Christian techniques (some Muslims see it this way), they additionally evaluate salvation from God in an extremely distinctive way. it incredibly is an extremely long argument yet i concluded that those could be 2 very distinctive Gods.

Answer 5

I would think more in the 40 or 50 department, but okay (depends on your definition of "group" as opposed to denominations). Oh, and Catholics are christians, one of the largest denominations in fact. Jews are not, but they are also not heretics (anti-semitic jerk).

Answer 6

Jehovah's Witnesses are no more Christian than Mormons are. Once a group denies the deity of Christ, they are not considered Christian.

And yes, there are MANY denominations that accurately point the way to Christ! God's body of believers is spread out all over the earth. There are 2 billion Christians who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and who walk with Him.

The exact numbers aren't important, however, as you seem to think. What IS important is for each individual to have a personal relationship with the Living God. And I hope you are one! :-)

Answer 7

You got it right when you said "there are no denominations within true Christianity"...The problem is however, that the Baptist think they are "true Christianity"...The Catholics think they are "ture Christianity"...The Methodist say they are "true Christianity"...The Anglican, Epsicopals say they are "true Christianity"...My point is that there are a bunch of different groups that claim to be true Christians and they are too many to list. We will never be able to narrow down the Christian religion to one group because every group says they are the "True faith".

Answer 8

Well spme are fake religions and cults. Some people just give a branch of christianity a new name. Like Some people call Baptists the New Churchof Christ. I'am Catholic, and I believe that the true Christianity is Catholic, Orthodox, (the originals) and some of the older protestans like Lutheran, methodist, Baptis, Anglican.

Answer 9

Christianinty is divided into three branches: Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox. If you are Christian, you are one of these. Now, Protenstants break down into hundreds of sub-groups: Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc.

By the way "primoa1970", you're wrong: Catholics are Christians. It was the Catholic Church that gave you your New Testament, in case you didn't know. Even athiests in this forum know that much.

Answer 10

It doesn't matter what someone calls themselves, there is only one way to God and we cannot earn it we can just accept it.

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world he gave his only Son, whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.