I was camping up in the mountians - As I unloaded my Truck, Then God spoke: He said, "Remember! when you were young and you could hear the radio and hear a sermon. Also you could turn on the tv and hear the sermon and it was the same. Also you could go to a denomination (I will not name a name-my note) and hear the name message."
Then God said, "isn't that same in the non-denominational church. You can to go to most churches they are all the same. Praise and worship, offering, sermon and so on." He said isn't that just the same, and they do it for what?"
Barry Meyer
=Wikipedia: Non-denominational Christianity
In Christianity, non-denominational institutions or churches are those not formally aligned with an established denomination, or that remain otherwise officially autonomous. This, however, does not preclude an identifiable standard among such congregations. Non-denominational congregations may establish a functional denomination by means of mutual recognition of or accountability to other congregations and leaders with commonly held doctrine, policy and worship without formalizing external direction or oversight in such matters. Some non-denominational churches explicitly reject the idea of a formalized denominational structure as a matter of principle, holding that each congregation must be autonomous.
Non-denominational is generally used to refer to one of two forms of independence: political or theological. That is, the independence may come about because of a religious disagreement or political disagreement. This causes some confusion in understanding. Some churches say they are non-denominational because they have no central headquarters (though they may have affiliations with other congregations.) Other churches say they are non-denominational because their belief structures are unique.
Members of non-denominational churches often consider themselves simply "Christians". However, the acceptance of any particular stance on a doctrine or practice (for example, on baptism), about which there is not general unanimity among churches or professing Christians, may be said to establish a de facto credal identity. In essence, this would mean that each non-denominational church forms its own unofficial "denomination" with a specific set of tenets as defined by the beliefs and practices of its own congregation.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
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