Olson - Atwood - Hill - Mead - Handbook of Denominations in the United States

Abington Press, 2015. – 432 p.

ISBN 978-1-5018-2251-3

 

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide especially non-scholars with a relatively simple, easy-to-use reference work for learning about the most significant Christian traditions and denominations in the United States in the second decade of the twenty-first century. It contains descriptions of over two hundred distinct Christian denominations that are “alive and well” in that decade as well as descriptions of the several major Christian traditions to which they belong—based on shared historical and theological roots and commitments.

 

The word denomination has fallen on hard times. According to many pundits we are living in a “post-denominational” age. Many churches have dropped their denominational affiliation from their names if not from their official (legal) papers. “Non-denominational” has become an increasingly popular self-description—even when someone with a keen eye can easily spot a denominational affiliation.

 

This writer, editor of this edition of the Handbook of Denominations in the United States, occasionally drives past a church called “Calvary Church.” Nowhere on its exterior, including its sign, is any denominational affiliation displayed, not even any abbreviation. A deep scan of its website, however, reveals it to be an affiliated congregation of a major Reformed denomination. This is becoming the norm in many places in the United States.

 

Popular alternatives to “denomination” are “network” and “fellowship.” One denominational executive referred to her “fellowship of churches” as a “denominet-work.” One reader of this Handbook suggested that we retitle it—given the negative impression created in many people’s minds when they hear the word denomination.

 

Ironically, in this allegedly post-denominational age, denominations, by whatever name, are proliferating and many are flourishing. Many especially educated, upwardly mobile young adults raised in allegedly “independent churches” are moving toward highly hierarchical churches with deep and even ancient roots. On the other hand, many of those are newer, eclectic denominations or networks that draw on several traditions.

 

One has to wonder about the roots of the negative popular image of “denomination.” One theory is that it began with the publication of the classic American work on denominationalism entitled The Social Sources of Denominationalism by Yale University theologian and sociologist of religion H. Richard Niebuhr (1929). Niebuhr harshly criticized the so-called mainline Protestant denominations in America for identifying with middle-class American values and ignoring the poor and marginalized of society who went about creating their own “sects” mostly in obscurity.

 

The increasing negative valuation of “denominationalism,” however, has led to something of a backlash among scholars of religion. Several scholarly defenses of denominations have been published in recent years including American Denominational History: Perspectives on the Past, Prospects for the Future (The University of Alabama Press, 2008), Denomination: Assessing an Ecclesiological Category (T and T Clark, 2011), and Denominationalism Illustrated and Explained (Cascade, 2013). In 2013 an evangelical publisher brought out a volume of essays by proud leading members of denominations entitled Why We Belong: Evangelical Unity and Denominational Diversity (Crossway).

 

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PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCHES IN AMERICA

 

Founded: 1926 Membership: 8,478, in 32 congregations (2016)

 

In 1924, three consistories and the pastors of the Classes Grand Rapids East and Grand Rapids West of the Christian Reformed Church in North America were deposed from that denomination as the result of a disagreement over the doctrines of universal grace and evangelism. Christian Reformed pastor-theologian Herman Hoeksema (1886–1965) was foremost among those who taught that grace for the elect alone is an essential aspect of Reformed faith. Those who objected to the doctrine and were forced out of the church formally organized as the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA) in 1926.

 

The distinctive doctrine of the PRCA is sometimes called “hyper-Calvinism” by critics. Defenders of the doctrine (who reject that appellation) believe it is simply the logical extension of Calvinism’s belief in unconditional election and irresistible grace. The controversial doctrine, rejected by the Christian Reformed Church and most Reformed churches, but held by the PRCA, is that the gospel’s offer of salvation to the unsaved is for the elect and should not be made indiscriminately to all people as if anyone can be saved. The Christian Reformed Church and most other Reformed churches believe the offer of salvation through the gospel proclamation to all people, including the non-elect, is a “well-meant offer.”

 

The PRCA holds to the three basic Reformed confessions (the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, the Belgic Confession of 1561, and the Canons of Dort of 1618) as the basis of their belief in the infallible word of God. Their form of church government is presbyterian. There are two classes, organized geographically; a general synod meets annually in June. Membership is found mainly in the upper Midwest. The church maintains a theological seminary at Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

For more information: www.prca.org

 

Headquarters: 4949 Ivanrest Avenue, Grandville, MI 49418