Church History in Plain Language: The Death of the Denominations

In his readable book, “Church History in Plain Language,” Bruce Shelley writes briefly about the history of denominations. He puts their origins in the mid-1700’s although the theory may have its roots among Puritan leaders in England and the USA 100 years earlier. Robert Webber adds further insight by connecting “denominationalism” to various interpretations of Scripture. “The Bible became the object of study and could now be interpreted by individuals in conflict with previous institutional understandings,” Webber notes. Shelley observes that no one back then could have imagined how many faith groups would be formed using this type of organizational structure. With this kept in mind, here is an outline for a structured conversation that we believe should be taking place among clergy and lay leaders who have an interest in the present and future viability of their denominational system.

http://rmdc.org/ministries/church-multiplication/resources/articles/death_of_denominations

John Kissinger [01/31/2016 7:46 AM]
John Ruffle here’s some more http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/death-of-denominations/

PentecostalTheology .com

3 Comments

Reply August 30, 2019
Varnel Watson

coming soon to a city near you Philip Williams
Reply August 30, 2019
Jim Price

Jim Price While I read the short excerpt on the site I was not sure just what the writer had in mind. I have often thought that God had a purpose in mind in letting the many different denominations form into groups. God of course knows human psychology and knows how competitive we are and how we want to be part of a group that has some advantage over other groups. At the same time we have social needs to be part of a group, bigger than ourselves and something bigger than just one congregation.There are many benefits to being a member of a denomination but here in the south people are so independent and individualistic that they seldom take advantage of what’s available