That 30,000 number is misleading, as it includes the many autocephelous bodies of the Eastern Orthodox Church as separate "denominations", not to mention it includes the various Rites of the Roman Catholic Church as separate "denominations" as well as counting denominations from different countries, which are nevertheless in communion, as separate "denominations". That means to get that number it considers the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Antiochene Orthodox Church, the Orthodox Church in America, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Church of Finland, the Romanian Orthodox Church, etc all as separate "denominations" in that figure. Likewise it counts Latin Rite Catholics, Chaldean Catholics, Maronite Catholics, and Byzantine Catholics all as separate "denominations" even though they are simply different rites of the Roman Catholic Church. It counts the Church of England, the Episcopal Church (USA), the Anglican Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Australia, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & the Middle East, the Scottish Episcopal Church, etc all as separate "denominations" in spite of the fact that, again, these are all part of the same communion, the Anglican Communion. The same then goes to many Protestant churches, in spite of international fellowships and communion, such that Lutherans in the US and Canada, such as the ELCA and ELCIC, are in full communion but that isn't reflected in the 30,000 number. Congregations belonging to the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel--my childhood Pentecostal denomination--are counted as belonging to different churches if they are in different countries, a Foursquare church in the US and a Foursquare church in South Korea would therefore be considered part of two separate churches in spite of the fact that the Foursquare Church is a single denomination.
Further, the reality of the history of the Christian Church has shown that men are quite capable of dividing the Church. I completely agree that Christ's Church never apostatized, Christ's holy catholic Church has remained until the present day--as a Lutheran I confess faith in that one holy catholic Church, but I reject that either Rome or Orthodoxy holds a monopoly on Christ's catholic Church. I say that with all respect to Orthodoxy because I respect the Eastern Churches tremendously, but I reject that "the one true church" is copyrighted by Orthodoxy, the marks of Christ's holy catholic Church is in Christ's Word and Sacraments. Wherever the Word is faithfully preached and the Sacraments rightly administered, there is Christ's Church.
-CryptoLutheran
