I'm a non-denominational Christian, although the church I grew up in is affiliated with other non-denom churches in a way that loosely resembles a functional denomination of free churches. My church has a very close relationship with over a half-dozen other churches in the immediate area that don't have the exact same affiliation as us, although they are awfully similar in many ways. Our pastor meets with a group of five local pastors on an informal but regular basis, we combined our AWANA program with a congregational church over ten years ago, there's several things we do with a local Free church, and there's another congregational church that we've collaborated with since both our churches were at different locations and since the current pastor's dad was the pastor there. The main reason we have different names on our signs has to do with our historical lineage as congregations rather than doctrinal differences.
My church's lineage goes back to the middle of the 20th century when parts of suburban/rural Illinois were largely lacking in churches. So there was a guy who wasn't very long out of seminary that decided to get his start here. It started really small- not even really a house church- but the level of interest in Christianity at that time was greater than the level of opportunity to practice it at the time, so the young congregation grew and survived and became affiliated with IFCA pretty early on. The area became less rural and more strictly suburban, and it continues to be a pretty small church that will be there for the long term. Maybe it will get bigger than a couple hundred members, maybe not. There's still long-term building plans at this site that will take at least another ten years to complete. We'll see.
In the bigger picture of Christianity, it's an independent church that doesn't trace a direct lineage to anything European. I see this as an important part of America's developing Christian identity. Over many centuries, Western Europe and the Byzantine Christians and different types of African Christians all developed a unique Christian identity. American Christianity was initially a hodgepodge of differenttyoes of European Protestantism thrown together, and then waves of Catholic immigration and later a bit of the Orthodox brought them alongside us as well. But in the past half-century, there's been unprecedented growth in independent churches in America and around the world. This makes some sense, though- without being schismatic or hurtful to other forms of Protestantism, this is our way of figuring out exactly what the American identity is going to be. Independent churches might be a stepping-stone, or it might be the destination itself. Again, we'll see. It's a long process. It might be another half-century before we really start to get a clear picture of what American Christianity will look like long-term and how it will compare to any of the forms of European or African or Oriental Christianity.
My church's lineage goes back to the middle of the 20th century when parts of suburban/rural Illinois were largely lacking in churches. So there was a guy who wasn't very long out of seminary that decided to get his start here. It started really small- not even really a house church- but the level of interest in Christianity at that time was greater than the level of opportunity to practice it at the time, so the young congregation grew and survived and became affiliated with IFCA pretty early on. The area became less rural and more strictly suburban, and it continues to be a pretty small church that will be there for the long term. Maybe it will get bigger than a couple hundred members, maybe not. There's still long-term building plans at this site that will take at least another ten years to complete. We'll see.
In the bigger picture of Christianity, it's an independent church that doesn't trace a direct lineage to anything European. I see this as an important part of America's developing Christian identity. Over many centuries, Western Europe and the Byzantine Christians and different types of African Christians all developed a unique Christian identity. American Christianity was initially a hodgepodge of differenttyoes of European Protestantism thrown together, and then waves of Catholic immigration and later a bit of the Orthodox brought them alongside us as well. But in the past half-century, there's been unprecedented growth in independent churches in America and around the world. This makes some sense, though- without being schismatic or hurtful to other forms of Protestantism, this is our way of figuring out exactly what the American identity is going to be. Independent churches might be a stepping-stone, or it might be the destination itself. Again, we'll see. It's a long process. It might be another half-century before we really start to get a clear picture of what American Christianity will look like long-term and how it will compare to any of the forms of European or African or Oriental Christianity.
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