Chapter 16: Every tradition: services and what they need · Part 1
Christianity
The Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ are here, under Christianity, as both describe themselves and as the game's picker has them.
Catholic and Orthodox
Catholic Church
A parish of the Latin (Roman) Rite of the Catholic Church in the United States: Mass on Sunday and its Saturday vigil, and on weekdays, at an altar with the tabernacle, the crucifix, and statues; seven sacraments; a pastor appointed by the bishop. Parishes range from small rural ones to suburban parishes with several weekend Masses, some in Spanish, and a parish school.
4 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
A parish of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the United States, the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches: Byzantine in its liturgy and spirituality, Catholic in its full communion with the Pope of Rome. The Divine Liturgy is sung throughout by a cantor and choir before the iconostasis, in Ukrainian and in English; infants are baptized, chrismated, and given Holy Communion in one service. Married men may be ordained priests, as the Vatican allowed again in the diaspora in 2014, and the eparchial bishop appoints them. Fixed feasts have followed the new style since 2023, while Pascha keeps the Eastern date, and the fasts are lighter than the Orthodox. The parish is a hub of Ukrainian life: the language school, varenyky sales, the Easter basket blessing, and, since 2022, newcomers from Ukraine.
5 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Orthodox Church in America
A parish of the Orthodox Church in America: the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, sung throughout by a choir or chanters without instruments, before an iconostasis, with the Saturday evening Vigil; most people stand. Married men may be ordained priests. The year is shaped by long fasts, and Pascha is kept by the Julian reckoning. Parishes are small, and many are made up of converts as well as families of Russian, Carpatho-Rusyn, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Albanian heritage.
11 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
A parish of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, an eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: Orthros and the Divine Liturgy every Sunday, in Greek and English, chanted by the psaltes at the analogion and often sung by a choir with an organ, before the iconostasion, with the people in pews. Infants are baptized by triple immersion, chrismated, and given Holy Communion at once; Communion is for the Orthodox, after fasting and confession. The Metropolitan assigns and moves the priest, whose pay follows the Archdiocese's Clergy Compensation Plan, ratifies the parish council's election, and approves any building, sale, or mortgage after two thirds of the Parish Assembly have voted for it, and its plans and iconography. The parish holds its own title, but one that falls into schism loses it to the Archdiocese. Parishioners in good standing are 18 or over and current in their stewardship, taught as a tithe; every parish budgets its Total Commitment to the Archdiocese. The parish is a centre of Hellenic life: the Greek school, the Philoptochos, GOYA, and the summer festival.
9 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Coptic Orthodox Church
A church of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the United States, under the Pope of Alexandria and the Holy Synod: Oriental Orthodox, in communion with the Syriac, Armenian, Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Malankara churches. The Liturgy of St Basil, two to three hours long, is chanted in Coptic, Arabic, and English by the deacons and the cantor to cymbals and triangle, before the haikal screen, and many churches hold several Liturgies each weekend; men and women sit on either side. Communicants come fasting and after confession to their father of confession. A parish nominates a married man of its own to be ordained its priest, and he serves it for life. Copts fast on some 210 days a year, without animal products, and keep the Coptic calendar: Christmas on 7 January, the New Year at Nayrouz. US parishes are large and young (a median of about 300 adherents, an estimate from the 2020 census), with Sunday schools staffed by a corps of volunteer servants.
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Anglican and Lutheran
The Episcopal Church
A parish of The Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion's province in the United States: the Holy Eucharist from the Book of Common Prayer (1979) every Sunday, often a spoken early service and a sung one at ten with organ and choir from The Hymnal 1982, communion at the altar rail with wine and the common cup for all the baptized, children included. Infants and adults are baptized, usually by pouring, and the bishop confirms at a visitation. The vestry calls the rector with the bishop's consent, and rectors stay as long as both wish, with an interim priest between; the building is held in trust for the diocese and the Church by the Dennis Canon, so a parish that leaves leaves it behind. Each parish pays its diocese an assessment, and each diocese pays 15% of its income to the churchwide budget. Women have been ordained since 1976, and same-sex marriage rites have been available in every diocese since 2018. Congregations are small (a median Sunday attendance of 38 in 2024) and many priests serve part time.
5 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Anglican Church in North America
A congregation of the Anglican Church in North America, the province formed in 2009 at the call of the GAFCON Primates, holding the Scriptures as the final authority, the three Creeds, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as its standards. Holy Communion from the Book of Common Prayer 2019 is the principal service of the Lord's Day, at the altar rail for all who are baptized; worship ranges from Anglo-Catholic to evangelical and charismatic, with organ and choir or a band. Infants and adults are baptized, and the bishop confirms. The vestry calls the rector, but no rector is called or dismissed without the bishop's consent. Unlike the Episcopal Church, the congregation owns its property outright, free of any trust, and may leave after consulting its bishop. Every member is taught the tithe as the minimum, and congregations are encouraged to give a tenth of their income to their diocese, voluntarily. Each diocese decides whether to ordain women as deacons and priests; bishops are men. Marriage is of a man and a woman. Many congregations are young plants in rented space.
4 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
A congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA): Word and sacrament together in the Divine Service, communion every Sunday for all the baptized, the church year kept in full, and a strong tradition of congregational song with the organ. The congregation calls its pastor and owns its building, within a synod led by a bishop.
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The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
A congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod: confessional Lutherans who hold Scripture and the whole Book of Concord, and worship in the Divine Service of Lutheran Service Book with the organ and the chorales. The Lord's Supper, with wine only, is given every other week or every Sunday under close(d) communion, to members of the Synod and its sister churches; infants are baptized, and the young are confirmed after learning the Small Catechism. Its members renounce "unionism and syncretism", so it worships only with its own, though it serves alongside anyone. The voters' assembly calls the pastor, a man, from the district president's list, and new pastors come by the Council of Presidents' assignment on Call Day; the Synod is "but an advisory body" with "no equity in the property of the congregation". Many congregations run a Lutheran school.
5 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Reformed and united
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
A congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), governed by its session of elected ruling elders within a presbytery. The Service for the Lord's Day joins Word and Table: lectionary readings and the sermon, then the Lord's Supper, most often monthly, at an open table where all who come are offered the bread and the cup, with a non-alcoholic option always there. Infants and believers are baptized, and baptism is never repeated. A pastor nominating committee searches, the congregation elects, and the presbytery approves and installs the pastor, who stays without a set term; an interim usually comes between. The property is held in trust for the denomination, so leaving needs the presbytery's gracious dismissal, which can cost a good deal. Churches pay a per capita for each active member to the councils above them.
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Presbyterian Church in America
A congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, confessionally Reformed under the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, which its officers vow to receive. Its Lord's Day worship is ordered by Scripture and centred on long expository preaching, often with an evening service as well; the Lord's Supper is served from the table as often as the session decides, to those who profess the true religion and are communicants in good standing of an evangelical church. Believers' children are baptized by pouring or sprinkling and are non-communing members until the session examines them and they profess their faith. The session of ruling elders governs, and its elders, deacons, and ministers are men only. The congregation calls its own pastor, whom the presbytery examines and installs, and owns its property outright: the Book of Church Order promises that no court will ever take it, and a church may leave by its own vote. All giving to the presbytery and the General Assembly is voluntary. Church planting and missions are its growth engine.
4 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Christian Reformed Church in North America
A congregation of the Christian Reformed Church, confessionally Reformed under the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort, which its elders, deacons, and ministers sign without reservation. Its worship, regulated by the consistory, centres on the preached Word, and the church keeps the tradition of gathering twice on the Lord's Day, the second service often preaching the Catechism. Children of confessing members are baptized, and young people profess their faith after catechism classes; the Lord's Supper is held at least every three months. The congregation owns its building and calls its own minister, with the classis approving the call; whether women serve as elders and ministers is each congregation's choice. Many of its families send their children to a Christian day school.
4 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
United Church of Christ
A congregation of the United Church of Christ, formed in 1957 from Congregational Christian and Evangelical and Reformed churches. Each local church is autonomous: it owns its building, writes its own constitution, calls its own pastor through a search committee (often after an interim), and may leave by its own vote; its Association and Conference offer covenant, not command, and hold ministers' standing. Worship is centred on the Word, often from the lectionary, with Holy Communion most often monthly at a table open to all. Creeds are "testimonies, but not tests of the faith." Giving to Our Church's Wider Mission is voluntary. A congregation may vote to become Open and Affirming, publicly welcoming LGBTQ+ people, or a Just Peace church; many are small, with part-time ministers.
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Methodist and holiness
The United Methodist Church
A congregation of The United Methodist Church: a service of Word and Table with hymns from the Wesleys, often a traditional service with organ and choir and a contemporary one with a band; communion at least monthly at an open table, where children are welcome; infants baptized by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. The bishop appoints the pastor each year, and pastors move every several years. The building is held in trust for the denomination, and churches pay apportionments to their annual conference. Since 2024, each congregation and each pastor may decide whether to hold same-sex weddings.
5 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
African Methodist Episcopal Church
A congregation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded by Richard Allen and the people of Mother Bethel in Philadelphia, organised in 1816, and Methodist in doctrine under the Twenty-Five Articles of Religion. Sunday worship is long, sermon-centred, and responsive, with choirs, the Hammond organ, altar prayer at the rail, and the doors of the church opened every week; communion on first Sundays at the rail, prepared by the stewardesses. The bishop appoints the pastor each year at Annual Conference on the presiding elder's recommendation, and the presiding elder holds a Quarterly Conference with every church. The building is held in trust for the connection, and churches pay stacked assessments to the district, the Annual Conference, and the General Budget. Stewards, trustees, and class leaders share the work, with the Women's Missionary Society and the Young People's Division. Watch Night, Women's Day, and Men's Day mark the year.
5 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Free Methodist Church USA
A congregation, a Society in its Book of Discipline, of the Free Methodist Church USA, founded in 1860 for free seats, freedom from slavery and from secret societies, and freedom in the Spirit, and still Wesleyan holiness: it teaches entire sanctification as John Wesley held it. Worship is simple and sermon-centred, untrammeled by elaborate ritual, and often contemporary. Communion is open to all included in the general invitation, received humbly kneeling at the rail, with Christ really present in a heavenly and spiritual manner; infants and believers are baptized by immersion, sprinkling, or pouring as the family chooses, or children dedicated. The conference's Ministerial Appointments Committee, chaired by the bishop, appoints pastors for an indefinite tenure after talking with the pastor and the church's delegates, and has the final say; property is held in irrevocable trust for the denomination. Members are received by the Board of Administration and make covenant vows: abstinence, no gambling, Lord's Day observance, and a tithe. Joining a secret society or another denomination ends membership. Women have been ordained elders since 1974.
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Church of the Nazarene
A congregation of the Church of the Nazarene, a Wesleyan-Holiness church whose central teaching is entire sanctification, a second work of grace after conversion. Worship centres on preaching and closes with an invitation to the altar, the kneeling rail across the front, where people seek salvation and entire sanctification; it is not Pentecostal, and doesn't seek tongues, though it affirms divine healing alongside medicine. The Lord's Supper, in which Christ is present by the Spirit, uses unfermented wine only, is open to all who have faith in Christ, and is kept at least quarterly, often kneeling at the rail. Believers are baptized by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion as they choose, and young children may be baptized at their parents' request, though many families dedicate them instead. The church board nominates a pastor with the district superintendent's approval and the members call by a two-thirds ballot; new, small, or subsidised churches have their pastors appointed. The church holds its property in its own name but may not divert it from the denomination. Churches give 5.5% of their income to the World Evangelism Fund, with district, education, and pension apportionments. Members abstain from alcohol and tobacco and refuse gambling, and women have been ordained since 1908.
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The Salvation Army
A corps of The Salvation Army, which calls itself an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church, holding to the Eleven Doctrines in the Wesleyan holiness tradition; its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination. Sunday's holiness meeting is led by uniformed officers, with the band and songsters, a message, and an appeal to kneel at the mercy seat. The Army has kept no sacraments since 1883, teaching that no outward observance is necessary to inward grace: soldiers are enrolled under the Army flag after signing the Soldier's Covenant, which includes abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, and gambling, and children are dedicated under the flag. Its officers are commissioned and ordained ministers, usually married couples who serve and hold rank together, appointed by divisional and territorial headquarters and moved by farewell orders, commonly every two to five years (three in the game). The territory owns the corps building and funds the corps' budget, and the corps is also a social-service centre, with caseworkers, a food pantry, Christmas help, and the Red Kettle appeal from mid-November to Christmas Eve.
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Baptist
Southern Baptist Convention
A Southern Baptist church: an autonomous congregation that governs itself "through democratic processes", cooperating with its association, state convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention under the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, which binds no church. A preaching service with hymns or a praise team, an invitation at the end, believer's baptism by immersion, and the Lord's Supper as a memorial, most often each quarter and open to all believers. Bible study for all ages before the service is its engine of growth, and Wednesday night is the prayer meeting. The congregation calls its pastor, who is a man, and decides its own budget, members, and building; it gives a share of its receipts it chooses through the Cooperative Program (4.67% on average in 2023-24), and takes the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings for missions.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
American Baptist Churches USA
A congregation of American Baptist Churches USA, the mainline Baptist body descended from the Northern Baptist Convention and among the most racially diverse in American Protestantism. Each church is the basic unit of mission: it owns its building, calls its own pastor with help from its region's executive minister, recites no creed, and sets its own worship, teaching, and practice. Believers are baptized by full immersion and the Lord's Supper shared monthly at an open table. Women have been ordained since 1882 and serve as pastors and regional leaders. Churches give voluntarily through United Mission and four annual offerings. Same-sex marriage is a local and contested question: national policy is traditional, but some churches publicly welcome and affirm. Congregations differ widely: a reserved New England or Midwestern service with organ and choir, or a Black Baptist church's expressive worship, which is its own variant here.
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National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
A Missionary Baptist church of the National Baptist Convention, USA, the largest historically Black Baptist body, formed in 1895. The church governs itself and calls its own pastor, who leads with strong authority and often stays for decades; deacons and trustees serve beside the pastor, and the church cooperates freely with its district association, its state convention, and the national convention, owing them nothing it does not choose to give. Sunday worship is long and expressive: devotion led by the deacons, choirs with the Hammond organ, offerings walked to the front, a sermon that rises in call and response, and the doors of the church opened at every service. Believers are baptized by immersion and the Lord's Supper kept on first Sundays. Church life rests on its auxiliaries (the usher board, the Mothers' Board, the missionary society, the choirs) and its days: the pastor's and church's anniversaries, Women's Day, Men's Day, Homecoming, and Watch Night.
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Pentecostal
Assemblies of God
A Pentecostal congregation of the Assemblies of God: long, band-led praise and worship, preaching, and an altar call with prayer at the front, where believers seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Believers are baptized by immersion and the Lord's Supper kept as an ordinance. A sovereign assembly calls its pastor by a two-thirds vote and owns its building, in cooperation with its district council; a struggling church can ask to be, or be taken into, the district's supervision.
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Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee)
A congregation of the Church of God, with its international offices in Cleveland, Tennessee: a holiness Pentecostal body that teaches salvation, sanctification after the new birth, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit after a clean heart, evidenced by speaking in tongues. Its services are Pentecostal praise and preaching with an altar service, on Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday night. It keeps three ordinances: believers' baptism by immersion, the Lord's Supper with grape juice, and the washing of the saints' feet, usually in the same service. The state's Administrative Bishop appoints the pastor, traditionally after consulting the church, and the Church and Pastor's Council advises the pastor; property is held for the general use of the Church of God, so a congregation that leaves loses its building. Women are licensed and ordained, and pastor churches, but since a 2010 vote they cannot become Ordained Bishops, the rank nearly every office requires. The Practical Commitments ask total abstinence, no gambling, no oath-bound societies, and modest appearance.
4 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Church of God in Christ
A congregation of the Church of God in Christ, the Holiness-Pentecostal church Bishop Charles Harrison Mason founded out of the 1897 holiness revival and reorganised after Azusa Street in 1907. Worship runs long and full of the Spirit: devotion and testimony led by the deacons and mothers, the choir and the Hammond organ and drums, shouting and holy dancing, a sermon in call and response, and the altar open every service, where seekers tarry for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Three ordinances bind the church: believer's baptism by immersion, the Lord's Supper, and feet washing as the pastor appoints; the sick are anointed and prayer cloths sent. The Jurisdictional Bishop appoints the pastor, who then often serves for life, sometimes succeeded by a son; the property is held in trust for the church. Women may not be pastors, but the Women's Department and the church mothers carry great authority, and the pastor's wife is honoured as First Lady. Saints keep a holy, separated life, give their tithes and walked offerings, raise reports for the district and jurisdiction, and go up to the Holy Convocation each November.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
International Pentecostal Holiness Church
A congregation of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, a Wesleyan holiness and Pentecostal body that teaches three works of grace: salvation, entire sanctification as a definite work after it, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues as its initial evidence. Its worship is expressive praise and preaching closing in an altar service, where people seek all three, are prayed for, and are anointed for healing. Believers are baptized, preferably by immersion, and the Lord's Supper, with unfermented wine only, is open to all who love Christ and kept at least quarterly; some churches wash one another's feet with it. To choose a pastor, the conference superintendent, who carries the title of bishop, puts forward one candidate at a time, and members who tithe vote yes or no in a pastoral preference ballot: two thirds elects. The conference keeps its appointing power, can call a vote of confidence, and appoints a pastor itself if none is chosen in six months. Each church sends a tenth of its tithes and offerings to its conference every month, with no other assessment allowed, and its ministers tithe to the conference too. A church the IPHC planted holds its property in trust and leaves it behind if it goes; one that joined later keeps the property it brought. Members keep the Covenant of Commitment: no alcohol, tobacco, or gambling, no oath-bound societies, and modest dress.
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United Pentecostal Church International
A congregation of the United Pentecostal Church International, the largest Oneness Pentecostal body, whose people often call themselves Apostolic. It teaches one indivisible God, revealed as Father, in the Son, and as the Holy Spirit, with all the fulness of the Godhead in Jesus; and the new birth of Acts 2:38: repentance, baptism by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with speaking in other tongues. Those baptized with the Trinitarian formula are normally baptized again in Jesus' name, often at once, the night they respond. Worship is long and passionate, on Sunday morning and evening and at midweek, with tongues, shouting, and dancing, and altar services where seekers pray through to the Holy Ghost; foot washing goes with communion. Each church elects its pastor, often for life, owns its building, sets its budget, and decides its membership; the district holds its ministers' credentials but can't take a church's property. Its holiness standards are visible: women with long, uncut hair, in dresses and without make-up; men with short hair; no theaters, dances, or mixed swimming; and no oath-bound societies.
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Anabaptist, Moravian, and Friends
Mennonite Church USA
A congregation of Mennonite Church USA, an Anabaptist historic peace church guided by the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995). Worship centres on the sermon and on strong congregational singing, often unaccompanied in four parts, with a children's time and a time of sharing. Only believers who ask for it are baptized, usually by pouring, as a commitment to membership in the congregation; children are dedicated instead. The Lord's Supper, foot washing where it's meaningful, and baptism are ordinances. Members do not take part in war or military service and affirm rather than swear. The congregation owns its building and calls its pastor, but its area conference holds the pastor's credential. Members serve through the Mennonite Central Committee's relief sales and thrift shops and Mennonite Disaster Service.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Church of the Brethren
A congregation of the Church of the Brethren, one of the historic peace churches, founded in 1708 at Schwarzenau. It has no creed but a commitment to follow Christ in simple obedience, with the New Testament as its rule of faith and practice. Believers are baptized by trine immersion, kneeling in the baptistry and immersed three times forward, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Its communion is the love feast, once or twice a year: self-examination, feetwashing, a fellowship meal, and the bread and cup. The sick are anointed with oil, usually at home. Members hold war unacceptable for Christians, affirm rather than swear, and serve through Brethren Volunteer Service and Brethren Disaster Ministries. The congregation calls its pastor with the district executive's help; the district holds credentials, and the church's polity holds congregational property in trust, though courts have not always agreed.
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Moravian Church in America
A congregation of the Moravian Church in America (Unitas Fratrum), renewed at Herrnhut in 1727 from the Bohemian Brethren of 1457: Sunday worship from the printed liturgies of the Moravian Book of Worship with organ, choir, and hymns, and trombone choirs and brass bands at the festivals. Infants are baptized, usually by sprinkling, and confirm their covenant as youth; Holy Communion, six to eight times a year, is served in the pews, all partaking together, with the right hand of fellowship. The lovefeast, with sweet buns and coffee passed by dieners while the congregation sings, the Christmas Eve candle service under the Moravian star, and the Easter sunrise service in God's Acre are its own. The province governs strongly: its Provincial Elders' Conference calls pastors, collects the Provincial Share, and can take over or dissolve a congregation and its assets. Members live by the Moravian Covenant for Christian Living. A congregation is in the Northern Province or the Southern.
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Religious Society of Friends (Friends General Conference)
An unprogrammed meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, as in Friends General Conference: Friends gather in silence in a plain meetinghouse, on benches facing one another, with no pastor, no pulpit, no music, and no outward sacraments; anyone may rise to speak as led. Business is decided in the meeting for business by the sense of the meeting, without a vote, and a clerk presides. Most meetings are small. Programmed (pastoral) Friends, as in Friends United Meeting, worship differently.
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Friends United Meeting
A pastoral (programmed) Friends meeting in a yearly meeting of Friends United Meeting, the association of Christ-centred Quakers whose historic statement of faith is the Richmond Declaration of 1887; most of its members today are in East Africa. Sunday's worship, prepared by the pastor, resembles a Protestant service, with hymns at the piano, prayer concerns, Scripture, and a prepared message, then settles into open worship, a long silence in which anyone may rise and speak as led. Friends keep no outward baptism or communion, holding that the baptism that matters is the Spirit's and that communion with Christ is inward. The pastor, often a recorded minister and often part-time, is called by the meeting and serves it without governing it: business is decided in the monthly meeting for business by the sense of the meeting, without a vote, under its clerk. Friends affirm rather than swear, hold that war is incompatible with Christ's teaching, and support those who refuse to fight. The yearly meetings set their own standards, and several have left Friends United Meeting or divided over theology and sexuality.
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Restorationist
Churches of Christ
A church of Christ of the a cappella fellowship: an autonomous congregation with "no headquarters" and no creed but the Bible, seeking to do "only what the New Testament authorizes". Every Lord's Day the assembly sings without instruments, led by a song leader, prays, hears the sermon, shares the Lord's Supper of unleavened bread and grape juice passed through the pews, and gives as each has prospered; the sermon ends with the invitation, and believers are immersed "for the remission of their sins", at once. Elders, married men with faithful children, oversee the congregation and hire its minister, who isn't called Reverend; men lead all of the assembly. There's no wider body to belong to, pay, or leave. The fellowship is about 10,100 congregations, most of them small (a 2026 estimate).
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Christian Churches and Churches of Christ
An independent Christian church of the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, the stream that kept instruments when the a cappella Churches of Christ parted from it and kept to immersion when the Disciples of Christ opened their membership. Its plea is "No creed but Christ": no confession beyond the Good Confession, and no convention, magazine, or agency with any authority over it. Each congregation is overseen by its elders, served by deacons, and ordains its own ministers, most of them called by the elders out of the movement's Bible colleges. Believers are immersed for the forgiveness of sins, and the Lord's Supper is kept every Sunday near the centre of the service, open to all who believe, presided over by an elder and passed by elders and deacons or picked up on the way in. Some congregations have women elders or ministers, most do not. About 4,800 to 5,000 congregations and 1.2 to 1.4 million people in the US, from megachurches to many small town churches (estimates from the unofficial Directory of the Ministry and the 2020 US Religion Census).
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Independent churches and networks
Independent nondenominational church
Not one body but the pattern many independent evangelical congregations share, with no denomination above them: a church governed by its own bylaws, usually by a board of elders with the lead pastor, often its founder. Worship is a band-led set of contemporary songs, a long topical sermon, and a time of response, in an auditorium with chairs, screens, and stage lighting, repeated across several Sunday services and online. Believers are baptized by immersion and children dedicated; communion, a memorial of the Lord's death, is open to all who believe. Giving is strongly taught and mostly online; there is nothing to pay upward, no one to approve a call, and no one to step in if a pastor falls, and handing on from the founder is the hardest moment in a church's life. Many are Baptistic in their theology, many charismatic, and some Reformed. Together they are the largest Protestant grouping in the United States by some counts (some 44,000 congregations in 2020; adherents estimated at 12 to 21 million, depending on the count).
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Calvary Chapel
A fellowship of independent churches from the movement Chuck Smith began at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in 1965, in the Jesus movement, whose worship songs Maranatha! Music took round the world. The pastor teaches the whole Bible verse by verse, Sunday and midweek, after a band-led set of worship songs; the gifts of the Spirit are welcome, but tongues and prophecy are kept for the afterglow, not the main service. Believers are baptized by immersion, often in the ocean or a river; communion is a memorial, open to believers. In the Moses model the senior pastor leads under God, with a board of men he trusts to guide him and assisting pastors: there is no formal membership and no vote, and pastors are usually raised up within a church or at the Bible college. No plate is passed; people give at the box at the back. The church owns its building and pays nothing upward; affiliation asks the pastor to hold the Calvary Chapel Distinctives (including a pre-tribulation rapture and men only as pastors), and ending it, by the church's leaders or the Association, is the only discipline. Since 2016 churches have been affiliated with the Calvary Chapel Association, led by a council of senior pastors, or listed with the Calvary Global Network that Costa Mesa formed, or both; they differ in emphasis (the Association on exposition and prophecy, the Network on partnering with other evangelicals), not in how a church is run. Some 1,800 churches worldwide by the Association's count, roughly a thousand of them in the United States (an estimate).
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Acts 29
A member church of Acts 29, the global church-planting network founded in 1998: Reformed in its view of salvation, complementarian, and led by a plurality of elders, the office of elder and pastor being for qualified men. The network is not a denomination. The church owns its building, calls its own pastors, and keeps its own membership covenant and discipline; what binds it to the network is a covenant its elders sign and renew every year, agreeing with the network's five distinctives and the Lausanne Covenant and committing a tenth of the general offerings to church planting, of which 2% goes to Acts 29 itself in the United States (regions set their own share). Its lead pastor was assessed, with his wife, before the church was received, and the network coaches and helps fund the churches it plants; it cannot direct a church, only end its membership, as it did with Mars Hill in 2014. Worship is casual and band-led around long expository preaching, often with the Lord's Supper weekly (an estimate: practice is each church's). Most churches baptize believers by immersion; some baptize infants. Nearly 650 churches in more than 50 countries, by the network's count.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Charismatic
Vineyard USA
A church of Vineyard USA, the movement that grew from John Wimber's Anaheim church: an evangelical, charismatic church centred on the kingdom of God, "already and not yet". Worship is a long, unhurried set of songs sung to God, many of them the movement's own, moving toward intimacy, then a message, then ministry time, when ordinary members pray for the sick at the front ("doing the stuff"). Believers are baptized by immersion, children dedicated, and the Lord's Supper kept as an ordinance open to all believers. Each church owns its building and governs itself under its bylaws; to keep the Vineyard name it gives 3% of its general fund to Vineyard USA, takes part in its area, and has a lead pastor ordained by the local church and endorsed nationally. Area and regional leaders, themselves local pastors, offer care and oversight without control; Vineyard USA owns nothing and can only find a church out of compliance or disassociate it. Each church decides for itself whether to ordain women and call one as its senior pastor. About 500 congregations in the United States (502 in 2024, with some 131,000 people), down from about 600 in 2018.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Association of Related Churches
A church planted through the Association of Related Churches (ARC), the network founded in 2000 by Billy Hornsby, Greg Surratt, Chris Hodges, Rick Bezet, and others, with roots in the Pentecostal Bethany World Prayer Center. ARC is not a denomination: its churches are legally autonomous, and it says it has no authority over them. A couple is assessed together, trained, and coached, and ARC matches the first $50,000 they raise. They launch big, on a January or fall Sunday, in a rented school or theatre (293 people on average on launch day in 2019). The plant then gives back: in the agreements reported in 2022, 10% of its tithes and offerings until the launch money is repaid, and after that 2% of its income toward the next plants, which ARC says is voluntary. The church is led by its lead pastor, usually the founding couple, with staff elders, trustees who see to money and buildings, and outside overseers (pastors of other churches) who hold the pastor to account. Members don't vote. Worship is band-led, production-heavy, and often multisite, with a weekly invitation to respond. Believers are baptized by immersion, and each year begins with 21 days of prayer and fasting. ARC counts more than 1,100 churches planted (its own figure). How many remain connected, and its finances, aren't public: it files no Form 990.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
A ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which understands itself as the restored Church of Jesus Christ, led by a living prophet and apostles. Its scriptures are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price; it teaches that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct beings, one in purpose, and it uses no cross, preferring to witness to the living Christ. Since 2019 Sunday is a two-hour block: an hour of sacrament meeting, where priests of the Aaronic Priesthood (young men from sixteen) bless the bread and water at the sacrament table and deacons (from twelve) pass it along the rows, and members of the ward give the talks; then, after a short break, fifty minutes of classes: Primary for the children every week, Sunday School on the first and third Sundays, and on the second and fourth the Relief Society, the elders quorum, the Young Women, and the Aaronic Priesthood quorums (some wards hold the classes first). The standard meetinghouse is built for this: a chapel with the stand and the sacrament table, a cultural hall behind a folding wall that opens for overflow, classrooms and a Relief Society room, the bishop's and clerks' offices, and in many buildings a font. There are no paid clergy: a bishop, called from the ward for about five years and serving unpaid, presides with two counselors, a ward clerk, and an executive secretary, and nearly every member holds a calling. Members are baptized by immersion from age eight and confirmed, pay a full tithe and a monthly fast offering on slips given privately to the bishopric, never in a plate, and keep the Word of Wisdom: no alcohol, tobacco, coffee, or tea (caffeine itself isn't forbidden). The tithe goes to Church headquarters, which builds, owns, and keeps the meetinghouse, often shared by several wards on staggered times and cleaned by their members, and gives each ward a budget; a ward may hold one fundraiser a year, for youth camp, and never a raffle. Members belong to the ward where they live; young people serve missions; the meetinghouse is open to anyone, but the temple, where families are sealed, is entered with a temple recommend. On the General Conference weekends of April and October, and the twice-yearly stake conference, there are no ward meetings.
10 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Community of Christ
A congregation of Community of Christ, until 2001 the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: the second-largest church from Joseph Smith's 1830 movement, headquartered in Independence, Missouri, and a separate church from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today it is much closer to the mainline Protestant churches (it joined the National Council of Churches in 2010): it affirms the Trinity, keeps the Christian year with the Revised Common Lectionary, and many of its congregations display the cross. The Bible is its foundational scripture, read beside the Book of Mormon and a Doctrine and Covenants to which its prophet-president still adds inspired counsel, accepted by common consent at the World Conference, which meets every three years beside the Temple. Sunday worship is planned from the church's Worship Resources, with a Prayer for Peace, the readings, and a sermon by a member of the priesthood or another member; on the first Sunday of the month the Lord's Supper, with bread and grape juice, is open to all who follow Christ. It keeps eight sacraments, among them the blessing of children and the evangelist blessing. About one member in ten is ordained, nearly all unpaid, and since 1984 women have been called to every office, now including prophet-president; most congregations elect one of their priesthood as pastor each year, and only a few large ones hire staff. Members are baptized by immersion from age eight; Christians baptized as believers elsewhere join by confirmation. Giving is taught as a Disciples' Generous Response, giving to one's true capacity to local ministries and to Mission Tithes for the World Church, with no tithing settlement. The church holds title to the buildings through its Presiding Bishopric; congregations belong to a mission center led by an appointed president, and many are small and ageing. Its Temple in Independence is dedicated to peace, open to all, and holds a Daily Prayer for Peace at 1 p.m.; peace and justice, reunions (summer family camps), and an open table mark its life. Intoxicants are not allowed at church events or on church property, but the Word of Wisdom is counsel, not a test. In the United States people of any sexual orientation may be ordained and married; practice varies by nation and congregation. Some details (church school before worship, the plate, how much goes to Mission Tithes) are the most common American practice rather than church policy.
3 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Distinct traditions
Seventh-day Adventist Church
A Seventh-day Adventist church, as the General Conference's Fundamental Beliefs and Church Manual describe it. Adventists keep the seventh-day Sabbath, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, so the church meets on Saturday: Sabbath School first, then the worship service, and often a vegetarian fellowship lunch. Baptism is of believers by immersion; the Lord's Supper, usually once a quarter, is joined to foot washing, the ordinance of humility. The whole tithe goes to the conference, which owns the building and appoints and pays the pastor, often for two or three churches at once. Worship ranges from hymns with organ and piano to a praise team, and is more expressive in many Black and Hispanic congregations.
4 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Jehovah's Witnesses
A congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, who understand themselves as Christians, though not Protestants, worshipping the one Almighty God, whose name is Jehovah, and honouring Jesus as the Son of God and the Saviour, though not as Almighty God. They meet twice a week at a plain Kingdom Hall, often shared with other congregations and cleaned by its members: a weekend meeting with a public talk and the Watchtower Study, and a midweek meeting on Christian life and the ministry. Songs are sung to recorded music; there is no cross, no image, and no flag. A body of unpaid elders, men appointed on the elders' recommendation by the circuit overseer, cares for the congregation, with ministerial servants beside them; there is no clergy class and no clergy title, only Brother and Sister. No collection is taken: contributions go in boxes at the hall or online, and much is sent on to the worldwide work, which builds the halls. Believers are baptized by immersion at assemblies. Once a year, after sundown on Nisan 14, the Memorial of Christ's death is the best-attended meeting of the year; the unleavened bread and red wine are passed along the rows, and only those who believe they are anointed to rule with Christ in heaven partake. Witnesses preach from door to door and report their ministry each month, keep no Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or national holidays, stay neutral in politics and war, and refuse blood transfusions while seeking other medical care.
9 required or forbidden in the building · services, sacraments, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Church of Christ, Scientist
A branch Church of Christ, Scientist, which describes itself as a Christian, Bible-based religion, founded by Mary Baker Eddy: it acknowledges one supreme and infinite God and the divinity of the Christ, without a creed, and its pastor, as Eddy ordained it, is the Bible together with her Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. There is no clergy and no personal preaching. On Sunday two Readers, members elected by the church for a term, read the Lesson-Sermon read that week in every branch, the Second Reader from the Bible and the First Reader from Science and Health, without remarks of their own; on Wednesday evening the First Reader reads and the congregation gives testimonies of healing. Baptism and communion are understood spiritually, with no water, bread, or wine: twice a year, in January and July, the congregation kneels in silent communion. Each branch governs itself democratically under the Manual of The Mother Church, which sets its order of service and may not be changed; members also belong to The Mother Church in Boston and pay it a yearly per capita tax. Every branch keeps a Reading Room open to the public. Christian Scientists are free to choose their own health care, and many rely on prayer for healing, often with the help of practitioners, who are self-employed and paid by those they help, not by the church.
2 required or forbidden in the building · services, rites, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →
Unitarian Universalist Association
A Unitarian Universalist congregation: a covenantal, non-creedal community whose members hold many beliefs, with Love "at the center of our shared values" (Article II, 2024), and which may not "require that members adhere to a particular creed". Sunday worship opens with the lighting of the flaming chalice and holds a story for all ages, joys and concerns, readings from many sources, and a sermon by the minister, a guest, or a member; children have religious education during the service. There are no sacraments: child dedications, the Water Communion at the September ingathering, and the Flower ceremony in spring. The congregation owns its property and calls its minister by a large majority, often after an interim ministry of two years; the UUA admits ministers to fellowship and asks each congregation for 6.75% of its operating expenses, on an honor system. Some small fellowships have never had a minister.
2 required or forbidden in the building · services, rites, joining, giving, leaders and staff, life together, every item, and every factor →