{"id":30327,"date":"2021-01-12T17:55:22","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T23:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=30327"},"modified":"2026-09-09T09:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T14:22:10","slug":"origins-of-denominations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/origins-of-denominations\/","title":{"rendered":"Origins of Denominations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve done lessons on various issues that caused the rise of the denominations we see today. Rather than leaving them scattered, I&#8217;m gathering them on a single page so they&#8217;re easier to find.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-did-they-all-come-from\/\">Where Did They All Come From?<\/a> (Overview)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/corruption-in-church-organization\/\">Corruption in Church Organization<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-apostles-creed\/\">The Apostles&#8217; Creed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/infant-baptism-2\/\">Infant Baptism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sovereignty-of-god-2\/\">The Sovereignty of God<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/apostolic-succession\/\">Apostolic Succession<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/music-in-worship\/\">Music in Worship<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-split-of-the-catholic-churches\/\">The Split of the Catholic Churches<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-other-side-of-church-history\/\">The Other Side of Church History<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/pietism\/\">Pietism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-holiness-movement\/\">The Holiness Movement<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-brief-history-of-mormonism\/\">A Brief History of Mormonism<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-charismatic-movement\/\">The Charismatic Movement<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A related series,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/church-and-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Church and State(opens in new tab)<\/a>, examines how attempts to make Christianity a state religion affect the practices of the state church.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Over the years, I&#8217;ve done lessons on various issues that caused the rise of the denominations we see today. Rather than leaving them scattered, I&#8217;m gathering them on a single page so they&#8217;re easier to find. Where Did They All Come From? (Overview) Corruption in Church Organization The Apostles&#8217; Creed Infant&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[726,300],"class_list":["post-30327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-church-history","tag-denominations"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15140,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-the-reason-denominations-want-married-preachers-is-because-they-confuse-the-office-of-an-elder-with-that-of-the-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":30327,"position":0},"title":"Isn&#8217;t the reason denominations want married preachers is because they confuse the office of an elder with that of the preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to make a comment about\u00a0requiring preachers to be married. I have taken note that the denominations do not generally adhere to scriptural church leadership, and instead of a plurality of elders, they have a board of deacons and one 'elder' or 'pastor,' who also serves as the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87294,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-all-denominations-false\/","url_meta":{"origin":30327,"position":1},"title":"Are all denominations false?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are all denominations false? Did Jesus ever command anyone to create denominations? To me, it seems that denominations are man-made religions, not something the Lord initiated. I don't believe God leads people to follow a particular denomination or to find their identity in one. Many people proudly call themselves\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7262,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-broadening-definition-of-racism\/","url_meta":{"origin":30327,"position":2},"title":"The Broadening Definition of Racism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton During the week leading up to the observance of the government's Martin Luther King Day, the local paper heralded the formation of a new group called Churches Uniting in Christ. Nine denominations joined to campaign against racism. The very development of these organizations which tie denominations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42577,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-divisive-to-claim-all-denominations-are-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":30327,"position":3},"title":"Isn&#8217;t it divisive to claim all denominations are wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2001","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read the article about why you left the Nazarene denomination. On the latter point of baptism, I will not comment now, but I think your first listed reason is a rational mistake. You said, \"yet the Nazarene Church exists, as does any denomination, because man disregards the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68698,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-rise-of-denominationalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":30327,"position":4},"title":"The Rise of Denominationalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Sochor via Unmasking Sophistry, Vol. 4, No. 3, July-September 2024 In the previous article, we discussed the Reformation Movement, which came when the Roman Catholic Church was a religiously and politically dominating force. Over the centuries, it became increasingly\u00a0corrupt until Martin Luther challenged some of the errors and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42343,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":30327,"position":5},"title":"Just a Church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brian Faulkner On Being a Christian","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}