Too few preachers seem to understand what constitutes denominational thinking and, as a result, decry denominationalism while espousing its precepts. Thus, we need to know a little bit about what constitutes denominational thinking.<\/p>\n
Denominational thinking blurs the distinction between the church universal and the church local. When brethren write about what’s wrong with the Church of Christ, for instance, they are thinking denominationally.<\/p>\n
Denominational thinking consists of attributing to the church something it does not have. For instance, when we speak of the “backbone of the Church of Christ” or “Church of Christ doctrine,” etc., we betray denominational thinking.<\/p>\n
Denominational thinking is that which begins a man’s spiritual journey with the horizontal relationships rather than the vertical. In other words, we enter the church to be saved.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Floyd Chappalear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994 Too few preachers seem to understand what constitutes denominational thinking and, as a result, decry denominationalism while espousing its precepts. Thus, we need to know a little bit about what constitutes denominational thinking. Denominational thinking blurs the distinction between the church universal and the…<\/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_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1277],"class_list":["post-94095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-denominationalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29355,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/denominationalizing-the-work-of-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":94095,"position":0},"title":"Denominationalizing the Work of the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry F. Bassett Sentry Magazine, March 2003 To denominate is \"to give a name to: designate,\" according to Miriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. This same source defines a religious denomination as \"a religious organization uniting local congregations in a single legal and administrative body -- denominational\" being the adjectival form\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94503,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-anti-denominational-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":94095,"position":1},"title":"The Anti-Denominational Denomination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 4, December 1994 Jefferson Davis Tant used to finish articles with the line, \"We are drifting.\" He could see in the thirties and forties what would happen in the fifties and sixties. Not by any divine gift of inspiration, of course, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-the-bible-actually-says-about-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":94095,"position":2},"title":"What the Bible Actually Says About the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Andy Diestelkamp via InLight Media One of the most pervasive questions in Christianity is, \"If Christ is not divided, why are there so many denominations?\" While we can go back through history and trace the development of each denomination, maybe there's a root issue that causes this division, or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Video"","block_context":{"text":"Video","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/video\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/denominationalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":94095,"position":3},"title":"Denominationalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Denominationalism today is not just about one particular doctrine but a mindset that relates to how we think about the Lord's body. Denominational thinking perceives the church (universal) as comprised of an interconnected web of congregations instead of seeing the church as comprised of individual Christians without\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32557,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-are-not-a-religious-non-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":94095,"position":4},"title":"We Are Not a Religious Non-Denomination","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Campbell Sentry Magazine, September 2001 \"Denominationalism\" denotes a group of people devoted to a specific religious belief system who assemble under the name of a person, or concept, as their focus within a formal organizational environment governed by those of prominence that hold to that belief system. They\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84945,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-church-of-christ-is-not-a-denomination-but-it-became-one-again-and-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":94095,"position":5},"title":"The Church of Christ Is Not a Denomination, But It Became One Again and Again!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 1, March 31, 1989 There are certain axiomatic truths (that is, statements so certainly correct that none will deny them) concerning the church of our Lord. One is that the \"Church of Christ is not a denomination.\" Even the most jaded\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94095","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=94095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}