I would like to know how you as a christian see this?

A denomination is one that makes a name for themselves, simple as that.

Non-denominational churches would be those that aspire to be scriptural originalists. There is no overarching central planning found in the Bible. God is the only head of His Church.

Generally the difference can be seen in a hierarchy. Hierarchies are the order of this world, and usually everything created by man will contain a top-down order with one guy at the top. Additionally, some churches will directly refer to themselves as a denomination, such as the Nazarenes. There are only two church offices described by the bible: elders, who shepherd and guide the flock, rather than ruling over them (1 Peter 5:1-3) and deacons, who hold no authority whatsoever, but serve the needs of the congregation. Even congregations that have no national or regional planning may be founded and dominated by one individual pastor, thereby establishing a local hierarchy, which is also quite unscriptural.

As for your examples:

Baptists = fairly well denominational. Though they do not have a central office for every single branch, they are quite cladistic and maintain central authority for whichever subdivision they are aligned with. Their name is also somewhat ironic in that they do not hold water baptism to be an integral part of the faith.

church of Christ = non denominational. Their "name" is taken directly from the Bible (Romans 16:16). Any church of Christ member will tell you that the name is merely a description, not a name (hence the small "c"). No central authority, but widespread association due to shared belief in the final authority of scripture. Some members do treat the name as a denomination, but this is not in adherence to scripture .

Methodist = straight denominational. The British wing of Methodism is lacks a convocation of Bishops, though their doctrines are maintained by a very strong central authority. In the USA, almost all various "wings" of Methodism are members of one governing body, the World Methodist Council.

Church on the Rock = mostly non-denominational. The disparate sites I found seemed to indicate that these groups don't have a common parent site, but a few are associated with the Baptist church. The name is descriptive, but not found in the Bible.

Harvest Fellowship = fairly non denominational. Most sites I found with this name claim to be non denominational, but several pastors were educated Baptist. May have ties with the loose "Evangelical" association, which is more a movement than an organization. The Evangelical movement is largely an outgrowth of the Baptist church.

New Life Bible = fairly denominational, if they are associated with the "New Life" version of the Bible, as the name suggests. Being named after a version of the Bible fits "denomination" to a "T." The New Life Bible was supplied by Gleason and Katherine Ledyard in 1969. Disparate groups may fit the idea of non denominationalism, though. Ties with the Evangelical movement.

Catholic = straight denominational. In fact, this is pretty much a litmus test. If your organization looks like the Catholic one, you're in a denomination. The name means "universal" and claims sole propriety over all Christian faiths worldwide. Hierarchicy, central authority, nonscriptural name.

I would say that the essential difference between a denominational church and a non-denominational church is the same as the difference between a chain store and a "mom and pop" store.

A denomination is basically a formal organization that grants "franchise rights" to individual (local) churches. These rights include the right to use a common name (e.g., "United Methodist") and to benefit from the tradition and history of the denomination. The amount of autonomy given to individual churches varies widely, but all denominations have some level of control over the local churches (e.g., must approve pastors, right to review sermon topics relative to "essential doctrine" of the denomination, etc...).

A non-denominational church operates independently of a larger governing/licensing body. All decisions are made at the local level. Note that this designation doesn't automatically preclude "strategic alliances" with other churches, multi-site churches, or even "church planting"...but at some point, when the local church assumes some level of control over enough other churches, they have just transformed themselves into a denomination (by my definition at least).

Okay, so given those definitions, here's the way I'd classify them:

Obvious Denominations: Baptist, Church of Christ, Methodist, Catholic. Catholic and Church of Christ seem to exercise the most control over local churches...Baptist and Methodist are a tad more liberal (and seemingly becoming even more liberal in recent years).

Judging by the name alone, I'd say that the others are probably "non-denominational". That was my "gut response" when I read them. Then, when I searched for the names, I found enough different churches that made no reference to each other using all four of those names. That suggests to me that all are independently operated and, to this point at least, aren't concerned about protecting the use of their name...that also suggests a non-denominational perspective.

As a final thought, I didn't investigate enough to determine if one or more of those churches was originally affiliated with a denomination. I mention this only because it happened to me...I started attending a church I picked partly because the name suggested non-denominational (Real Life Fellowship). Everything I saw and heard during the services supported the non-denominational label. Imagine my shock to discover in the formal "membership" documents that the church was originally [stage whisper]...Southern Baptist...and that they still retained their affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. Ouch!

There is only one Church.

Do you know that when an organization, a denomination or a church of people is actively engaged in a system of religious worship or ritual, the group is called a cult. This means that any believer in any god is simply a member of the cult. Aside from the definition extracted from Encyclopedia Britannica, other accompanying traits of a religious cult include the formal veneration to some forms of gods or saints by its member, the mandate to voluntarily support financially or otherwise their church or doctrines, and the manipulative tactics of its leaders to capture more followers by way of the scripture.

On the other side, followers of Christ define religious cults in different way. When a religious group contradicts or misrepresents the fundamental teachings of the bible founded by Jesus, that organization is without any doubt considered a cult. This means that all religious groups who do not subscribe to the teachings prescribed by the first original church, the Roman Catholic Church, are considered cult. The Greek Orthodox and the Protestant Reformation, which are considered the oldest religious groups after the Catholic Church, and eventually all other religious sects emerging even to this day, are definitely regarded as religious cult. Is your religion a cult? Does your church preach the same original teachings prescribed by the Catholic Church or just like the others, you simply accept beliefs without questions?

Denominations pick and choose...some even make up what they want. Non-denominationals follow The Bible, and study it to find greater understanding themselves...they aren't influenced easily, pertaining to what they "want" it to be...we just simply try and learn about and follow what He wants...not us!

I believe them all to be denominational, because they all are different in what they pick and choose. Catholics worship saints, Baptists don't. Methodists don't believe in drinking alcohol, Baptists do. Assembly of God speaks in tongues just like Pentecostals, but most don't! The list goes on and on, and I don't even wanna start on Scientology. LOL! I sit here, read my Bible...study what I've read, and take it for what it is...not what I would like it to be.

I hope that clarifies one's views on different "denominations" from a "non-denominational" stand point.

=)

I do not rate churches. There is no such thing as the perfect church. And even if there were, the minute you joined it would become imperfect,

As long as a church is doing God's will then it is good.

they are no longer Jews with the aid of fact Jew's don't think the messiah has come yet. they don't have faith Jesus so believing in Jesus and asserting your Jewish for sure contradicts one yet another.... that's unhappy that there are those Evangelist Christians that decision themselves "Jews". end this custom now, your disgracing the two Judaism and Christianity.

Non-denominational is a misnomer and means their denomination is limited to a single congregation.

1st things first.........

A denomination is a group who views a particular train of thought......................often seen in conjunction with the interpertation of an " unclear" scripture

" non - demoninational"..............up for grabs, they like to think that they alone are " Biblical" and not " ceramonial".......................the flaw is often they fail to make a hard stand

I simply do not "rate".......I just do not do it. I prefer to worship with those in most agreement to my thinking..............but I RESPECT those who can make me question my own thinking.

I will be among the first to tell you............" be what you are"...........but I am a Christian fundie!

None of it really matters to me, but I felt compelled to answer anyway. Religion is religion. Spirituality is spirituality. It doesn't matter what you believe. We're all going to the same place anyway!

Their all man made institutions that have changed the word of God to fit their wants.

t