So what exactly is the difference?

I have my brother staying with me and he is a pretty devout christian. He goes to church every week, bible study, ect. He is of the Pentacostal faith. My MIL is also a pretty devout christian and is of Baptist faith. Now I know they are both christian and believe in the Bible (King James version??)....am I on the right track? But wha are the differences?

Tonight my bro went to the church we live next door to, which is a Uniting church. He came home saying it just wasn't the same, he didn't really enjoy the sermon and was rather unimpressed. When I asked him why, and what the difference was he had alot of trouble putting into words what he really thought (he's not so great with words!). So of course I thought to ask the wonderful people here on BB!

Can someone clarify what the differences are between the christian faiths? Pentacostal, Anglican, Uniting, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist......I know they all believe in God, and are christians, but where/what are the differences? I could google, but that will just be even more confusing, I dare say!!

I think it comes down to the interpretation of the bible. but il let some who is christian give answer (and ill listen because im curious too)

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Hi ladies,

Basically between different denominations (not faiths - that would be Christianity, Judaism, Islam etc) you have differences of theology and style.

The differences in theology are possibly the most significant. There are usually core ideas that all denominations will agree on (such as the Bible being the word of God, that Jesus died on the cross and rose again, that God's forgiveness is offered to all people etc etc), but you'll get differences between denominations (and often within denominations) on things like whether women can be the head of a church, whether it is ok to drink alcohol, miracles/speaking in tongues, etc etc. People can argue about these things til they are blue in the face and still have different opinions, and at the end of the day you could argue that it doesn't really matter, and that diversity is a good thing. The biggest differences probably lie between the Catholic church and the others (Protestant churches).

Style-wise is probably the most obvious difference. Pentecostal churches tend to be very contemporary with music and general style - your brother possibly found the uniting service was a lot more traditional and 'dry' than he was used to. The Catholic and Anglican churches tend to be more traditional and follow a specific order of service from the prayer book (although you do get exceptions to this), where as the Pentecostal churches are much more free and spontaneous.

Ultimately it should be that all denominations are different expressions of the same truths. Sometimes we get a bit carried away trying to prove that "our" denomination has it right - God must shake his head at as all sometimes!

Merry Christmas!

It's basically down to certain theological differences. I know not going to get all the details right as sometimes it's hard to define / articulate / put into everyday terms. I'm Lutheran and we are pretty close to the main catholic beliefs- one of the first main breakaway churches in the 1500s(I think that's roughly the timeframe) - known as the reformation.

Some of the main differentiations between denominations are as follows (I could be slightly wrong on these as I'm trying to remember back to some tertiary study I did on theology in education.)

Catholics believe the Pope is infallible and they make people saints. They also believe in purgatory -place where souls go before moving to heaven or hell. This used to be the main christian group prior to the 1500s along the the orthodox churches. They split early on(~300s I think) about church governance.

When the reformation occurred the catholic church was extremely powerful and slightly corrupt; selling things called indulgences to help souls get out of purgatory to heaven, basically to fund st peters church in Rome (there's a fancy name for st peters but I can't remember it atm). Martin luther was the guy that stood up and said this was wrong and a few other things and started the Lutheran church by default. Several others also did this with Luther but later had disputes over theology. This is where a number of the main protestant (non catholic or orthodox) churches started. Luther also got the bible translated from Latin, Greek and Hebrew into German (luther was German - and the printing press was invented around this time; before this only priests could read the bible)
The Catholic church later stopped doing indulgences and changed its stance on some of the things Luther wasn't happy about which is why Lutherans and Catholics are similar. There are differences in beliefs about holy communion/lords supper though.(I'll get to that later)

The other mainstream churches have main differences in holy communion beliefs and beliefs about baptism.

Holy communion beliefs differ in whether you believe it's actually Jesus' body and blood and no longer bread & wine (catholic); both body & blood AND bread and wine (Lutheran); a symbol of body & blood while just being bread & wine (other Protestant)

Baptism gets a bit trickier for me as I cant remember the main denominational beliefs. I know some believe in infant baptism and is the norm (catholic, orthodox, Lutheran) and some where they don't accept infant baptism, only adult baptism; they do infant dedications instead (baptist). Some churches only accept total immersion and others are okay with just a "sprinkling" on the forehead. This bit I can't remember too clearly.

I do know that baptists don't use or consume alcohol at all. They use grape juice for wine at holy communion (I know that thanks to a high school friend)
Uniting church is a mix of Methodist and another English denomination whose name escapes me which combined a sometime in the past 30ish years .
Pentecostals are a group which are often identified as the "happy clappy" Christians - arms in the air waving around - very emotive, concerned with the holy spirit more than Jesus or God the father.


Hope this starts to make things a bit clearer. I'll probably come back to add more as I think of stuff (cause I think I might be about to run out of room given I'm on my phone)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk so sorry if I'm confusing you ;)

I can tell you the pentecostal part from experience....

Basically pentecostal churches (named after when God sent down his holy spirit in the bible) believe in things of the holy spirit more than other churches. This usually manifests in a number of ways in the pentecostal church - lively worship (raising of hands, clapping [happy clappers], dancing), the speaking of tongues and interpretation of tongues. Praying for and laying on hands when you pray for someone as well. ETA I'm not sure I'd agree with the comment above that pentecostals are more concerned with the holy spirit than God or Jesus, yes He (the holy spirit) does play a role in the church, but they are a trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is through belief in Jesus.

We are encouraged to read our bibles and ask God to reveal himself to us through his word and to pray. Other denominations are given specific prayers to pray - but to me, prayer is more like an honest conversation with God.

Pentecostal churches believe the bible is the infalible word of God, as it was written without anyone's additions (like the catholic bible has eg). The version of bible doesn't really matter - everyone has their favourites - they are all the same just in a different tone of language if you like. We believe in full imersion baptism when the person is of the age to decide for themselves. A baby may have a dedication ceremony instead of a baptism - up to the parents really. Everyone is welcome to take communion regardless of their faith when attending (some parents choose to have their chidlren wait until they are old enough to make a decision before allowing them to take communion), there is no confirmation or anything required.

In my experience pentecostal churches are generous in their mission work - mine supports several orphanages in India and other poor countries. And we are usually good givers.

We have both male and female pastors - who have normally done some sort of bible college. And marriage is encouraged for sure!

I go to a pentecostal church and I also understand where your brother is coming from. 'Regular' churches (read standard denominational churches like anglican, uniting, etc) are far more sedate if you are a regular pentecostal attendee.



*Is your brother single and 35+ by any chance?;)

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ETA I'm not sure I'd agree with the comment above that pentecostals are more concerned with the holy spirit than God or Jesus, yes He (the holy spirit) does play a role in the church, but they are a trinity - God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Salvation is through belief in Jesus.

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I guess what I was trying to say is that Pentecostals place more of a focus on the work of the Holy Spirit than other denominations.
Lutherans tend to focus on grace - the salvation through faith rather than works (having to do stuff to get to heaven). Catholics have traditionally more focused works for salvation but that's not quite what it was. Lutherans do good works in response to the fact that we are saved. We do have a number of international aid agencies that we as a denomination support that are in troubled areas of the world.

Major denominations also have a range of worship styles within the wider denomination. You have high church (very formal and structured/highly traditional) through to contemporary (with bands, not always with set formats/liturgy) and combinations inbetween.

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Pentecostal churches believe the bible is the infalible word of God, as it was written without anyone's additions (like the catholic bible has eg). The version of bible doesn't really matter - everyone has their favourites - they are all the same just in a different tone of language if you like

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this is pretty much true for most denominations. When the bible was being written in it's current form, there were some disputes over a number of books in the bible which is why the Catholics have more books in their versions, typically called the Apocrypha. There were a number of criteria that the original compilers placed on which writings/books were going to be acceptable for inclusion and the Apocrypha ones didn't quite meet all the criteria but did meet most. The different versions are just different ways of translating the meaning of the bible - there are words in Ancient Greek & Latin that we don't have words for in English so the translations vary to show the different ways of getting those ideas across.

There can be big differences between different churches within the same denomination. Just like any community group, there are cultural variations between churches and what works for some people will not work for others.