Anonymous wrote:I have tried for years to find a simple way of understanding the differences with Google and reading and I am honestly still confused.

How do the denominations differ:

Presbyterian
Lutheran
Anglican
Methodist
Episcopalian


Please feel free to break down any others too.

I don't know Methodist, but I've attended the other churches. As an attendee:

Presbyterian:
Church service highly relies on the program. Not a very visceral worship style. Can be a long worship. Sermon is the main focus of the service. There will be a coffee hour afterwards. You don't have to stay for that if you want.
Governance style is completely democratic. All about voting and Robert's Rules of order.
Lots of converts who grew up in other denominations, especially Catholic because former Catholics hated the pedophilia debacle and want a denomination with more transparency.

Lutheran:
Worship style is like Catholic. Less upper crust than Episcopalian. Many blondes.
Politics can vary greatly depending on which Lutheran denomination. If ELCA it's gay friendly.
All about coffee. Lots of conferences and being Lutheran is a core part of their identity.

Anglican:
Not really a meaningful distinction. More conservative Episcopalians I guess? Kind of a synonym for episcopalian.

Episcopalian:
Worship style is literally Catholic down to the letter and but they are proud of how they are not Catholic.
Proud of how they are not anti-gay.
Very wealthy.
Very fusty and old school.

There are varying subtle differences in their understanding of and emphasis on things like pre-determinism.

I was raised ELCA Lutheran, although I remember very little of Luther's Catechism. But one of my cousins ended up in the Methodist church, and when I went to her funeral I learned some things about Methodism I found interesting at the time. The bread and wine in communion are apparently symbolic of the body and blood of Christ, not the actual presence (which I think Lutherans believe). It also seemed like the Methodists have particular emphasis on welcoming strangers and creating community.

I spent time in high school as a pianist for an Assembly of God gospel group--it was a family my parents knew, who had left the Lutheran Church to become pentacostals. Services at the Assembly were scary to me at 14-15, I was terrified I'd ended up speaking in tongues or collapsing in the aisle (being struck by the spirit). Lutherans are very skeptical about that because a) when the apostles received the gift of tongues, they spoke in languages people around them could understand and b) you can't be certain that it's the Holy Spirit doing that, it might be deception by the devil.

Anonymous wrote:Who cares? One supernatural story vs another. All fake manmade control. We’d all be better off without any religion.

Do you feel better now?


Is this what you do when you’re not mistreating animals or harming children? Spend your time trolling here?

Anonymous wrote:I have tried for years to find a simple way of understanding the differences with Google and reading and I am honestly still confused.

How do the denominations differ:

Presbyterian
Lutheran
Anglican
Methodist
Episcopalian


Please feel free to break down any others too.

They reflect the different countries where they were established after the start of the Protestant Reformation movement, as well as the leadership of the churches in those countries. Eg Presbyterians are from the Church of Scotland. They were influenced by Calvinist beliefs and were led by John Knox. Methodists followed John Wesley (Wesleyans) and were an offshoot of the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church is the Church of England, which switched to being a protestant movement so that Henry VIII could divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. The Lutheran Church is named after Martin Luther whose actions spurred the Protestant Reformation.

Anonymous wrote:Episcopalian is the closer to Catholic as far as the service itself.
They do communion weekly and I know Methodists do it monthly because that’s the way it was back in the day of the preacher going from village to village.

Not village to village. It derives from here in the States. Methodist ministers were "circuit riders" who moved from tiny churches dotting the midwest and west on Sundays (via horse). Communion (and baptism and weddings) could only happen when the minister was present. Here's what the Methodist church says:

As Methodist clergy in the late 1700s, when the denomination first got started, a pastor who could administer communion and baptism, was on a circuit traveling around. They might be going to 12 different places. They may be going to 20 or 30 different churches on their circuit, which means they couldn't be in church every Sunday. So what happened was, the pastor always gave communion when he got to a church. And he might get to that church once a month, maybe once every 2 months. We were used to that and then as our pastors went on shorter and shorter circuits to ultimately just serving just one or two or maybe three churches, that habit has just stayed with us. So our communion happens maybe once a month in some churches. In some places it's maybe 3 or 4 times a year. And it's just part of our history."

My Methodist church served it only once every three months. Just habit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t Anglican and Episcopal the same?

No. The Anglican Communion refers to all churches affiliated with The Church of England — the branch of Protestantism that broke away from the Catholic Church under Henry VIII. They all use The Book of Common Prayer for worship. There are churches of the Anglican Communion all over the world. The Episcopal church in America is part of the Anglican tradition. But it gets a little complicated in that some Episcopal congregations have now split from the Episcopal Church due to differences—and call themselves Anglican (see the incredibly dramatic fight over the historic Falls Church in NOVA that I think went all the way up to the Supreme Court).

OP, there is no DCUM post that can answer your question. I’ve studied theology and even the posts here that people seem to think are good are so woefully inadequate as to be misleading.

Wikipedia isn’t perfect, but you can start there—read the entry for each denomination and go from there.

No, not "The" Supreme Court. It went up to the Supreme Court of VA. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/va-supreme-court/1628720.html

Anonymous wrote:In the US, the Methodist church (both UMC and GMC) is very similar to the low-church style of Church of England. John Wesley actually was both English and also a serving Church of England pastor. He was aiming for reform and did not intend to start a completely separate denomination. By contrast, the usual (British) Methodist church services are much more austere than the usual American Methodist church services.

By contrast, the US Episcopal Church and many US Anglican churches are more similar to the high-church style of Church of England. The Episcopal church nearest to our home has a Sunday service which is very very similar to a Catholic Mass; the main difference is that most local Catholic churches are crowded and our local Episcopal church is not.

The fundamental theology of all of these is nearly the same.

But that's because attending mass (or certain days that are obligatory) is required in the Catholic church; the Episcopalians say nothing about regular attendance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Methodism is very focused on good works. Anglicans are catholic light. Presbyterians are focused on local control

I grew up in the Methodist church and “good works” is not a tenet of salvation belief doctrine. As the PP above stated, good works are not frowned upon and are even encouraged because it’s something we do as Christ followers to show and share His love with others, but it’s not a requirement of salvation. Methodists believe that faith in Christ as savior is the requirement.

I grew up Methodist too and I don't remember anything about good works. I do remember that communion was only once a month and it was with oyster crackers and grape juice!

If you are still there PP, I can tell you why you have communion only once a month.

I was raised Presbyterian USA and there was never a word breathed of predestination.

Protestant congregations largely are self governing and so they vary with geography, minister, etc. Knowing the history of a denomination can tell you why they have particular hymns or why they're concentrated here or there geographically but IMO it doesn't tell you much about the experience or the people.

CS Lewis wrote "Mere Christianity" to try to capture the common beliefs across many Christian denominations. Library likely has a copy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Methodism is very focused on good works. Anglicans are catholic light. Presbyterians are focused on local control

I grew up in the Methodist church and “good works” is not a tenet of salvation belief doctrine. As the PP above stated, good works are not frowned upon and are even encouraged because it’s something we do as Christ followers to show and share His love with others, but it’s not a requirement of salvation. Methodists believe that faith in Christ as savior is the requirement.

I grew up Methodist too and I don't remember anything about good works. I do remember that communion was only once a month and it was with oyster crackers and grape juice!

I go to a Methodist church. I'm not really clear on doctrine for salvation but there is a very strong focus at least in our individual congregation on social justice and activism. Also, while a PP noted that Methodist is the farthest from Catholicism, I was raised Catholic and actually found Methodist very comfortable as there are a lot of similarities in the worship style, at least in my church's "traditional" service (they also offer a contemporary version). I know a bunch of former-Catholics who are now Methodist. FWIW, my church now does communion weekly while it used to be monthly. Again, this may be very congregation-dependent which I think overall is one of the biggest difference between protestant vs. Catholic churches. A Catholic mass is the same everywhere.

I know a lot of methodists who are very much about doing God's work in the world. I think its pretty spot on. That was also the case in the TV show Poldark. They were all about equality in the eyes of God as people regardless of status and that doing God's work was what was most important.

Anonymous wrote:Methodism is very focused on good works. Anglicans are catholic light. Presbyterians are focused on local control

Agree

Late to the conversation, but to me, The difference between Catholics and and Protestants is obviously, but between Protestant denominations, it is as much cultural as belief systems. For example, I would have a hard time becoming Lutheran because I am not German. Yes I know all kinds of people join a denomination, but that's the way I feel.

Anonymous wrote:Do missionaries from different denominations ever fight with each other?

Physically fight each other?

Like start bumping chests and yelling try Jesus, not me, because I throw hands?

Absolutely. Vicious. Sometimes, glasses get knocked askew. Penny loafers get trod on.

I refuse to believe adults post here.