So many denominations and How to Pray or Talk to GOD

Maybe hear a great "Let's Unite" song:

Why not take the quiz to find out the story behind why we have so many other religions protestant denominations. HERE

Church declining attendance solution

Fact. Americans have become less likely to identify with an official or formal religion in recent decades, and nowhere is this more evident than in the dwindling percentage who identify with a specific Protestant denomination. In 2000, 50% of Americans identified with a specific denomination; by 2016 that figure had dropped to 30%.

This shrinking proportion of Americans who identify with specific Protestant denominations is the result of two trends. First, an increasing percentage of Americans are "nones," saying they don't have a specific religious identity of any kind. Since the percentages of Catholics, Mormons and those who identify with a non-Christian religion have stayed roughly the same over time, this "rise of the nones" -- from 10% in 2000 to 20% in 2016 -- has generally been accompanied by an associated decrease in the broad category of Protestants, whose numbers shrank from 57% to 47%. Therefore, there are fewer Protestants of any kind in the American population today, and the pool of those who identify with a specific Protestant denomination is smaller.

Are you feeling it?

Secondly, Americans who identify as Christians other than Catholics or Mormons increasingly put themselves into a non-denominational category rather than identifying with a specific denomination such as Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian and so forth. Others simply identify their religion as Christian without any reference to Protestantism or a specific Protestant denomination. As a result of these trends, the percentage of Americans who identify with a specific Protestant denomination has dropped from 50% in 2000 to 30% in 2016, while Christians who don't name a specific religion or denomination have doubled in number, from 9% to 17%.

BTW - Do you know how to pray - let's learn, OK? Now, let's put what we've learned into practice - Time to talk to G O D . . .

The facts are based on selected Gallup surveys in which Protestants are asked detailed questions about their specific denominational affiliation. The initial question asks, "What is your religious preference -- are you Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, another religion or no religion?" Those who do not respond with one of these categories are asked, "Would that fall under the general category of Protestant religions, is it a Christian religion, but not Protestant, or is it something else?" Then, all of those who end up in the general category of Protestant are asked, "What specific denomination is that?" The latter question is open-ended and Gallup coders categorize the responses into specific denominations.

We all believe in angels, but how do you talk to one of them?

Is something blocking your connection to angels or GOD?

Precisely measuring religious identification among Protestants can be challenging, particularly in a telephone survey context. There are hundreds of Protestant denominations in the U.S. today. This allows Protestants to easily switch between denominations, with the result that many Protestants are not as fixed in their religious identity as would be the case for Catholics, Jews or those from other religious traditions. Still, the consistent process Gallup has followed allows for a general comparison of religious identity trends across time.

Baptists Remain the Largest Specific Protestant Denomination

Among those who do have a specific branded Protestant identity, Baptists continue to be the largest denominational group, including 10% of Americans who identify as Baptists as a general category and another 3% who identify as Southern Baptists specifically. The 3% identifying as Southern Baptists has dropped substantially from 8% in 2000. Southern Baptist membership data show that their churches have lost members, and it may also be those who may actually attend an official Southern Baptist church increasingly identify as just "Baptist" rather than as Southern Baptist, specifically.

One of the clearest trends in American religion in the past decade has been the shift away from formal or official religious identity. About one in five Americans now say they have no specific religious identity at all, and fewer Americans today than in 2000 identify with a specific Protestant denomination. This latter trend reflects the increase in non-denominational Protestant churches in America today, and may also reflect a tendency for church leaders to downplay their denominational affiliation in their own local branding.

Protestantism in America today is a unique religious structure. In few other countries do so many different brands or types of a particular broad religion compete with one another for members.

Just in case you're confused or you have to explain to your kids - "What's REAL love?"

Churches that adhere to specific and historical denominational affiliations appear to face the biggest challenge in American Protestantism today. Increasingly, Christian Americans who are not Catholics or Mormons prefer to either identify themselves simply as Christians or attend the increasing number of non-denominational churches that have no formal allegiance to a broader religious structure.

These trends indicate that, while many Americans remain religious in a broad sense and may continue to seek spiritual guidance and community experience, a formal structure in which to do so has become less important.

The Tao and the Bible teaches us many things - like about the 6 lies we must NOT fall for . . .

The denominations themselves are not the church. But here’s the thing, you have clearly in the New Testament an emphasis on churches being connected to each other. There are different forms of government that people believe are taught in scripture or some people think there is no form of government at all, it doesn’t make any difference. But clearly, there is a sense that all of the local churches are connected with each other. Churches should not be just lone rangers out there. No church is an island.

Churches should be connected to each other just as the one body of Christ. Denominations help serve that. I know we often think of denominations as dividing the church, splitting it up into vanilla, strawberry, cherry and so forth, different flavors. That is true, but it’s better than having no grouping of churches at all that are connected to each other. I really think that denominations are not the ideal. What would be the ideal is that all the particular churches spread throughout the world were united simply under one organizational institutional banner, that of Jesus Christ.

Enlarge to see the writing and enjoy another united song done differently!

When we talk about the unity of the church, the first thing we need to say about the subject is that the body of Christ is one objectively. How do we know that? We’re told in Ephesians 1:4, for example, that in love, He predestined us to be adopted as his children and he chose us in him in Christ before the foundation of the world. Then he redeemed his church. Then He sent His Holy Spirit to unite those who are sinners, Jew and Gentile, to Christ the head and the Holy Spirit is our deposit guaranteeing our final redemption. We are united as one body because we are connected to one head, Jesus Christ. He's the head and we are members, he's the vine, and we're the branches. It's very important that we begin with the church is one.

Let's organize and unite to make sure the church that will be unveiled on the last day when Christ returns will not be a mixed assembly, it won't be made up of believers and unbelievers. There won't be any hypocrites, there won't be any people who are only in name Christians but don't really trust in Jesus Christ. It will be a perfect church, a holy church, the full number of all of those whom God gave to Christ before the foundation of the world. Now, we look at the church visibly and it looks like a mess. Well, so was Israel. I mean look at the whole history of Israel. It was a huge mess, and yet God always preserved a remnant. God always maintained his faithfulness in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness.

He's still doing that today. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.













When we come to his prayer in John 17, we have to say Jesus prayer was answered. When he prays that all of his disciples will be one even as he and the Father are one and that this will be a great testimony to the the Father are one and that this will be a great testimony to the world, that actually is fulfilled. Jesus keeps praying that at the Father's right hand that it will be fulfilled more and more in the life of the church. So then why are there so many denominations, why so many divisions? At the end of the day, we have to say, “Thank the Lord that he has accomplished this objective unity of his church, in spite of the fact that we have not promoted it to the extent that we should.

In Ephesians 4, Paul exhorts the Ephesians to preserve the bond of unity. And how do they do that? He says, “by recognizing the only bond of unity is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” If anyone diverges from one Lord, believing in other saviors or serious errors, heresies, concerning Jesus, he's not a part of the unity of the church. If anyone teaches another faith, then the basic gospel that scripture proclaims, summarized in the Creed's, as Paul says to the Galatians, let him be anathema. If anyone teaches another baptism than the one that Christ instituted as the bath of union with him and each other, they're breaking the peace, they don't belong to the Commonwealth of Christ.

But barring these decisive breaches, we should work hard as Paul says, to preserve the bond of fellowship with churches we don't necessarily agree with. That's hard. It's very difficult sometimes for us. Here's the thing: we're not equally right about everything. We shouldn't hold, with the same confidence, in particular views of end-times, for example, that we have concerning the deity of Christ.

There is the unity of the body of Christ, which is objective and real, and then there's the visible unity of Christ's body that is plagued by all sorts of division and scandal. Jesus' prayer will not go unanswered. It has been answered by the Father, it is being answered by the Father and one day it will be answered by the Father when the church, that is one objectively, in God's eternal purpose is revealed visibly as one to the world. I'll never forget my mom's encouragement, growing up she would always tell my siblings and me, "You have to get along with each other because you’re family.

Our unity isn't something that we're creating here on earth. Unity isn't something that we're building from the bottom up, it's something that God has already blessed us with through baptism and faith in Jesus Christ. Because that's the reality, we're joined to Christ or joined to his body, we should get along with our brothers and sisters, we should love each other and show charity to each other. More solutions can be found in the "Orthodox or die and How to overcome procrastination" post.

Please leave a comment telling us if you have a strong connection with angels and God. How do you do it? What do you think of the religious science experiments? Do you agree with the conclusion?