Maybe the biggest story in American Christianity over the last 40 years is the incredible rise in
the share of Americans who identify as nondenominational Protestant Christians.
In the 1970s, they were just a rounding error in the religious landscape. That was then.
Today it’s impossible to ignore the number of nondenominational churches — the vast majority of which are evangelical or Pentecostal — that have sprouted up in every city, suburb and rural area in the United States.
There are likely more nondenominational Protestants in the United States today than Southern Baptists and mainline Protestants combined. Yet, they are somewhat of an enigma to those reporters who cover religion.
Why? Because it’s impossible to make a lot of generalizations about this movement. It’s hard to pin them down, even when doing basic research.
The religious groups that are part of this non-movement movement don’t have annual meetings that are easy to track and for journalists to cover. They don’t have national spokespersons.
What makes it even more difficult is that many of these churches are, to some degree, still aligned with a denomination, but don’t publicize that on their websites or make mention of that in worship services.
It seems that evangelicals are being drawn to this tradition because of its anti-institutional orientation. It’s very easy for these congregations to change and follow new trends.
Meanwhile, there’s no doubt that many Southern Baptists have left that convention not because of the theology but because of all the institutional baggage that the SBC is carrying. Which has only increased due to the recent sex-abuse scandals.
The data about where nondenominationals are drawing new converts is an interesting one.
For example, 70% were raised as Protestants and three in five come from an evangelical tradition. Which means that many of them don’t move far when they join a nondenominational church.
Actually, there’s not a lot of daylight between the moral, cultural and social views of nondenominational
churches and the average Southern Baptist Church.
On both abortion and same-sex marriage there’s less than a five percentage-point gap, which is likely imperceptible for individuals who attend those churches on a regular basis.
Of course, nondenominational churches are not immune to sexual abuse.
In fact, I think it’s logical to believe that they are even less equipped to handle such instances because there is no national organization to report or monitor incidents of abuse. Accountability in those churches is minimal because of their lack of institutional structure.
This is a big challenge for journalists attempting to cover that important story.
Thus, don’t be surprised to hear a bevy of stories over the next decade of pastors of these churches engaging in controlling and abusive ways. But, it will take more legwork from the media to report about those important stories.