Table of Church Pedigrees
Apostles
_______ _______________ _______|_______ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ ________
| | |
Eastern Orthodox Oriental Orthodox Jewish Christians
| Coptic Church
_______ _______________ Roman Catholic _______________ _______________ _______ Syriac Church
| | | | | Ethiopian Church
_______ _____Anglican Lutheran Reformed____ _______ Anabaptist Baptist____ _______ Armenian Church
| | | | | | | |
Methodists ECUSA ELCA PCUSA Disciples of Christ Mennonite Southern Baptist Seventh Day Adventist
| | LCMS PCA Church of Christ Amish American Baptist
Holiness Anglican Province of Christ the King Reformed Church in America Brethren Primitive Baptist
| Anglican Communion Network United Church of Christ Quakers Free Will Baptist
Pentecostal Seventh Day Baptist
Church of The Nazarene


Important Notes:

How to read this table. Where a vertical line is drawn is an indication that a church or denomination grew out of the parent group. Where churches are listed vertically, but there is not a line, it indicates that all of the churches in the list are equally children of the parent.

Most Church denominations haven't just sprung up out of nowhere. Practically every Christian denomination or movement can trace its roots to one of a number of branches of Christendom one way or another. Usually, churches have been created by schism, that is, where one part of the congregation, denomination, or movement, in disagreement with another part, break away and start their own church. Other churches are started by influential leaders who have modified the basic theology of one branch, and taken themselves and their followers into a slightly different direction. If a church member seeks diligently enough, they will usually find a statement of faith, creed, or confession which explains their church's theological position. Some laymen might find what these documents say to be surprising, since many churches have drifted away from their original stance. Ecumenism has further blurred the lines of distinction among many denominations.

This is not a comprehensive list of churches. With hundreds of denominations in the U.S. alone it would be nearly impossible to create a meaningful pedigree for every church. If you know your church history, you should be able to trace it back to one of these main branches.

Criteria for selection. Several factors went into which church bodies were selected for this table. The goal is to trace the pedigrees of the major denominations within the United States. It should be understood that, by necessity, every church in the United States is an immigrant church. To understand the pedigrees of American churches requires listing movements which originated in Europe or the Middle East. Some of these American churches have existed since the sixteenth century, while others are relatively late arrivals.

Note about chronology.Many groups broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation. While they all occupy the same level on the chart, they did not all necessarily break away at the same time.

Note about churches and movements. Often it is difficult to establish a clear distinction between a movement and an individual church/denomination. These entries represent my estimation of those churches and/or movements which are most noteworthy and provide the easiest understanding of an individual's church pedigree.

Note On Jewish Christians. While an argument for apostolic succession cannot necessarily be made for Jewish Christians, there have always been Christians who kept their Jewish traditions since Christ's time on Earth. In modern times this has manifested itself in the Messianic Jew movement in the United States with an estimated population of adherents perhaps as high as 100,000.

Note On Baptists. There is some disagreement among scholars whether the Baptists emerged from within the Anabaptist movement, or as a separate group within the greater Reformation. Some Baptist groups can trace a history to the Anabaptists. However, I have chosen the position that most Baptist groups emerged from the Reformation on their own.

Sources. Information has been gleaned from a number of sources, but two that I recommend are the Hall of Church History and ReligiousTolerance.org.

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