Why I Understand But Don’t Understand Church Denominations

I grew up in the First Christain Reformed Church. It was a predominantly Dutch church that teaches the Calvinist doctrine of TULIP. As I grew older, the more I struggled with the church. I left the reformed denomination when I went to college and never looked back. One of the parts of the church that bothered me was that it was a denomination. I didn’t understand why we had to do all these rituals. Why don’t we like the reformed church down the street? Why can’t we get along? We are all Christians.

There were many aspects of denominations that I didn’t think were necessary. I didn’t believe memorizing catechism was essential to my faith. Studying or understanding TULIP was not a top priority for me. I felt that I just needed to love Jesus and work on my relationship with Him above all else. All that other stuff would come later.

I will admit that I have recited the first question of the catechism when I have been afraid or sad. At the time, I didn’t know I still knew it! The reformed denomination gave me a good background for my faith, and for that, I will always be grateful.

When I went to college, I decided to go to a non-denominational church. I like that it wasn’t so structured. The church just focused on the Bible, on Biblical sermons, not traditions. I loved that they played worship songs…