The Evangelical and Nontrinitarian branches of Christianity are much more divided up than any of the others. Each separate Evangelical church is often called a "denomination". While the Roman Catholic Church looks to a single earthly leader, the Pope, and has similar beliefs right across the world, the several Protestant denominations do not look to a single leader and sometimes have beliefs that are very different from each other.
Many Christian denomination see themselves as part of the worldwide Church which includes other denominations as well. Some denominations, such as the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and some Protestant Churches, believe that they are the "only" true Christian church.
Some denominations have beliefs which almost all the other denominations would disagree with, very strongly. These beliefs are called "heresy" by the other churches.
There were some movements considered heresies by the early church which do not exist today and are not generally referred to as denominations. Examples include the Gnostics (who had believed in an esoteric dualism), the Ebionites (who venerated Christ's blood relatives), and the Arians. The greatest divisions in Christianity today, however, are between Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and various denominations formed during and after the Protestant Reformation. There also exists in Protestantism and Orthodoxy various degrees of unity and division.
Comparisons between denominations must be approached with caution. For example, some churches are part of a larger church organization or diocese, while in other groups, each congregation is an independent organization. This issue is further complicated by the existence of groups of congregations with a common heritage that are officially nondenominational and have no centralized authority or records, but which are identified as denominations by non-adherents. Study of such churches in denominational terms is therefore a more complex proposition.
Numerical comparisons are also problematic. Some groups count membership based on adult believers and baptized children of believers, while others only count adult baptized believers. Others may count membership based on those adult believers who have formally affiliated themselves with the congregation. In addition, there may be political motives of advocates or opponents of a particular group to inflate or deflate membership numbers through propaganda or outright deception.
List of Christian denominations by number of members
This article gives information about the relative size of denominations, based mainly on claims by the churches themselves.
Catholicism is the largest branch of Christianity with 1.329 billion and the Catholic Church is the largest among churches. Figures below are in accordance with the "Annuario Pontificio", at 2018. The total figure does not include independent Catholic denominations (18 million).
Various denominations self-identifying as Catholic, despite not being affiliated with the Catholic Church.
Protestantism is the second largest major group of Christians by number of followers. Estimates vary from 800 million to a billion, or nearly 40% of all Christians. The main reason for this wide range is the lack of a common agreement among scholars as to which denominations constitute Protestantism. For instance, most sources but not all include Anabaptism, Anglicanism, Baptists and Independent Nondenominational Christianity as part of Protestantism. Moreover, Protestant denominations altogether do not form a single structure comparable to the Catholic Church, or to a lesser extent the Eastern Orthodox Communion. However, several different comparable communions exist within Protestantism, such as the Anglican Communion, World Communion of Reformed Churches, World Baptist Alliance, World Methodist Council and the World Lutheran Federation. Regardless, 900 million is the most accepted figure among various authors and scholars, and thus is used in this article. Note that this 900 million figure also includes Anglicanism, as well as Anabaptists, Baptists and multiple other groups that might sometimes disavow a common "Protestant" designation, and would rather prefer to be called, simply, "Christian".
The number of individuals who are members of historical Protestant Churches totals to 300-400 million.
There are about 110 million Christians in Anglican tradition, mostly part of the Anglican Communion, the third largest Christian denomination in the world.
The number of individuals who hold membership in the Baptist denomination totals to 75-105 million, being represented in the following Churches:
The number of adherents in the Lutheran denomination totals to 70-90 million persons, being represented in the following Churches:
The Reformed tradition is represented by 60-80 million people who hold membership in the following Churches:
The number of members in the Methodist denomination totals to 60-80 million people, being represented in the following Churches:
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a membership of 21.4 million people.
The Plymouth Brethren number around 1 million members.
The denominations listed below did not emerge from the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century or its commonly acknowledged offshoots. Instead, they are broadly linked to Pentecostalism or similar other independent evangelical and revivalistic movements that originated in the beginning of the 20th century. For this reason, several sources tend to differentiate them from Protestants and classify them as together as Independents, Non-core Protestants etc. Also included in this category are the numerous, yet very similar Nondenominational churches. Nonetheless, sources eventually combine their numbers to the Protestant tally. Despite the absence of centralized control or leadership, if considered as a single cohort, this will easily be the second largest Christian tradition after Roman Catholicism. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC), there are an estimated 450 million Independents world-wide, as of mid-2019.
Those who are members of the Pentecostal denomination number around 280 million people.
60 million people are members of African initiated churches.
The New Apostolic Church has around 10 million members.
The best estimate of the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians is 210–230 million or 80% of all Orthodox Christians worldwide. Its main body consists of the various autocephalous churches along with the autonomous and other churches canonically linked to them, for the most part form a single communion, making the Eastern Orthodox Church the second largest single denomination behind the Catholic Church. In addition, there are several Eastern Orthodox splinter groups and non-universally recognized churches.
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are those descended from those that rejected the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Despite the similar name, they are therefore a different branch of Christianity from the Eastern Orthodox (see above). There are an estimated 62 million Oriental Orthodox Christians, worldwide.
A sixth group is composed by Non-trinitarian Restorationists. These groups are quite distinct from orthodox Trinitarian restorationist groups such as the Disciples of Christ, despite some shared history.
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Christendom
Christendom or the Christian world, in the widest sense, means Christianity as a territorial phenomenon. That means: those countries where most people are Christians and because of that are part of Christendom.
People have used the term Christendom for the medieval and Renaissance understanding of the Christian world as one single "Body of Christ" with Christ as the head. With the rise of Modernity and the Reformation during the early 16th century the understanding changed to a modern idea of a tolerant and diverse society that consists of many different communities.
Creed