Please explain difference between Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Baptist churches

[Anti-Fear]

In the city where I live there are many churches and I have no idea what the difference is between presbyterian, episcopal, and baptist. Can someone please explain?

Yeah, i went to some meetings with Christians based on "Local Church" and they're too weird, actually many people accuse them of being cultists.

[Bayhawks83]

"Yeah, i went to some meetings with Christians based on "Local Church" and they're too weird, actually many people accuse them of being cultists."what?

[Bayhawks83]

http://www.christianforums.com/t54291
and episcopals are a lot like catholics, im not sure what they believe exactly.

[Cary.Melvin]

In the city where I live there are many churches and I have no idea what the difference is between presbyterian, episcopal, and baptist. Can someone please explain?

Yeah, i went to some meetings with Christians based on "Local Church" and they're too weird, actually many people accuse them of being cultists.
Why not go to your local Catholic Church if you have any questions about the Christian Faith? I'm sure that they would be willing to help.

God Bless.

[Lanakila]

Presbyterrians have 2 major denominations. 1 is very conservative, and Calvinist in theology PCA (I believe) and PCUSA is considered very liberal, and even endorses gay clergy.

Baptist are generally very independent, although there are some denominations of them as well. The largest denomination in America in which I am a member is the Southern Baptist Convention. Its rather conservative, and the churches are pretty independent of each other. They mainly are denominationalized for the support of missionary endeavors around the world, but they have colleges and universities that fall under their denomination as well. There was a liberal move in the Convention through the colleges primarily but the conservatives have taken over the leadership, and are taking back the colleges as well.

There are other groups of Baptists though: American Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Missionary Baptist, and even very independent groups like Baptist Bible Fellowship, and General Association of Regular Baptists. You could look any of these groups up by doing a Google search, and find out more than I could explain here.

Episcopalians, are similar to Catholic or Orodox in service structure, but they are connected at the time being to the Anglican Church in the UK. They are involved in political stuff right now over the ordination of a Gay Bishop, and about to split, although that will cause problems because then who gets the buildings and property?

I am not an expert, but if you have any more questions feel free to pm me.

[knee-v]

Another side to the coin:

Baptists get their name from the anabaptists, or "baptize again". The anabaptists did not believe in infant baptism, so they believed that one who was baptized as an infant must be "baptized again", hence the name. The anabaptists were also reformed, but the modern baptists are primarily arminians.

The words Presbyterian and Episcopal refer to the system of government.

Presbyterian comes from the word "presbyter" of elder. So, presbyterian churches are churches governed by elders.

Episcopal means overseer (epi, scope). Episcopal churches are churches governed by bishops. The Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches are examples of episcopal churches.

[Foundthelight]

There are some big differences.

Presbyterians and Baptists (both considered Protestants) believe that the only way to the Father is through direct supplication to Jesus.

Catholics seem to believe that a priest must act as intermediary. I.e. you cannot confess your sins directly to the Lord, you must visit the priest tell him what you have done, and then he will tell you what penence you have to perform.

Catholics pray directly to Saints asking for help and intervention.

Protestants pray to God in Jesus name as the Lord taught us. We believe that praying to a Saint is nothing less than Idolatry.

As far as the difference between Presbyterians and Baptists is concerned:
(I must warn you that this is my take on theology, and I am no theologian.)

Both believe that man is sinful in nature and undeserving of salvation. But God in his Mercy and Grace has given us a Savior, Jesus. All who believe on him shall be saved. Once saved you cannot loose your salvation. Once saved the Holy Spirit will guide your walk (which may be kind of crooked, there are many temptations out there).

One of the most divisive differences between Baptist and Presbyterian Theology is Free Will Vs. Predestination.

Free Will: Salvation is available to all who will call on Jesus. We can choose to stay in our sin or to accept the gift of salvation. God, because he is all knowing and powerful, knows who will be saved and who will not.

Predestination: God, in his infinite wisdom, knowing the true hearts of men, decided, before he created the first man, who would be saved and who would not. Salvation will actually come after the person hears the Gospel and the Holy Spirit enters into that person.

In both cases, if you never hear the Gospel you can't be saved.

In one case God knows but you decide, in the other God decided because he knows.

Both end up with the same number of people saved.

[Ken]

Caveat on the above post:

Some Baptists are very "Presbyterian" (though of course would say that it is very "biblical" in their theology, as opposed to being "Presbyterian" per se) in their theology, the largest Baptist organization, the Southern Baptist, was founded partly upon Calvinistic soteriologic principles, and the denomination I belong to is also Calvinistic in it's understanding of what the "will" is, and on how "free" it actually is... namely Reformed Baptist...

also, another well known Baptist was very "Calvinistic", his name was Charles Spurgeon, another was John Bunyan, another was John Gill, etc etc...

At any rate, one could visit Founders Ministries, which is calling Southern Baptists back to their theological origins, namely Calvinistic principles in regard to salvation, their site is http://www.founders.org/
a portion of their page reads:
"Within the Southern Baptist Convention over the last 15-20 years, an undeniable resurgence of interest has taken place in what is commonly termed the "Doctrines of Grace," the belief that salvation is sovereignly and graciously given by God to sinners. A conviction arose among many that the energy generated by this divine renewal should be conserved and guided."

I point this out because all too often the fact that many many Baptists are closer to John Calvin in their doctrines of salvation, is overlooked, or misunderstood, or ignored.....

Blessings

[Foundthelight]

And I would like to add that many if not the majority of Presbyterians believe in Free Will. Or perhaps something in between.

[Grace_Alone4gives]

I agree - many Baptists are Calvinistic in sence - especially the Reformed baptist.



Despite Free Will vs Predestination disagreements between Presby and Baptist - the essentials are pretty much the same. The large difference between these two denominations is baptism. Baptist baptise believers only, whereas Presby's baptise babies. Whereas Reformed Baptists and Presby;'s agree that baptism is a sign and seal of entering the N.Covenent - they disagree with the above regarding who is able to recive baptism.

As far as other Baptist denominations, most believe baptism to be symbolic only.



HTH.

[Foundthelight]

Although I was raised a Presbyterian and baptised as an infant, the Holy Spirit moved me as an adult to be re-baptised.

If you are interested in wading through some convoluted theological arguments, I suggest you read Calvins "Defense of Infant Baptism"

[eldermike]

I am an elder in an elder led Southern Baptist Church. It's not that unusual as SB are first indenpendant, and second Southern Baptist. I have also served as a deacon in a more traditional SB church that used the democratic committee structure as suggested in the Southern Baptist faith and mission statement.

[knee-v]

A great site is www.graceonlinelibrary.org (http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org) It is a reformed baptist site. I keep it in my favorites list. I do not attend a reformed baptist church, but I am reformed nonetheless. It has many wonderful articles about the reformed faith. I highly recommend it. Hope it helps somebody.

[Ken]

love that site knee-v!! as a Reformed Baptist, I would commend to you, if you do not already have them linked,
http://www.desiringgod.org/library_index.html
http://aomin.org/
http://www.iserv.net/~mrbill/Quiet.html
http://www.reformedreader.org/Default.htm
http://www.johnbunyan.org/

blessings!

[Filia Mariae]

Catholics seem to believe that a priest must act as intermediary. I.e. you cannot confess your sins directly to the Lord, you must visit the priest tell him what you have done, and then he will tell you what penence you have to perform.

Catholics pray directly to Saints asking for help and intervention.


This is incorrect.

Catholics can and do confess their sins directly to God. We are encouraged to do a daily examination of conscience and confess our sins to God, praying an act of contrition. We confess them to God as a group at the beginning of every Mass as well.

We do not pray to saints. We ask saints to pray for US.

I am not going to elaborate here because I am in a Protestant forum, but I will ask that in the future you refrain from talking about Catholics if you don't have a clue about what we believe and do.

In Christ,
Carly

[Foundthelight]

Thank you Carly.

One question while you are here. Are you allowed to take communion if you have not seen a priest for confession?

[Filia Mariae]

Thank you Carly.

One question while you are here. Are you allowed to take communion if you have not seen a priest for confession?


One does not have to go to confession before receiving Communion unless you are in a state of mortal sin. As I said, we pray for God's forgiveness together at the beginning of Mass.

If in a state of mortal sin, one needs to go to confession first UNLESS it is an emergency type situation and no opportunity for sacramental confession exists. In that case, one may simply pray a prayer of contrition before receiving.

In Christ,
Carly

[Fiskare]

Well, considering that the emphasis and beliefs of the episcopal church have only been very lightly touched on, I'd like to direct the curious and seekers to some links about our tradition. (We are properly called "Anglican", that is, the English Church)

It needs to be noted that although generally speaking Anglicanism is a very braod spectrum, where one could find one's own style of churchmanship somewhere in the communion, there are generally four types of Anglicans. Some Anglicans are in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury in England, and others are not, but all are Anglicans who have their heritage from the Church of England.

a) Broad Church Anglicans. Generally a little liberal, not too Catholic, not too Protestant, but the typical middle way (via media) between the two. Liturgical service but not too much emphasis on it.

b) Low Church Anglicans. Generally very protestant, usually referred to as "evangelicals", who hold to inerrency of scripture etc. Not too much emphasis on liturgy but it is still there. Conservative theologically. Hold strongly to the "Solas" of the reformation.

c) High Church Anglicans. Beliefs similar to the broad Church Anglicans, but a heavy emphasis on worship and liturgy. Most cathedrals are run by High-Churchmen.

d) Anglo-Catholic Anglicans. Beliefs similar to the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, with emphasis on the inerrency of scripture and a higher emphasis on apostolic succession and liturgy than protestants, and see themselves as part of the ancient, continuing church.

(Then again, a lot of Anglicans are a mix of all of the above!)

[color=#660000]http://www.acahome.org/submenu/docs/Anglicans.htm]The Anglicans - Who are they? What is their faith? (

What do Anglicans-Episcopalians believe? (http://anglicansonline.org/basics/what_believe.html)

[knee-v]

Thank you for the sites, Ken. I especially like "The Quiet Place" and "The Reformed Reader".

[Acceptance]

Episcopal means overseer (epi, scope). Episcopal churches are churches governed by bishops. The Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches are examples of episcopal churches.

Let's just make sure (so as to avoid confusion;) ) that when you say Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox churches are 'episcopal', we emphasize that you spelled it with a small 'e'.

[knee-v]

Yes indeed. Not to be confused with the Episcopal (big E) church.

[Gamecock]

In the city where I live there are many churches and I have no idea what the difference is between presbyterian, episcopal, and baptist. Can someone please explain?

Yeah, i went to some meetings with Christians based on "Local Church" and they're too weird, actually many people accuse them of being cultists.

As a member of the Presbyterian Church in America, I will answer what we are!
:wave:

We are evangelical, reformed. biblical christians. We are conservative in our outlook. We believe that we are all sinners and cannot come to God except through the atoning death of Christ.


The following is from our website, hope it helps!

A Synopsis of the Beliefs of the
Presbyterian Church in America

1. The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

2. There is one God, eternal and self-existing in three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) who are to be equally loved, honored, and adored.

3. All mankind participated in Adam's fall from his original sinless state and is thus lost in sin and totally helpless.

4. The Sovereign God, for no other reason than His own unfathomable love and mercy, has chosen lost sinners from every nation to be redeemed by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit and through the atoning death and resurrection of His son, Jesus Christ.

5. Those sinners whom the Spirit quickens, come to believe in Christ as Savior by the Word of God, are born again, become sons of God, and will persevere to the end.

6. Justification is by faith and through it the undeserving sinner is clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

7. The goal of God's salvation in the life of the Christian is holiness, good works, and service for the glory of God.

8. At death the Christian's soul passes immediately into the presence of God and the unbeliever's soul is eternally separated from God unto condemnation.

9. Baptism is a sign of God's covenant and is properly administered to children of believers in their infancy as well as to those who come as adults to trust in Christ.

10. Jesus Christ will return to earth, visibly and bodily, at a time when He is not expected, to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.

11. The Gospel of God's salvation in Jesus Christ must be published to all the world as a witness before Jesus Christ returns

[indra1500]

My question is on why is the christians the baptists and other denominations are so divided? I don't understand that I just found that out. People use to tell me that baptists were wrong and they had the spirit of God but not the Truth they had half of what is true but everything else was not correct. To me I think that we all serve the same God Jesus Christ so what is wrong with that. Is there a way for people to connected be together like we're suppose to be or will there be this gap a long time. Jesus loves us all so why can't we? Someone please let me know why are we all divided up. We are all suppose to stick together and see souls saved for the glory of God to multiply ourselves not divide the Truth of God. I need this answered by someone who knows the true answer. thank you please email me if you can email is indra1500@yahoo.com. The reason Im asking is because I have a boyfriend who is Baptist and I am a Christian and I thought that even though there are different names of denomenation that we are still one we are all Christians and serve the same God and baptized in the precious Name of Jesus. Someone please tell me because I am confused I didn't even know there was a difference we all serve Jesus Christ don't we? I need a strong Christian answer someone who has prayed and seeked before answering my question because I need a serious heart felt lead of God answer.