Other1787
Swedenborgian (New Jerusalem Church)
📍 England (organised); Sweden (Swedenborg's origins)
Heaven opened: Swedenborg's visionary theology of correspondences.
Learn moreFree Resource
Denomination Explorer
Christianity is not one tradition. It is a family shaped by centuries of faith, geography, and the many ways people have met God. Explore the full family here. All branches. No judgment.
Other1838
Christadelphian
📍 England / USA
No immortal soul, no Trinity: Bible truth as first-century Christians understood it.
Learn moreOther1747 (England); 1774 (USA)
Shakers (United Society of Believers)
📍 Manchester, England; then New England, USA
Celibacy, communal life, and worship through ecstatic dance and craftsmanship.
Learn moreOther1785
Rappites (Harmonists)
📍 Württemberg, Germany; Pennsylvania and Indiana, USA
German perfectionist communalists who built Harmony, Pennsylvania.
Learn moreOther~1750s
Doukhobors
📍 Russia (Ukraine, Caucasus); emigrated to Canada 1899
Spirit-wrestlers: inner light, pacifism, and rejection of all external authority.
Learn moreOther~1765
Molokans
📍 Volga region and Caucasus, Russia; later California and Armenia
Russian milk-drinkers: Bible alone, no clergy, no fasting rules.
Learn moreOther1945
United Pentecostal Church International (Oneness)
📍 Hazelwood, Missouri, USA
Jesus Only: one God, baptism in Jesus's name, and the fullness of the Spirit.
Learn moreOther1863
New Apostolic Church
📍 Hamburg, Germany
The restored apostolic office: a living Chief Apostle as God's mouthpiece on earth.
Learn moreOther~1884–1910 (various founders)
African Zionist / Independent Churches (AICs)
📍 South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, East Africa
The largest African Christian movement: Spirit, healing, prophecy, and indigenous worship.
Learn moreOther1848
Exclusive Brethren (Plymouth Brethren II / PBCC)
📍 England (J.N. Darby's breakaway from Plymouth)
Absolute separation: no fellowship, eating, or worship with those outside the circle.
Learn more⛪
African Zionist / Independent Churches (AICs)
Other~1884–1910 (various founders)
📍 South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Kenya, East Africa
🌍 ~40–60 million (across all AICs)
Origin
African Independent Churches (AICs) emerged from ~1884 when African leaders broke from Western missionary churches to form indigenous expressions of Christianity. 'Ethiopian' churches (African-led breakaways) came first; Zionist churches began when South African John Dube connected with Zionist healers from Zion, Illinois. The Zion Christian Church (ZCC), founded 1910 by Engenas Lekganyane, is the largest single Christian body in southern Africa. AICs now encompass thousands of distinct bodies.
Core beliefs
- The Holy Spirit speaks and heals through African prophets, bishops, and healing ministers
- Divine healing through prayer, holy water, blessed objects, and laying on of hands
- Ancestor relationships reinterpreted within a Christian framework
- African cultural practices - music, dance, distinctive dress - as vehicles of worship
- The Bible read through African cultural and communal experience
Worship style
Intensely experiential: all-night prayer meetings, prophetic healing, communal singing and dancing in distinctive uniforms (often white, green, or blue robes with a star). ZCC members wear a badge. Easter gatherings at Zion City (Moria, Limpopo) draw three to four million people.
Key scriptures
- Acts 2:17–18
- James 5:14–15
- Revelation 7:9
- Isaiah 53:5
Relationship to other denominations
The fastest-growing form of African Christianity. Vary enormously in theology - from closely Trinitarian to syncretic. The ZCC alone has ~12 million members. Little formal connection to Western denominations though many are broadly orthodox.