Protestant1517
Lutheran
📍 Wittenberg, Germany
Born from Martin Luther's reformation. Salvation by grace through faith alone.
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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.
Protestant1536–1560
Reformed / Presbyterian
📍 Geneva, Switzerland; Scotland
Calvin's legacy: God's sovereignty, covenant theology, and Presbyterian governance.
Learn moreProtestant1738 (Wesley's conversion); formally 1784
Methodist
📍 England
John Wesley's movement of grace, holiness, and social action.
Learn moreProtestant1525
Mennonite
📍 Zurich, Switzerland
Radical Reformation heirs: peace, believers' baptism, and simple discipleship.
Learn moreProtestant1693
Amish
📍 Alsace (France/Germany border); now primarily Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, USA
Radical separation from the world: horse and buggy, plain dress, and Gelassenheit.
Learn moreProtestant1647–1652
Quaker (Religious Society of Friends)
📍 England (Midlands and North)
Silent waiting on God: no clergy, no creed, no sacraments.
Learn moreProtestant1832
Disciples of Christ
📍 American frontier (Kentucky and Virginia)
Unity, freedom, and weekly communion - the moderate Stone-Campbell tradition.
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Waldensian
📍 Lyon, France; Piedmont valleys, Italy
Medieval proto-Reformers who survived centuries of persecution in the Alpine valleys.
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Hussite / Czech Brethren
📍 Bohemia (Czech Republic)
Jan Hus's reform movement - the first to break with Rome before Luther.
Learn moreProtestant1457 (Unitas Fratrum); renewed 1722 (Herrnhut)
Moravian Church (Unitas Fratrum)
📍 Bohemia (Czech Republic); renewed at Herrnhut, Saxony
The Renewed Brethren: mission, joy, and the Lamb of God.
Learn moreProtestant1843
Free Church of Scotland
📍 Scotland
The Disruption of 1843: when Scottish ministers chose conscience over Crown.
Learn moreProtestant1528
Hutterite
📍 Moravia (Czech Republic); now South Dakota, Alberta, Manitoba
Radical communalism: all things held in common on farming colonies across North America.
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Church of the Brethren (Dunkers)
📍 Schwarzenau, Germany; emigrated to Pennsylvania 1719–1729
Triple-immersion baptism, love feasts, and Anabaptist-Pietist pacifism.
Learn moreProtestant1620 (Pilgrim roots); UCC formed 1957
Congregationalist (United Church of Christ)
📍 England; Plymouth Colony, New England, USA
Puritan covenant theology, Mayflower pilgrims, and locally governed churches.
Learn moreProtestant1628
Reformed Church in America
📍 New Amsterdam (New York City), Dutch colony
America's oldest Protestant denomination - Dutch Calvinist since 1628.
Learn moreProtestant1811
Primitive Methodist
📍 Mow Cop, Staffordshire, England
Camp meetings, outdoor preaching, and the religion of the common worker.
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The Free Church of Scotland was born on 18 May 1843 (the 'Disruption') when 474 ministers signed the Deed of Demission and walked out of the Church of Scotland General Assembly. Led by Thomas Chalmers, they rejected state patronage in church appointments. They took nothing with them - no buildings, no stipends - and built churches, manses, and schools from scratch. Today the Free Church maintains strict Calvinist theology and confines worship to the biblical Psalms.
Core beliefs
- Westminster Confession of Faith as doctrinal standard
- Calvinist soteriology (TULIP)
- Church independence from the state
- Regulative principle: only what Scripture commands in worship
- Exclusive psalmody (Psalms only, unaccompanied) in most congregations
Worship style
Reformed and Presbyterian: unaccompanied singing of the biblical Psalms, expository preaching, Scripture reading, and prayer. Strong Sabbatarianism - the Lord's Day kept strictly from Friday sundown in some communities.
Key scriptures
- Acts 5:29
- Psalm 119:105
- Romans 8:29–30
- John 10:27–29
Relationship to other denominations
Part of the broader Scottish Presbyterian family. Distinct from the Church of Scotland (established) and United Free Church. Member of the International Conference of Reformed Churches.