Free 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.

Tradition:AllCatholicProtestantOrthodoxAnglicanEvangelicalPentecostalOther
Other1787

Swedenborgian (New Jerusalem Church)

📍 England (organised); Sweden (Swedenborg's origins)

Heaven opened: Swedenborg's visionary theology of correspondences.

Learn more
Other1838

Christadelphian

📍 England / USA

No immortal soul, no Trinity: Bible truth as first-century Christians understood it.

Learn more
Other1747 (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 more
Other1785

Rappites (Harmonists)

📍 Württemberg, Germany; Pennsylvania and Indiana, USA

German perfectionist communalists who built Harmony, Pennsylvania.

Learn more
Other~1750s

Doukhobors

📍 Russia (Ukraine, Caucasus); emigrated to Canada 1899

Spirit-wrestlers: inner light, pacifism, and rejection of all external authority.

Learn more
Other~1765

Molokans

📍 Volga region and Caucasus, Russia; later California and Armenia

Russian milk-drinkers: Bible alone, no clergy, no fasting rules.

Learn more
Other1945

United Pentecostal Church International (Oneness)

📍 Hazelwood, Missouri, USA

Jesus Only: one God, baptism in Jesus's name, and the fullness of the Spirit.

Learn more
Other1863

New Apostolic Church

📍 Hamburg, Germany

The restored apostolic office: a living Chief Apostle as God's mouthpiece on earth.

Learn more
Other~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 more
Other1848

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
⛪

Swedenborgian (New Jerusalem Church)

Other

1787

📍 England (organised); Sweden (Swedenborg's origins)

🌍 ~50,000

Origin

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) was a Swedish scientist who claimed extended visionary experiences of heaven, hell, and the spiritual world, publishing his theological works from 1749 onward. After his death, followers organised the New Jerusalem Church (1787) in England. Swedenborg rejected the Trinity as three persons, proposed a 'doctrine of correspondences' as the key to Scripture, and described the afterlife in vivid detail.

Core beliefs

  • God is one person - the Lord Jesus Christ - not a Trinity of three persons
  • Scripture has a spiritual sense revealed through the doctrine of correspondences
  • Heaven and hell are spiritual states entered immediately after death
  • Human freedom and ongoing spiritual growth in the afterlife
  • Love and useful service as the true essence of faith

Worship style

Traditional liturgical worship drawing on Anglican forms, with Swedenborgian theological content. Services use Scripture interpreted through Swedenborg's writings. Intellectually focused and contemplative.

Key scriptures

  • Isaiah 9:6
  • John 10:30
  • John 14:9–10
  • Revelation 21:2

Relationship to other denominations

Outside mainstream Christianity doctrinally; its unitarian Christology and extra-biblical revelatory claims are rejected by most Christians. Influenced William Blake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and W. B. Yeats.