What non-denominational actually means

Search for a church in Kissimmee and the word turns up constantly. It rarely comes with a definition, which leaves people to guess, and the guesses vary wildly. Some assume it means a church with no fixed beliefs. Others assume it means contemporary music and no hymn books. Neither is what the word is actually describing.

It is a statement about governance

A denomination is an organisational structure. Churches inside one share a name, a governing body, a process for ordaining ministers, and usually a central office that owns property, sets policy or assigns pastors. The Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God and the United Methodist Church all work this way, with real differences between them.

A non-denominational or independent church sits outside that structure. Its members govern it. It hires its own pastors, holds its own property, writes its own statement of faith and answers to no regional office. That is the whole of what the word claims. It says nothing at all about the music, the length of the sermon, the dress code or the theology.

What it does not tell you

Because the word describes structure rather than content, two independent churches on the same road can differ enormously. One may be quiet and liturgical, another loud and spontaneous. One may teach something close to historic Methodism, another something closer to a Pentecostal tradition. Both are accurately described as non-denominational, which is exactly why the label is a poor filter on its own.

• What the church actually teaches, which only its statement of faith will tell you
• How the music sounds, which only a service or a recording will tell you
• Whether the church is accountable to anyone outside itself
• How decisions get made, and by whom
• Whether it partners with a wider movement even without belonging to one

Independence and accountability

The fair question people ask about independent churches is who holds them accountable. It is a reasonable thing to want to know, and the honest answer is that it varies. Some independent churches genuinely answer to nobody. Others have a board of elders with real authority, published finances, and long-standing relationships with wider movements they are not formally part of.

Solid Rock is in the second group. It is an independent congregation, governed by its own leadership rather than a denominational office, and it is closely aligned with the Church of God movement that began in Anderson, Indiana. That alignment is a matter of shared heritage and conviction rather than a line of authority, which is a distinction worth understanding when you are weighing up a church.

The better question to ask

Rather than filtering by the label, it tends to be more useful to read what a church puts in writing. A church that publishes its beliefs in full is telling you something about how it operates before you ever walk in. Solid Rock publishes all twenty-one of its articles of faith with the scripture behind each one, on the grounds that anyone considering giving a church their Sundays deserves a straight answer about what it teaches.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Acts 17:11

Checking is treated well in that passage rather than treated as suspicion, and it is a reasonable model for anyone comparing churches. Read the beliefs. Watch a service before you attend one if that is easier. Ask a question and see how it is answered.

If you are comparing churches near Kissimmee

There is a companion piece on how people actually go about choosing, which covers the practical side: distance, children, music and the rest. And if Solid Rock is on your list, the visit page has directions, parking and what a first Sunday involves.

Read our beliefs