What
Was New?
Older
update
To return to Homepage, click on Home link in frame to left
To return to the current What’s New? page, click here.
January
17, 2005
●
Corrected
URL for The Evangelical
Christian Church Inc. and for the Ecumenical Anglican Catholic
Church on the Protestant page. Deleted URL for
the International Churches of Christ on the same page, as it seems to have
stopped working.
●
Added
on the Anglican page The
Free Episcopal Church. Updated the URL for the Evangelical Anglican
Church of America.
●
Corrected
the entry for the Inclusive
Orthodox Church by moving it to the Eastern Orthodox (Chalcedonian)
Churches page, in the section on Eastern Orthodox-tradition independent churches. The
change was based on a gracious e-mail from its presiding Bishop, Daniel
January
9, 2005
●
The
Webmaster returns from extended overseas duty as part of the post-9/11 war on
terrorism. Finally, more updates. My apologies for being in so many places
without Net access.
● On
the Protestant page: entered Website for the World Evangelical Congregational Fellowship;
Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection;
Evangelical Church of North
America; and God’s Missionary Church.
Deleted the Missionary Church of Canada
January
5, 2003
●
Completed
update of Baptist churches page, and created a
separate page for Baptist churches and bodies outside
North America. Completed crosschecking with “Section 11, Baptist Family,”
in the sixth edition of Melton (J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of American
Religions, Sixth Edition (
●
On the Protestant Churches page,
added the Tioga River Christian Conference to the
●
On
the Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements page, broke the
entry for Christadelphians into Amended Christadelphians and Unamended
Christadelphians. Note that Melton lists these groupings as belonging to the
Baptist family of churches. I have them listed on the Cults,
Sects, and New Religious Movements page due to their strong differences
with traditional Protestant beliefs.
●
The Most Rev. D. Ceabron Williams, General Secretary of
the Ecumenical Anglican Catholic Church, has been kind enough to bring to my
attention the fact that my inclusion of the EACC in the “Inclusivist (non-Canterbury) Anglicans” section of
the Anglican and Episcopal Churches page misrepresents the
position of the EACC on human sexuality. As he writes, “In the sense
that we are ecumenical, and in that we embrace fully our Anglican and Catholic
roots, yes indeed, we are inclusive.
However, to suggest that we are ‘inclusive’ in the sense that we
embrace, encourage or condone the homosexual life-style is an error and a
serious mis-representation of the Biblical faith we cherish.” Accordingly, I
have re-entered the EACC under the section heading "Traditionalist
(non-Canterbury) Anglicans.” My thanks to Bishop Williams for the correction,
and my apologies for my original error.
●
Added
the Council
of Orthodox Catholic Churches — Fraternity of Priests of the
Holy Spirit to the “Unclassified or mixed-stream apostolic churches” section of
the Apostolic-succession independent churches page. My
thanks to Bishop Kirk P. Mason, of the church’s Diocese of Transfiguration, for
bringing the church to my attention.
●
Made
a separate page for Baptist churches. Began
crosschecking it with “Section 11, Baptist Family,” in the sixth edition of
Melton (J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of American Religions, Sixth
Edition (
●
Added
the World
Assemblies of Restoration
to the “Other Pentecostal churches” section of the Pentecostal and Apostolic churches page.
●
Finished
revamping the entries on Amish, Brethren, Mennonite, and Quaker churches and
cross-checking them with “Section 10, European-Free Church Family,” of Melton.
●
Moved all “What’s New?” entries
prior to 2003 to a separate page.
●
Happy
New Year!
●
Finished
cross-checking the Pentecostal and Apostolic
churches page with “Section 9,
Pentecostal Family,” of the sixth edition of Melton.
● Transferred
the New Apostolic Church Canada and USA
● Added the Emmanuel Apostolic Church and the United Apostolic Church International to the “Apostolic and Pentecostal churches” section.
● Added the International Apostolic Fellowship, Inc., and Victory Unto Victory Revivals, Inc., to the “Oneness churches” section.
● Added the Apostolic Brotherhood International to the “Latter Rain’ section.
● Added the Apostolic Pentecostal Churches of Jesus Christ, Inc., to the “Traditionally-White, Holiness churches” section.
● Added the Word Wide Pentecostal Church of Christ to the “Traditionally-White, non-Holiness” section.
● Added Canadian Evangelical Christian Churches; International Circle of Faith; and, the UFM International (former Unevangelized Fields Mission) to the “Other Pentecostal churches” section.
●
Began
revamping the entries on Amish, Brethren, Mennonite, and Quaker churches per “Section 10,
European-Free Church Family,” of Melton. These entries have now been moved to a separate page due to their length.
Brethren churches were also moved to the new page, making Pietist churches now
their own separate section. Quaker churches were moved to the new page as well.
● Made the Anglican and Episcopal churches list a separate page due to its length.
December
24, 2002
●
Merry
Christmas!
●
Added
the Church of the Living Word to the Cults, Sects, and
New Religious Movements page.
●
Added the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches to the “Unclassified
Protestant denominations and churches” section of the Protestant
Churches page.
●
Added
the
December
16, 2002
●
Crosscheck
continues of Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches outside of
North America with the membership list of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches. Have crosschecked through
countries starting with G (“Gabon”).
●
Added
the
●
Added the Christian Reformed Church in El Salvador
[Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en El Salvador]; Evangelical Church of Gabon
[Eglise evangelique du Gabon]; Evangelical Covenant Church [Iglesia del Pacto
Evangelico en el Ecuador]; National Union of Independent Reformed Evangelical
Churches of France [Eglises Réformées Evangéliques Indépendantes, Union
Nationale des]; Reformed Calvinist Church of El Salvador [Iglesia Reformada
Calvinista de El Salvador]; Union of Free Evangelical Churches in France [Union
des Eglises Evangéliques Libres]; and, the United Evangelical Church of Ecuador
[Iglesia Evangelica Unida del Ecuador] to the “Reformed churches outside North America” section, both
because of their WARC membership.
●
Added
the Evangelical
Covenant Church [Iglesia del Pacto Evangelico en el Ecuador]; Evangeligal Free
Church of Finland [Suomen Vapaakirkko] and the Free Mission Covenant Church (Finland) [Fria
Missionsförbundet] to the “Pietist-tradition
churches outside North America”
section.
December
13, 2002
● Revised the “Holiness churches” section of the Protestant Churches page. Crosschecked entries with membership of the Christian Holiness Partnership; Interchurch Holiness Convention, and “Section 8: Holiness Family,” in Melton. Added the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection; Association of Fundamental Ministers & Churches; Bible Holiness Church; Bible Holiness Movement; Bible Methodist Connection of Tennessee; Christian Nation Church, U.S.A.; Christ's Sanctified Holy Church; Church of God (Guthrie, OK); Church of God (Sanctified Church); Church of God (Which He Purchased with His Own Blood); Church of the Bible Covenant; Churches Of God (Holiness); Christ Holy Sanctified Church of America; Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada; Evangelical Wesleyan Church; God’s Missionary Church; Gospel Spreading Church; Immanuel General Mission [Japan]; Independent Holiness Churches of Canada; Kentucky Mountain Holiness Association; Lumber River Annual Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church; Metropolitan Church Association; Missionary Church of Canada; Missionary Methodist Church of America; Parkville Bible Church; Pilgrim Holiness Church of New York, Inc.; Pilgrim Holiness Church of the Midwest; Salvation Army, Canada and Bermuda; United Holiness Church of North America; Voice of the Nazarene Association of Independent Churches; Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches; and, the Wesleyan Tabernacle Association. Moved the Bible Methodist Connection of Churches to the Holiness section based on its membership in the IHC. Moved Bible Fellowship Church Christian and Missionary Alliance; to the Holiness section based on its entry in Melton.
● Moved all of
churches in the “Salvation Army and service
churches” section to the “Holiness section,” reflecting William Booth’s
Methodist background and the fact that the other churches listed there were all
Salvation Army daughter churches. Also moved Church of God (Anderson, Indiana);
based on their self-description of Wesleyan derivation and listing in Melton.
Moved Churches of God, General Conference to the “Reformed churches” section
based on its founding by a German Reformed pastor. And moved the Free Methodist
Church in Canada and Free Methodist Church of North America to the Holiness
section based on their self-description of being part of the Holiness movement,
membership in the CHA, and listing in Melton. Ditto for the Missionary
Church, Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ, and for Pillar
of Fire, Inc.
●
Added the Free Methodist Church in Canada to the “Methodist churches” section.
●
Moved
all the “Apostolic” churches out of the “Holiness” section and into the
“Pentecostal” section.
●
Added
the Evangelical
Christian Church, Inc., to the “Christian Churches (Stone-Campbell Movement)”
section.
December
11, 2002
●
Added
the United
Orthodox Catholic Church to the “Eastern Orthodox-tradition independent
churches” section of the Eastern Orthodox churches
page. My thanks to the Most Reverend Theodore, Primate of the UOCC, for
bringing the church to my attention.
●
Crosschecked
sections on “Pietist” and “Methodist” churches in the Protestant
Churches page with “Section 7, Pietist-Methodist Family,” of the sixth
edition of Melton. Note that my taxonomy differs somewhat from Melton’s. I list
the Pietist churches in a meta-grouping with Brethren churches, and account for
the Methodist tradition separately, which is consistent with Mead. As a result
of the cross-checking, I added the African Union First Colored Methodist
Protestant Church and Connection, Inc.; Association of Independent Methodists;
British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada; Evangelical Methodist Church
(Kingsport, TN); Fellowship of Fundamental Bible Churches; Free Christian Zion
Church of Christ; Methodist Protestant Church; New Congregational Methodist
Church; Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church; Reformed Zion Union
Apostolic Church; Southern Congregational Methodist Church; and, Union American
Methodist Episcopal Church to the “Methodist churches” section.
●
In the “Methodist Churches Outside of North America”
section, added entries on the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Methodist Church in Wales.
●
Added
the United
Christian Church (
●
Crosscheck
continues of Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches outside of
North America with the membership list of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches. Have crosschecked through
countries starting with D (“Dominican Republic”).
●
In
the Presbyterian churches outside North America page, added entries for Cook Island
Christian Church [Ekalesia Keresitiano ote Kuki Airani]; Evangelical Church of Christ in
Mozambique [Igreja Evangelica de Cristo em Mocambique]; Fraternity of Costa Rican Evangelical
Churches [Fraternidad de Iglesias Evangelicas Costarricenses]; Presbytery of Liberia in West Africa; Presbyterian Church of Mauritius
[Eglise Presbytérienne de Maurice]; Presbyterian Church in Rwanda [Eglise presbyterienne au Rwanda]; Presbyterian Church of Mozambique
[Igreja Presbiteriana de Mocambique]; and, Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba [Iglesia
Presbiteriana - Reformada en Cuba.
●
In
the Reformed tradition churches outside North America page, added the Christian
Reformed Church in Costa Rica [Iglesia Christiana Reformada en Costa Rica]; Christian Reformed Church in Cuba
[Iglesia Cristiana Reformada en Cuba]; Church of Christ in Nigeria; Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar [Église de Jésus-Christ à
Madagascar]; Evangelical
Church in Morocco [Eglise évangélique du Maroc]; Evangelical Church of Good Shepherd [Igreja Evangelica do
Bom Pastor] [Mozambique]; Evangelical
Church of the Republic of Niger [Ekklisiyar Bishara Ta Kasar Nige]; Evangelical Church of West Afrika
[Nigeria]; Evangelical
Church Salama of Niger [Eglise evangelique Salama du Niger]; Nigerian Reformed Church in Iziland; Qua Iboe Church (Nigeria); Protestant Church of Reunion Island
[Eglise Protestante de la Réunion]; Reformed Church of France [Église Réformée de France]; Reformed Church of Mozambique (Mphatso
Synod) [Igreja Reformada em Mocambique (Mphatso Synod)]; Reformed Congregation in Fredericia
(Denmark) [Den reformerte Meighed i Fredericia]; Reformed Synod of Denmark [Den reformerte Synode i Danmark]; and, the Union of
Evangelical Protestant Churches of Niger [Union des eglises evangeliques
protestantes].
●
Created
a separate page for Congregational and United churches
outside North America,
and added the Church of the Brethren (Czech Republic) [Církve bratrské]; Dominican Evangelical Church [Iglesia
Evangelica Dominicana]; United Church
of Christ in Mozambique [Igreja de Christo Unida em Mocambique] (Ex-Missao
American Board); and, the United Church
of Christ in Nigeria [Habaddiyar Ekklisiyar Kristi a Nigeria],.
●
Added
the
●
Added
the
December
9, 2002
●
Crosscheck
of Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches outside of North America
with the membership list of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
continues. Have crosschecked through
countries starting with L (“Lesotho”). In the Presbyterian
churches outside North America page, corrected the entry for the Evangelical Church of Egypt,
Synod of the
● Added many
entries to the Spiritualist section of the Cults,
sects, and new religious movements page.
October
22, 2002
●
Completed update of North American “Congregationalist and United churches” section
in the Protestant Churches page.
●
Crosscheck
continues of Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches outside of
North America with the membership list of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches. Have crosschecked through
countries starting with C (“Congo, DR”).
●
Presbyterian
Churches have been completely updated insofar as North American denominations.
●
A
separate page was created for Reformed tradition churches outside
North America, and the Remonstrant Brotherhood (
●
Made
a complete and substantial update to the Unitarian section of the Non-Christian Beliefs page.
●
Added the Church of the Christian
●
Added
the Evangelical
Community in Ubangi-Mongala (DR Congo) [Communaute evangelique en
Ubangi-Mongala], Evangelical Community of Christ in Ubangui (DR Congo)
[Communaute evangelique du Christ en Ubangui], Evangelical Congregational
Church, and the
●
Added the Community of Disciples of Christ (DR Congo)
[Communaute de Disciples du Christ] to the
October
21, 2002
●
Calvin day! Crosschecked sections on Congregationalism, Reformed, and
Presbyterian churches in the Protestant Churches
page with “Section 6, Reformed-Presbyterian Family,” of the sixth edition
of Melton. Note that my classification differs somewhat from Melton. He lists
the Churches of God, General Conference with the Reformed Family. I feel that
they are sufficiently distinct to warrant a listing under the section on
Holiness and Apostolic tradition, which is consistent with Mead.
●
In the Reformed Churches section, added, the Canadian and
American Reformed Churches, Christian Reformed Churches of Australia, Free
Reformed Church of North America, United Reformed Churches in North America, and a whole pot-full of Reformed
churches outside of North America.
●
In
the Presbyterian Churches section, added the American Reformation
Presbyterian Church, Free
Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian
Reformed Church, Reformed
Presbyterian Church (Covenanted) [Steelite Covenanters], Reformed
Presbyterian Church General Assembly, and a whole pot-full of Presbyterian churches outside of North
America. There are still international Presbyterian churches to be added. I am
slogging through the membership list of the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches.
●
Cleaned up the last bits of the Lutheran section on the
Protestant Churches page. Added entries for independent, non-synodical Lutheran
churches. And added the Augustana
Orthodox and Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Evangelical Community Church —
Lutheran, and the Lutheran Confessional Synod.
●
Added
Church of the Golden Rule to the “Unclassified churches” section of the Protestant Churches page.
●
Added
the Church
of England in South Africa
to the Independent Anglican churches section.
● Added some entries
to reference book page.
●
●
October 18, 2002
● Lutheran day!
Updated the Lutheran section of the Protestant
Churches page. Added links for the Association of Independent
Evangelical Lutheran Churches, Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations, Estonian
Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(Eielsen Synod), Evangelical Lutheran Federation, International Lutheran
Fellowship, Laestadian Lutheran Church, Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod, and Norwegian Seamen's
Mission.
● This update includes crosschecks with “Section 5,
Lutheran Family,” of the sixth edition of Melton (J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia
of American Religions, Sixth Edition (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research,
1999); the Valparaiso University, Office of Church Relations Lutheran
denomination finder; the Lutheran Resource Site; and, Pr. Steven Paul Tibbetts’
Pastor Zip’s Lutheran Web Links.
● Lutheran
church groupings outside of North America (Confessional Evangelical Lutheran
Conference, International Lutheran Council, Lutheran World Federation) now each have
a separate Web page, which is linked to the Lutheran section of the Protestant
Churches page.
October
17, 2002
● Updates of
the Eastern Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Churches Orthodox
and Oriental Orthodox
(non-Chalcedonian) Churches pages are finally finished, delayed due to several
extended overseas business trips. This update includes crosschecks with “Section 4,
the Eastern Liturgical Family,” of the sixth edition of Melton (J. Gordon
Melton, Encyclopedia of American Religions, Sixth Edition (Farmington
Hills, MI: Gale Research, 1999).
● Added St. Anne’s
African Orthodox Church to the Apostolic-succession
independent churches page. Also moved Orthodox Catholic Church of America
from the Apostolic-succession
independent churches page to the Eastern Orthodox (Chalcedonian)
Churches Orthodox page, in view
of its association with the Orthodox Catholic Church in
● Added Eastern Catholic Archdiocese
(Chaldean-Syrian), Metropolia of the Americas to the Apostolic-succession independent churches
page (so classified because of its mixture of Church of the East, Oriental
Orthodox, and Eastern Orthodox traditions.
● Added the Ancient Holy
Apostolic Catholic Church of the East (the part of the church in
July
16, 2002
●
Began complete update of the Eastern
Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Churches page.
June
1, 2002
●
Finally back from an extended business trip to
Europe. Have updated the link to Jon Zuck’s invaluable resource, The (Almost) Total Catholic
Homepage wherever it appears on my site. Check out Jon’s snazzy new
graphics. Also, have crosschecked the Anglican section of the Protestant churches page with “Section 3,
Anglicanism,” of the sixth edition of Melton (J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia
of American Religions, Sixth Edition (
April
5, 2002
●
Finished the massive updating of independent
apostolic church sections on all pages! Entries now reflect all churches shown
on Fr.
Tony Begonja’s excellent Independent
Movements homepage and “Section 2, the Western Liturgical Family,” of the
sixth edition of Melton (J. Gordon Melton, Encyclopedia of American
Religions, Sixth Edition (
April
4, 2002
● Continued the
massive updating of independent churches sections on all pages.
● Made Apostolic-succession independent churches a
separate page (taking it out of the Protestant churches page). Read why in
the introductory note on that page.
April
3, 2002
●
Continued the comprehensive update to the entries
in the Catholic-tradition independent churches section of the Catholic churches page.
●
Also added entries to the
section on Eastern Orthodox-tradition independent churches in the Eastern Orthodox churches page.
●
And entries to the Oriental
Orthodox-Tradition Independent churches section of the Oriental
Orthodox page.
●
And, finally, also added
entries to the “Apostolic-succession independent
churches” section of the Protestant page.
April
2, 2002
●
Began comprehensively updating the entries in the Catholic-tradition
independent churches section of the Catholic page.
March
13, 2002
● Redesigned
and re-ordered the master page links in the navigation frame you see to the
left. Many thanks to Jon Zuck (author of the wonderful The Unofficial Home
Page of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church page) for
the suggestion.
●
Added Pantheism and Sant Mat/Know Thyself
as Soul Foundation to the Cults, sects, and new religious
movements page, and a new subsection on avowedly Jewish Black Israelite groups.
●
Added
●
Added a subsection on observant Black Jewish groups
(Israelites) to non-Christian groups page.
March
11, 2002
●
Completely revised section on Taoism in non-Christian Beliefs page.
March
7, 2002
● Added section
on Metaphysics on the Cults, sects, and new religious
movements page; also enlarged the sections on Spiritualism, Magicks, and Theosophy. Completely
overhauled the Wicca and witchcraft section, and it is now much more
substantial. Added new sub-section on the New Thought Movement.
● Added Christ's
● Added a
“Hebrew-Christian” or “Messianic-Jewish” groups section to the non-Christian beliefs page.
● Added entries
to the References page.
March
6, 2002
● Added
substantial material to the Babi and Bahá’í faiths, Taoism,
and Hinduism portions of the non-Christian groups
page. Created a section on Zoroastrianism. Also annotated the reference entries in those sections.
March
5, 2002
● Created page
on humanist, ethicist, agnostic, and
similar groups.
● In response to
(ahem) feedback, redesigned background of table of contents frame. (Happy, Arius?)
● Added links to
the Islam generally portion of the non-Christian
groups page, and annotated the entries there. As entries get added to other
general info sections, I will also annotate them to make them more useful as
reference resources.
● February 28, 2002
●
Fixed some formatting problems on the Cults, sects, and new religious movements page.
●
● February 27, 2002
●
Domine, dirgie nos has now found
what I hope will be its permanent home, courtesy of my good friend Chris Weuve
and his kentaurus.com site.
● Fixed several
broken links. Please report these as you find them.
● Added Yahweh's New Covenant Assembly to the Adventist
section of the Protestant churches page, and Arm of Salvation
to the Unclassified churches section of that page.
● Made several new
entries to the Cults generally section of the Cults, sects,
and new religious movements page.
February
26, 2002
● Updated entry
for the Old Catholic Anglican
Rite Church, Diocese of the Western United States in the Catholic-tradition
independent churches section of the Catholic
churches page, and added the Catholic Diocese of the Old
Catholics in Germany, and the Old
Catholic Church of the Netherlands.
● Added
hyperlink for the official Anglican
Communion Web site to the Protestant
churches page. Also completely re-worked Anglican Communion entries.
● Added the
“united” churches in full communion with
● Created a separate
page of all Episcopal
Church, USA, diocesan Web sites. It is accessed through the ECUSA entry on
the Protestant
churches page.
February
22, 2002
● Ta Da!
Completed first draft of Non-Christian beliefs page (although material is still
pretty thin, and any help would be appreciated). Thus, version 1.0 of the entire Web site is
finally done! Only took a year.
February
21, 2002
● Completed
first edition of the Protestant
Churches.
● Began Non-Christian
Beliefs page with entry on Native American Religions.
February
20, 2002
● Protestant
Churches page is completed through Methodist churches.
● Revised Cults
page (added Christadelphians).
February
16, 2002
● Began
construction of the Protestant
Churches page
February
11, 2002
● Completed
first edition of the Eastern
Orthodox Churches and Oriental
Orthodox Churches pages.
● Pulled
together the first edition of the References
and Links page.
February
8, 2002
● Completed
first edition of the Cults,
Sects, and New Religious Movements page.
January
5, 2002
● Obtained 11th
edition (2001) of the Handbook of
Denominations in the United States, with Craig D. Atwood now shown as third
author. This edition uses a substantially different taxonomy than the 10th.
As I finish reading it, I may revise the taxonomy used here. To read user
reviews about the 11th edition, go
here.
November
17, 2001
● Revised Church
of the East page.
October
17, 2001
● Finished first
edition of Catholic
Churches page.
● Began Cults,
Sects, and New Religious Movements page.
● Created What’s
New? page.
October
16, 2001
● Finished first
edition of Church
of the East page.
September
28, 2001
● Finished text
and initial design of site frontpage.
August 31, 2001
● Completed first draft of raw list of links (see here).