The Problem of Denominational Identity of Churches in Modern Protestantism

Tsys Aleksei Vladimirovich Postgraduate student; Department of Philosophy of Religion and Religious Studies; St. Petersburg State University 196084, Russia, Saint Petersburg, Smolenskaya str., 33, office 3 alextsis@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The history of the formation of denominationalism

Denominationalism is a unique and recent way of organizing religion in the long history of human society ^{[1, p. 369]}. In the early stages, according to American sociologist Robert Bella, religious development is characterized by an undifferentiated religious worldview, so that individuals perceive the world as a single cosmos in which religion permeates all life. In such conditions, a religious community and a society are one and the same ^{[2, p. 365]}. In the process of development of society, religion symbolically differentiates from other social institutions, in particular, separate political and religious organizations arise. Initially, one religious organization dominates a certain geographical area, but over time the religious sphere becomes internally differentiated. In 1054, due to several centuries of disputes and disagreements, the Christian Church was divided into the Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople and the Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome. The dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe is being replaced by the era of the Reformation (1517-1648), which leads to the emergence of various "confessions" that differ from each other doctrinally and organizationally: Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism ^{[3, p. 150]}. In this article, the term "denomination" is used in a broader religious sense as a synonym for the term "denomination" ^{[4, p. 16]}, although not all researchers agree with this and distinguish between the concepts of "denomination" as a large, long-established branch of the main religion with its own clear specifics (in Christianity - Orthodoxy Catholicism, Protestantism) and "denomination" as a division of one confessional affiliation.

As a result, although the Reformation led to some religious pluralism in society, each denomination tried to unite with the political authorities in order to become an officially recognized church on its territory. In each case, political and religious affiliation were inseparable. Consequently, conflicts in the form of religious persecution prevailed.

These confessional communities have been united and divided many times. The sermons of John Wesley, originally an Anglican priest, were the beginning of movements that later separated from the Church of England as the "Methodism movement" and "Revivalism". He stated the following: "I am... I refuse to differ from other people in anything other than the general principles of Christianity.... I reject all other insignia and despise them. But from real Christians, no matter what denomination they are, I sincerely wish not to differ at all..." ^[5].

The sermons of Wesley's followers were close to the ideas of Johann Arndt, Pietism and Puritanism, "which attracted all those who sought not so much an in-depth knowledge of the subtleties of "dogmatics" (doctrines of confessional theology) that divided Christian denominations, as to transform the very spiritual and moral life of Christians of any denomination precisely as "Christians". These communities set their names for themselves, trying to distance themselves and distinguish themselves from other religious associations that are close in their understanding of the world" ^{[3, p. 22]}.

As a result, these exiled religious groups, seeking to reform the Anglican Church, founded colonies in New England, and after the American Revolution and the adoption of religious freedom, turned, from a legal point of view, into voluntary communities. They had no legal restrictions in solving their internal affairs. Most of them also did not have the slightest obstacles in order to follow the practice established during the years of the Great Awakening and join forces to hold prayer meetings. In addition, in the first decades of the 19th century, many additional voluntary societies, both denominational and interdenominational, were founded to promote missionary, educational, charitable and reform activities. This model of institutional activity was preserved in the twentieth century ^{[6, p. 65]}.

The term "denominationalism" itself was introduced into the subsequent literature on the sociology of religion by Helmut Richard Niebuhr in his book The Social Origins of Denominationalism. It meant the division and branching of Protestantism into many independent religious associations, freely competing with each other, characteristic of the United States, in conditions of developed religious pluralism ^{[7, p. 57]}. He presented the "church-sect" typology as poles of a continuum, and not just as separate and independent categories, as understood by Max Weber and Ernst Treltsch, and identified the factors that cause a group to move from one end of the continuum to the other, and then added a new form of religious organization: denomination — sects that have achieved respectability in contrast to the disbanded "loser sects" ^[8].  The term "denomination" was later used to combat the derogatory term "sect", which in everyday life carried the meaning of deviant or undesirable practices ^{[9, p. 134]}.

Initially, denominationalism in the understanding of R. Niebuhr had a pronounced negative color. He wrote: "Denominationalism in the Christian Church is an unrecognized hypocrisy. It represents the adaptation of Christianity to the caste system of human society.... The division of churches exactly repeats the division of people into castes of national, racial and economic groups. It draws a "colored" line in the Church of God; it promotes misunderstanding, self-glorification, hatred of jingoistic nationalism, continuing in the Body of Christ the far-fetched differences of provincial loyalties; it separates the rich and the poor at the Lord's table, where the lucky can enjoy the generosity they have provided, while others feed on the crusts that gives them their poverty" ^{[8, p. 6]}. Thus, R. Niebuhr recognized the source of denominationalism as social, not theological, and condemned the existing denominational divisions as a reflection of the "moral collapse" of the church ^{[6, p. 69]}.

One of R. Niebuhr's theses was that sectarian groups either die out or transform into more socially acceptable groups — denominations, that is, religious groups move along the "church-sect" continuum.  However, David Martin, in his article "Denomination", published in 1962, revises this organizational form as a historically unique type of religious organization, and not as a stage on a quasi-evolutionary continuum ^[10]. D. Martin writes that according to many different criteria, especially in relation to eschatology, "it is completely It is obvious that neither Methodists, nor Congregationalists, nor General Baptists (except in a special case in a unique historical situation) have ever been sectarians" ^{[10, p. 9]}, unlike Adventists and the society of friends, whom he classifies as sects.

Martin lists the following characteristics of the denomination— it does not claim that its institutional boundaries represent a "single ark of salvation." Its concept of unity and historical meaning is the unity of experience. Its organization is pragmatic, while the sacramental concepts are subjective — and this subjectivity is associated with individualism. In the field of eschatology, its concepts are traditional, and in the field of moral theory, the concept of the relationship between faith and deeds is dynamic but balanced ^{[10, p. 10]}.

As a social phenomenon, denomination was originally characteristic of the United States and Britain due to the distinctive features of these societies. Andrew Greeley, a sociologist and Catholic priest, calls the United States a "denominational society", i.e. a society characterized not by an established church and not by sects, but by religious organizations and associations of communities united under a common historical and theological "umbrella", which are considered equal before the law and usually treat other organizations with mutual respect ^{[11, p. 1]}. As a result, there are hundreds of denominations and at least a thousand religious groups of various purposes in the United States (the number of local and regional associations is in the tens of thousands) ^{[1, p. 354]}. And if in the first decades of the sociology of religion, Pentecostalism or Seventh-day Adventists, for example, were perceived by sociologists of religion as sects, then already in the 1990 study "Classification of Protestant Denominations" Tom Smith lists six methods of categorizing denominations in which only a few researchers use the term "sect" in relation to Pentecostals, Mennonites or Seventh-day Adventists ^[12]. However, researchers can include both Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses to Protestant denominations, which is why there are disagreements.

In 2021, Russian scientists involved in the project to create the encyclopedia "Protestantism" discussed a number of key issues about the criteria for classifying Protestant communities, in relation to their history and current state. As a result, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Christian science are proposed to be described as "denominations of Protestant origin", although not all scientists expressed support for this decision ^[13].

Martin Marty, an American religious scholar, suggests rethinking the concepts of "churches" and "denominations."  Since the Bible justifies the use of the word "church" only to refer to a local community or the entire church, the word "denomination" can serve as a useful "intermediate" term to refer to existing church associations that have a "family style" and a certain set of memories and symbols with which to support Christians in their daily lives^[5]. According to E. Greeley, due to the unique history of the development of religion in the United States, the country can be called a "denominational society" and, in particular, "reject the idea that a denomination is a compromise or an intermediate link between a sect and the church" ^{[11, p. 71]}. The further development of all these ideas leads to the fact that at present "the term "denominational family" is used to designate individual denominational "bushes" (Baptism, Adventism, etc.), more or less unified in doctrine and related organizationally ^{[7, p. 57]}.

This approach to the typologization of religious associations began to spread not only to Protestant communities within the United States, and then not only to Protestant communities. With the increasing process of globalization, denominationalism is also becoming a global phenomenon. The World Christian Database reports on more than 9,000 Christian denominations worldwide for 2024 ^[14]. By its very emergence as a result of the Reformation, Protestantism leads to the fact that Christianity gradually turned into Christian denominationalism ^{[15, p. 454]}. William Svatos writes about this trend as follows: "... in fact, we can say that the process of denominationalization represents the Americanization of religious tradition" ^{[9, p. 135]}. In this sense, other Christian religious traditions, such as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, Christian science, Seventh-day Adventism, and Pentecostalism, are also considered denominations.

Currently, the terms "denomination" and "denominationalism" have gone beyond Christianity and have often been used "to typologize some or all major religious groups — Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc. — in the USA and other countries where there is no dominant denomination" ^{[7, p. 57]}.

The Decline of Denominationalism: Non-denominationalism

It is customary for researchers to typologize Protestant associations into different denominations using certain criteria (in relation to historical roots, on the basis of creed or features of worship, using the continuum "fundamentalism-liberalism" and others). However, since the early 1980s, there has been an active debate in the sociology of religion about the modern meaning of denominations due to the active growth in the number of non-denominational churches ^{[9, p. 135]}.

U. Svatos defines denomination as a structural and functional form of organization of community relations. The essence of denominational religiosity is localness. Denominations integrate people into the local community, while at the same time providing a connection to the larger society. Denominations provide a person with a place in the socio-cultural environment in such a way that the transitory and eternal are harmonized in the consciousness of a member into a meaningful whole. Thus, "denominations served as intermediaries between God and the country in a given area and thereby regulated the lives of people whose instability was painfully obvious" ^{[16, p. 228]}.

In 1981, in his article "Beyond the denomination? Community and culture in American Religion" W. Svatos declares the decline of denominationalism ^[16]. Today we can state the fact that U. Svatos was right — non—denominational communities make up an increasing percentage of the total number of communities in the United States — from 6% in 1985 to 22% in 2018, with a decrease in the number of communities as a whole (according to the General Social Survey in 2018 - General Social Survey 2018). Non-denominational Protestants are steadily gaining new members, while the number of members of other denominations is decreasing ^[17].

This is true not only for the USA. In Africa, independent or "marginal neo-Charismatic churches" have appeared since the 1980s, and the general expansion of Pentecostalism, despite slowing growth, remains at a fairly high level in most African countries ^[18;19]. In China, according to theologian and missionary W. Menzies, the house church movement is Pentecostal in nature, but churches come to these beliefs not through denominational traditions, but on the basis of their own experience, and many communities are non-denominational in nature ^[20;21]. The Evangelical movement, especially Pentecostalism, greatly contributed to the decline of denominationalism ^[16].  The number of evangelicals, according to various estimates, ranges from 200 million and, with the inclusion of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, up to 800 million ^[22;23]. Although these new forms find expression in denominational structures, they often present themselves as "independent" and attract a large number of followers. Of course, many of them are not independent, but they almost always have more local autonomy in their structure than traditional denominations.

One could call these forms marginal churches or sects, however, "the problem here is the lack of clear theoretical prerequisites for solving this issue ... non-denominational churches are basically structures similar to denominations ... that do not fit into the type of an established sect" ^{[16, p. 224]}.

American sociologist Nancy Ammerman, in turn, writes that "most large denominations have adopted a bureaucratic organizational form" ^{[1, p. 363]}. Even an "unmodern" group like the Amish has created a "steering committee" that can perform for them many of the functions performed by leaders and specialists at the headquarters of other religious groups. Of course, denominations vary greatly in the degree of control over local training programs, the distribution of clergy, etc. — For example, the National Baptist Convention sponsors only a minimum of joint events and has practically no special staff. Nevertheless, all of them are subject to the pressure of institutional isomorphism — the creation of a typical organizational template, including headquarters, staff for managing publishing, missionary work, educational work, certification of clergy, and so on. As a result, there is a "tension between religious norms and bureaucratic functions" ^{[1, p. 363]}, which leads to the emergence of independent — non—denominational - churches.

This is not the only reason. Donald Miller, based on a study of the non-denominational movements "Vineyard", "Chapel on Calvary", "Chapel of Hope" ^[25], writes about the development and emergence of independent churches, community networks and new Christian movements, while the historical main denominations are declining. Based on his research, he cites the differences between churches and movements of the "old" and "new" Christian paradigms in the following elements: music, worship, theology, social organization, franchising of new groups ^{[24, p. 200]}.

Modern musical innovations are a protest against the "dull and theologically overloaded prose of established hymns" that cannot convey the life religious experience of church members. Miller compares this to the time of the Second Great Awakening, when "the newly minted melodists created their own simple poems and shifted them to incendiary popular melodies" ^{[24, p. 200]}.

The style of worship of the churches of the "new paradigm" is informal, like the very clothes of the preachers; the atmosphere of worship is directed to non—church people; in all organizational moments of the community, the goal is to create a joyful, warm, comfortable atmosphere.

Theologically, Christians of the "new paradigm" are conservative, although, as a rule, they are not interested in doctrine. It is something that develops over time, but priority is rather given to experiences — worship and moments of religious experience (for example, visions, speaking in tongues, prophetic sayings and other ecstatic states).

Every member of the community can take an active part in organizing the life of the community, there is no system of multilevel approval "from above". Home groups play an important role. Spiritual education is carried out at the level of the local church. Thus, the community's emphasis is on proximity and avoiding centralized bureaucracy.

When creating a new group, one of the members of the community "responds to the call of the Holy Spirit to found a church," or at some point the pastor himself transfers the group and opens a new one.

In the book "Rethinking American Protestantism" Miller gives 12 characteristics of the churches of the "new paradigm" ^{[25, p. 20]}:

1.      All of them were created after 1960

2. Most of the members of the community were born after 1945.

3.      The training of the clergy in the seminary is not mandatory (moreover, there is a fear that studying at the seminary may harm "spirituality").

4.       Modern style of worship

5.      Personal is highly appreciated

6. The big role of home groups

7. Clergy and parishioners usually dress informally.

8. Tolerance for other people with excellent opinions

9.      Pastors tend to be reserved, modest, and outspoken

10. Participation in worship is "bodily", not just observational and cognitive

11. "Gifts of the spirit" are accepted (which usually includes "speaking in tongues")

12.   A Bible-oriented sermon prevails over a thematic sermon

Twenty-five years later, Miller's characterization remains largely true, as the "new paradigm" model of the church has been institutionalized.

From Miller's work, it can be concluded that classical (Lutheranism, Reformed, Anglicanism) and historical American (or "mainstream") Protestant churches are in decline as a result of the fact that they modernized the Christian message, but left untouched the means through which this message was transmitted (both a form of worship and organizational structure). While the Evangelical churches (which make up the majority of the churches of the "new paradigm", although this is too broad a description to reflect the special character of these churches) adhere to conservative views on the message, they are actively searching for new forms of interaction with culture. 

Not everyone agrees with this — sociologist Kimon Sajiant concluded that "changing the method can not only change the results; it can also change the message" ^{[26, p. 131]}. In 2001, a group of researchers led by sociologist Nancy Ammerman in the United States interviewed members of 549 communities — both denominational and non—denominational - and came to the conclusion that the denominational culture of communities is indeed becoming "increasingly fragile", although it still persists ^{[27, p. 302]}. Churches that try to maintain denominational traditions can be traced through three key practices of community life — worship, mission, and education.  Among the numerous curriculum options, they choose the educational materials of their denomination, among the diverse styles of worship — they emphasize the distinctive features of their tradition. And even working with many other organizations, they give priority to the programs and missionary work of their own denomination.

Nevertheless, historical Protestants did encounter an increase in the number of Pentecostal churches and various Evangelical house churches. Many Christians increasingly form their identity not within denominational boundaries, but find it among like-minded people from different communities ^{[28, p. 431]}. More and more communities are coming to the fact that they are free to shape their special lives based on a variety of traditions and practices.

Sociologist of religion Scott Tumma writes about the causes of the emergence of independent churches and gives them a description. The independence of the church allows 1) to avoid involvement in major conflicts within denominations, 2) to save finances and direct them inside the community, rather than to the national affairs of the denomination, 3) to adapt faster and easier to new styles and methods of worship, 4) to freely introduce theological innovations and 5) to have more free inter-church and intercultural communication ^[29].

Non-denominational churches differ markedly in that 1) they were established very recently, 2) their members are much younger, 3) churches are located mainly in large cities, and 4) they have much more racially mixed communities than denominational churches ^[29].

The fact that a non-denominational community is independent does not mean that it has no links with other churches. Although such communities find denominational labels distracting in their quest to be a church of "seekers" focused on how to make the church more "customer-friendly", where shopping malls, Disney and other companies serve as models of 21st century churches ^[26], most of them can still be recognized as by their evangelical or the Pentecostal cultural style, as well as a certain range of independent colleges, publishing houses and missionary societies with which they cooperate ^[29]. Ironically, belonging to a non-denomination can begin to function as a "denominational" identity, a special cultural and organizational model, as happened, for example, with churches such as Hillsong Church or Bethel Church. At the very beginning of their existence, they were part of the Assemblies of God — a denomination within Pentecostalism — but later withdrew from it, thus becoming "non-denominational" megachurches. At the same time, due to their global influence, they have essentially become Pentecostal denominations themselves — and even more, transnational charismatic movements that influence other denominational and non-denominational churches.

The Decline of Denominationalism: the Megachurch phenomenon

There is a rather close connection between non-denominationalism and the megachurch phenomenon. A megachurch is usually a Protestant church with an unusually large number of members, which offers a variety of educational and social activities. It is considered to be a megachurch of the community, which is visited by 2,000 or more people on weekends ^{[30, p. 1]}. Protestants have long built large multi-purpose buildings in which both religious services and secular events could be held. According to some studies, megachurches date back to the beginning of the Reformation in Europe. They spread rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s in America ^{[31, p. 138]}.

 As of 2020, four of the five largest megachurches in the United States classified themselves as non-denominational (according to the US Megachurches database from the Hartford Institute for Religious Studies). At the same time, denominational megachurches often try not to emphasize their affiliation to any particular denomination. The megachurch phenomenon is no longer just an American phenomenon — this form has found its own life and has been spread to different parts of the world ^{[30, p. 12]}. Megachurches have spread widely in Asia (especially in India and the Republic of Korea), Latin America (especially in Chile, Argentina and Ecuador) and Africa (especially in Nigeria). The largest megachurch is located in the Republic of Korea (Seoul) with 830 thousand members. The largest building of the Apostolic Church of Nigeria (Lagos) has about 100 thousand members ^[32]. In Russia, this phenomenon is still at the initial stage of its development, but it can already be said about such megachurches as the Good News (Moscow), The Word of Life (Moscow), the Good News Mission (St. Petersburg), the New Testament (Perm) and several other churches.  In Europe, as of 2019, there were 35 such churches in 12 countries (megachurch researcher Warren Bird cites other data — 58 megachurches in Europe for 2024). In many ways, this is a consequence of the "reverse" mission of Pentecostal Christianity ^{[31, p. 3]}.

Modern megachurches represent a technological and consumer-oriented form of the church, which has developed through the use of mass media and unique church growth strategies. The use of innovation and cultural influence has allowed for a rapid increase in the size of the church and increased audience reach.

The megachurch was able to become such thanks to the solid foundation laid by pioneering pastors who experimented with preaching styles, adapted to cultural trends and produced a kind of "mini-revolution" in the Protestant environment. Many of these churches have broken traditional patterns by offering rousing music instead of hymns, pop culture sermons, exciting children's and youth ministries, online churches and branch churches with live broadcast of the ministry. food courts, shops, and even oil change boxes ^{[30, p. 133]}. Megachurches are criticized for the uniformity and superficiality of theology — in English-speaking Protestant circles, it is customary to call megachurches "McChurch", by analogy with McDonald's ^[32]. However, despite criticism and tension from traditional churches, their popularity continues to grow. In her article on megachurches in the USA, O. Kazmina writes that "the phenomenon of megachurches was the result of adapting religious life to the conditions of the metropolis, a reaction to the consolidation of social, cultural and leisure institutions in the urban environment and a response to changes in the rhythm and lifestyle in the metropolis" ^[33]. The megachurch is not an example of a weakening of religiosity, but it is a different kind of religiosity. Such churches establish a bridge between the church, the Christian way of life and the secular way of life so that people can "get inside." This is clearly seen in the example of the Australian megacurve Hillsong. Anthropologist Christina Roche writes that this megachurch in Sydney is a unique opportunity for the acculturation of Brazilians and Africans, where they can learn the language, get to know local Australians, get a job, find educational circles for children — and all this is provided by the church ^[34].

In 2018, Hillsong Church left the denomination of the Assembly of God to become a "global church". S. Tumma cites four reasons why megachurches leave denominations ^[35]. First, the expansion of the target audience. One of the obvious roles played by denominations is that they gave and strengthened the identity of individual communities — a person who came to the city immediately recognized the situation in the religious "market" by their characteristic names.  However, this function of denominational life is practically not needed by the megachurch when it reaches several thousand parishioners — the name of the church, its distinctive communal identity and the reputation of the pastor often far outweigh the denomination's identifier. Secondly, independence. Such communities may have more resources than a higher-level institutional body, their own literature and, most importantly, their own training program for pastors and ministers, which leads to the question of the not so strong need for some higher authority to approve a member of the church for a minister's position. Thirdly, megachurches often have more in common with other megachurches than with smaller communities of the same denomination. Fourth, the church's own vision and mission often demonstrate its autonomy by implementing its own national and international missionary programs rather than supporting the programs of denominational organizations.

As a result, thanks to the spread of franchising and a virtually independent centralized management system, it is possible to talk about megachurches as a new type of denominations ^[32]. And sometimes a megachurch can develop into a transdenominational movement.

The Decline of Denominationalism: Transdenominationalism

In order to explain transdenominationalism, it is necessary to consider its driving force — Evangelical Christianity. In the USA, for example, 70% of megachurches identify themselves as evangelicals ^[32].  Who are evangelicals? There is no generally accepted definition, but this term refers to the type of Protestants who differ in their doctrines and practices, but not in their denominational affiliation. Historian David Bebbington gives the following characteristics to the evangelical movement: it is based on 1) conversionism (the need for "being born again"), 2) activism (missionary activity), 3) biblicism (the special meaning of the Bible, although not necessarily suggesting a "fundamentalist" approach) and 4) crucocentrism (the central role of Christ's sacrifice on the cross) ^{[36, p. 1]}.  

Therefore, evangelicals can be found in different denominations. Evangelicals are not fundamentalists by definition, as I. Levit writes in his article about the trends of conservative Protestantism in Germany ^{[37, p. 288]}. Mark Noll, an American historian, divides the evangelical movement into 4 types ^{[38, p. 423-425]}:

1. Fundamentalists. "Fundamentalism" is a term that originated in the United States in the early years of the twentieth century to refer to conservative evangelicals who protested against the liberalization carried out in some American denominations.

2.      Pentecostals. "Pentecostals" is a term that originated at the same time as fundamentalism and describes Evangelical believers who emphasize the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.

3. "Charismatics" are Christians who are not affiliated with Pentecostal churches, who nevertheless adopted some Pentecostal practices and spread them among churches in the West and in non—Western countries.

4. "Apostolic", "Zionist" and other indigenous independent Christian movements that spread in the Southern Hemisphere during the twentieth century.

Independent churches and megachurches could also be added to these types.

According to sociologist Christian Smith, "evangelicalism is, first of all, not a denomination, but a trans—confessional movement in which many people, in different senses, feel at home… Institutionally, this transdenominational evangelicalism is built around networks of paracerch organizations" ^{[39, p. 13]}. That is, evangelicalism is an extensive, loose network of small denominations, denominational and non—denominational churches, paracerical organizations, missionary societies and educational institutions. These are, for example, the publication Christianity Today, the Zondervan publishing house, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship network of church associations, Calvary Chapel, Hillsong Church ^[40]. These associations are also represented by churches in Russia — in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, etc. In Russia, one can also note the paracerical movements aimed at evangelism and work with students, in which members of both Pentecostal and Baptist churches actively participate — for example, "Acts" (Steiger) or "Campus" (Campus). Today, the world evangelical movement can include churches from a wide variety of denominations: Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Independents, Lutherans, Anabaptists, Restorationists, Congregationalists, Christians of the Holiness movement and Episcopalians ^{[39, p. 13]}.

The regional and national networks and associations of independent churches mentioned above also maintain a distinct non-denominational identity. This identity is not exactly the same as the full independence of the community, but it is not identical to belonging to a denomination. Many networks provide the opportunity to "belong to something bigger" by offering communication activities, resources and training, as well as minimal pastoral supervision and accountability. Nevertheless, these networks are precisely free associations of like-minded ministers ^[29].

Such free associations can expand through the "planting of churches." Since the 1980s, the Vineyard and Chapel on Calvary networks have spread the model of "planting churches" outside denominations ^[25]. In the denomination, the network is structured hierarchically, and the connections between the nodes of this network are strong, power comes from the top down. New forms of network religious structures are organized more horizontally with weaker connectivity, where the relationships between nodes are characterized by autonomy.

It should be noted that a new type of network religious organizations, as sociologists Bradley Christerson and Richard Florey call it, is actively spreading in Russia — "independent network charismatic" (NSH) Christianity ^[41]. NSH Christianity is a network of Pentecostal and charismatic Christian religious leaders — "apostles". Christerson and Florey identify the following signs of a new form of Pentecostal Christianity on the web ^{[41, p. 15]}:

1. Network group leaders do not seek to create a movement or brand using a specific name.

2. They are not focused on creating communities in the traditional sense, but seek to influence the beliefs and practices of believers, regardless of their belonging to a community or religious group, including those people who do not belong to any community or religious group.

3. They are aimed at transforming society as a whole, and not at saving individual souls and building up the church.

4. Instead of collaborating within the same denomination or movement, network leaders collaborate with each other.

Christerson and Florey refer to such leaders as "network apostles." The form of interaction via the Internet allows the "apostles" to cooperate with each other within the framework of specific projects, conferences and events and to multiply the number of their followers and influence without the restrictions associated with the creation of formal organizations. Digital technologies allow them to gain followers on a global scale, while maintaining the opportunity to experiment with their beliefs and practices, without being subject to supervision by the church leadership, the council, the heads of any unions and associations ^{[41, p. 153]}.

According to William Kay, a theologian and sociologist of Pentecostalism, everything in these networks belongs to the apostle and his charisma. Kay concludes that these networks will continue to grow while traditional denominations will decline, and suggests that these networks may eventually change the religious landscape, giving new life and energy to the expansion of Pentecostalism^[42]. Christerson and Florey also suggest that these networks will grow faster in the future than groups organized through formal denominations.

Conclusions

R. Niebuhr wrote critically about denominationalism: "Before the church can hope to overcome its fatal division, it must learn to recognize the secular nature of its denominationalism" ^[8]. Unsurprisingly, the trends of non-denominationalism are also criticized. Presbyterian theologian Amy Plantinga Pou writes that Protestant non-denominational communities "live off the theological capital of more established Christian communities, including denominational Protestantism," and it is denominationalism that is "a unifying and preserving force in Christianity, nurturing and developing distinctive theological traditions" ^{[43, p. 82]}. Stephen Harmon, a Baptist theologian, writes that "as soon as the supposedly non-denominational church decides what happens at worship, who and how it will baptize, how and with what understanding it will conduct holy communion, what it will teach, who its ministers will be and how they will be ordained to the ministry, or how it treats other churches, these decisions place the church in a certain type of denominational tradition" ^{[44, p. 61-62]}. Stephen Prothero, a religious scholar at Boston University, believes that non-denominationalism hides fundamental theological and spiritual problems that initially led to the division of Christianity into denominations ^[45].

This criticism is confirmed by the fact that some denominational communities are still holding their positions, deliberately emphasizing their denominational traditions ^[27]. I. Zakharov writes that in Africa there has been a "slowdown in the rate of conversion growth of classical Pentecostalism" (including neo-Pentecostalism), "as well as an increase in the scale of conversion loss of Pentecostals in favor of mainstream trends of Christianity" as a result of the insufficient theological foundation of the teachings of some Pentecostal churches, and the growing attractiveness of mainstream Christian movements that have adopted Renovationist practices and elements of Pentecostal theology ^{[18, p. 61]}. In this regard, one of the important directions of the development of modern Pentecostalism is the development of theoretical theology, which is designed to protect its beliefs from the increased criticism from more traditional Protestant denominations, while not reducing the main emphasis of the movement on "experiencing the spirit" ^{[46, p. 91]}.

In 2011, Irina Skorobogatova wrote in her dissertation on the charismatic churches of the Krasnoyarsk Territory that Russian Pentecostalism, having overcome the stage of Revivalism, "today is in the process of institutionalizing its doctrine", there is a "gradual transition from a mystically oriented, detached from real life teaching towards a rational understanding of faith" ^{[47, p. 220]} which most likely indicates a slowdown in the growth of the movement. But despite the process of institutionalization, I.Skorobogatova in 2016 noted that the "fading" of transformational processes in Russian Protestantism did not occur ^{[48, p. 57]}, and new trends are emerging that require new research.  Although sociological studies of the religious life of Protestants in Russia are rather modest, Evangelical Christians and charismatic churches, in particular, are the driving force of Protestantism in Russia ^{[49; 50, p. 102]}. In fact, the transdenominational evangelical movement is well rooted in Russia, especially the "independent network charismatic" Christianity, which allows you to gather around the "Internet apostle" in a small home group.

What is clear is that none of the major Protestant communities no longer exist in a denominational isolated cocoon. Worship practices and music can be borrowed through online worship from various megachurches. The mission can be carried out in collaboration with any of the hundreds of organizations specializing in everything from animal shelter assistance to prison ministry. And educational resources can be obtained easier and cheaper from dozens of large publishing houses and educational institutions of other denominations.

As sociologist Christian Smith writes, in a pluralistic modern world, in order to maintain their religious beliefs, people do not need huge and immobile "sacred canopies" — all-encompassing sacred worlds. Rather, modern man needs small, portable "sacred umbrellas", which are quite enough to support his religious beliefs ^{[39, p. 106]}. Of course, non—denominational identity is in many ways an elusive category, but it carries special cultural, spiritual and structural characteristics. Thus, megachurches and independent churches, as well as the evangelical movement, can be considered as separate denominations. Community members can use these "denominational labels" to identify themselves as people who hold certain beliefs and engage in certain practices shared with others around the world. The author of the article, having visited more than 40 Pentecostal churches in Russia and the CIS countries and communicating with representatives of the Pentecostal movement, repeatedly came across the fact that some people could not identify themselves as Pentecostals, but primarily called themselves "Evangelical Christians", "just Protestants" or "just Christians". To sum up, the trend towards the emergence of independent churches and megachurches, as well as the spread of the transdenominational evangelical movement, is part of the new course of Protestantism - postdenominational Protestantism.