A Renewed Mind

Understanding How to Define Cleveland Chinese Christian Church, Part 1

I’m often asked, “What kind of church is CCCC?” Of course, new visitors ask the question, but I often find that members and long-time attendees ask as well so that they may better describe our church to others. We’re developing a members’ class to address this question for prospective members and visitors, but I thought it would be helpful to begin to answer the question for all of us in a series of articles that looks at the various descriptors we often use. So, what kind of church are we? It seems the most common initial response is that “we are a non-denominational church.” Hence, we begin with this question: What is a non-denominational church?  This seems to me to be an important question to answer because there are so many differing ideas about what it means.  Quite often it seems that people assume a church is non-denominational because of its doctrine. But in reality, the term primarily describes how a congregation is related to other churches and deals foremost with its doctrine of the church. To answer our question properly, we first we need to understand what a “denomination” is.

Denominations. Webster defines a denomination as “a religious organization which unites a number of local congregations into one legal and administrative body.” Thus, strictly speaking, a denomination sees itself as one church made up of many smaller congregations. The denomination has a hierarchy of leadership beyond the individual congregation. The congregations are not autonomous but answer to and take direction from the denomination’s leadership. A denomination’s governing body defines their doctrinal stance and establishes a means of accountability. Presbyterian, Methodist, and Episcopal churches would be examples of denominational churches. More generally speaking, conventions of congregational¹ churches are often referred to as denominations though in reality they remain independent, autonomous congregations; there is no hierarchy of leadership and the church answers only to their congregation. For the sake of missions, developing resources, etc., these independent congregations often find it helpful to work together with other like-minded churches and so they form conventions or associations. The conventions’ doctrinal statements will define what kinds of churches may work with them for the advancement of the gospel in order to ensure that they are working towards the same purpose and goals. Baptist, Bible, and Alliance churches would be examples of congregational associations.

Non-denominational.  By understanding what a denomination is, it is then easy to define what “non-denominational” means. A non-denominational church is a congregational church that has chosen not to associate with other churches through a formal, legal organization. Simply worded, a non-denominational church is a church that doesn’t belong to a denomination or convention of churches. That is really all that the term means. The term immediately conveys that the church believes in congregational church government. Other than that the term “non-denominational” says nothing about their doctrine positions. Churches may decide to be non-denominational for many different reasons.

CCCC as a Non-denominational Church. So then, why have we at CCCC chosen to be a non-denominational church? When our church was formed in 1966, it was the only Chinese church in the greater Cleveland area. While denominational ties are not as strong today, in the 1960’s it would have been rare for a member of one denomination to cross over to another. CCCC’s original members came from different backgrounds and were concerned that if CCCC united with a particular denomination it could exclude some Chinese Christians who would not want to cross denominations. Thus, from the beginning CCCC has not been a member of any denomination. Like most congregational churches however, we have found it helpful to associate with other churches for different causes. As a member of the Midwest Chinese Christian Association, a loose association of Chinese churches in our region, we work together to plan events and support some missions endeavors. Similarly, we have found it helpful to work with other  area Chinese churches for limited gatherings. Though we are a non-denominational church, we recognize God’s call to be involved in taking the gospel to all peoples, a task that would be almost impossible for a church of our size without cooperating with other Christians. Therefore, we support a number of individual missionaries and their families through independent missions agencies like SEND, IV,  OMF and Campus Crusade. We also organize short-term trips in cooperation with other churches or mission organizations. 

Non-Denominational Churches and Doctrine. There seems to be a great misconception that doctrine is less important in non-denominational churches. The idea seems to be that in a non-denominational church people are free to believe whatever they like in terms of doctrine and practice, and that we are not able to make careful doctrinal distinctions. However, this is far from the truth; it would be very wrong to assume that a church doesn’t believe doctrine is important simply because they are non-denominational. This may be true of many denominational and non-denominational churches today, but it would be wrong to equate the two. In fact, non-denominational churches are often more likely to stress the importance of biblical doctrine and practice. In reality, doctrine defines every church, and CCCC is no different. As in all congregational churches, we have a constitution and by-laws. These documents include our Statement of Faith and church covenant, which outline our doctrinal positions and church practices. The church’s by-laws further define and apply these beliefs to our practice. These positions and practices were agreed upon by the brothers and sisters that make up the congregation, and new brothers and sisters agree to them when they join. While it is true that our statement of faith is more general and less specific than the statements of most denominations and churches, our covenant and by-laws further delineate our practices. Where these fail to answer qustions or decisions that we face as a church, we are then bound by Scripture to search the Scriptures to determine what our positions and/or practices should be.

Defining Ourselves. We are a non-denominational church and this is evident in our structure and associations. Perhaps when answering what kind of church we are, it would be more helpful to begin with what we do believe. We will look more at that in coming articles. ü