Denominational Mapping Instrument · reader edition · working draft v1.19

Where do your convictions sit among the churches?

Where is your soul fed best, and where can you serve most? A guide to finding where you are fed, and where you can serve God’s will.

This guide describes what 26 churches teach, from their own texts, and shows where your answers meet theirs. It takes no side among them. A low score means few conflicts with what a church requires, not a better church or a closer belief. This is not a chatbot: nothing here talks back, and the same answers always give the same result. Free to use; see the Terms of use at the foot of the page.

Moving around: the Sections button at the lower right opens a menu of every section, with Previous, Next and Top buttons. On a keyboard, ] goes to the next section and [ to the previous one. Every section ends with Back to top and Skip to next section.

Preamble: What we share

Before this guide describes how churches differ, it starts with what the people in them share.

Jesus prayed for his followers to be one. On the night before he died, he prayed not only for his first disciples but "also for those who will believe in me through their word" (John 17:20). That includes every believer since. He asked "that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you," and he gave the reason: "so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:21; see also 17:23). Our oneness is meant to be seen. The world is watching how Christians treat each other, and Jesus tied the world's belief in him to what it sees.

What believers share. Whatever church we belong to, most of us confess together one God in three persons; Jesus, fully God and fully man, who died for sinners and rose from the dead; the Bible as God's word; and a hope in Christ's return. Paul gives the list in short form: "one body and one Spirit… one hope… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:4–6). Christ alone is the head of this body (Ephesians 1:22–23; Colossians 1:18). This guide cannot say who belongs to his body, because "the Lord knows those who are his" (2 Timothy 2:19). Christians also disagree about how that body relates to any one denomination (see the extra question on the Church and salvation). What the guide can do is describe what churches teach, so that you can find a congregation where you can live out your place in the body.

Unity and uniformity are different things. Unity is a gift God gives. Jesus prays for it, and Paul tells us to be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). We guard what he gives. We do not build it by making everyone alike. Uniformity is sameness kept up by pressure, where everyone worships, votes, and thinks alike on everything. Unity is a shared life in Christ that can hold real differences. Paul's picture is a body with many parts: "If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?" (1 Corinthians 12:17).

Unison and harmony. Music gives a way to think about this. In unison, everyone sings the same note. It is clear and strong, and it fits some moments, such as saying a creed together. In harmony, different voices sing different notes at the same time, and the sound is richer than any single voice. Harmony is not a free-for-all. The voices need a shared key and the same song. For the church, the shared key is Christ and the gospel. Jesus' prayer asks for both oneness and truth: "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth" (John 17:17). A note that leaves the key does not add to the harmony, which is why Scripture also warns against a gospel that is not the gospel (Galatians 1:8). The Bible uses both pictures. Believers are to glorify God "with one voice" (Romans 15:6), and they are one body of many members with many gifts (1 Corinthians 12). So the church needs something like unison for what it confesses together, and something like harmony for how that faith is lived out in different callings, cultures, and traditions. Where one ends and the other begins is part of what Christians disagree about.

Reading Scripture well without a theology degree. You do not have to study theology to read the Bible well. You do have to know who is helping you read. Judgment (the author's): the Bible is the ultimate source, and a church serves as an interpreter of it. A church hands on readings that many people have tested over a long time against the whole of Scripture. That is a check on a familiar danger, which is taking a verse out of its context and building a belief on it alone. A reader alone with one verse has no one to say, read what comes before and after it, or this question has been asked before. A church is not a perfect check. It can hold a wrong reading firmly, and churches differ on how much weight their readings should carry, from binding to advisory. The guide records each church's answer to that (Q2, and how firmly the church holds its people to its teaching). So choosing a church is, in part, choosing an interpreter. The questions to ask are who decides what Scripture means here, and who can correct that decision (Appendix B, Findings 13 and 15). The reader's part stays the same: test what the church teaches, and what you hold, against Scripture and in prayer.

How this guide uses that. The common-ground items (Q0) are the shared key. Everything after them records parts: places where faithful believers sing a different line of the same song, such as how a church is governed, how often it takes communion, or who may be an elder. Churches also differ on what belongs in the shared key itself. For example, Catholic and Orthodox churches state some common-ground items differently, and some groups would add items that others treat as secondary. The guide records those differences plainly and does not settle them. The six common-ground statements appear in the questionnaire as Q0. They are not scored, because they are the shared key and do not sort one church from another; each church's profile records how its own documents state them. It does not say which differences are small and which are large. Paul says to welcome those who differ on disputed matters "but not to quarrel over opinions" (Romans 14:1), and to "pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding" (Romans 14:19).

Why this matters. The purpose of this guide is to help you find your place in the body of Christ, where Christ is the head, and to serve the people near you. It is not to sort believers into camps or to win arguments. The world is watching. A guide that compares churches should leave believers better able to love each other, not less.

How to use this guide

What it does. It compares your answers on a questionnaire with what specific churches teach in their own documents. It shows where your answers match, where a church leaves you free, and where it would ask you to affirm, teach, or practice something you do not hold.

What it does not do. It does not say which answers are correct, and it does not measure anyone's standing before God. Agreeing or disagreeing with a church's stated teaching says nothing about the sincerity of a person's faith or the life of a congregation. The guide takes no side among the churches it describes. It measures stated teaching only. It cannot show how a congregation worships, treats its people, handles disagreement, or practices love; the questions near the end of this guide are for that.

This is not a chatbot. You are not talking to an AI, and nothing here answers you in conversation. The questionnaire is fixed. When you pick an answer, the page compares it with a table of what each church's own documents say, using the same simple rules every time, so the same answers always give the same result. Your answers are saved for you only, and they go to the guide's author only if you tick the box to share them. The guide itself was researched and written with AI assistance, under the project author's direction. In the author's estimate, a person working alone without AI would need about a year for the research alone: 2,355 web addresses on 275 websites, across 26 churches. Every church line says how it was checked, so you can test it against the church's own words.

If something surprises you, or you do not agree with a finding about your denomination, please check the source for it. What each profile says was read directly from that church's own documents and written down there: every line records where the answer came from and links to the page, so you can read the passage yourself. If the source says something different from the guide, or has since changed, please let the author know. The guide describes what a church's documents say; it does not grade.

The questions go to the churches. Many catechisms work one way: the church writes the question and gives the answer. This guide turns that around. The questions come from what a believer holds, and each church is asked to answer them from its own texts. Believers hold that the Spirit puts the desire to do God's will in our hearts, and that we then test what we sense against Scripture. Here the churches are set beside what you hold in your heart, and you, not the guide, do the testing. The guide describes and does not grade. It also cannot measure what matters most. Churches in every age have been challenged when tradition came to stand above Scripture, and any tradition, old or new, can slip into valuing knowledge about God above knowing him. Study of Scripture and doctrine is good, but a match on every answer is not the same as a relationship with Christ, so use the result to find a place to worship and grow, and let that relationship lead.

Steps.

Answer the questionnaire on your own before you read the church profiles. Mark E where you are undecided.
Score your answers, with the questionnaire on this page; results appear beside it as you answer.
Read the profiles of the churches that come out closest, and of any church you are already considering.
Check how much of each church has been read. A church whose documents say little can look closer than it is, and a church that requires little can rank high for almost any reader.
If you visit a congregation, take the questions near the end of this guide with you.
Treat the result as the start of a conversation with a pastor, not a verdict.

Special use: compare two churches directly. You do not have to answer the questionnaire to see how two churches differ from each other. Load one church's answers as if they were yours, then compare them with a second church.

Go to the questionnaire and find the bar above the questions called "Start from a church's answers." Pick the first church and tap "Load its answers." The questionnaire fills in with what that church's own documents say. Your own answers are not lost: tap Undo to bring them back.
Open the Results (the link at the top of the page, or the panel beside the questions). The ranking now shows how every church compares with the first church.
In the "Compare side by side" box at the top of the results, pick the second church.
Tap Compare. A full-screen view puts the first church's answers on the left, named at the top as "loaded answers," and the second church's answers on the right, question by question, each marked match, open or differs, with how firmly each church holds it and why the guide coded it that way. Use the filters to see only the differences. "Save as PDF" and "Print" make a report you can take to a pastor.

If you change any answer after loading, the left side becomes "You" again, so load the first church's answers again before you compare two churches.

Why this is useful. The question a believer asks is often not "Where do I fit?" but "What is the real difference between these two?" You may attend one church and be thinking about another. A family may be choosing between the churches the husband and wife grew up in. A friend may be leaving one tradition for another. A student may want to see how two traditions differ. The side-by-side view shows the differences in what the two churches' own documents say, on the same questions, so you do not have to rely on how one church describes the other, and you do not have to guess what each holds firmly and what it leaves open. A match means the two answers agree. An open point means one church leaves room or the answers fit together. A difference is a real difference. Two limits: the view compares documents, not congregations, and a church whose documents are silent on a question shows "no church answer," which is not a difference. It does not say that either church is right. The score is not the same in both directions. A difference counts for more when the church being scored holds the point firmly, so a church that holds many points as required (the Roman Catholic Church, for example) scores high against almost anyone who differs from it, while a church that holds few points firmly scores low against the same reader. When you compare two churches, the view shows the score for the order you chose and the score with the order swapped.

Finding your way around (on the scoring page).

Jump anywhere. The links at the top of the page take you to What we share, How to use this guide, the questionnaire, the results, the church profiles and the questions for visiting a church. Every section ends with a "Back to top" link, and the results panel keeps one pinned at its top.
While you take the quiz. Each question shows its options in their original wording, with a short plain explanation in italics under each. Pick the letter closest to what you hold, or E if you are undecided (that question is skipped). Under each scored question a small menu lets you say how firmly you hold it and how much it matters in choosing a church, in the same four levels the guide records for every church: Required (a must), Expected, Taught (the default), or Left to conscience. Loading a recorded church's answers fills these menus from the levels the guide records for that church. The results update after every answer, beside the questions on a wide screen and below them on a phone. A church needs at least 8 compared questions to be ranked. You can pick the church you attend now, load the sample answers to see how it works, or clear everything and start over. Your answers stay in your browser, and a save code lets you move them to another device.
Digging into a result. Each ranked church shows its score, a bar, and counts of matches, open points and differences out of the questions compared. Tap a church to open it. It lists which questions match, which are open and which differ. Where an answer is marked "inferred", tap "Why these answers are judgments" to see the reason and the other reading. It also says what the church holds people to, how it holds its people to its teaching (by signing, oath, vow, profession or belonging alone), and gives a link to the church's own congregation finder.
Two personal questions. Just after Q2 are two questions about you, not about a church: what you would do if your church's teaching and your own reading of Scripture disagreed, and what you would do if its leaders corrected you. They are not scored. In an open result, your answer sits beside how that church's documents say it holds its people to its teaching, and about church discipline.
Extra questions. Under the questionnaire is a folded block of extra questions that are not scored. When you answer one, a panel under it lists the churches whose documents give your answer, how the other churches answered, which say nothing on it, and which have not been read on it yet. The results also note, for each church, the extra questions where its documents answer differently from you. If you marked an extra as a must, a church that differs from you on it is flagged in the ranking, in the side-by-side view, in the print report and in the PDF, and the flag never changes the score.
Your personal creed. Above the "Start from a church's answers" bar is a button, "Save my creed as PDF." It writes a statement of your own convictions in the first person from the questions you answered. Each position shows the question, the option you chose with its plain-language explanation, and your statement, with a level line (Required, Expected, Taught or Left to conscience; Taught unless you changed it). It lists what you have not decided, ends with a save code you can paste back into the page to load your answers, and names no church and gives no ranking. The file name carries the date and time, so a creed saved later does not overwrite an earlier one. You can type your name for the heading; it is used only to print the heading and is never saved or sent. Each statement restates the questionnaire's own option in the first person, and it is not the confession of any church.
To a church's full profile. In an open result, tap "Read its full profile, with its sources" to jump to that church in the profiles section, which opens for you. A profile gives where its information comes from, how firmly it holds its people to these answers, and then its answer to each question, one card per question: tap "All the options" to see every choice with the church's marked, and tap "Why this is a judgment" or "Source and how sure we are" for the reasoning and the source. "Back to your results" at the bottom of a profile takes you back.
To the sources. At the end of each profile, "Sources this profile cites" opens a list of web addresses grouped by website, so you can go to the church's own book of order, confession or statement. The list is a starting point, not the whole record. The author's full guide holds each answer in plain sentences with quotations from the church's own texts, the complete source logs, and the pages that could not be opened. The author's full guide is not published, because of its size. To check a source, read the church's profile and any answer judgments or explanation first, then contact the author.

How sure each statement is. Every church line says whether it was checked in the church's own text, taken from a copy or quotation found elsewhere, or only implied. Nothing is filled in from memory.

What "inferred" means. Some churches state their position in plain words, and the guide quotes it. Others do not, and the guide has to read their documents and say which questionnaire option fits best. That answer is marked "inferred," and the line under it says why, in one of three kinds. "Stated in other words": the church teaches it, but in different words than the option uses, and the guide has matched them. "Implied, never stated": the church does not say it outright, but what it does say points there. "Two readings possible": the documents allow more than one reading, and the line names the other one. An inferred answer is a judgment, not a quotation, and the reason is given so that you can check it against the church's own words. It counts half as much in the score as a stated answer, because the guide is less sure of it.

Documents, not every congregation. Each answer comes from the church's own documents. Where those documents disagree and the church has not chosen between them, the answer is "leaves it open." A congregation can differ from its denomination; where reports show a rule widely unenforced, the guide counts that difference for less and says so in the profile. Ask the congregation you visit (see the questions near the end).

Binding is not the same as signing. A church can hold you to its teaching by a signed document, an oath (you swear, calling God as witness), a vow or promise (you commit yourself before God and the church, without swearing), a spoken profession of faith, or simply because you belong to it. Each profile says which, and for whom. The scoring looks only at how firmly the church holds you, never at which form it uses. A church can bind firmly with no signature at all: Catholic canon law binds every Catholic to the church's defined doctrine, the documents read name no signing, oath or vow for lay members, and those who take office make a public Profession of Faith and take an Oath of Fidelity.

Who holds the pastor to the teaching. The guide records what a church's documents teach, not what the pastor of one congregation teaches. Some churches require ministers to affirm a confession and have a body outside the congregation that can act when a minister departs from it. Others leave the minister to read Scripture for himself or herself, with little check from outside the congregation. Binding ministers to a text protects the teaching and costs freedom of conscience, and it can fix an error in place. Leaving ministers free protects conscience and costs you an outside check on the pulpit. The guide describes each church's arrangement and does not say which is better. For a church with few requirements, the documents tell you what the church teaches, and the pastor you meet may teach something else. The questions near the end help you ask.

This edition by the numbers. This Reader Edition is about 200,000 words in all, almost all of it the 26 church profiles at about 7,000 words each, or about half an hour a church, so read the profiles of the churches nearest you and not the whole edition. It holds the questionnaire, the scoring, the worked example and, for each church, its answers question by question. The full guide is about 750,000 words, and about 24 percent of it is research notes and revision history that record how each line was checked; it also gives every church's complete answer sheet, with all the options listed and every line uncut. The full guide covers 26 churches, 19 scored questions and 25 unscored extra questions, and cites 2,355 distinct web addresses on 275 websites (a floor: it leaves out addresses that returned nothing and documents supplied without a link). The author's full guide is not published, because of its size. To check a source, read the church's profile and any answer judgments or explanation first, then contact the author.

The questionnaire

Pick the option closest to what you actually hold. Each option keeps its original wording, with a plain explanation in italics. Mark E where you are undecided; it is skipped. Results update as you go.

About you and saving

The church you attend now

Your answers are kept in this browser, on this device.

Nothing you enter is sent to the author or to any server. To keep your answers on another device, use the save code below. Privacy details.

Save code: move your answers to another device

Copy this code and keep it. Paste it here later, on any device, to bring your answers back.

Your personal creed. Turn your answers into a statement in your own voice, saved as a PDF whose file name carries the date and time. For each answer it prints the question, the option you chose with its plain-language explanation, and your statement, and it ends with a save code you can paste back to load your answers. It names no church and gives no ranking.

Start from a church’s answers. This fills the questionnaire with what a church’s own documents say, so you can see where you would differ. It replaces your current answers; Undo brings them back.

Extra questionsnot scored

These cover teachings some churches hold firmly that the 19 main questions do not, such as the pope, the sacraments, Mary, icons, the day of worship, oaths, abortion, contraception, weekly worship and the lectionary, creeds in worship, and gatherings beyond Sunday. Your answers here never change a score. Each extra has the same "how much does this matter" menu as the main questions; a church whose documents differ from you on one you marked a must says so in its result. Pick an answer and the churches whose documents give it appear under the question, with the others listed below them. Each church's result also lists where its documents match or differ. Many churches have not been read on these yet, so a short list may only mean little has been read.

How the comparison works

Start from a church’s answers. Above the questionnaire, pick a church and tap “Load its answers.” The questionnaire fills in with what that church’s own documents say (including the common-ground items at the top, which come from the creeds the church adopts or uses and from its own statements; an item its documents place differently loads No, as the Roman Catholic Church does on Scripture as the final authority, and an item they do not state stays blank), and the ranking and side-by-side view then show where you would differ from it. Undo restores your own answers.

Side by side. Above the ranking, pick any church and tap Compare, or open a church in the ranking and tap “Compare side by side with my answers.” A full-screen view puts your answer and the church’s answer next to each other for every question, marked match, open or differs, with how firmly the church holds it and why the guide coded it that way. Use the filters to see only the differences, and the question map to jump to one. The extra questions are compared too, whether or not you answered them. Tap “Save as PDF” for a detailed report with every question, both answers, the church’s reasons and its sources. “Print” opens the browser’s print window where the page allows it.

Compare two churches directly. You do not need to answer the questions to see how two churches differ. Load the first church’s answers (the bar above the questionnaire), open the results, pick the second church in the “Compare side by side” box and tap Compare. The left side then shows the first church’s answers, named as loaded answers, and the right side the second church’s, question by question. This is useful when you are weighing one church against another, for example the one you attend and one you are considering, or a family choosing between two traditions, because it shows what each church’s own documents say on the same questions and how firmly each holds it. It compares documents, not congregations. The score is directional: a difference counts for more when the church being scored holds the point firmly, so loading church A and comparing with church B can give a different score from loading B and comparing with A. The view shows both.

Each question you answer is compared with what each church's own documents say. It counts as a match, an open point (the two answers fit together, or the church leaves the question open), or a difference. Undecided answers are skipped.

A difference weighs more when the church requires that teaching of members or clergy, and less when it only teaches it, leaves it to conscience, or when the church's position is inferred rather than stated. The score is the weighted differences divided by the questions compared. Scores that differ only in the second decimal place are effectively tied, so treat the top group as a cluster, not a strict order.

How much each question matters to you. This page is a way to find a denomination, not a theology exam, so each scored question has a small menu with four levels that are the four binding levels the guide records for every church, so a reader and a church mark the same field: Required (a must for me; counts 2), Expected (I expect a church I join to hold it; counts 1.5), Taught (I hold it and want it taught, but I would not leave over it; counts 1; this is the default) or Left to conscience (I hold it, but it does not decide my choice of church; counts 0.5). These are the same four weights the guide gives a church's own binding level. Leave every menu alone and nothing changes. A church that differs from you on a Required is marked in its result, so a deal-breaker is easy to see even where the overall score is good. When you load a recorded church's answers, the menus are filled from that church's recorded binding levels, so you see its answers and how firmly it holds each. A church that fills the page in for itself marks its own binding levels. This changes only how your score is added up. It never changes what a church teaches. Your choices are saved with your answers, and the extra questions use the same menu, though they never change a score; a church that differs on an extra you marked a must says so in the ranking, in the side-by-side view, in the print report and in the PDF, and the score stays the same.

What each church holds people to. Under each result you will see three more things, and none changes the ranking. The first shows, among the questions you were compared on, how many answers the church's documents require of every member or minister, and how many they expect of clergy and leaders, and how many of those you agree with, differ on, or fit with. The second is the church's grip, a number from 0 to 1 that does not depend on your answers. It shows how much of the church's teaching it holds people to. A grip of 1 means it requires or expects an answer on every question. A grip of 0 means it holds no one to anything. When a church leaves a question open, or leaves it to conscience, that question adds nothing to its grip. So a low grip does not mean the church believes little. It means the church lets its people differ. A church whose documents we have read less also shows a lower grip, because there is less to count, so the page shows how many questions it has an answer on. The third is the church's firmness where it speaks: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and on the extra questions (the extras are still not scored). It answers a different question from grip, which is how firm the church is where it does speak, not how much it speaks to. The page says for how many cells a level is recorded, and a cell with no recorded level is left out. All three describe the denomination's own documents, never one congregation, which may hold people to more or less.

The two personal questions. Just after Q2 are two questions about you, not about a church: what you would do if your church's teaching and your own reading of Scripture disagreed, and what you would do if its leaders corrected you. They are not scored. Under each church in the results, your answer sits beside how that church holds its people to its teaching and what it says about church discipline, so you can see how that church would stand toward you.

Binding is not the same as signing. A church can hold you to its teaching by a signed document, an oath (you swear, calling God as witness), a vow or promise (you commit yourself before God and the church, without swearing), a spoken profession of faith, or simply because you belong to it. Each profile says which, and for whom. The scoring looks only at how firmly the church holds you (the grip), never at which form it uses. A church can bind firmly with no signature at all: Catholic canon law binds every Catholic to the church's defined doctrine, the documents read name no signing, oath or vow for lay members, and those who take office make a public Profession of Faith and take an Oath of Fidelity.

A church needs at least 8 questions with a known answer to be ranked. Some churches' documents say little, so a short list can look closer than it is. The common-ground items (Q0) are the shared key rather than a way to sort churches, so they are not scored, and neither are the follow-ups (1b, 7b, 12b) or the extra questions; for those, the page shows which churches give your answer. Authority beyond the Bible (Q2) counts only where answers truly conflict: Scripture and Tradition as one authority against Scripture alone or the Spirit's guidance tested by Scripture. A church that binds its people to a confession is not thereby in conflict with you, so that answer is always open; each church also shows how it holds its people to its teaching.

"Inferred" means the church does not state its position in plain words, so the guide read its documents and chose the closest option. It says why, in one of three kinds: stated in other words (the church teaches it, but not in the words of our option), implied, never stated (what the church does say points there), or two readings possible (the documents allow more than one, and the other is named). An inferred answer is a judgment, not a quotation, so it counts half as much in the score. Open any church's profile, or its result, to read the reason for each one. Each profile also says where its information comes from. The author's full guide holds every answer in plain sentences, with quotations and a note on how sure each line is. The author's full guide is not published, because of its size. To check a source, read the church's profile and any answer judgments or explanation first, then contact the author.

Church profiles

Each profile gives where the information comes from, how the church holds its people to its teaching, and then, question by question, the church's answer, how firmly it holds it, why the guide coded it that way, and where it comes from, with every option shown and the church's choice marked. The profiles describe; they do not grade.

The Wesleyan Church18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. Its Articles of Religion (wesleyan.org) and the church's Discipline, paragraph 290 (discipline.wesleyan.org). Members and ministers are bound to hold the faith set out in the Articles (Article 17). v0.85 (October 16, 2026): Discipline paragraphs 410(3) to 410(11), 3108, 3111, 265(5) to 265(7), and the membership paragraphs 585 to 605 were read verbatim on discipline.wesleyan.org (the earlier note that paragraph 410 and the Chapter 2 membership pages were not read is out of date); the extra questions were worked from the Articles, the Discipline, and the Sanctity of Life position statement. The Articles are required of members (paragraph 297(3)); the Guides and Helps (paragraphs 260 to 268) are only encouraged for ordinary members (260, 557) but required of elected and credentialed leaders (558). Not read: paragraph 3112, the judiciary paragraphs 5000 to 5004, and the women-in-ministry position statement (best link https://discipline.wesleyan.org/wiki/Chapter_1:_Ministerial_Orders_and_Regulations).

Find a congregation near you. https://www.wesleyan.org/find-a-church. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Belief is required of members and ministers: they are bound to hold the faith set out in the Articles. The form this takes (a vow, a signature, or membership alone) was not recorded.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.81 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.89 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 29 of 30 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): allows more than one answer: God chooses those he knows will believe, or God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it.
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence (inferred: stated in other words).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: two readings possible).
Growing in holiness: complete holiness is possible in this life.
Church government: bishops (Episcopal) (inferred: stated in other words).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever (inferred: implied, never stated).
Remarriage after divorce: allows more than one answer: allowed only after adultery, or allowed after adultery or desertion (inferred: two readings possible).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents say nothing on: creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high. Most of the questions are answered from the church's own Articles of Religion.

How much room it gives for disagreement: little. Members and ministers are bound to hold the faith set out in the Articles. (This rating is my own judgment.)

Sources this profile cites (14 addresses on 5 websites)

These are the pages the source log kept by the author files under this church by name, plus any address in its profile, grouped by website; the link text is the last part of the address. The list is a starting point and not the whole record: pages logged for several churches at once are in the source logs kept by the author, which also say which pages were secondhand copies or could not be opened. To see them, contact the author.

cdn.resources.wesleyan.org (1): The-Discipline-of-The-Wesleyan-Church-2026-RC.pd
discipline.wesleyan.org (8): Chapter_1:_Ministerial_Orders_and_Regulations, Chapter_4:_The_Constitution_of_The_North_America, 290%E2%80%93293, Remarriage, Chapter_5:_Special_Directions, Chapter_2:_Membership, 200-385, Chapter_3:_The_Lord%E2%80%99s_Supper
resources.wesleyan.org (1): Women-in-Ministry-Position-Statement.pdf
www.discipline.wesleyan.org (1): 2016_Wesleyan_Discipline:226
www.wesleyan.org (3): find-a-church, articles-of-religion, sanctity-of-life

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Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The church's Constitution and Canons, amended in June 2026 (anglicanchurch.net); the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, read on the Church of England's own site; and its catechism, To Be a Christian (2020), read in a copy hosted outside ACNA's own site. Because of that, the catechism and Articles lines are marked as secondhand. The catechism says everything it teaches is meant to be acceptable to all recognized schools of Anglican thought, which is why several answers read as open. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the catechism To Be a Christian (a PDF on anglicanchurch.net) and the 2019 Book of Common Prayer with the Thirty-Nine Articles, Ordinal, and Fundamental Declarations (bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net) are the church's own first-party texts, so the earlier note that the catechism and Articles were secondhand is out of date for the extra questions. Not opened: two anglicanchurch.net statement pages (one returned page not found, the other an error).

Find a congregation near you. https://anglicanchurch.net/find-a-congregation/ (links to the church's map). This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Acceptance is required of clergy: they must accept the Articles and the Creeds without reservation. The form this takes (a declaration, a vow or a signature) was not recorded.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.75 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.85 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 36 of 37 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: authoritative, read together with church tradition (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): leaves it open or to local decision.
Losing salvation: allows more than one answer: the saved cannot fall away, or a believer can fall away (inferred: two readings possible).
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith (inferred: two readings possible).
The meaning of the cross: both together.
Baptism: allows more than one answer: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant, or baptism gives grace and new birth.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: allows more than one answer: each church decides or men only.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: implied, never stated).
Creation: the Bible does not say how (inferred: implied, never stated).
Remarriage after divorce: allows more than one answer: allowed after adultery or desertion or forgiven, handled case by case.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents say nothing on: resisting grace.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high, with lines confirmed against the church's own site by a second researcher. Almost every question is answered, but the catechism and Articles were read in copies outside the church's own site.

How much room it gives for disagreement: some. Clergy must accept the Articles and the Creeds, but the church leaves a number of questions open, such as women's ordination, which each diocese decides.

Sources this profile cites (10 addresses on 3 websites)

amateuranglican.com (1): to-be-a-christian.pdf
anglicanchurch.net (7): find-a-congregation, ACNA-CC-RATIFIED-2026-06-25.pdf, ACNA-CC-RATIFIED-2026-06-25.pdf, To-Be-a-Christian.pdf, ACNA-College-of-Bishops-Statement-on-Marriage.pd, sexuality-and-identity-a-pastoral-statement-from, anglicans-react-to-dobbs-decision
bcp2019.anglicanchurch.net (2): BCP2019.pdf, 63-Articles-of-Religion.pdf

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Church of England16 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Declaration of Assent and its preface (Canon C 15), Canon A5 on doctrine, and the House of Bishops' 2014 Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests, all on churchofengland.org; the 2002 General Synod report on marriage and remarriage; and Canon B30 on marriage. Canons on spiritual gifts were not found. For the binding levels added in v0.76: Articles 2, 9, 11 to 17, 27, and 31 and Canon C 15 as read on churchofengland.org, GS 1449 on remarriage after divorce, the House of Bishops' Five Guiding Principles, and the 2023 Prayers of Love and Faith, all through a fetch tool that summarizes long pages (the Declaration of Assent page itself returned no text at that time; it was read in full in v0.83). The Amending Canon No. 43 (GS 2273C) that the author attached was read: it changes the royal references, the Bidding Prayer, and the marriage-age and marriage-schedule canons (B 31, B 32, B 34, B 36), and does not touch the doctrine of marriage or remarriage after divorce. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): read on churchofengland.org through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters: the Articles of Religion on the printable page (the ordinary address returns only a script shell), the Declaration of Assent (printable page), Canons A 1 to A 8, Canon B (to B 43; the page is 108,072 characters and the tool read the first 100,000), Canon C (in parts, with C 15, C 18, C 2, C 4, and C 29), the Common Worship ordination services (the declarations), the House of Bishops' Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests, the church's page on ecclesiastical courts and its page on remarriage, the press releases and Synod roundups on the Prayers of Love and Faith and Living in Love and Faith from 9 October 2023 to 13 July 2026, and GS 1449 and GS 2455B; and on legislation.gov.uk the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 (sections 6 to 8), the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 (sections 7, 10, 17 to 20), the Clergy Conduct Measure 2026 (sections 2, 71, 73), the Synodical Government Measure 1969 (Schedule 2), the Worship and Doctrine Measure 1974 (sections 1, 4, 5), the Matrimonial Causes Act 1965 (section 8), the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (section 1), and the Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure 2014 (headline sections). v0.85 (October 16, 2026) spot-check against the church's own pages and PDFs (browser page text and pdf.js, no fetch summaries): of 27 quotations and claims, 21 were exact, 5 fair paraphrases, and 1 drifted (the Synod motion text, corrected in the remarriage line). The statute the guide cites is the Matrimonial Causes Act 1965, section 8(2), which is still in force (the 1973 Act repealed only sections 1 to 8(1)); the guide's quotation "shall be compelled" is exact, and the subsection leaves out the words "or the Church in Wales" and a second limb that says no compulsion to permit the marriage in the minister's church. The Declaration of Assent also contains "and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments, I will use only the forms of service which are authorized or allowed by Canon," the signed link to Canon B 5, whose paragraph 3 requires any form of service used under it to be "neither contrary to, nor indicative of any departure from, the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter." The Prayers of Love and Faith booklet's commendation quoted in the same-sex marriage line ("as being suitable for use by ministers") is the wording on page 5 for the Covenanted Friendship prayers; for the Resource Section the booklet says "including, where applicable, in the exercise of their discretion under Canon B 5," and adds that material from the Resource Section "should not at present be used to offer special or standalone services." The 15 October 2025 release continues "for use in regularly scheduled services, remain commended by the House of Bishops for use under Canon B5," restates "that no-one is obliged to use the PLF against their conscience," and says the bishops "did not propose to bring forward a code of practice at this time." The coded Q17 and Q18 answers stand.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.achurchnearyou.com/ (England only). This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Spoken assent by clergy: they make the Declaration of Assent when ordained and on each new appointment (Canon C 15). The Preface, spoken by the bishop, names "the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons" as the historic formularies in which the church "has borne witness to Christian truth"; the words of the Declaration say only: "I ... declare my belief in the faith which is revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness" (the printable page was read in full in v0.83; the Articles are named in the Preface, not in the words of the Declaration). Canon A 5 and the Worship and Doctrine Measure 1974, section 5(1), both put the doctrine of the Church of England in "the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal." Who acts when a minister departs from doctrine (v0.83): the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003, section 7(2), says proceedings on "matters involving doctrine, ritual or ceremonial" continue under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963. Under section 10(1)(a) of that Measure the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved has original jurisdiction over an offence against the laws ecclesiastical involving doctrine, ritual, or ceremonial by a priest, deacon, or bishop. The complaint is laid in writing, verified on oath, before the registrar (section 18); for a priest or deacon it is brought by an "authorised complainant" or by six or more persons on the parish electoral roll (section 19); for a bishop, by two bishops of the province, ten persons, or an authorised complainant (section 20). The meaning of "authorised complainant" and section 14 (the offences) were not read. The Clergy Conduct Measure 2026 repeals the 2003 Measure, but section 71 was not in force at Royal Assent and no commencement date was seen; its section 2(2) keeps the 1963 Measure for cases that involve a question of doctrine. It "appertains to" a diocesan bishop's office "to teach and to uphold sound and wholesome doctrine, and to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange opinions" (Canon C 18). The church's page on ecclesiastical courts says appeals in doctrine, ritual, and ceremonial cases go to the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved, while section 10 gives that court original jurisdiction; the two do not agree and the guide did not resolve it. Synod safeguards: every Canon or service approved must in the Synod's opinion be "neither contrary to, nor indicative of any departure from, the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter" (Measure 1974, section 4(1)).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.70 out of 1, with an answer on 16 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.90 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 34 of 35 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (16 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: authoritative, read together with church tradition (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: stated in other words).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment.
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: two readings possible).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions (inferred: two readings possible).
Its documents say nothing on: the millennium.
Its documents speak, but no option fits: gifts of the Spirit, creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high. The Thirty-Nine Articles on the church's own printable page, the Declaration of Assent in full, Canons A and B (to B 43) and parts of C, the ordination declarations, the church's pages and press releases on the Prayers of Love and Faith to July 2026, GS 1449, and the statutes that decide who acts. Thirteen scored questions are answered (the unrepentant added in v0.85); the Bible's accuracy, resisting grace, gifts, the millennium, Matthew 24, and creation are found silent in everything read. The Synod's text of its 2002 motion was obtained in v0.85 (church's Supplementary Material page); the Doctrine Commission's papers were not obtained. Every v0.83 quotation came through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters; those marked as returned twice were returned on two prompts or two pages. v0.84: the extra questions were worked from the Thirty-nine Articles, the Canons, and the Book of Common Prayer text on the church's own pages, and the Canon C 18 and Canon B 30 quotations were rechecked.

Sources this profile cites (91 addresses on 12 websites)

anglicanjournal.com (1): home page
archive.wfn.org (1): msg00167.html
lawandreligionuk.com (1): papers-for-february-general-synod-2
liverpooldiocesanregistry.co.uk (1): home page
northamanglican.com (1): an-homily-concerning-the-coming-down-of-the-holy
www.achurchnearyou.com (1): home page
www.anglicanism.info (1): thirty-nine-articles-of-religion
www.churchofengland.org (72): sharing-the-gospel-of-salvation-2010.pdf, print, print, section, section-b, section-c, print, house-bishops-declaration-ministry-bishops-and-p, ecclesiastical-courts, 41386, print, prayers-love-and-faith-bishops-agree-next-steps-, synod-backs-trial-special-services-asking-gods-b, bishops-response-living-love-and-faith, update-living-love-and-faith-october-2025, house-bishops-shares-letter-church-living-love-a, synod-approves-motion-confirming-llf-programme-c, synod-roundup-monday-july-13-2026, gs-2455b-secretary-general-same-sex-relationship, abortion-church-of-england-statements.pdf, erg-part-report-jan-2025-hob-a-compendium-of-sou, funeral, gs-misc-1339-legal-note-for-synod-jan-2023_0.pdf, prayers-of-love-and-faith.pdf, gs1449-marriage-in-church-after-divorce-report-f, marriage-after-divorce, supplementary-material, confirmation-faqs, what-we-believe, order-confirmation, public-baptism-infants, baptism-and, creed-s-athanasius, new-patterns-28, ministry-sick, gs1748b-confidence-in-the-bible-diocesan-synod-m, hope-for-all-creation-for-web-new.pdf, church-england-publishes-major-teaching-document, index-canons, prayers-gods-blessing-same-sex-couples-take-step, print, print, common-worship-ordination-0, wholeness-and, marriage-in-church-after-divorce.pdf, gs-misc-960_feb11.pdf, gs1444-report-by-the-bc-on-the-agenda.pdf, book-common-prayer, section-a, commentary, gs1772a-the-compatibility-of-science-and-christi, gsfeb10summ.pdf, gs1772b_Feb10.pdf, gs1772a_Feb10.pdf, pilgrim-way-commandments, pilgrim-way-apostles-creed, about-pilgrim-way, gs-2289-living-in-love-and-faith.pdf, final-bishops-response-to-llf-20-jan-23_0.pdf, common-worship-ordination-services, introduction-house-bishops, senior_church_leadership_faoc.pdf, the-mission-and-ministry-of-the-whole-church.pdf, canons-church-england, hob-declaration-on-ministry-of-bishops-and-pries, gs-misc-1429-the-nature-of-doctrine-and-the-livi, articles-religion, the-book-of-common-prayer-1662.pdf, burial-dead, nicene-creed, e-creeds-authorized-affirmations-faith, all-saints-advent
www.episcopalchurch.org (1): thirty-nine-articles-or-articles-of-religion
www.legislation.gov.uk (9): 7, 1, 2, 2, 4, 8, 1, 2, 5
www.peterboroughdiocesanregistry.co.uk (1): divorceadvice.pdf
www.stalbansdiocese.org (1): ad-clerum-3b-2-remarriage-in-church-of-divorced-

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Roman Catholic Church19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, read on vatican.va and in the U.S. bishops' copy, and a 1994 letter from the Vatican's doctrinal office. Where a paragraph was seen only through a quotation on another site, it is called secondhand. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. For the binding levels added in v0.76: Canons 747 to 754, the 1988 Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity, and the 1998 doctrinal note on the Profession of Faith, all on vatican.va, read through a fetch tool. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Catechism paragraphs on war (2308 to 2311) and oaths were read directly on vatican.va for the two extra questions.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.usccb.org/mass-times (the U.S. bishops' parish finder). This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Bound by church law, with no signing, oath or vow found for lay members as such. Catholics are bound to the Church's defined doctrine (Canons 750, 752 and 754, set out in the authority line above). The documents read name no signing, oath or vow for ordinary lay members; that is a finding of silence, not a statement by the church. Canon 833 names the offices whose holders must "personally" make the Profession of Faith "according to the formula approved by the Apostolic See": participants in councils and synods, cardinals, bishops, the diocesan administrator, vicars general, episcopal and judicial vicars, pastors, seminary rectors and teachers of theology and philosophy, those to be promoted to the diaconate, rectors of ecclesiastical or Catholic universities, teachers of faith and morals in universities, and superiors in clerical religious institutes and societies of apostolic life (nn. 1 to 8). The Oath of Fidelity, which ends "So help me God, and God's Holy Gospels on which I place my hand," is for those in nn. 5 to 8 (vicars, pastors, seminary rectors and teachers, deacon candidates, university rectors and teachers of faith and morals, and clerical superiors); a bishop makes the profession of faith and takes "the oath of fidelity to the Apostolic See" under canon 380. Canon 833 names offices and does not limit them to clergy, so some of these office-holders may be lay people. How sure we are: checked in the church's own text (the Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity formula, dated 1 July 1988 and in force from 1 March 1989, English and Latin pages on vatican.va, and canons 833 and 380 in the English Code of Canon Law on vatican.va, all read as browser page text in v1.11).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.74 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.73 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 41 of 41 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: allows more than one answer: authoritative, read together with church tradition, or fully true, in the language of its time (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible and Tradition together.
How God saves (election): God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: stated in other words).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away (inferred: stated in other words).
Being made right with God (justification): made righteous by grace poured in.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: baptism gives grace and new birth.
The Lord's Supper: the bread and wine become Christ's body and blood.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church.
Growing in holiness: sharing in God's own life (theosis) (inferred: stated in other words).
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: men only.
The millennium: amillennial.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: the Bible does not say how.
Remarriage after divorce: not allowed while the first spouse lives.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high, but mostly from copies and by inference. About 15 of the 19 questions are answered, mostly from the U.S. bishops' copy of the Catechism or by inference from it.

How much room it gives for disagreement: little. The Church teaches a defined body of doctrine.

Sources this profile cites (48 addresses on 5 websites)

press.vatican.va (1): __P6Y.HTM
usccb.org (4): 349, 321, 68, 162
www.intratext.com (2): _P4.HTM, HY.HTM
www.usccb.org (4): mass-times, 28, 178, 889
www.vatican.va (37): vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html, ii_inspiration_and_truth_of_sacred_scripture.htm, in_brief.html, i_respect_for_human_life.html, __P86.HTM, __P2A.HTM, v_the_sacramental_sacrifice_thanksgiving_memoria, in_brief.html, __P4X.HTM, D7.HTM, 8G.HTM, __P2O.HTM, 82.HTM, 8Z.HTM, 7U.HTM, __P3T.HTM, __PR.HTM, __P19.HTM, from_thence_he_will_come_agaln_to_judge_the_livi, iii_safeguarding_peace.html, ii_taking_the_name_of_the_lord_in_vain.html, __P7J.HTM, __P4E.HTM, __P2Z.HTM, __P29.HTM, vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html, __P81.HTM, __P4W.HTM, __P41.HTM, __P4D.HTM, __P2N.HTM, __P1K.HTM, __P7F.HTM, __P7P.HTM, __P7Z.HTM, __P1N.HTM, in_brief.index.html

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Orthodox Church in America (OCA)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Orthodox Church in America's own website (oca.org): its "Welcome to the Orthodox Church" pamphlet (2021), the book series The Orthodox Faith (volumes 1, 2, and 4), the Holy Synod's 1992 statement on marriage, family, sexuality, and the sanctity of life, its 2022 statement on same-sex relationships, and a question-and-answer page on ordaining women. Orthodoxy has no single confession, so this profile rests on the OCA's own teaching documents, and their authority is that of the councils and the Synod. Other Orthodox churches (the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Russian Church Outside Russia) were not read and may differ. For the binding levels added in v0.76: the Statute (2015 final text; read through Article XV in v0.76 and in full from the project author's PDF in v0.77), the Guidelines for Clergy (2023), the Guidelines for the Ordination, Appointment and Transfer of Clergy (2013, read in full in v0.77), and the Holy Synod's encyclical On Spiritual Life in the Church, read through a fetch tool. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the OCA's teaching manual Essential Orthodox Christian Beliefs (version 1.1, 2023, a Departments of the OCA teaching manual on oca.org, 271 pages) was read in full as extracted text and used for the extra questions; it is not among the sources above. An unsigned question-and-answer page is the only OCA text on war.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.oca.org/parishes. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Teaching rests on the councils, and the Holy Synod issues directives. Whether any signing, oath or vow is asked of members or clergy was not recorded.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.58 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.51 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 37 of 38 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: inspired but human and fallible in details (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible and Tradition together.
How God saves (election): God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: implied, never stated).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away (inferred: stated in other words).
Being made right with God (justification): faith and obedience together (inferred: two readings possible).
The meaning of the cross: both together (inferred: two readings possible).
Baptism: baptism gives grace and new birth.
The Lord's Supper: the bread and wine become Christ's body and blood (inferred: two readings possible).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: two readings possible).
Growing in holiness: sharing in God's own life (theosis).
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: men only.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: partly fulfilled then, partly still to come (inferred: two readings possible).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever (inferred: two readings possible).
Creation: the Bible does not say how.
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium. About half the questions are answered from the church's own website. In v0.84 the pamphlet-sourced lines were audited against the OCA's own full pages: only one answer, justification (Q5), still rests on the Welcome pamphlet alone, and it is left uncoded; the unrepentant (Q15) was recoded from the volumes of The Orthodox Faith, which say the "fire" is not material and that the lost experience the same Presence as torture.

How much room it gives for disagreement: little. Teaching rests on the councils and the tradition of the church, and the Holy Synod issues directives.

Sources this profile cites (64 addresses on 1 website)

www.oca.org (64): parishes, judgment, kingdom-of-god, synodal-affirmations-on-marriage-family-sexualit, welcome-c.pdf, chrismation, sacraments, holy-synod-issues-statement-on-same-sex-relation, ordination-of-women, man, the-holy-trinity-in-creation, man1, prayer-in-the-spirit, sin, creation, original-sin, the-three-divine-persons, incarnation, resurrection, intercessory-prayer, tradition, the-councils, statute, article-ii, baptism, holy-eucharist, eucharist-c.pdf, article-viii, heaven-and-hell, the-final-judgment, redemption, on-spiritual-life, faith1, the-lapsed, on-confession-and-communion, my-church-our-home-session-iv-our-path-to-salvat, 2023-0609-EOCB.pdf, liturgy-of-the-presanctified-gifts, receiving-communion, worship-answers-and-reflections-for-discussion, sabbath, mary-prayer-death, sinlessness-of-mary, iconoclasm, icons, war-and-non-violence, statement-on-ukraine, the-beginning-conflict-in-iraq, infallibility, the-pope-christian-unity, what-about-other-christians, credibility-of-the-orthodox-church, canon-of-scripture, on-christian-unity-and-ecumenism, eucharistic-canon-anaphora, session-4-i-come-from-a-long-line-of-apostles, 2015-1001-oca-statute-rev-final.pdf, hebrews-64-6-falling-away-from-the-faith, welcome-bw.pdf, the-west8, the-holy-trinity-in-christian-life, evangelization-pamphlets, departments-release-essential-orthodox-christian, the-church1

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The Episcopal Church18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. Resolutions of the church's General Convention on marriage (2015, 2018, and 2024) from the church's archives, and the text of the marriage canon as shown on diocesan and Episcopal News Service pages. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer, in particular its Catechism ("An Outline of the Faith," pages 845 to 862), first read through the Episcopal Church's own page on its core beliefs and through quotations on diocesan and parish sites, and in v0.78 read in full text from a PDF of the 1979 book hosted by the Anglican Resources site (justus.anglican.org) and supplied by the project author; that copy is not the Church's own printing, so the quotations rest on a copy, and every Catechism quotation in this profile was checked against it. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. For the binding levels added in v0.76: Constitution Articles VIII and X (2024 edition on generalconvention.org, read through a fetch tool that stops before Title II), the Catechism on bcponline.org, and the church's catechism page. In v0.77 the full 2024 Constitution and Canons (PDF supplied by the project author) was read in text, including Articles VIII and X, Canons I.17 to I.19, III.1, IV.2, and IV.4. The Prayer Book was supplied in v0.78 (see above). Judgment call on how firmly the church holds its position on same-sex marriage (v0.78): the marriage canon makes marriage available to all couples and lets each member of the clergy decline to perform a wedding, and no canon read requires clergy to hold or teach the church's position, so it is counted as taught but not enforced. The other reading, one step higher, would count the canon and rites as a direction to clergy and leaders. This affects only the score, not the answer. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): the Catechism, the Articles of Religion, the Collects for Saint Mary the Virgin, the Visitation and All Saints, the Burial of the Dead (Rite Two), the Reconciliation of a Penitent, and the Ordination of a Priest were read on bcponline.org, a Prayer Book site whose publisher the guide did not establish and whose page numbers match the printed book where checked (pages 849, 850, and 858). The church's own PDFs of the Prayer Book (episcopalchurch.org uploads of 2019, 2021, and 2023) reach the fetch tool only to about printed page 95, before the Catechism, so the church's own copy could not be used; every quotation added in v0.83 therefore rests on a copy and needs a spot-check (the Catechism quotations from page 853 on that were checked against the author's PDF in v0.78 are unchanged). Also read in v0.83: the church's own page on the Historical Documents of the Church (episcopalchurch.org), the church's own list of General Convention resolutions on abortion, Resolution 1988-C047 in the Acts of Convention, the 2024 convention's actions on Article X and the marriage rites as reported by Episcopal News Service, and, for who acts when a minister departs from doctrine, a diocese's account of the Title IV process and the church's own page on Title IV. The full text of the Constitution and Canons would not open past Title I in the fetch tool (the author's copy was read in v0.77), so the Title IV wording below rests on the v0.77 reading and on those two pages. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Prayer Book rubric on barring notorious evildoers from Communion and the Catechism on bishops were read for the two remaining extra questions, from bcponline.org (a secondhand copy of the Prayer Book) and the church's 2024 Constitution and Canons. The church's own Prayer Book PDF carries the Articles of Religion from printed page 867 (the glossary entry on episcopalchurch.org redirects), and 14 phrases the guide quotes from the Articles were found there.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.episcopalchurch.org/find-a-church/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Signing and a solemn promise, but not of a confession. Every person ordained must "subscribe" (put their name to) a declaration that the Scriptures are the Word of God and contain all things necessary to salvation, and "solemnly engage to conform to the Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of The Episcopal Church" (Constitution, Article VIII). No creed or confession is named in it, and the Articles of Religion are not named in it (the Ordination of a Priest, page 526 of the Prayer Book PDF on episcopalchurch.org, has the same declaration). Canon IV.2 says where the Doctrine is found (Scripture as understood in the Creeds, and the sacramental rites, the Ordinal, and the Catechism of the Prayer Book), and Canon IV.4.1.h.2 lists holding and teaching publicly or privately, and advisedly, any Doctrine contrary to that held by the Church among the things a member of the clergy must refrain from. Who acts when a minister departs (checked October 16, 2026, on the church's own page on Title IV and a diocese's account of the process; the full canon text could not be opened that day): a report goes to the diocesan Intake Officer, who makes an initial inquiry and asks whether the matter would be an offense, and whether it is "material and substantial" or of "clear and weighty importance to the ministry of the Church"; a Reference Panel (for a priest or deacon, the Bishop Diocesan, the Intake Officer, and the President of the Disciplinary Board) decides whether to close the matter with a pastoral response, refer it for conciliation, order an investigation, or refer it to a Conference Panel and later a Hearing Panel of the Disciplinary Board, with a Church Attorney representing the church; for a bishop, the Disciplinary Board for Bishops acts. The church's page on Title IV does not mention doctrine as an offense, and the diocesan page lists "holding or teaching doctrine contrary to church" among the standards with no separate procedure.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.54 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.56 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 29 of 30 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: authoritative, read together with church tradition (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible plus the Spirit guiding the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
How God saves (election): leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away (inferred: stated in other words).
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: two readings possible).
Baptism: allows more than one answer: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant, or baptism gives grace and new birth (inferred: two readings possible).
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here (inferred: stated in other words).
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: implied, never stated).
Creation: God used evolution (inferred: stated in other words).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: the church may bless same-sex marriage.
Its documents say nothing on: the millennium.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium. Fourteen scored questions are now answered. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and same-sex marriage come from the Prayer Book Catechism and the marriage canon; church government from the Constitution; women in ministry and remarriage from the canons (the remarriage canon through a diocese's copy); the unrepentant and the cross from the Catechism; election, losing salvation, justification, and growth in holiness from the Articles of Religion, a Historical Document the canons do not name as Doctrine; and creation from a 2006 General Convention resolution as reported elsewhere. Several are inferred. Found silent in the documents read: the Bible's accuracy (Q1), resisting grace (Q3b), the millennium (Q13), and Matthew 24 (Q14; the Creeds, the Catechism's Christian Hope, and the Burial Office were read for these two and speak only of Christ's coming in glory and the resurrection). Not read: the Prayer Book's Eucharistic prayers and baptismal rite, the Ordinal's Preface, the opening rubrics of the rite of reconciliation, the full text of the Constitution and Canons in this session, and the church's own printing of the Prayer Book.

Sources this profile cites (45 addresses on 15 websites)

digitalarchives.episcopalarchives.org (3): acts_resolution.pl, acts_topic_search.pl, bb_2006-R025.pdf
dioceseofnewark.org (1): clergy-disciplinary-process-in-the-diocese-of-ne
diomass.org (1): Marriage%20and%20Remarriage%20Guidelines%202025.
episcopalarchives.org (3): 2024-B008.pdf, 2024-A160.pdf, 2024-D035.pdf
episcopalnewsservice.org (3): marriage-task-force-calls-for-gender-neutral-lan, 81st-general-convention-adopts-constitutional-ch, prayer-book-liturgies-church-calendar-commemorat
extranet.generalconvention.org (2): 32150, 32711
generalconvention.org (1): constitution-and-canons
livingchurch.org (1): did-general-convention-authorize-prayer-book-rev
ncse.ngo (2): 5025, episcopal-church-reaffirms-evolution-education
stjamesgreeneville.org (1): home page
www.bcponline.org (10): catechism.html, ordination_of_a_priest.html, histdocs.html, toc.html, holydaysc.html, BurialII.html, reconciliation.html, calendar.html, adddirect.html, ordination_of_a_bishop.html
www.epicenter.org (1): clergy-discipline
www.episcopalarchives.org (7): 2018-A085.pdf, 2024-A144.pdf, 2022-D083.pdf, 2024-A072.pdf, 2024-A160.pdf, 2024-A116.pdf, 2024-A093.pdf
www.episcopalchurch.org (8): find-a-church, home page, catechism, summary-of-general-convention-resolutions-on-abo, home page, title-iv-and-reporting-misconduct, disciplinary-rubrics, bcp_compressed.pdf
www.episcopalcommonprayer.org (1): bcp_2020.pdf

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Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The church's Book of Church Order (2025 edition, pcaac.org) and the Westminster Confession of Faith, read in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church's modern-English edition on epc.org. That edition differs from the PCA's text in places (the PCA keeps the original chapter 24 and leaves out chapters 34 and 35), so the Confession lines are marked secondhand. The officer vows were seen only through other sources. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Westminster Confession and Catechisms were read in the PCA's own PDFs on pcaac.org, so the earlier note that the Confession was read in another denomination's edition no longer applies to the chapters read; the Book of Church Order file there is the 2026 file, not the 2025 edition named above. The PCA's statement on abortion is a General Assembly statement (the 1980 Assembly replaced the 1979 wording), not part of the Constitution; the later actions of 1993, 1999, and 2010 were cited but not read.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.pcaac.org/church-directory/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Ordination vows by officers: they must adopt the Confession and Catechisms and may state exceptions.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.89 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.98 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 36 of 38 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone.
Resisting grace: no, the chosen will not finally resist it.
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian).
Women as pastors or elders: men only.
The millennium: allows more than one answer: historic premillennial, amillennial, or postmillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: allows more than one answer: young earth, six days, or old earth, a historical Adam.
Remarriage after divorce: allowed after adultery or desertion.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium, with lines confirmed against the church's own site by a second researcher. The Confession was read in another denomination's edition, so many lines are secondhand.

How much room it gives for disagreement: little. Officers must accept the Confession and Catechisms, though they may state exceptions.

Sources this profile cites (20 addresses on 6 websites)

archive.theaquilareport.com (1): pca-stated-clerk-issues-statement-perspective-on
byfaithonline.com (1): two-overtures-on-abortion-come-from-hills-and-pl
epc.org (1): wcf
pcahistory.org (3): 2-182.pdf, assembly_actions.pdf, 2021_human_sexuality_report.pdf
www.pcaac.org (9): church-directory, part-1-the-form-of-government, bco, westminster-confession, WCFScripureProofs2022.pdf, 03-LCLayout2.pdf, ShorterCatechismwithScriptureProofs.pdf, BCO_2026.pdf, Overture-46-Hills-Plains-Abortion.pdf
www.pcahistory.org (5): 01.html, 01.html, 28thGA_2000_Actions.pdf, 2-015.html, 2-492.html

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Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position (1932), read in two public-domain online editions; the Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles (lcms.org); a 2019 convention resolution on creation as reported in the church's magazine; the Commission on Theology and Church Relations' 1972 report The Charismatic Movement and Lutheran Theology (read in an online archive copy: Part II from section C onward, and Part III; the earlier sections were not read); and, from the Book of Concord, Augsburg Confession article 17 and Apology articles 9, 10, and 13. The rest of the Book of Concord was not read. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. For the binding levels added in v0.76: the 2019 Handbook (read through a fetch tool that stops inside Bylaw 1.6.2), the 1985 CTCR report on women in the church (Project Wittenberg copy), a district office's marriage-policy paper, and the CTCR doctrinal-statements page. In v0.77 the full 2023 Handbook (clean and update editions), the 1985 CTCR report on women in the church, and the CTCR report A Chaste and Decent Life (December 2022, with the president's letter of March 22, 2023) were read from PDFs supplied by the project author; the Handbook and both reports were searched in full for women, ordination, marriage, and same-sex terms. They show how the Synod's own rules make anything binding, but none of them shows an act of the Synod that covers women in the pastoral office or names same-sex unions. In v0.78 the 2004 Convention Proceedings (PDF supplied by the project author) were read for those two acts, Resolutions 3-08A and 3-05A, and both lines now carry a level. Church government is counted as stated (v0.78, author call): the 2023 Handbook says the Synod is toward a congregation "but an advisory body." The other reading is that this says only what the Synod is not, which would make it a judgment call. In v0.79 the 2026 convention papers were searched for Q12: they hold a 2026 reaffirmation of the 2004 position (Resolution 5-08A, adopted 742 to 138), and no change to Q18. In v0.79 the 2026 convention papers (Today's Business, the Minutes, and the Workbook of the 69th Regular Convention; PDFs supplied by the project author) were also searched for the two acts, Resolutions 3-08A and 3-05A, and for any new act on women in the pastoral office or on marriage. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Book of Concord was read on the Synod's publisher's site (bookofconcord.cph.org) and A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position was read in full in the Project Wittenberg copy (a seminary posting) because the lcms.org PDF has no text layer; the lcms.org copy of the 1981 CTCR report on contraception was not opened (the Project Wittenberg copy was used), and the Synod's own magazine said in 2006 that the Synod has adopted no position on contraception. The old Brief Statement address on lcms.org returns "page not found"; the working PDF is linked from lcms.org/what-we-believe/beliefs.

Find a congregation near you. https://locator.lcms.org/church. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Unconditional agreement with the Book of Concord is required. The form this takes (a pledge, a signature, or membership alone) was not recorded.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.88 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.93 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 37 of 37 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone.
Resisting grace: the lost resist it, but the saved are saved by grace alone.
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: baptism gives grace and new birth.
The Lord's Supper: Christ present in, with, and under the bread and wine.
Gifts of the Spirit: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: two readings possible).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: each congregation governs itself.
Women as pastors or elders: men only.
The millennium: amillennial.
Matthew 24: partly fulfilled then, partly still to come.
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: young earth, six days.
Remarriage after divorce: allows more than one answer: allowed after adultery or desertion, or forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: two readings possible).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions (inferred: stated in other words).

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium, with lines confirmed against the church's own site by a second researcher. The Brief Statement, parts of the Book of Concord, and some reports of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations were read, mostly in online copies.

How much room it gives for disagreement: little. The church requires unconditional agreement with the Book of Concord.

Sources this profile cites (59 addresses on 9 websites)

bookofconcord.cph.org (29): article_xvii, baptism, communion, article_xiii_vii, article_v, article_xi, article_xiv, article_xvi, article_xxi, article_xxv, article_xxviii, article_xxi_ix, article_xxiv_xii, first_part, article_ii, article_iv, article_iv, article_vii, article_ix, article_x, power-and-primacy-of-the-pope, confession, table-of-duties, the_second_commandment, summary, vii_the_holy_supper_of_christ, viii_the_person_of_christ, vii_the_holy_supper, viii_the_person_of_christ
files.lcms.org (5): ctcr-library-lcms-doctrinal-statements, 1E7CC0F6-15F6-4326-A9B8-6A7F9CF434CE, MmWBmLDoUHx710Hc7XGWE7ir8RAOhYAj, BCBbbmS4w4iF5pKaJZM2YGbhJuRNYmOk, 3B216790-DEA4-4B87-B1DA-D1AEB9930240
locator.lcms.org (1): church
media.ctsfw.edu (1): 4396
reporter.lcms.org (3): council-of-presidents-signs-harrisons-abortion-s, letters-to-the-editor-december, cph-publishes-first-lutheran-english-edition-of-
trinityh.org (1): Apology-IX-X-XI-and-XIII.pdf
witness.lcms.org (2): home page, for-the-dead
www.lcms.org (4): doctrine, statement-of-scriptural-and-confessional-princip, brief-statement-of-lcms-doctrinal-position, beliefs
www.projectwittenberg.org (13): doct-01.html, doct-03.html, doct-08.html, doct-10.html, doct-12.html, doct-16.html, doct-19.html, endtme-2.html, chmat-01.html, chmat-02.html, statement.asc, index.html, index.html

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Southern Baptist Convention19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Baptist Faith and Message (bfm.sbc.net), the convention's statement of faith. Its preamble says confessions have no authority over a person's conscience. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 was read in full in a browser (bfm.sbc.net) and the convention's resolutions on sbc.net were used for the extra questions; resolutions are acts of the Convention that rank below the confession, and each use is marked.

Find a congregation near you. https://churches.sbc.net. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Nothing is asked of you. The confession says it has no authority over a person's conscience.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.28 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.33 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 26 of 27 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible alone.
How God saves (election): God chooses those he knows will believe (inferred: stated in other words).
Resisting grace: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: two readings possible).
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: believers only, by immersion, as a sign.
The Lord's Supper: a memorial.
Gifts of the Spirit: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: each congregation governs itself.
Women as pastors or elders: men only.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever (inferred: implied, never stated).
Creation: allows more than one answer: young earth, six days, or old earth, a historical Adam (inferred: two readings possible).
Remarriage after divorce: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. The statement of faith is a core statement that leaves several questions open and says it has no authority over a person's conscience.

Sources this profile cites (8 addresses on 4 websites)

bfm.sbc.net (1): bfm2000
churches.sbc.net (1): home page
www.baptistpress.com (1): print
www.sbc.net (5): on-just-war-and-the-pursuit-of-peace, resolution-on-southern-baptists-and-roman-cathol, resolution-on-the-necessity-of-salvation, resolution-on-birth-control, resolution-on-family-planning

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National Association of Free Will Baptists17 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The denomination's Treatise of the Faith and Practices (nafwb.org). A newer printing exists and has not been compared with the 2013 text. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the 2026 printing of the Treatise of the Faith and Practice (nafwb.org, 82 pages) was read as full text and compared by text search with the 2013 printing for the passages used in the extra questions; the wording matched, so the earlier note that a newer printing had not been compared is out of date for those passages. No annual-minutes resolutions were searched (fwbhistory.com).

Find a congregation near you. http://directory.nafwb.org. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? No individual signing, oath or vow was found. Churches in an association adopt the Treatise when they organize. The Treatise's preface says it "serves as a guideline for a denominational fellowship," and its Part IV says the practices are "generally followed." A new association adopts the Treatise when it is formed (Part IV, Chapter III), and an accusation about a minister's "doctrine" goes to the association, which can deal only with his ordination and fellowship as a minister (Part IV, Chapter II). The examination for ordination asks for "a reasonable acquaintance with the Bible, Christian doctrine and Free Will Baptist teachings" (read through a fetch tool, so spot-check the quotations against the 2013 PDF). The other reading of the doctrine lines is "taught, but not enforced," because of the "guideline" wording.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.53 out of 1, with an answer on 17 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.64 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 26 of 27 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (17 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible alone.
How God saves (election): allows more than one answer: God chooses those he knows will believe, or God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it.
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment.
Baptism: believers only, by immersion, as a sign.
The Lord's Supper: a memorial.
Gifts of the Spirit: miracle gifts ended with the apostles (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: each congregation governs itself.
Women as pastors or elders: each church decides (inferred: implied, never stated).
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents speak, but no option fits: creation, remarriage after divorce.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. The Treatise is a core statement of faith, and several topics are not addressed.

Sources this profile cites (11 addresses on 4 websites)

directory.nafwb.org (1): home page
nafwb.org (8): 2023-national-convention, 2022-Proceedings.pdf, 13Treatise.pdf, NAFWB-Treatise-2026.pdf, 2021-Resolutions-Committee-Report.pdf, what-we-believe, treatise, chooselife
www.fwbhistory.com (1): site
www.fwbtheology.com (1): Commission-Report-on-Divorced-and-Remarried-Ordi

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Assemblies of God (USA)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Assemblies of God's Statement of Fundamental Truths and its 2024 position paper on divorce and remarriage (ag.org). v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Fundamental Truths were read on ag.org itself (the page confirms the wording of Fundamental Truth 14, "This millennial reign will bring the salvation of national Israel"), and the Bylaws (2023 edition, pdf.js) and ag.org position papers (leadership 2019, ordination 2020, peacemaking 2015) were read for the extra questions. A separate paper on war and conscientious objection that the Bylaws and the peacemaking paper cite was not found among ag.org's papers (best link https://ag.org/Beliefs/Position-Papers). v0.89 (October 17, 2026): the project author supplied the five-page printout of the Statement of Fundamental Truths (all 16 truths); it matches the wording the guide quotes from ag.org.

Find a congregation near you. https://ag.org/Resources/Directories/Church-Directory/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Agreement is required at the level of churches; the form was not recorded. The Statement of Fundamental Truths is non-negotiable.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.93 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.84 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 29 of 30 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: allows more than one answer: no errors in anything it says or fully true, in the language of its time.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses those he knows will believe (inferred: stated in other words).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: stated in other words).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith (inferred: stated in other words).
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: believers only, by immersion, as a sign.
The Lord's Supper: a memorial.
Gifts of the Spirit: a separate Spirit baptism, with tongues as the sign.
Growing in holiness: counted holy in Christ, with growth second (inferred: stated in other words).
Church government: each congregation governs itself (inferred: two readings possible).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: dispensational premillennial.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever (inferred: implied, never stated).
Creation: allows more than one answer: young earth, six days, or old earth, a historical Adam (inferred: two readings possible).
Remarriage after divorce: allowed after adultery or desertion.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. Its Statement of Fundamental Truths is a core statement. It is firm on some points, such as speaking in tongues as the sign of Spirit baptism, and silent on others.

Sources this profile cites (23 addresses on 1 website)

ag.org (23): Position-Papers, Church-Directory, Assurance-of-Salvation, Reformed-Theology, Sanctity-of-Human-Life-Abortion, statement-of-fundamental-truths, Divorce-and-Remarriage, Assurance-of-Salvation.pdf, The-Doctrine-of-Creation, Rapture-of-the-Church, Premillennial-Eschatology, Statement-of-Fundamental-Truths.pdf, 2023-Constitution-and-Bylaws.pdf, Church-Mission-and-Peacemaking, Christians-and-Citizenship, Ordination, Leadership-and-Governance-in-the-Local-Church, Worship-and-Praise, Revival-and-Spiritual-Renewal, Final-Judgment, position-papers, Statement-of-Fundamental-Truths, Kingdom-of-God

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Free Methodist Church USA18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Free Methodist Church's Book of Discipline, 2023 edition (fmcusa.org). The free PDF on fmcusa.org is titled 2023 Book of Discipline (copyright 2024, file dated February 5, 2024) and is the file read here; the church's own Light + Life Bookstore also sells the same book as a 2025 Revised Edition (paid e-book and print), which was not opened, so any changes made for that edition are not checked. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the 2023 Book of Discipline PDF on fmcusa.org (289 pages) was read as full extracted text for the extra questions.

Find a congregation near you. https://fmcusa.org/find-a-church. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Acceptance is required of members: they must accept the Articles of Religion. The form this takes (a membership vow or a signature) was not recorded.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.82 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.92 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 29 of 30 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: fully true, in the language of its time.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): allows more than one answer: God chooses those he knows will believe, or God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it.
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: complete holiness is possible in this life.
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents say nothing on: creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. Members must accept the Articles of Religion, but the church leaves some questions open, such as the millennium.

Sources this profile cites (5 addresses on 1 website)

fmcusa.org (5): find-a-church, 2023-Book-of-Discipline-Interactive-PDF-FINAL.pd, 2023bod, gcresolution, webelieve

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Church of the Nazarene19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Church of the Nazarene's Manual, 2023. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): read in full (432 pages, extracted text) in the official PDF linked as "OFFICIAL PDF" from nazarene.org/manual (hosted at resources.nazarene.org); the earlier copy hosted by one district (apnazarene.org) is no longer needed. A 2023 change to Article 15 was still being voted on when the Manual was printed; nazarene.org gives 26 January 2024 as the effective date of the 2023 Manual, so that vote is finished. The v0.85 audit of every scored line against the official text found 8 quotations exact, 13 fair paraphrases, and 5 drifted: the lines on the cross, creation, gifts, and the confession question are corrected above, and other wording in the lines on the Bible (paragraph 4 says Scripture is "inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation," and the Manual never mentions original manuscripts, so the "no" on the original-manuscripts item rests on silence), election (the words "comes ahead of us" are only in the heading Prevenient Grace), church government (the Foreword calls the polity "representative—neither purely episcopal nor wholly congregational," and the word Presbyterian never appears, so the Presbyterian-or-Episcopal reading is the guide's own), and baptism (Article 12 uses covenant language, "As participants in the new covenant, young children and the morally innocent may be baptized upon request of parents or guardians") are noted here. Paragraph 31 also calls marriage a "sacramental union" in passing. Remarriage is still not addressed; paragraph 320 gives the General Superintendents discretion over ordaining divorced persons.

Find a congregation near you. https://findachurch.nazarene.org/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Belief is a condition of membership. Membership requires belief in the shorter Agreed Statement of Belief (paragraph 20) and in the doctrines of the church (paragraph 109), and the Foreword expects everyone to accept the tenets of doctrine in the Manual; the Manual does not say that members must accept all sixteen Articles of Faith as such (checked in v0.85).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.82 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.82 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 29 of 30 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: fully true, in the language of its time.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): allows more than one answer: God chooses those he knows will believe, or God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it.
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus defeated sin, death, and the devil (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: complete holiness is possible in this life.
Church government: allows more than one answer: elders joined together (Presbyterian) or bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: the Bible does not say how (inferred: stated in other words).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. Members are expected to accept the Manual's Articles of Faith, which leave some questions unaddressed.

Sources this profile cites (5 addresses on 4 websites)

apnazarene.org (1): 2023-Manual.pdf
findachurch.nazarene.org (1): home page
nazarene.org (2): manual, what-we-believe
resources.nazarene.org (1): KGiJra8WZQjjZwb

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Global Methodist Church18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Global Methodist Church's Book of Doctrines and Discipline, 2024 Edition (revision date January 15, 2025, published by Seedbed), read whole in v0.84 in the PDF the church links from globalmethodist.org (345 pages) with a second copy on globalmethodist.org for most points; the Articles of Faith adopted by the General Conference at Johannesburg on September 5, 2026 (Petition 1441), read on the church's page and in its PDF; the Catechism for the Global Methodist Church (77 questions); and the Draft Liturgies (October 2026). The printed Book still carries the older ¶106, which makes the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith the doctrinal boundaries "until such time as a combined Articles of Faith may be approved"; the new ¶106 says the Articles of Faith "prescribe the normative doctrinal standards of the Global Methodist Church." A later official act replaces an earlier one, so the Articles of Faith are used wherever they speak, and where they drop a topic the 2024 text is used and flagged as older text, replaced, not repeated. The page calls the Articles a preliminary version, and no effective date was found. Earlier versions of this profile rested on a copy hosted outside the church's site and on a second researcher's confirmation. v0.85 (October 16, 2026) spot-check on the 2024 Book of Doctrines and Discipline PDF: the two historic questions for elders in paragraph 508.2 are printed as lettered items (i) "After full examination do you believe that our doctrines are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures?" and (j) "Will you preach and maintain them?", not as one sentence; the phrase "special means of grace" comes from Article IX of the Articles of Faith, not from the 2024 Book; paragraph 406 qualifies inclusiveness with "all persons who meet the requirements of our Book of Doctrines and Discipline," and paragraph 505 sets no requirement about sex; paragraph 601 says bishops "represent a specialized ministry rather than a separate order and are consecrated rather than ordained." The Articles of Faith page is headed "PRELIMINARY ARTICLES OF FAITH" and says "This is not the official published version; the official Articles of Faith will be included in the forthcoming Book of Doctrines and Discipline"; the page and the General Conference Wednesday journal confirm adoption at the 2026 General Conference and that Petition 1441 passed committee, but the date September 5 and the place Johannesburg were not confirmed from the church's own documents in this pass. No coded answer changes.

Find a congregation near you. https://globalmethodist.org/find-a-church. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Written answers and promises by clergy, and vows by members. Candidates for elder answer in writing: "After full examination do you believe that our doctrines are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures? Will you preach and maintain them?" (¶508.2), those to be ordained must "accept its doctrinal standards, discipline, and authority" (¶505.7), and clergy from other churches give "a statement agreeing to teach, support, and maintain Global Methodist Church doctrine" (¶517.1b). Members take vows to profess "the Christian faith as contained in the Scriptures" (¶419) but are not asked to subscribe to the Articles. How sure we are: checked in the church's own text (the 2024 Book of Doctrines and Discipline, read in the September 2025 PDF on globalmethodist.org and spot-checked a second time in v0.90: the ¶508.2 questions, ¶505.7, ¶517 and ¶419 wording is exact).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.77 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.74 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 36 of 37 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: allows more than one answer: no errors in anything it says or fully true, in the language of its time (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): allows more than one answer: God chooses those he knows will believe, or God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: allows more than one answer: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant, or baptism gives grace and new birth.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: complete holiness is possible in this life.
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: postmillennial (inferred: two readings possible).
Matthew 24: partly fulfilled then, partly still to come (inferred: two readings possible).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: stated in other words).
Remarriage after divorce: allowed only after adultery (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents say nothing on: creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high. All 22 extra questions and the 25 scored lines were worked from the church's own texts in v0.84. Paragraphs after about ¶407 of the Book (¶439, ¶501, ¶505, ¶508, ¶509, ¶517, ¶908) have only one reading. The ordination service is not in the draft liturgies.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. The Creeds and Articles are binding, while many other questions are left open.

Sources this profile cites (16 addresses on 7 websites)

ccel.org (1): notes.i.ii.xxvi.html
churchleaders.com (1): 496599-the-global-methodist-church-will-meet-in-
globalmethodist.org (5): find-a-church, 2024-GMC-BOOK-OF-DOCTRINES-FINAL.pdf, GMC_BDD-TEXT-06.04.25.pdf, books-of-doctrines-and-discipline, 2026-general-conference-v2
irp.cdn-website.com (5): 25.09.12+BDD+Text+and+Cover.pdf, Catechism-for-the-Global-Methodist-Church.202305, The+Draft+Liturgies+of+The+Global+Methodist+Chur, 2026-09-02+-+GC2026+Wednesday+Daily+Journal+%28E, 2026-09-04+-+GC2026+Friday+Daily+Journal+%28EN%2
ministrywatch.com (1): global-methodist-church-holds-2nd-general-confer
www.fmcmabank.com (1): 2024-GMC-BOOK-OF-DOCTRINES-FINAL.pdf
www.globalmethodist.org (2): articles-of-faith, books-of-doctrines---discipline

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Evangelical Covenant Church17 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Evangelical Covenant Church's own website (covchurch.org): its Constitution and Bylaws (read in full in the 2025 edition in v0.95, from the author's copy; before v0.95 only the Preamble, Article II, Article XIII and Bylaw 2.1 were read in the 2025 edition and the other lines in the 2012–13 edition), the Covenant Affirmations booklet, its 2008 resource paper The Evangelical Covenant Church and the Bible, its policy on baptism, its policy statement on divorce and remarriage, its 2006 resolution on women in ministry, its 1996 resolution on human sexuality, and its guidelines for ministerial candidates. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): read on covchurch.org in the church's own files, through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations: the full Covenant Affirmations booklet (2005 text, reprinted 2026; two readings of the passages that decide an answer), the Constitution and Bylaws 2025 (Preamble, Article II, Article XIII, Bylaw 2.1) and the 2022 edition, the Rules for the Ordered Ministry (adopted 2002, revised June 2017), the Common Vows of Ordered Ministry, the Final Ordination, Commissioning and Transfer Paper (revised 2024), the Guide to Permanent Credentials, the Ethical Principles for Covenant Ministers (2010), the Guidelines for Covenant Pastors and Congregations Regarding Human Sexuality (undated), the full policy statement on divorce and remarriage (undated), the 2008 and 2024 Covenant Resource Papers, the resolutions of 1996 (human sexuality), 2006 (women in ministry), and 2007 (creation care), the 1998 paper on baptism, the distinctives article (1988, 2007), and the church's reports of the removals of First Covenant Church of Minneapolis (2019) and Awaken Church (2023). v0.85 (October 16, 2026) spot-check: the Policy on Baptism, the Dissent paper, the Guidelines, and the 1998 baptism paper were re-read in full as PDF text (pdf.js); the quotations matched (no coded answer changed). The Dissent paper does not name human sexuality as the guide says; the "listed July 22, 2019" date was not found in the PDF; the Guidelines carry no adoption date but their own timeline runs to a 2015 update. The Guidelines say "The ECC does not credential people who are in violation of this standard" (a clergy rule) and "we respectfully expect" that congregations' facilities policies exclude same-sex marriage ceremonies and that ministry staff the ECC does not credential follow the same standards (wording at the congregation level is "expect"). The Policy on Baptism closes by asking pastors to "place the freedom of conscience of his or her whole flock and the unity of the Church above personal convictions in all matters which do not disturb the central truths of the faith." The Affirmations booklet lists "baptism, the second coming of Christ, the precise nature of inspiration or how the atonement may be understood" among matters that have led to controversy where Covenanters are free, which the guide left as silence on the Bible and the millennium (an author call).

Find a congregation near you. https://covchurch.org/find-a-church/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? No confession is signed or sworn to. Scripture is its only confessional standard, the Affirmations booklet "is not to be construed as a creed or a formal doctrinal statement," and its resource papers are not binding and cannot be used to discipline ministers (Bylaw 2.1). At ordination a minister is asked whether he or she believes the Bible to be "the Word of God and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct," believes in the Triune God, confesses Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and will "submit to the church's discipline" and follow the ethical Guidelines for Covenant Ministers (Common Vows of Ordered Ministry; no confession or booklet is named). Who acts when a minister departs from doctrine (v0.83): the Rules for the Ordered Ministry (adopted 2002, revised June 2017; Article X, 10.2 and 10.3) list "doctrinal error" among the grounds for a charge, with indiscretion, immorality, unethical behavior, and disloyalty; the inquiry is started by the executive minister of the ordered ministry and the president of the Covenant; the Board of the Ordered Ministry examines whether the charges are valid and may require counseling, suspend, or recommend dismissal; dismissal needs the Ministerium's approval and a recommendation to the Annual Meeting, which decides. The Rules name no document as the measure of doctrinal error. Only the 2017 edition was read; the 2025 Constitution does not include the Rules.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.23 out of 1, with an answer on 17 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.35 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 20 of 21 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (17 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible alone.
How God saves (election): leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Losing salvation: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith (inferred: two readings possible).
The meaning of the cross: Jesus defeated sin, death, and the devil (inferred: two readings possible).
Baptism: allows more than one answer: believers only, any mode, with real benefit or babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here (inferred: stated in other words).
Church government: each congregation governs itself (inferred: stated in other words).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: stated in other words).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case.
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents say nothing on: resisting grace, creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high, with cautions. Nine scored questions are answered. The church has no creed, so many "not stated" answers reflect that design and do not mean agreement. Read in v0.83 and found silent: the Bible's accuracy (recoded in v0.95 as leaves it open, inferred), election, resisting grace, losing salvation, how Christ is present in the Supper, gifts (no position), the millennium, Matthew 24, what happens to the unrepentant, and creation. Not read: the Covenant Book of Worship (sold, not online), the resolutions on abortion and war (excerpts only), a later edition of the Rules for the Ordered Ministry, the adoption date of the divorce policy, the rest of the 2025 and 2026 Annual Meeting papers (the 2026 Delegate Notebook was read only to page 42). Every v0.83 quotation came through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters; the quotations that decide a scored answer (the two sentences on sanctification, the justification and cross passages in the Affirmations, and the divorce policy) were each returned on two separate readings; the rest need a spot-check. v0.84: the decisive quotations were spot-checked against the church's own pages (resolutions and ordered-ministry papers on covchurch.org). The extra questions were worked from the Covenant Affirmations, the Rules for the Ordered Ministry, and the resolutions; PDFs were read through a summarizing tool limited to about 125 characters per quotation.

How much room it gives for disagreement: wide. Scripture is its only confessional standard, though it enforces its position on marriage and sexuality.

Sources this profile cites (69 addresses on 4 websites)

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Vineyard USA14 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. Vineyard USA's own booklet, Core Values & Beliefs (vineyardusa.org). The booklet was read in full in v0.80 from a PDF supplied by the project author (© 2016 Vineyard Resources; the file was created in February 2023); before that only its Statement of Faith had been read. Two position papers are known only from secondhand reports. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. In v0.80 the following were also read, all supplied by the project author: the National Leadership Handbook, version 3.0 (a PDF marked "Final Draft for NLC Ratification (March 2026)"); the 2022 Bylaws; and copies of the Be–Know–Do framework, the ordination competencies, and the Ordination Commitments. The church's own Handbook page (read through a fetch tool) says version 3.0 was ratified by the Leadership Council on March 2, 2026 in Birmingham, Alabama, with section votes of 81 to 1, 82 to 0, 81 to 1, 82 to 0, and 82 to 0, takes effect 180 days later, and links the file named "NLH-v3.0-Final-Draft-for-NLC-Ratification-March-2026.pdf" as the final PDF, which is the file read here; the draft text was compared with the live Google Doc text (pasted by the project author), which matches it word for word in every section quoted here but still carries the heading "To Be Ratified." The church's "changes between draft and final" document was not seen. Version 2.0 (March 2024) was also looked at through a fetch tool and does not address marriage, sexuality, or women in ministry. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Core Values and Beliefs booklet, the Handbook v3.0 (PDF and Google Doc text), the Be-Know-Do framework, the Ordination Competencies and Commitments, and the template church bylaws were read for the extra questions and for the questions the guide had marked silent; none speaks to the silent questions. The position papers on vineyardusa.org could not be read (the pages show an introduction and a download button with no file address, and the addresses return 404 in the browser), and the Expanded FAQs say these papers "remain in effect," so one could still speak to them. A personal reply relayed by the author is hearsay and was not used. v0.89 (October 17, 2026): the project author also supplied the Women in Leadership Team booklet One in Christ: Men and Women Together in Ministry (a PDF of about 25 pages).

Find a congregation near you. https://vineyardusa.org/find/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? No signed or sworn statement of belief was found. A new lead pastor must "acknowledge receipt of the current Vineyard USA National Leadership Handbook and affirm his or her intent to operate in accordance with its policies, processes, and relational commitments" (Handbook, Section 3.3.7.2). The Ordination Commitments ask candidates, sponsoring pastors, and Vineyard USA to commit to a process of formation and discernment, with Vineyard USA "preserving a common theological and formational standard across the movement." They contain no statement of belief to sign. Endorsement can be withdrawn for "substantial violation of the ordination standards," which "include doctrine, practice, and conduct" (Section 5.2.6).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.40 out of 1, with an answer on 14 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.58 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 20 of 21 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (14 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: allows more than one answer: no errors in anything it says or fully true, in the language of its time.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible alone.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith (inferred: stated in other words).
The meaning of the cross: both together.
Baptism: allows more than one answer: believers only, by immersion, as a sign, or believers only, any mode, with real benefit (inferred: implied, never stated).
The Lord's Supper: allows more than one answer: a memorial, or Christ's real spiritual presence (inferred: two readings possible).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church.
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here (inferred: implied, never stated).
Church government: each congregation governs itself.
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Remarriage after divorce: allowed after adultery or desertion (inferred: two readings possible).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents say nothing on: how God saves (election), resisting grace, losing salvation, the millennium, creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high for its Statement of Faith and its governing Handbook. The position on same-sex marriage comes from a secondhand report of a position paper and one congregation's page. The Handbook is the March 2026 draft for ratification.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate to wide. The statement of faith is short.

Sources this profile cites (73 addresses on 6 websites)

d1h8uvf6sd4tvp.cloudfront.net (7): Vineyard-Core-Values-Beliefs-RGB.pdf, 6-LGBT-Position-Paper-2014-rev-52.pdf, 2-Deere-Vineyard-Response-To-The-Briefing.pdf, 3-Grudem-Vineyard-Response-To-The-Standard.pdf, 4-Grudem-Vineyard-Response-To-Power-And-Truth.pd, 5-Nathan-Response-To-Charismatic-Chaos.pdf, 1-Wimber-Why-I-Respond-To-Criticism.pdf
docs.google.com (14): preview, preview, preview, export, preview, export, export, export, export, export, export, export, export, edit
drive.google.com (7): view, 1pMowLAt8Ji7o2shNAc0E6n7pllmZCX2y, view, view, view, view, 1jBfjWo6Ad5HtAVdB3TPXFnW4IN1BaOJg
vineyardcolumbus.org (1): vineyard-and-the-lgbtq-community
vineyardusa.org (43): find, one-in-christ-men-women-together-in-ministry, Vineyard-Core-Values-Beliefs.pdf, position-papers, home page, NLH-v3.0-Final-Draft-for-NLC-Ratification-March-, bylaws, ordination, core-values-beliefs, expanded-faqs, handbook, theology-and-education, home page, one-in-christ-men-women-together-in-ministry, expanded-faqs, home page, position-paper-the-vineyards-response-to-the-sta, position-paper-the-vineyards-response-to-charism, biblical-faithfulness, biblical-faithfulness, goodstanding, what-is-the-vineyard, theology-and-education, home page, home page, library, celebrating-a-culture-of-baptism, history, womeninleadership, home page, faqs, home page, position-paper-why-i-respond-to-criticism, building-a-community-of-hope-in-a-despairing-wor, fellowship, rooted-in-risk, the-kingdom-coming-come-or-both, what-is-the-kingdom-implications-of-the-kingdom, give-us-the-tools, john-wimber, justice, compassionate-ministry, the-kingdom-healing-the-dualism-of-personal-and-
www.thegospelcoalition.org (1): vineyard-makes-another-bad-turn_10

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Seventh-day Adventist Church18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The 2015 edition of the 28 Fundamental Beliefs, read in a copy published by the Adventist Ministerial Association (a General Conference department) and in church-hosted copies; the church's own Ministry magazine on the Lord's Supper; and an older (1965) statement of beliefs. The adventist.org page itself was not retrieved, so lines drawn from church-hosted copies are called secondhand. A volume in this project's library, It Is Completed (a critical assessment of Adventist doctrine), supplied direct quotations of Fundamental Beliefs 4, 12, 18, and 24 from the 1980 text as revised in 2005; only those quotations of the church's own statement are used here, not the volume's evaluation. Reports of General Conference actions on women's ordination and on the ordination of elders were read in the church's own news channels (Adventist News Network and Adventist Review, 1995, 2015, and 2022). In v0.77 the full 2025 edition of the Church Manual (PDF dated October 13, 2025, supplied by the project author) was read in text, including the chapter on elders (pages 80 to 83 in that edition). The General Conference Working Policy, 2019-2020 edition, was read whole in v0.91 in a copy on a third-party site; no General Conference-hosted copy has been opened, because the church's own Encyclopedia says the Working Policy is distributed only through the divisions. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the 2025 Church Manual PDF on gc.adventist.org (which includes the 28 Fundamental Beliefs) was read for the extra questions, with General Conference statements on birth control (1999), abortion (2019), Roman Catholicism (1997), ordination (2014), and Holy Scriptures (1995); each is marked as a General Conference statement. Not opened: the adventist.org copy of the Birth Control statement (fetch error), the 1954 statement on civil governments and war (seen only as quoted by the church's news service), and the 1992 abortion guidelines.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.adventistlocator.org/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? A vow at baptism. One of the two approved sets of baptismal vows asks: "Do you accept the teachings of the Bible as expressed in the Statement of Fundamental Beliefs" (Adventist News Network, July 7, 2005). The Fundamental Beliefs themselves say Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.79 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.79 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 33 of 34 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: allows more than one answer: the Bible alone, or the Bible plus the Spirit guiding the church (inferred: two readings possible).
How God saves (election): God chooses those he knows will believe (inferred: stated in other words).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: stated in other words).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away (inferred: implied, never stated).
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment.
Baptism: believers only, by immersion, as a sign.
The Lord's Supper: allows more than one answer: a memorial, or Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church.
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here (inferred: stated in other words).
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian) (inferred: implied, never stated).
The millennium: historic premillennial (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: partly fulfilled then, partly still to come (inferred: two readings possible).
What happens to the unrepentant: the unrepentant are destroyed.
Creation: young earth, six days.
Remarriage after divorce: allowed only after adultery (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.
Its documents speak, but no option fits: women as pastors or elders.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium. About two-thirds of the questions are now answered from the 28 Fundamental Beliefs, partly from the church's own publisher and partly from church-hosted copies. The adventist.org page itself was not retrieved.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated.

Sources this profile cites (96 addresses on 19 websites)

adventist.news (12): delegates-debate-baptismal-vows, gc-president-says-ordination-vote-doesnt-change-, womens-ordination-request-rejected-at-seventh-da, womens-ordination-not-approved, annual-council-votes-to-continue-dialogue-on-uni, the-seventh-day-adventist-church-and-conscientio, home page, gc-president-makes-impassioned-plea-to-move-forw, official-statement-affirms-importance-of-the-bib, news, proposed-amendment-to-church-manual-on-pastoral-, church-manual-will-undergo-comprehensive-revisio
adventist.org (18): experience-of-salvation, second-coming, christs-ministry-in-the-heavenly-sanctuary, millennium-and-the-end-of-sin, the-great-controversy, beliefs, holy-scriptures, the-church, remnant-and-its-mission, unity-in-the-body-of-christ, spiritual-gifts-and-ministries, gift-of-prophecy, the-lords-supper, death-and-resurrection, baptism, marriage-and-the-family, son, beliefs
adventist.org.au (2): Session-Focus-Area-3-Ordination-Appendix-4.pdf, Session-Focus-Area-3-Ordination-Appendix-1.pdf
adventistbiblicalresearch.org (3): methods-of-bible-study, lessons-from-matthew-24, signs-of-the-times
adventistreview.org (7): gc-delegates-vote-no-on-issue-of-women-s-ordinat, adventist-leaders-appeal-for-church-entities-to-, delegates-approve-church-manual-amendment-on-ord, annual-council-delegates-vote-to-adopt-complianc, to-save-life-rather-than-take-it, south-america-division-votes-to-allow-women-elde, annual-council-2025
documents.adventistarchives.org (1): SS19881001-04.pdf
encyclopedia.adventist.org (1): article
executivecommittee.adventist.org (12): 25AC-Agenda.pdf, 23AC-Agenda.pdf, home page, meeting-archives, 22AC-Agenda.pdf, 2026-annual-council, 24AC-Agenda.pdf, 25AC-Church-Manual-Agenda.pdf, 25AC-Agenda.pdf, 2026-sm-presentations, 2025-annual-council-presentations, 2026-spring-meeting
gc.adventist.org (11): Seventh-day_Adventist_Church_Manual-2025-10-13.p, official-statements, birth-control, statement-on-the-biblical-view-of-unborn-life-an, how-seventh-day-adventists-view-roman-catholicis, peace, call-for-peace, consensus-statement-on-a-seventh-day-adventist-t, marriage, the-holy-scriptures, church-manual
gcsda.sharepoint.com (1): IQBvM0m8WpU0T4GNSoz0CZ5pAWZ6XE_nP3jfu5zNIm98KlM
interamerica.org (1): adventist-world-church-votes-new-leaders-at-annu
m.egwwritings.org (1): 132.69
secretariat.adventist.org (2): home page, 2026-secretariat-advisory
session.adventistreview.org (1): delegates-vote-church-manual-bylaws-and-constitu
spectrummagazine.org (7): annual-council-6-monday-money-and-mission, annual-council-5-sunday-motions-and-church-mobil, annual-council-4-sabbath-unity-and-one-voice, annual-council-3-friday-peace-and-org-impact, annual-council-sunday-membership-trends-church-m, 2025-annual-council-begins-with-focus-on-integra, in-south-american-division-church-manual-revisio
ted.adventist.org (3): Seventh-day-Adventist-Church-Manual-2025.pdf, (14)TEDwp-b-Organisation-Administration.pdf, (58)TEDwp-INDEX.pdf
www.adventistarchives.org (11): unions-and-ordination-statement.pdf, seventh-day-adventists-on-womens-ordination-a-br, 172g.pdf, gc-executive-committee-extracts-on-ordination.pd, gc-session-actions, official-gc-proceedings, ordination, unions,-ordination-to-gospel-ministry,-and-worki, unity-in-mission.pdf, various-gc-committees-actions, records-policies-and-forms
www.adventistlocator.org (1): home page
www.ministrymagazine.org (1): seventh-day-adventists-and-the-lords-supper.html

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Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. Two sections of the ELCA Constitution as quoted on archived web pages, an agreement between the ELCA and German churches, and a Wikipedia summary of its 2009 assembly. The ELCA's own documents were not retrieved, so every line is secondhand or inferred. For the binding levels added in v0.76, the Roster Manual (April 2026) was read, and thirteen social statements were searched, from local copies; the Constitution (April 2026) was first read through a fetch tool that stops near 125,000 characters, and in v0.78 the whole Constitutions, Bylaws and Continuing Resolutions was read from the author's PDF and searched for ordination and sex-related wording only (the other lines were not rechecked, except that every quotation from the Constitution was found in the PDF); and The Use of the Means of Grace, the Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline (April 2025), the 2026 FAQ on the human sexuality reconsiderations, and the elca.org pages on social teaching and the 2009 assembly were read through the same tool. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): read on elca.org through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters: the Constitutions, Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions (April 2026 and November 2023 editions; the tool stops in 7.61.02 and never reaches Chapter 20), the Rules Governing Disciplinary Proceedings (April 2026, to Rule L53), the Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline (April 2025, whole), the Roster Manual (April 2026, searched for vows only), Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust in its 2025 text (to End Note 22), the February 2026 FAQ and the timeline on the reconsideration, the 1996 message Sexuality: Some Common Convictions, the 1991 abortion statement, the 1993 statement on the environment, the 1991 Church in Society statement, and the pages on beliefs and social teaching. No copy of the Augsburg Confession was found on elca.org; Articles 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 21, 24, and 28 were read in the Concordia Publishing House copy (an LCMS publisher, with no named translator) and Articles 6, 9, 10, 12, 16, and 17 also in the Project Wittenberg Triglot copy, so every Augsburg Confession quotation is secondhand. v0.85 (October 16, 2026) spot-check: the ELCA's own site now supplies several texts that the guide earlier took from third parties. The Model Constitution for Congregations (2025, resources.elca.org) says "Sections of this constitution marked by [*] are required provisions when a congregation amends its governing documents. These sections must be used without alteration or amendment of the text in any manner," based on provision 9.52 of the ELCA Constitution, which settles the "not read" note on the model constitution. An ELCA-hosted document (Following Our Shepherd to Full Communion) gives the ordination text: the bishop says "The Church into which you are to be ordained confesses that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God and are the norm of faith and life. We accept, teach, and confess the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds. We also acknowledge the Lutheran Confessions as true witnesses and faithful expositions of the Holy Scriptures. Will you therefore preach and teach in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and these creeds and confessions?" and the candidate answers "I will, and I ask God to help me" (the third-party text the guide quoted matches this word for word). An ELCA-hosted statement (The Use of the Means of Grace) quotes Augsburg Confession X (Tappert 1959) as "the true body and blood of Christ are really present in the Supper of our Lord under the form of bread and wine and are there distributed and received"; the words "in, with, and under" are still absent from every ELCA-hosted text read. An ELCA-hosted joint dialogue (The Hope of Eternal Life) quotes Article XVII as "condemn the ungodly and the devils to hell and eternal punishment" and rejects "the Anabaptists who teach that the devils and condemned human beings will not suffer eternal torture"; this is a joint ecumenical document, not an ELCA statement of its own. The church's theology page has been rewritten since the guide quoted it, so the quotation "The ELCA's official Confession of Faith identifies the Scriptures ..." can no longer be re-read on the live site; Constitution 2.03 to 2.06 carry the same content. There is still no ELCA-hosted full text of the Augsburg Confession. v0.90: the ELCA's own authorized rite, Ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament (adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship Occasional Services for the Assembly, authorized for use beginning January 2020, PDF on cdn.elca.org), was read in full text, and the ELCA's own Legislative Update for August 1, 2025 (resources.elca.org) records the 552 to 211 vote. The April 2026 ELCA Constitution file was missing; the November 2023 edition was read.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.elca.org/directory/congregations. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? A promise at ordination, and a standing requirement, for pastors. The Constitution says a minister of Word and Sacrament is a person "who accepts and adheres to the Confession of Faith of this church" and "shall comply with this church's constitutions, bylaws, and continuing resolutions" (7.22; 7.31.01.b repeats "acceptance of and adherence to the Confession of Faith of this church"). The ordination promises are not in the Roster Manual (read whole in v0.84, no vows); they are in the ELCA's own authorized rite, Ordination to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament (adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship Occasional Services for the Assembly, authorized for use beginning January 2020, PDF on cdn.elca.org). In it the presiding minister says: "The church in which you are to be ordained confesses that the holy scriptures are the word of God and are the norm of its faith and life. We accept, teach, and confess the Apostles', the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds. We also acknowledge the Lutheran confessions as true witnesses and faithful expositions of the holy scriptures. Will you therefore preach and teach in accordance with the holy scriptures and these creeds and confessions?" and each candidate responds: "I will, and I ask God to help me." Two more questions follow, on diligent study of the Scriptures and use of the means of grace, and on prayer and faithful service. A 2021 synod memorial (not the rite) says ordinands are "asked to preach and teach according to the scriptures, the creeds and the confessions" and "not asked whether they actually believe the essential tenets." How sure we are: the Constitution wording checked in the church's own text; the rite checked in the church's own authorized text (cdn.elca.org, read in full text in v0.90).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.56 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.57 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 36 of 37 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: authoritative, read together with church tradition (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone (inferred: implied, never stated).
Resisting grace: the lost resist it, but the saved are saved by grace alone (inferred: two readings possible).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away (inferred: stated in other words).
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: baptism gives grace and new birth (inferred: stated in other words).
The Lord's Supper: Christ present in, with, and under the bread and wine (inferred: stated in other words).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here (inferred: implied, never stated).
Church government: allows more than one answer: each congregation governs itself, or bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever (inferred: stated in other words).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: allows more than one answer: the church may bless same-sex marriage, or each congregation decides (inferred: two readings possible).
Its documents speak, but no option fits: creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium, mostly from secondhand sources. Sixteen of the 19 scored questions are answered. Six of them (election, losing salvation, holiness, the millennium, the unrepentant, and the cross) come from the Augsburg Confession, the Formula of Concord, or the Large Catechism, which the ELCA's own Constitution accepts as a true witness (2.05) and as a further valid interpretation of the faith (2.06), and are marked inferred; the Confession's text is from the Concordia Publishing House and Project Wittenberg copies, not elca.org. The Bible, Matthew 24, and creation are recorded as silent. The ELCA Constitution (the September 2026 file) was read whole in v0.84, including Chapter 20 (20.22.01 lists "preaching and teaching in conflict with the faith confessed by this church" as a ground for discipline of ministers), and the Roster Manual (November 2025) was read whole and contains no ordination vows; the ordination rite was not found in an ELCA text, and the Augsburg Confession is still secondhand. v0.84: the whole Constitution (September 2026 file, 222 pages) and the Roster Manual were read in a browser tab; the extra questions were worked from the Constitution, the social statements, and the Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. Pastors promise to teach in accordance with the Creeds and Lutheran confessions, but the ELCA does not treat them as binding in every part, and its 2009 decisions on human sexuality allow differing understandings. Its 2009 decisions on human sexuality are reported to have led some congregations to leave.

Sources this profile cites (73 addresses on 17 websites)

blogs.elca.org (1): november-28-2010-waiting-for-the-second-coming
bookofconcord.cph.org (4): article_iv, article_iii, article_vi, article_xvii
bookofconcord.org (7): of-the-papacy, of-the-mass, of-the-church, article-viii, of-the-invocation-of-saints, of-ecclesiastical-power, of-civil-affairs
catechism.cph.org (1): creed-third-article-part-one.html
cdn.elca.org (16): ELCAConstitutionsBylawsandContinuingResolutions2, The_Use_Of_The_Means_Of_Grace.pdf, Rules_Governing_Disciplinary_Proceedings_2026.pd, definitions_and_guidelines_for_discipline_april_, Roster_Manual_2026_04.pdf, HumanSexualityGiftandTrust2025.pdf, Human_Sexuality_Reconsiderations_FAQ_022026.pdf, Human_Sexuality_Reconsiderations_Timeline.pdf, AbortionSS.pdf, EnvironmentSS.pdf, Catechism_Curriculum.pdf, Summary_of_Actions_2025_CWA_d.pdf, Model_Constitution_for_Congregations_2025-08.doc, Guide_Use_of_Model_Constitution_Congregations_12, ELCAConstitutionsBylawsandContinuingResolutionsA, Church_SocietySS.pdf
dev.elca.org (1): 6585
elca.org (2): peace, 6587
learn.elca.org (3): a-complex-position, a-brief-case-study-on-compromise, liturgical-practice-and-ethical-perspective-revi
liturgybytlw.com (1): Ordin.html
resources.elca.org (15): Constitutions_Bylaws_and_Continuing_Resolutions_, Church_SocietySS.pdf, Joint_Declaration_on_the_Doctrine_of_Justificati, constitution-bylaws-and-continuing-resolutions-o, summary-of-actions-of-the-2025-churchwide-assemb, Called_To_Common_Mission.pdf, 2025-model-constitution, model-constitution-for-congregations-2025, Following_Our_Shepherd_To_Full_Communion.pdf, The_Hope_of_Eternal_Life.pdf, The_Orderly_Exchange.pdf, Confessing_Our_Faith_Together.pdf, A_Formula_of_Agreement.pdf, The_Vision_Of_The_ELCA.pdf, constitution
swmnelca.org (1): REVISED-Installation-of-a-Pastor.pdf
www.elca.org (9): congregations, reconsiderations, sexuality, Social-Statements, beliefs, 2009-human-sexuality-theological-discernment-soc, 6568, 6587, theology
www.livinglutheran.org (4): rapture, end-times, 2025-elca-churchwide-assembly-day-five, 2025-elca-churchwide-assembly-day-five
www.mnys.org (1): Model_Constitution_for_Congregations_2016.pdf
www.nclutheran.org (1): NC-Synod-Constitution_2025-09.pdf
www.projectwittenberg.org (5): augs-012.txt, augs-017.html, augs-006.html, augs-009.html, augs-010.html
www.reconcilingworks.org (1): downloads_resources_017_CWA2009RevisedSocialStat

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Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church's own website (epc.org): the Westminster Confession in modern English, the Essentials of Our Faith with its Explanatory Statement, and position papers on ordaining women, the Holy Spirit (1986), and divorce and remarriage (read in fragments), plus its announcement of a position paper on human sexuality. The EPC says its position papers are not part of its Constitution, so they are treated as teaching, not requirements. The Book of Government and any creation position were not read. Its motto: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the EPC's own modern-English Westminster Confession and Catechisms, the Essentials of Our Faith, and the 2026-2027 Book of Order were read for the extra questions; the EPC edition of Confession 25.6 reads only "There is no other head of the church than the Lord Jesus Christ" (the traditional clause naming the Pope is not in it), and the Book of Order calls a Pastor "the people's priest before God." Not opened: epc.org/wcf (404; the PDF addresses were used) and the March 2026 draft of the human sexuality paper.

Find a congregation near you. https://epconnect.org/churches/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Required of officers: they must hold the Westminster Confession, with room to state exceptions. The form this takes (a vow or a signature) was not recorded.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.77 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.90 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 37 of 38 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone.
Resisting grace: no, the chosen will not finally resist it.
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church.
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian).
Women as pastors or elders: each church decides.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: young earth, six days (inferred: implied, never stated).
Remarriage after divorce: allowed after adultery or desertion (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high for what the EPC states. The Book of Government and the full texts of two position papers are unread.

How much room it gives for disagreement: moderate. Officers must hold the Westminster Confession, but the church says it leaves room for liberty on non-essentials.

Sources this profile cites (21 addresses on 2 websites)

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United Methodist Church (UMC)18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Methodist Articles of Religion as published on a United Methodist annual-conference page and other sites, a umc.org glossary on the doctrinal standards, a Wikipedia summary of the Evangelical United Brethren Confession of Faith, and news reports of the 2024 General Conference. A second researcher later confirmed many of these lines against the church's own site; lines so confirmed say so. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): read on umc.org, through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters: the Articles of Religion (page labeled The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, 2020/2024), the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church (the 2016 printing, not the 2020/2024 edition), the Restrictive Rules (paragraphs 18 to 23), paragraph 101, the Constitution's Division 1 (paragraphs 1 to 8), the Theological Guidelines (paragraph 105), paragraph 304 (qualifications for ordination), paragraphs 2702, 2703.1, and 2704 (chargeable offenses and the complaint process), the Social Principles (Preface, Social Community, Natural World, Political Community), the Discipline's statements on homosexuality as revised in 2024, the Book of Resolutions guidelines on the charismatic movement (adopted 2008, readopted 2016 and 2024), the Council of Bishops' release of November 5, 2025 on the four ratified amendments, several Ask The UMC explanatory pages, and the Historic Questions as listed by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (2025). Paragraphs 102 to 104 of the 2020/2024 Discipline (the doctrinal standards and the General Rules) could not be retrieved, so the paragraph that names the standards rests on the Restrictive Rules and on paragraph 304. The page on the Doctrinal Standards is the 2012 excerpt, which numbers the Restrictive Rules 17 to 22. v0.85 (October 16, 2026) spot-check on the printed 2020/2024 Book of Discipline (Cokesbury text on issuu): paragraph 102 is "Our Doctrinal Heritage," paragraph 103 is "Our Doctrinal History," and paragraph 104 is "Our Doctrinal Standards and General Rules." Paragraph 103 says "Wesley's Sermons and Notes were understood specifically to be included in our present existing and established standards of doctrine," and paragraph 104 prints the Standard Sermons of Wesley and the Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament among the doctrinal standards, beside the Articles of Religion and the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The open risk named in v0.84 is therefore real: the Bible, authority, and holiness lines above rest on the Articles, the Confession, and paragraph 105, and the Sermons and Notes were not read. In the printed Book the Restrictive Rules are paragraphs 19 to 21 (paragraph 19 on the Articles, 20 on the Confession, 21 on episcopacy), one higher than the numbers the umc.org page gave (18 to 20); the quotations are exact.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.umc.org/en/find-a-church. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Acceptance and spoken answers by ordination candidates. Paragraph 304.1.j asks a candidate to "accept its Doctrinal Standards and Discipline and authority," and paragraph 304.1.i to accept that Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation through faith. The Historic Questions (the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry's 2025 list, paragraph 330.5.d) ask, as question 9, "After full examination do you believe that our doctrines are in harmony with the Holy Scriptures?" The question "Will you support and maintain them?" is question 12 and follows the questions on church discipline and polity (questions 10 and 11), so it pledges the Discipline and polity, not the doctrines. Who acts when a minister departs from doctrine (v0.83): "dissemination of doctrines contrary to the established standards of doctrine of The United Methodist Church" is a chargeable offense (paragraph 2702.1(d)), listed beside disobedience to the order and discipline; the complaint goes to the bishop (for a bishop, to the president and secretary of the College of Bishops), who seeks a supervisory response and just resolution first and otherwise refers it to an elder as counsel for the church; counsel may draft a judicial complaint and the chair has sixty days to convene a committee on investigation of four clergy in full connection and three professing members, elected by the annual conference (paragraphs 2703.1 and 2704). The Social Principles are not church law (their Preface), so they bind no minister as such. The Judicial Council's role was not read.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.68 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.74 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 39 of 39 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: authoritative, read together with church tradition (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): allows more than one answer: God chooses those he knows will believe, or God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: two readings possible).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: a believer can fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: allows more than one answer: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant, or baptism gives grace and new birth.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: two readings possible).
Growing in holiness: complete holiness is possible in this life.
Church government: bishops (Episcopal).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Matthew 24: partly fulfilled then, partly still to come (inferred: two readings possible).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: stated in other words).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: each congregation decides.
Its documents speak, but no option fits: creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium to high. Fifteen scored questions are answered. The Articles, the Confession, the Restrictive Rules, paragraphs 101, 105, 304, 2702, 2703.1, and 2704, and the Social Principles were read on umc.org; paragraphs 102 to 104 and most of the rest of the Discipline were not. Every v0.83 quotation came through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters; the quotations that decide a scored answer (Articles II, XII, XVIII, and XX, Confession VIII, XI, and XII, and the divorce passages) were returned twice, and the gifts guidelines once. Needs a spot-check against the church's own printed Discipline: all of them. Not read: the Book of Worship, This Holy Mystery, By Water and the Spirit, the Judicial Council's decisions, and the General Conference legislation of 2024 (petition texts). v0.84: the decisive quotations were spot-checked on umc.org pages (the Articles, the Confession, the Restrictive Rules, paragraphs 101, 105, 304, and 2702, the Social Principles) read whole in a browser tab. The extra questions were worked from the Social Principles, the Book of Resolutions, and the Discipline paragraphs.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated. The 2024 changes are reported to have been followed by departures (the Côte d'Ivoire Conference voted to leave) and by many congregations refusing to host same-sex weddings.

Sources this profile cites (92 addresses on 23 websites)

admin.resourceumc.org (1): what-changed-and-what-did-not-gc-2024.pdf
admin.umc.org (4): foundational-documents, foundational-documents, articles-of-religion, ask-the-umc-what-does-the-united-methodist-churc
admin.umnews.org (1): gc2004_resolution_on_church_unity_2.pdf
archives.gcah.org (1): content
arumc.org (1): umc-bishops-finish-canvassing-of-amendments-all-
calms2016.umc.org (1): Text.aspx
ccel.org (2): notes.i.ii.xxvi.html, sermons.v.xv.html
issuu.com (3): 70, the_book_of_discipline_of_the_unite_c115dcf702a4, the_book_of_resolutions_of_the_united_methodist_
neumc-email.brtapp.com (1): 2020_2024_bookofdiscipline.pdf
s3.amazonaws.com (1): docket-10-2018-13.pdf
umc.org (5): book-of-discipline-304-qualifications-for-ordina, book-of-discipline-2704-referral-of-original-com, book-of-discipline-101-general-book-of-disciplin, homosexuality-full-book-of-discipline-statements, ask-the-umc-whats-new-in-the-book-of-resolutions
umcdiscipleship.org (1): united-methodist-understandings-concerning-death
wesley.nnu.edu (4): notes-on-st-pauls-second-epistle-to-the-thessalo, notes-on-the-revelation-of-jesus-christ, the-sermons-of-john-wesley-the-standard-sermons, the-sermons-of-john-wesley-thomas-jacksons-numbe
www.cokesbury.com (1): book-of-discipline-book-of-resolutions-free-vers
www.crivoice.org (1): creed25.html
www.gbhem.org (1): JTOM-Discipline-Questions-2025.pdf
www.iaumc.org (2): 2008BookOfDiscipline_Table_TZVMEXVJ.pdf, 2025+Book+of+Resolutions.pdf
www.nyac.com (1): 2008bookofdiscipline_part2.pdf
www.resourceumc.org (4): gc2020_adca_vol-3_sect_1_eng_012024_sm.pdf, general-cnference-legislative-recap-final.pdf, 1120-review-of-a-decision-of-law-by-bishop-john-, f7dc70f95ceb4f07acb574f95afab70d.ashx
www.umc.org (40): find-a-church, articles-of-religion, confession-of-faith, book-of-discipline-215-definition-of-membership, ask-the-umc-why-does-the-united-methodist-church, book-of-discipline-section-iii-restrictive-rules, book-of-discipline-101-general-book-of-disciplin, book-of-discipline-division-1-general, theological-guidelines-scripture, theological-guidelines, book-of-discipline-2702-chargeable-offenses-and-, book-of-discipline-27031-composition-of-the-comm, preface-social-principles, social-principles-the-social-community, social-principles-the-natural-world, social-principles-the-political-community, homosexuality-full-book-of-discipline-statements, book-of-resolutions-guidelines-the-umc-and-the-c, umc-bishops-finish-canvassing-of-amendments-all-, doctrinal-standards-in-the-united-methodist-chur, section-2-our-doctrinal-history, doctrinal-standards-in-american-methodism, book-of-discipline-105-our-theological-task, ask-the-umc-the-umc-really-is-part-2-ending-some, the-social-community, ask-the-umc-whats-new-in-the-book-of-discipline-, preface-social-principles, guidelines-the-umc-and-the-charismatic-movement, ask-the-umc-where-does-the-rapture-fit-into-unit, glossary-doctrinal-standards, book-of-resolutions-united-methodist-guiding-pri, book-of-discipline-2702-chargeable-offenses-and-, book-of-discipline-340-responsibilities-and-duti, ask-the-umc-what-is-the-methodist-belief-about-f, is-the-book-of-discipline-available-online, glossary-book-of-resolutions-the, glossary-doctrinal-standards, ask-the-umc-whats-new-in-the-book-of-resolutions, local-churches, book-of-discipline-340-responsibilities-and-duti
www.umcdiscipleship.org (10): for-general-use-in-services-of-death-and-resurre, book-of-worship, a-service-of-death-and-resurrection, a-service-of-committal, ministry-with-the-dying, ministry-immediately-following-death, a-litany-for-the-church-and-for-the-world, an-annual-conference-memorial-service, the-great-thanksgiving-for-all-saints-and-memori, the-call-to-ministry-of-all-the-baptized
www.umofficialresources.com (3): bor_users_guide.html, book-of-discipline-addendum-and-errata-january-2, Book%20of%20Discipline%20Addendum%20and%20Errata
www.unitedmethodistbishops.org (3): 2021-2024+ecumenical+and+interreligious+handbook, a-summary-of-the-postponed-general-conference-of, 2024+Ecumenical+and+Interreligious+Handbook.pdf

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Mennonite Church USA16 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The church's own texts. The 1995 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective with commentary: the full-text PDF through Article 21 (earlier passes), and in v0.82 the church's own per-article pages for Articles 4 to 9 and 11 to 24 (Article 13 only in its first sentence), with the PDF used to cross-check the quotations that decide an answer (Articles 8, 11, 12, 15, and 16). The church's own pamphlet, Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective: A Summary Statement, which gives a summary paragraph for each of the 24 articles. Added in v0.82: A Shared Understanding of Ministerial Leadership (2017, sponsored jointly with Mennonite Church Canada; the church's reference grid says Mennonite Church USA accepted it in 2015), the Bylaws as approved by delegates in July 2023, the Membership Guidelines in their 2013 text (retired in 2022), the Executive Board resolution that retired them (adopted by the Delegate Assembly on May 29, 2022), the 2022 Resolution for Repentance and Transformation, and the church's own news report of the 2022 assembly. The Confession calls itself a statement of faith for teaching and nurture and the Bylaws name it the common confession of congregations and area conferences "as updated from time to time," so the profile treats it as teaching, not as a requirement; the line below on how the church holds you records what ordination candidates are asked to do. The Anabaptist World report of the 2022 actions (May 29, 2022) is no longer the source for those actions. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): all 24 articles of the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, with their commentary, were read in the PDF (all 52 pages, extracted text) and on the per-article pages of mennoniteusa.org; every decisive quotation matched on both. The earlier note that Article 13 was read only in its first sentence is out of date. The Articles of the Confession are silent on election, perseverance, the millennium, Matthew 24, creation mechanism, and remarriage; the ministerial manual, Bylaws, Membership Guidelines, and area conference documents were not re-read.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.mennoniteusa.org/?page_id=24. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? No signing: ordination candidates are asked to affirm the confession as a guide. The church's ministerial manual, A Shared Understanding of Ministerial Leadership (2017), says the person to be ordained will "affirm the current Mennonite confession of faith as a guide for faith and practice within the Mennonite church" (Section I, p. 21), and that a pastor "will respect and be guided by the beliefs and practices of the Mennonite church" (p. 66). It lists "major theological deviation from Christian and Anabaptist/Mennonite understandings" among the breaches of trust that start a review of a credentialed person (pp. 69 to 70), and it says it "is not intended to be a rule book" (p. 71). The Bylaws (2023) name the Confession as the common confession of congregations and area conferences, "as updated from time to time," and give it the role of a "statement of faith for teaching and nurture" (Article III, Section 2); they contain no provision that disciplines a congregation or conference for departing from it. The church's reference grid says the Confession "has not typically been applied as a legalistic document." Pastoral accountability belongs to the area conference that holds the credential (2022 resolution). How sure we are: checked in the church's own text.

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.28 out of 1, with an answer on 16 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.33 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 28 of 29 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (16 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: allows more than one answer: no errors in anything it says or fully true, in the language of its time (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible plus the Spirit guiding the church.
How God saves (election): God chooses a people in Christ and invites all (inferred: implied, never stated).
Resisting grace: yes, anyone can finally refuse it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Being made right with God (justification): faith and obedience together (inferred: stated in other words).
The meaning of the cross: both together (inferred: implied, never stated).
Baptism: believers only, any mode, with real benefit (inferred: stated in other words).
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence (inferred: stated in other words).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here (inferred: implied, never stated).
Church government: each congregation governs itself (inferred: two readings possible).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: hell is real, but its nature is left open (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: leaves it open or to local decision.
Its documents say nothing on: losing salvation, creation, remarriage after divorce.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: high for the Confession, medium for credentialing and polity. All 24 article summaries were read in the church's own pamphlet. In v0.82 the full articles with commentary were read on the church's own pages for Articles 4 to 9 and 11 to 24 (Article 13 only in its first sentence); Articles 1 to 3, 4, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, and 19 were read whole in v0.84 on the church's own per-article pages, with the Confession PDF as a second reading for the decisive sentences, so no scored line rests on the pamphlet alone; the pamphlet is kept only as a short summary. The pamphlet's phrase "experience of God" for Article 18 is the pamphlet's wording; the Confession says "wisdom of God." The ministerial manual was read as the fetch tool returned its text, from the front matter through its page 71. The Bylaws were read in the 2023 amended text. The area conferences' own credentialing standards, the 2001 Membership Guidelines, and the 2003 Statement on Abortion in the church's own text were not read.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated. The Confession calls itself a statement of faith for teaching and nurture, the Bylaws leave membership criteria and credentialing to area conferences, and the ministerial manual asks ordination candidates to affirm the Confession as a guide and starts a review of a credentialed person for "major theological deviation." Every scored line stays at taught, but not enforced (author call, open item 11).

Sources this profile cites (72 addresses on 4 websites)

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Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Design (preamble) and the "Communion and Baptism" page at disciples.org, which quotes the church's 1987 Commission on Theology statement A Word to the Church on Baptism. Confirmed by a second researcher against the church's own site. Added in v0.66, from disciples.org: the Design (church structure), the page "Our Confession," the General Commission on Ministry's Theological Foundations and Policies and Criteria for the Ordering of Ministry, and a 2020 column by the General Minister and President on welcome and local decision. The Design says nothing on doctrine beyond the Preamble. Read again in v0.68: the Design and the page "Our Mission, Vision and Confession" in full for doctrine, the General Commission on Ministry's page on areas of ministerial practice, and the Index of General Assembly Actions in the 2018 Yearbook. The General Assembly acts the index lists on the Bible, salvation, and the Lord's Supper were mostly scans; in v0.81 the author supplied four of them and they were read (see "Other questions").

Find a congregation near you. https://disciples.org/find-congregation/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Nothing is asked of you. The church's confession is used "not as a 'test of fellowship,' but as a statement of faith" (disciples.org).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.00 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.00 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 7 of 7 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible alone (inferred: implied, never stated).
How God saves (election): leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Resisting grace: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Being made right with God (justification): leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
The meaning of the cross: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Baptism: believers only, by immersion, as a sign (inferred: stated in other words).
The Lord's Supper: allows more than one answer: a memorial, or Christ's real spiritual presence (inferred: two readings possible).
Gifts of the Spirit: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Growing in holiness: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Church government: each congregation governs itself (inferred: two readings possible).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men (inferred: implied, never stated).
The millennium: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Creation: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Remarriage after divorce: leaves it open or to local decision (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: each congregation decides (inferred: implied, never stated).

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: low, with a known gap. The Preamble, baptism, the Lord's Supper, church structure, ordination, one officer's column on marriage, the 2013 welcome resolution, and four General Assembly scans (none of which sets an answer) were read. The church has no confession it requires. From v1.13 the nine questions on which no text speaks are coded as left to local decision, inferred from its general rule (an author call).

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated.

Sources this profile cites (112 addresses on 10 websites)

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Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The church's liturgical form for Holy Baptism (2016 introduction) and its statement on the Lord's Supper (1994 liturgical form), at crcna.org. Confirmed by a second researcher against the church's own site. Added in v0.66, from crcna.org: the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism (the church's own pages), the Church Order and its Supplements (2025), and the position statements on creation and science, divorce and remarriage, marriage, and the Synod 2022 questions and answers on human sexuality. The church's own page for the Canons of Dort would not open, so the Canons are quoted from the Reformed Church in America's copy of the same joint 2011 translation (secondhand). The Belhar Confession and the Synod 1980 and 2022 reports themselves were not read. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): read on crcna.org through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters: the Belgic Confession (Articles 1 to 37), the Heidelberg Catechism (whole), the Covenant for Officebearers (whole), Our World Belongs to God in the 2008 text and its Inside Story page, the Church Order and Supplements 2025 (the tool stops near Article 25), three Synod 2026 committee reports, the Meaning of Subscription, the Synod 2023 and 2024 question pages, the Human Sexuality Report question page, ten position statements (Bible authority, inspiration and infallibility, eschatology, the Pentecostal movement, creation and science, divorce and remarriage, marriage, homosexuality, women in ecclesiastical office, ecumenicity), the Position Statements compilations of 2019 and 2021 (about the first 100,000 characters), the study reports of 1972 (Report 44) and 1973 (Report 34) up to the point where the tool stops, the 1988 Form of Subscription as reproduced on the church's community site, and Banner news reports. The church's own page for the Canons of Dort and its Belhar page did not open (the Belhar page is blocked to automated readers), so the Canons are still read secondhand.

Find a congregation near you. https://crcna.org/churches. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Signing and promises by officebearers. Church Order Art. 5-a says officebearers "shall signify their agreement with the doctrine of the church by signing the Covenant for Officebearers"; professors, ministers, commissioned pastors, elders, and deacons sign at ordination or installation. The Covenant (read whole, v0.83) says of the three confessions: "whose doctrines fully agree with the Word of God," and promises: "Grateful for these expressions of faith, we promise to be formed and governed by them" and "We heartily believe and will promote and defend their doctrines faithfully, conforming our preaching, teaching, writing, serving, and living to them." It adds a promise "to present or receive confessional difficulties in a spirit of love and fellowship" and "to submit to the church's judgment and authority." The signer also recognizes Our World Belongs to God as "a current Reformed expression of the Christian faith that forms and guides us." Synod 2012 replaced the 1988 Form of Subscription with this Covenant; Synod 2025 declined to remove "fully agree" and asked officebearers to affirm the Covenant at every classis meeting (Banner, secondhand to the Acts). Calvin professors sign a separate Covenant for Faculty Members. How sure we are: checked in the church's own text (crcna.org).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.75 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.79 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 39 of 40 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: allows more than one answer: no errors in anything it says or fully true, in the language of its time (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone.
Resisting grace: no, the chosen will not finally resist it.
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence (inferred: stated in other words).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian) (inferred: implied, never stated).
Women as pastors or elders: each church decides.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: two readings possible).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: the Bible does not say how (inferred: two readings possible).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions (inferred: implied, never stated).

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium to high. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Belgic Confession (Articles 1 to 37), the Heidelberg Catechism (whole), the Covenant for Officebearers (whole), Our World Belongs to God (2008 text), the Canons of Dort (selected articles, secondhand), the Church Order (whole, read in v0.84, including the introduction and Articles 26 to 90) and the Supplement passages on Articles 3 and 5, ten position statements, and the Synod 2023 and 2024 question pages. Seventeen scored questions are answered; the Bible stays silent (no church page says inerrant) and Matthew 24 is found silent. The Synod 1980 and 2022 reports, the Canons on the church's own page, and the Belhar page were not read. v0.84: the Church Order 2025 was read whole, the Synod 2022 and 2024 question pages were reread, and the extra questions were worked from the confessions, the Church Order, and the position statements.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated.

Sources this profile cites (39 addresses on 4 websites)

crcna.org (2): churches, Synod_2024_FAQs.pdf
network.crcna.org (2): form-subscription, our-three-updated-confessions
www.crcna.org (34): crc-church-order-profession-faith, Church%20Order%202025%20-%20English.pdf, bible-authority, response_biblical_authority_1972.pdf, 3943469, heidelberg-catechism, response_form_of_subscription_revison_2012.pdf, 3943236, inside-story, belgic-confession, Task_Force_to_Develop_Church_Order_Procedures_to, Advisory%20Committee%209C-revised%20%2806-15-202, Advisory%20Committee%201G-revised%20%2806-17-202, Meaning_of_subscription.pdf, hsr-faq, synod-2023-faq-document, bible-inspiration-and-infallibility, eschatology, pentecostalism, creation-and-science, divorce-and-remarriage, marriage, homosexuality, women-ecclesiastical-office, ecumenicity, position_statements_for_2019.pdf, Position_Statements_for_2021.pdf, response_neo-pentecostalism_1973.pdf, Advisory%20Committee%208A%20-%20Synod2022.pdf, CanonsofDordt.pdf, war, abortion, birth-control, lords-day
www.thebanner.org (1): officebearers-must-still-affirm-the-confessions-

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Reformed Church in America (RCA)18 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The church's page "Sacraments in Reformed Worship" at rca.org. Confirmed by a second researcher against the church's own site. Added in v0.66, from rca.org: the page on creeds and confessions, the Belgic Confession (the church's own page), the Canons of Dort (the church's own page), the Book of Church Order (2025 edition, read through Chapter 1, Part II, Article 11), and the General Synod statements page. The Heidelberg Catechism passages were first quoted from the Christian Reformed Church's copy of the shared translation, because the RCA's own page would not open then (secondhand); in v0.83 the RCA's own page opened (with a trailing slash) and the quotations that decide an answer were read there. The Declaration for Ministers, the Belhar Confession, and the rest of the Book of Church Order were not read. v0.83 (October 16, 2026): read on rca.org through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters: the Heidelberg Catechism (the whole of Q&A 1 to 129), the Belgic Confession (complete), the Canons of Dort (selected articles), the Belhar Confession (complete), the pages on creeds and confessions, Reformed theology, and the government of the RCA, the Book of Church Order 2026 in both editions (the Classis Version, effective through December 29, 2026, to Chapter 1, Part II, Article 11; the Middle Assembly Version, effective December 30, 2026, to Article 15, Section 11; each PDF stops there in the tool, before Chapter 2 on discipline and the Formularies), Chapter 2, now read in the Classis Version in force (offenses are limited to what can be shown from "the Holy Scriptures, or from the Constitution of the Reformed Church in America," and "the classis shall have exclusive jurisdiction in the case of a charge against a minister" except for General Synod professors on doctrine, 2.I.2 and 2.I.3), the pages on church discipline and on joining as a minister, the Order for Ordination, the General Synod statements page (read to about 112,000 of 127,239 characters; the Women in Ministry section was not reached), the General Synod summaries of 2022 to 2025, the news items of 2016 and 2017 on marriage, the State of the RCA page, the Order for Christian Marriage, and the page on women's history. The Declaration for Ministers itself (Formulary 3) was not reached.

Find a congregation near you. https://www.rca.org/find-an-rca-church/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Signing, in a soft form, by ministers. A minister makes the Declaration for Ministers of Word and Sacrament (Formulary 3 of the Book of Church Order) orally before the classis on being received and then signs it, and the signed Declaration is kept as a permanent record of the classis (rca.org, "How to join"; Book of Church Order 2026, 1.II.15, Sec. 4 and Formulary 3, read again in v1.11 in the church's own Classis Version PDF, printed pages 132 and 133); the Declaration has the minister say "I believe the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and as expressed in the Standards of the Reformed Church in America," then "I accept the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and life. I accept the Standards as historic and faithful witnesses to the Word of God," and then, in the Declaration's closing paragraphs, promise to walk in the Spirit of Christ, submit "to the counsel and admonition of the classis," and conduct the work of the church "in accordance with the Liturgy and the Book of Church Order" (the v0.83 wording had come from a retiree's reflection on rca.org and a secondhand Reformed Journal report, which agree with it). The church's own page calls the Standards "statements of belief" that "simply explain the beliefs set forth in Scripture." A minister from a church in full communion "shall not subscribe to the declaration" (1.I.2, Sec. 4). The ordination liturgy asks about the Old and New Testaments as "the Word of God and the perfect doctrine of salvation" and about "submitting to ecclesiastical discipline" and upholding Scripture "against all schisms and heresies"; it does not use the word Standards. Who acts when a minister departs from doctrine (v0.83): the classis "shall ordain, install, commission, transfer, suspend, depose" ministers (1.II.2, Sec. 9) and has "general superintendence" over its ministers (Sec. 2); each year it asks every church whether doctrine is preached "in conformity with" the Word of God and "the Standards of the Reformed Church in America" (1.II.7, Sec. 1(a)); a minister must explain the points of doctrine in the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belhar Confession (1.I.2, Sec. 11(f)). The current Chapter 2 on discipline was not reached; the 2024 proposal limits offenses to what can be shown against Scripture or the Constitution, gives the classis commission on judicial business exclusive jurisdiction over a charge against a minister, and lets a proven charge lead to suspension or deposition (a proposal; not confirmed in force); the church's page says an offense is "determined by Scripture and by the RCA's constitution." From December 30, 2026 the classis and the regional synod become middle assemblies (the 2026 Middle Assembly Version).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.60 out of 1, with an answer on 18 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.63 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 36 of 37 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (18 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: fully true, in the language of its time (inferred: stated in other words).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession (inferred: two readings possible).
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone.
Resisting grace: no, the chosen will not finally resist it.
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence (inferred: implied, never stated).
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions (inferred: implied, never stated).
Its documents say nothing on: creation.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium to high. The Heidelberg Catechism (complete, on the church's own page), the Belgic Confession (complete), the Canons of Dort (selected articles), the Belhar Confession, the Book of Church Order 2026 through Chapter 1 (the Classis Version to Part II, Article 11; the Middle Assembly Version to Article 15, Section 11), and the General Synod statements page to about 112,000 of 127,239 characters. Fourteen scored questions are answered (the cross, Q8, and others in earlier passes) and Q9, Q13, Q14, and Q16 are found silent in everything read. Every v0.83 quotation came through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters; those marked as returned twice were returned on two prompts or two pages. Read in v0.84 in the church's own Book of Church Order (opened in a browser tab, whole text, no quotation limit): Chapter 2 on discipline and Formulary 3, the Declaration for Ministers. Not read: the marriage formulary, the Women in Ministry section of the statements page, the Commission on Theology's papers on gifts, creation, and the last things, and the Canons of Dort beyond selected articles. v0.84: the Book of Church Order 2026 (Classis Version) was read whole in a browser tab, including Chapter 2 and the Declaration for Ministers (Formulary 3), and the decisive quotations were rechecked on rca.org. The extra questions were worked from the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, the Belhar Confession, and Our Song of Hope.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated.

Sources this profile cites (36 addresses on 3 websites)

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Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)19 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. The Westminster Shorter Catechism as printed in the church's Book of Confessions (pcusa.org); the Book of Order 2023 to 2025 (in a presbytery's copy and as quoted on pcusa.org; replaced by the 2025 to 2027 edition described below); the 2015 marriage amendment. Confirmed by a second researcher against the church's own site. Also the church's own Book of Confessions, in the 1999 printing by the Office of the General Assembly (supplied by the project author; the current edition is 2016 and adds the Belhar Confession, and its pages were not compared line by line). Read from it: the Confessional Nature of the Church report, the Scots Confession chapter 8, the Second Helvetic Confession chapter 10, the Westminster Confession chapters 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 13, 17, 24 and 26, 32 and 33, with the Declaratory Statement; the Shorter Catechism question 9; the Larger Catechism questions 15, 29, 77, 78, 79, 89, and 149; the Heidelberg Catechism questions 37, 114, and 115; the Scots Confession chapters 8, 9, and 25; the Second Helvetic Confession chapters 11 and 22; the Confession of 1967 sections 9.08 to 9.11, 9.27 to 9.30, and 9.53 to 9.55; and A Brief Statement of Faith. The Theological Declaration of Barmen and the rest of the book were not read for this profile. Only these items were read. For the binding levels added in v0.76: the Book of Order 2025 to 2027 (in v0.77 read in full text from the PDF supplied by the project author, including F-2.02, G-2.0101, G-2.0104 and G-2.0105, G-2.0401, W-4.0404, W-4.0601, and W-4.0605; in that edition the ordination questions are W-4.0404, the marriage statement is W-4.0601, and the clause that nothing compels a minister or session is W-4.0605, where earlier printings numbered them W-4.4003 and W-4.9000) and the church's study page on the ordination question about essential tenets. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): the Book of Confessions (2016 PDF) and the Book of Order (2025-27 PDF) on pcusa.org were read in full text for the extra questions. In this edition the Westminster Confession's 1647 wording is replaced in the main text and the older lines (the pope as Antichrist; "no ordinary possibility of Salvation" outside the church) survive only in footnotes. The Book of Confessions prints two documents that disagree on Sunday (Westminster 21.7 calls Sunday the Christian Sabbath; the Second Helvetic Confession 5.225 says "we celebrate the Lord's Day and not the Sabbath as a free observance"). The abortion statement is the 1992 General Assembly report "Problem Pregnancies and Abortion," read once from a scanned PDF with OCR errors, and the contraception statement is the 1983 policy statement "Covenant and Creation"; both rank below the constitution. Not opened: the text of the 2022 General Assembly decision on reproductive justice and the 2006 late-term statement.

Find a congregation near you. https://pcusa.org/search?query=&page=1#directories-congregations. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? An answer to an ordination question by officers, at the level of essential tenets. The ordination question asks: "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church" (Book of Order W-4.0404c, as shown on equip.pcusa.org).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.54 out of 1, with an answer on 19 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.64 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 36 of 37 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (19 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: leaves it open or to local decision.
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): leaves it open or to local decision.
Resisting grace: no, the chosen will not finally resist it.
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith.
The meaning of the cross: leaves it open or to local decision.
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Gifts of the Spirit: all gifts continue, tested by Scripture and the church (inferred: stated in other words).
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
The millennium: amillennial (inferred: implied, never stated).
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: young earth, six days (inferred: two readings possible).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: implied, never stated).
Same-sex marriage: allows more than one answer: the church may bless same-sex marriage, or each congregation decides (inferred: two readings possible).

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: fairly full on the main questions. Justification, baptism, and the Lord's Supper from the Shorter Catechism; authority, government, women in office, and marriage from the Book of Order; and from the church's own Book of Confessions the Bible, election, resisting grace, losing salvation, the cross, gifts, holiness, the millennium, Matthew 24, the unrepentant, creation, and remarriage. Barmen and the extra questions are not read. The Book of Order was searched for remarriage in full in v0.78 and is silent.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated.

Sources this profile cites (29 addresses on 10 websites)

archive.org (1): bookofconfession00pres
centernet.pcusa.org (4): christiansjews1.pdf, problem-pregnancies.pdf, abortion-issues, predestination-ii
equip.pcusa.org (3): view.php, view.php, index.php
highlandspresbyterynj.org (1): 2023-2025-Book-of-Order-compressed.pdf
new14.pcusa.org (3): problem-pregnancies-and-abortion, book-of-order-2023-2025-text-only, 56989
openlibrary.org (1): OL385905M
pcusa.org (12): search, 2025_0625_Book_of_Order_Interactive_2025-2027.pd, confess671_0.pdf, regarding-ruling-elders-grace-and-gratitude, boc2016.pdf, marriage-proposed_w-4.9000_side_by_side.pdf, 2025_0724_Book_of_Order_Interactive_2025-2027.pd, covenant-of-life-and-covenant-and-creation.pdf, comparison-proposed-amendment-w-49000-marriage, predestination, 25, how-decisions-get-made-general-assembly
pma.pcusa.org (1): women-ministry
presbycc.org (1): e1e8df_d5c8287aa8fc42d8b7711f3a122db9ac.pdf
www.pcusa.org (2): reproductive-justice-and-pcusa, book-order-2025-2027

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A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO)17 of 19 answered

Where this comes from. ECO's Essential Tenets (constitution, eco-pres.org). Confirmed by a second researcher against the church's own site. Added in v0.66: the Essential Tenets as printed in two congregations' copies of ECO's 2022 text (Florence First, upc.org; secondhand, because ECO's own copy of the tenets could not be read at that time; ECO's own copy was read in v0.83 and matches), the ECO FAQ page and the ECO page on women in ministry (eco-pres.org, which quotes tenet III.D), and ECO's Confessional Standards (which says the Westminster Confession is "a useful resource to help elaborate the compact wording of many of ECO's Essential Tenets," not that it binds). v0.83 (October 16, 2026): ECO's own Constitution of 2022 (the Essential Tenets, the Polity, and the Rules of Discipline, on eco-pres.org) was read through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters (the Rules of Discipline to section 7.16; the tool's statements about where the text ended were inconsistent, so what the Rules do not say is weaker than what the Tenets do not say); ECO's Confessional Standards booklet (revised August 10, 2020; read to the middle of chapter 8 of the Westminster Confession); the FAQ, Theology, Egalitarian, and Egalitarian Theology pages; the Synod Executive's introduction to the sexuality resource; the Ordination Manual (2020 upload); the Pastor Information Packet (May 3, 2024); and the Synod's commissioner booklets of 2024 and April 2026 (the second on a presbytery's site). The site says a 2026 Constitution is current; it did not open in v0.83 (a redirect loop) and did open in v0.84 through the fetch tool at the http address on ECO's constitution page, where every ECO quotation tested matched, so the caution about the 2022 text can be dropped for the sections checked (parts after Rules section 5.13 were not available). ECO has a Synod, not a General Assembly. v0.85 (October 16, 2026): ECO's Confessional Standards booklet was read in full (124 pages) and the 2026 Constitution in full (48 pages) as PDF text, so the earlier notes that the booklet was read only to the middle of chapter 8 and that Barmen and the Rules after section 5.13 were not reached are out of date. ECO inserts the Holy Spirit and Missions as chapters IX and X, so the Westminster perseverance chapter is Chapter XIX in ECO's numbering (not 17); chapter XVII there is "Of Repentance Unto Life." Chapter XIX paragraph 1 reads: "They whom God has accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere in it to the end, and be eternally saved." Paragraph 3 allows believers to "fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue in them." Larger Catechism Q79 says the same (v0.86: every Chapter XIX quotation was re-checked in ECO's booklet and matches; the booklet also has a Heidelberg Q79, so the Larger Catechism is named; the Rules of Discipline end at section 7.16 and were read in full). The Tenets are silent on perseverance and the ordination vow binds only the Tenets (2.0103(c)), though vow (d) also says officers act "under the authority of Scripture and guided by our confessions"; Tenet I affirms only the "secondary authority" of the Confessions. The Constitution has no mechanism for taking an exception. The guide therefore keeps the scored lines resting on the Tenets and leaves Losing salvation (and the other questions the Tenets do not speak to) as silence; what the Confessions say on those questions is an author call, and the author keeps both scores. Amending the Tenets (6.02(c)) needs two-thirds of the Synod, two-thirds of the voting members of each presbytery, and a two-thirds vote of the presbyteries, and the same clause covers the Confessional Standards; the guide earlier named only the Synod vote. Barmen is in the booklet; its introduction says it "purposefully avoided being a confession" and it touches none of the scored questions.

Find a congregation near you. https://eco-pres.org/find-an-eco-church/. This is the church's own finder; the guide has not checked any congregation it lists.

How does the church hold you to its teaching? Ordination vows by officers. The ordination vows ask: "Will you receive, adopt, and be bound by the Essential Tenets of ECO as a reliable exposition of what Scripture teaches us to do and to believe, and will you be guided by them in your life and ministry?" (2.0103(c); returned twice), and ordaining bodies "must ensure that all officers adhere to the Essential Tenets of ECO" (2.0101; returned twice). The vows name no confession and do not say "receive and adopt the Westminster Confession"; the Essential Tenets are the bound text. Who acts when an officer departs from doctrine (v0.83): failure to continue to adhere to the Tenets is grounds for removal under the Rules of Discipline; the session acts for elders and deacons and the presbytery for pastors (3.0103(g): a presbytery may "discipline pastors"), and a session must "bear witness against error in doctrine and practice" (1.0603(c)); an offense is any act or omission "contrary to Scripture or the Constitution of ECO" (Rules 2.1). The Polity has no provision for taking an exception to a tenet or recording a scruple (the words scruple, demit, and depart were not found). The Ordination Manual's Theological Integration Interview tests whether the candidate "fully embraces the major themes and the system of doctrine contained in ECO's Essential Tenets"; a "provisional pass" lets a candidate work on a doctrine, and "significant divergences" can mean Not Recommended, by a two-thirds vote of the panel. Only the Synod, by a two-thirds vote, can amend the Tenets (6.02(c)).

How firmly it holds people to these answers. Grip 0.70 out of 1, with an answer on 17 of 19 questions. A grip of 1 means the church requires or expects an answer on every question; 0 means it holds no one to anything. Questions it leaves open, or leaves to conscience, add nothing, so a low grip means it lets its people differ. It describes the church's documents, not one congregation.

Firmness where the church speaks, scored questions plus extras. 0.68 out of 1: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and the extra questions (the extras are not scored). Levels are recorded for 37 of 38 cells where its documents give an answer; a cell with no recorded level is left out. It describes the denomination's documents, not any one congregation, and it does not change the ranking.

At a glance (17 of the 19 scored questions have an answer):

The Bible: no errors in anything it says (inferred: two readings possible).
Authority beyond the Bible: the Bible read through a required confession.
How God saves (election): God chooses by his will alone (inferred: implied, never stated).
Resisting grace: no, the chosen will not finally resist it (inferred: implied, never stated).
Losing salvation: the saved cannot fall away.
Being made right with God (justification): declared righteous by faith (inferred: implied, never stated).
The meaning of the cross: Jesus took our punishment (inferred: stated in other words).
Baptism: babies and believers, as a sign of the covenant.
The Lord's Supper: Christ's real spiritual presence.
Growing in holiness: slow growth, never complete here.
Church government: elders joined together (Presbyterian).
Women as pastors or elders: open to women and men.
Matthew 24: mostly future (inferred: implied, never stated).
What happens to the unrepentant: conscious punishment forever.
Creation: young earth, six days (inferred: implied, never stated).
Remarriage after divorce: forgiven, handled case by case (inferred: stated in other words).
Same-sex marriage: one man and one woman; no blessing of other unions (inferred: implied, never stated).
Its documents say nothing on: gifts of the Spirit, the millennium.

Opening this profile shows the questionnaire answered by this church, question by question.

How much has been read: medium to high. ECO's own Constitution of 2022 was read (the Tenets in full, the Polity, and the Rules of Discipline to section 7.16); the 2026 Constitution would not open. Eleven scored questions are answered; Q4, Q9, Q10, Q13 to Q17 are found silent in the Tenets on two scans. The Confessional Standards booklet was read to the middle of the Westminster Confession, chapter 8 (the Confession's chapter 17 and the Barmen Declaration were not reached). Every quotation came through a fetch tool that summarizes pages and limits quotations to about 125 characters; those marked as returned twice were returned on two separate prompts. Not read: the extra questions beyond what the Tenets speak to, and anything the 2026 Constitution changed. v0.84: the ECO Constitution (2026) was read; every ECO quotation tested matched. The extra questions were worked from the Essential Tenets, the Constitution, the Polity, and the Confessional Standards booklet.

How much room it gives for disagreement: not yet rated.

Sources this profile cites (35 addresses on 6 websites)

courses.eco-pres.org (1): eco-information-series
eastcentral.eco-pres.org (1): April%202026%20Commissioner%20Booklet.pdf
eco-pres.org (27): find-an-eco-church, Official-ECO-CONSTITUTION-2026-1.pdf, ECO-Confessional-Standards.pdf, Official-ECO-CONSTITUTION-2022.pdf, constitution, faqs, theology, egalitarian, ecos-egalitarian-theology, liveable-theology, ECOs-2024-Commissioner-Booklet.pdf, Pastor-Information-Packet-5.3.24.pdf, eco-confessional-standards, eco-theological-task-force-considering-the-confe, our-story, Church-Governance-Guiding-Principles-Packet.pdf, ECO-Leadership-Competencies.pdf, ordination, Ordination-Information-Packet.pdf, Ordination-Journey-Key-Descriptions.pdf, eco-theological-task-force-introduces-the-eco-bo, egalitarian-ministry-women-in-church-leadership, Flourishing-Resources-List-Comprehensive.pdf, lent, cleaning-up-shaping-up-and-clearing-up-our-polit, when-flourishing-churches-gather-synod-2018-meet, jesus-the-only-way
eco-pres.store (3): bookstore, theology-of-life-2, lord-of-time
www.eco-pres.org (2): ordination_manual.pdf, final_info_packet.pdf
www.menlo.church (1): Gender-Sex-Kingdom-2024.pdf

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Questions to ask when you visit a church (not scored)

These questions do not match you to a church. Use them when you visit one.

When members disagree about a smaller teaching, what happens?
- A. The pastor or board decides.
- B. People talk about it openly, and they do not have to agree.
- C. People avoid the topic.
- D. Disagreeing can lead to discipline or leaving.
What do the sermons usually come back to?
- A. Right teaching.
- B. How to live well.
- C. Christ and the believer's relationship with God.
- D. Social and cultural issues.
How does the church treat someone who admits a serious failure?
- A. It disciplines first.
- B. It welcomes them and deals with the failure with care.
- C. It quietly asks them to leave.
- D. This rarely comes up.
How does the church handle the gifts of the Spirit in its services?
- A. They are not expected.
- B. They are expected, and the leaders test them.
- C. They are expected, with little testing.
- D. Only people on the platform use them.
How are the elders chosen, and who holds them accountable?
- A. The pastor chooses them.
- B. The members choose them, and the elders answer to the church.
- C. The larger denomination chooses them.
- D. It is not clear.
Does the church teach and practice a close relationship with God, however it describes this?
- A. It is rarely mentioned.
- B. It is mentioned, but rarely practiced.
- C. It is central to the teaching and the practice.
- D. I am not sure.
Does this congregation hold its denomination's stated positions, and where does it differ?
- A. It holds them, and says so.
- B. It differs on a few points, and is open about it.
- C. It differs on several points, or the pastor and the denomination disagree.
- D. I could not tell.
What is the pastor bound to teach, and by what document?
- A. A confession or standards that the pastor affirmed at ordination, and the pastor can name them.
- B. A statement of faith for the church, but the pastor is not asked to affirm it personally.
- C. Scripture, read by the pastor and the congregation, with no further standard.
- D. I could not tell.
If the pastor taught something that went against the denomination's teaching, who could correct that, and has anyone ever done so?
- A. A named body outside the congregation can act, and the pastor can describe a time it did.
- B. A body outside the congregation can act, but the pastor knows of no time it has.
- C. Only the congregation or its board could act.
- D. No one, or I could not tell.
When this church has changed a teaching, how did the change happen?
- A. By a formal vote or act of the larger church, in the open.
- B. By the pastor or leaders, with the congregation told afterward.
- C. Slowly, with no decision anyone can point to.
- D. I could not tell.
What is the music and style of the Sunday service like?
- A. Mostly traditional: hymns, an organ or piano, a choir, and a set order.
- B. A mix of traditional and contemporary.
- C. Mostly contemporary: a worship band, projected words, and a looser order.
- D. I could not tell.
Who decides what is read and preached on a Sunday?
- A. A church-wide plan: the denomination's service book or lectionary sets the readings, and the pastor follows it.
- B. A church-wide lectionary or service book is offered, and the pastor may follow it or adapt it.
- C. The pastor (or the pastor with the elders) plans each service and chooses sermon series freely.
- D. I could not tell.
What does the whole congregation say together in worship?
- A. A confession or catechism that belongs to this denomination.
- B. An ecumenical creed, such as the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed.
- C. Both of these, or one chosen by the pastor week by week.
- D. Neither, or I could not tell.
What happened when you arrived and when you left?
- A. Several people greeted me, asked about me, and invited me to stay or come back.
- B. One or two people greeted me warmly.
- C. An official greeter or a handshake at the door, and then nothing more.
- D. No one spoke to me unless I spoke first.
Does the congregation gather for worship, study, or prayer at other times in the week?
- A. Yes, small groups or Bible studies meet regularly, and many members attend them.
- B. Yes, they are offered, but few attend.
- C. There are occasional events, but no regular gatherings.
- D. No, or I could not tell.
Looking at the people you met, would you look forward to time with them outside the worship service?
- A. Yes, clearly.
- B. Possibly, I would need to know them better.
- C. Probably not.
- D. I cannot tell after one visit.
Was it easy to find a place to sit that suited you, and did that matter to you?
- A. Yes, it was easy, and it mattered to me.
- B. Yes, it was easy, and it did not matter much.
- C. It was awkward (for example, regular members' seats, or a very full or very empty room).
- D. I did not notice.

Questions 11 to 17 were added in v0.89 at the author's request. They are for the reader's own use and are not coded for any church: how one congregation worships, greets, or gathers is local practice, and local practice never changes a church's answer (rule 10). Questions 12 and 13 can be set beside the extra questions X23 and X24, which record what a church's documents say; a congregation may do more or less than its documents require. Questions 14 to 17 are the beginning of a measure of closeness, which the author has described and left unbuilt.

Add a small church

This guide describes 26 churches. A small church that is not among them can ask to be added. The application is the personal creed this page already prints, plus a few details so the author can check that the submission comes from a real church. There is no separate form to learn: you answer the questionnaire for your church, save the creed, and send the creed with the details below.

Who fills it in. The pastor, the governing body, or a person the governing body has named. Answer only what your church’s own documents say, and leave a question blank where they say nothing.
Answer the questionnaire for your church. Use the questions above and set the level menu under each one. For a church the four levels mean its binding level: Required (required of members or clergy), Expected (expected of clergy and leaders), Taught (taught, not enforced; this is the default) or Left to conscience. A question you do not mark prints as Taught, so check every question before you save.
Save the creed. Type the church’s name in the name box in the creed bar and press “Save my creed as PDF.” The PDF prints each question, the answer, the level, and at the bottom a save code that loads the same answers and levels exactly. Post the PDF on your church’s own website.
Send these details with it. The creed does not carry them. To be published: the church’s name, street address, denomination or network (or “independent”), a link to its website, a link to the page that gives its location and service times, and, if you wish, a public phone number or email. For verification only: a link, on your own website, to your governing document (constitution, bylaws, articles or statement of faith) or to the page of the body that governs the church; the name and role of the person sending the application; a private phone number or email for that person; and the link to the posted creed. Use the contact line in the Terms of use.
What happens next. The author checks that every link is on the church’s own domain, that the governance document shows the church and the people who speak for it, and that the sender is one of them or was named by them. The answers are then recorded as the church’s own and marked “self-submitted.” The levels are recorded as the church states them. Nothing is added before it is checked, and the first step is one pilot church.

A member answering for himself or herself, rather than for a church, should simply save a personal creed.

What was discovered from this research

This appendix says what the research shows and what it means for you when you read a score. Each item gives the facts first. When the guide draws a conclusion from the facts, the conclusion comes second and starts with the word “Judgment.” That way you can see which parts are sourced and which parts are opinion. Some of the ideas tested here came from the author of the guide. Others came from the research itself.

What every number describes. The guide reads what each church’s documents say. It does not measure what people in the pews believe, and it does not measure what any one congregation does. Keep that in mind for every number below.

Three numbers, three questions. The first is the answer: what a church’s documents say on one question. The second is the binding level: how firmly the church holds that answer. There are four levels. Required is 3. Expected is 2. Taught is 1. Left to conscience is 0. The third is the score, which compares you with a church. Grip and firmness, explained below, sum up the binding levels. They are not part of the score.

What a score means. The score adds up the differences between your answers and a church’s documents. A difference counts for more when the church holds that point firmly. It counts for less when the church holds it loosely. A low score therefore means two things at once: few differences, and few firm ones. The Disciples of Christ are first in the sample ranking at 0.05. They have the fewest differences with the sample reader, and they bind very little, so even those few differences count lightly. First place means “fewest differences, weighed by how firmly the church holds them.” It does not mean “teaches what you believe.” The score also depends on direction. Roman Catholic against Vineyard is 1.00, and Vineyard against Roman Catholic is 0.45, because the weight comes from how firmly the church being scored holds each point. Findings 12 and 14 say more about first place.

Why one new answer moves different readers different amounts. When research fills in a church’s answer, the score moves. How far it moves depends on the reader. The scores the guide reports are for one sample reader, the author, using the author’s own answers. Here is an example. The guide now says the Church of England holds that anyone can finally refuse grace. The author also believes that, so the Church of England’s score fell from 0.35 to 0.33. It looks closer. For a reader who believes no one can finally refuse grace, the same new answer raised the score from 0.48 to 0.52. It looks farther away. The church’s answer is the same for everyone. What the answer does to your score depends on what you believe.

Grip and firmness: two ways to say how tightly a church binds. Grip asks how much of what these 19 questions could require the church actually requires. A question the church leaves silent counts as zero. So grip reflects two things: how firmly a church holds what it says, and how much ground its documents cover. Firmness asks a narrower question. When the church does speak, how firmly does it speak? It averages the binding levels only where the church has an answer. Take Vineyard USA. Its grip is 0.40 and its firmness is 0.58. The gap exists because Vineyard is silent on five questions. A high grip means a church expects a great deal from its members. A low grip means it expects little, or has written little. The Disciples of Christ have a grip of 0.00. That is not a finding that they have no doctrine. It is a finding about their rule: they hold no creed, so every answer is coded “left open.”

Finding 1: the big differences are inside families, not between them. For comparison, the guide sorts 24 of the 26 churches into seven families. The question is simple: do churches in the same family hold their members to about the same degree? The answer is no. The Reformed and Presbyterian family has six churches, from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at 0.54 to the Presbyterian Church in America at 0.89. The Lutheran family has two, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at 0.56 to the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod at 0.88. The Methodist and Holiness family has five, from the United Methodist Church at 0.68 to the Nazarene and Free Methodist churches at 0.82. The Anglican family has three, from the Episcopal Church at 0.54 to the Anglican Church in North America at 0.75. The Catholic and Orthodox family has two, from the Orthodox Church in America at 0.58 to the Roman Catholic Church at 0.74. The Pentecostal, charismatic and pietist family has three, from the Evangelical Covenant Church at 0.23 to the Assemblies of God at 0.93. The Baptist and Anabaptist family has three, from the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mennonite Church USA at 0.28 to the Free Will Baptists at 0.53. The Disciples of Christ and the Seventh-day Adventist Church do not sit in any of these families and are left out. In most families the gap inside the family is larger than the gap between families. Judgment: knowing a church’s family tells you a lot about what it teaches. It tells you much less about how tightly the church holds you to it.

Finding 2: churches that broke away from a larger church bind more tightly. In every pair the guide can check, the newer body has the higher grip. The Presbyterian Church in America (0.89), the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (0.77) and ECO Presbyterians (0.70) all grip more tightly than the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (0.54). The Anglican Church in North America (0.75) is above the Episcopal Church (0.54). The Global Methodist Church (0.77) is above the United Methodist Church (0.68). The Christian Reformed Church (0.75) is above the Reformed Church in America (0.60). Firmness agrees in five of the six pairs. The Global Methodist Church ties the United Methodist Church at 0.74. Judgment: a church formed in a dispute over doctrine writes its lines down. A large parent church that holds many views writes more broadly. A second cause is possible. Newer documents may simply be more detailed. The data cannot tell the two apart.

Finding 3: the form of the commitment differs by family, and the guide does not score it. Reformed bodies ask their officers to take vows to the confessions. The Roman Catholic Church binds every Catholic by canon law and asks no lay member to sign anything. Only office-holders make the Profession of Faith and take the Oath of Fidelity. The Southern Baptist Convention has a confession that is taught but not enforced on local churches. The Disciples have no creed. Binding is not the same as signing, so the guide scores the binding level only. Judgment: this is one reason the Roman Catholic Church has a grip of 0.74, below the Presbyterian Church in America at 0.89. For Catholic and Orthodox churches the author’s rule counts a point as Required only where the church’s text shows an act of definition. Otherwise it counts as Taught.

Finding 4: most silence is real. The guide scores 19 questions for 26 churches, which is 494 answers. In 431 of them the church’s documents give an answer. In 37 the church says the matter is left open or left to local decision. In seven the documents speak, but no option on the page fits. Nineteen are empty. Searches over the last two rounds filled 6 of 25 empty answers. Each one came from a source less direct than a constitution, such as a study guide, a synod report, a convention resolution or a teaching manual. All are marked as the weakest kind of coding, and the other reading is named. Judgment: an answer that survives a thorough search is most likely empty because the church has not written on it, not because the search missed it.

Finding 5: a few questions hold most of the silence. The 19 empty answers fall on a short list. Creation is empty for seven churches. The millennium is empty for four. Resisting grace is empty for three. Losing salvation is empty for two. Election, the gifts of the Spirit and remarriage are empty for one church each. Churches treat these as secondary questions. They are also held most loosely where churches do speak. The average binding level is 1.05 for the millennium and 1.44 for creation, among the lowest of the 19 questions. Judgment: the guide records the silence but cannot say why a church is silent.

Finding 6: there are two ways of not binding. A church can say a matter is left open, or it can say nothing. The first shows up as 37 “open” answers. They are bunched: the Disciples have twelve, the Evangelical Covenant Church five, the Southern Baptist Convention four and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) three. The second shows up as the empty answers, and those fall mostly on smaller churches. A church saying “this is left open” is evidence of freedom. A church saying nothing is not. A general rule of freedom that names no question, such as the Covenant Church’s security “to disagree on the non-essentials of the faith,” is recorded but is not used to fill a particular question. The searches found no sentence that says an empty question is left to the congregation or the parishioner.

Finding 7: silence and looseness go together, but only moderately. The author asked whether empty answers reflect a lack of binding, and so a degree of freedom. Across 25 churches, the count of silent questions set against the average binding level where the church does speak gives a rank correlation of about minus 0.35. That means more silence goes with looser binding, but not reliably. Counting “open” answers as silence makes it minus 0.43. Question by question it is minus 0.52. The three loosest churches (the Covenant Church, the Southern Baptist Convention and the Mennonite Church USA) are silent on more of the extra questions than the rest, an average of 11.7 against 4.7. There are clear exceptions. The Assemblies of God and the Church of the Nazarene hold what they say firmly, and they are silent on 12 and 10 extra questions about subjects outside their concern. Judgment: silence is a hint of freedom and a reason to look for the church’s own statement of freedom. It is not proof.

Finding 8: size predicts silence better than looseness does. The author suggested that the largest churches define more because their structure allows it, and that other churches may leave matters undefined to keep a bigger tent. Across 19 churches with reported membership, the rank correlation between size and silence is about minus 0.72. The correlation between size and the average binding level is about zero. Eight churches with a million members or more average 0.1 silent questions. Eleven smaller churches average 1.0. Large bodies settle a question one way or the other: they define it, or they say in their own words that it is open. Smaller bodies more often say nothing. Two explanations fit. One is capacity: a large body has assemblies, commissions and presses, so more gets written. The other is the bigger tent: a body that has to hold wide variety may decline to define. The data cannot separate them, because size and the number of documents rise together. The only evidence for the bigger tent is the “open” answers that large bodies state in their own words.

Finding 9: freedom may reflect trust in the Spirit, but silence cannot show it. The author asked whether the freedom a church leaves might reflect its trust in the Holy Spirit to guide believers. The idea has merit. Several of the loosest churches describe their freedom in terms of Christ, conscience and the Spirit’s guidance in the community. The Covenant Church holds a short list of affirmations firmly and gives freedom beyond them. But the data does not support the idea, for three reasons. First, the evidence is silence, and silence has other causes: how much a church has written, how big it is, and whether the question is its concern. Second, churches reach the same non-binding position for different reasons, such as congregational independence, a minimal confession, or a belief that the question is not essential. The sentences the guide found give conscience, non-essentials and congregational authority as reasons. None gives the Spirit as the reason for leaving a particular question open. Third, churches that bind firmly also claim the Spirit’s guidance. Catholics place it in the teaching office and councils. The Orthodox place it in the agreement of the whole church. Reformed and Lutheran churches place it in confessions written by earlier believers. A better question is where each church believes the Spirit’s guidance lives: in the council, the confession, the pastor, the congregation or the individual conscience. A binding level shows only where a church draws its line of enforcement. Testing the idea would take a new field for the reason each church gives. That field has not been built.

Finding 10: an empty answer may mean the guide could not read the document. Some empty answers sit next to a document that is sold or blocked. The ECO Standing Theological Committee papers are sold for three dollars each. The Covenant Church’s Journey Leader’s Guide has an article on creation and evolution, but the guide is sold and not online. Vineyard USA’s Expanded FAQs show headings with no answer text. The Wesleyan Church’s General Conference journals from 1968 to 2016 would not open. The Book of Concord site refuses automated reading. Some silence was also the guide’s own doing. The Free Will Baptists’ creation answer was empty until the Association’s convention minutes from 1935 to 2019 were read in full, and then it was filled. Judgment: an empty answer says what the guide could read. The author keeps a list of what could not be opened; contact the author to see it. If you can open any of these documents, contact the author.

Finding 11: treat each number as a good guide, not an exact measure. Three things limit how exactly a number can be read. First, sources vary. When the guide re-checked 92 lines that rested on a second researcher’s report, 45 were right as written, 46 were partly right and one was not supported. The guide corrected 47 lines. Judgment: expect small errors wherever a line rests on a copy of a copy. Second, the guide’s rules move results. When the author ruled that “left to the local church” is a valid answer, the Disciples went from 9 answered questions and no rank to a full set of answers and first place. Judgment: read any ranking together with the rules behind it. Third, an empty answer costs little in score but more in confidence. Filling one would move the sample reader’s score by 0.03 at most. It matters more for how many questions stand behind the score. The Church of England is scored on 16 questions and the Episcopal Church on 18. The guide shows that count beside each score so you can weigh a score built on 16 against one built on 18.

Finding 12: first place is not a recommendation. The Disciples of Christ are first in the sample ranking. The facts behind that are plain. The Disciples’ documents leave 12 of the 19 scored questions to each congregation. No other church leaves more than five. Nine of those 12 come from one general rule in the church’s own design: congregations decide their own practices. The documents never name those nine questions. All 19 of the Disciples’ answers are inferred, and none is stated outright. An open answer counts as no difference, and the Disciples hold almost nothing firmly. So the church has the fewest differences with almost any reader. Judgment: first place measures how little the church’s documents require. It does not measure how near the church is to what you believe, and it is not a recommendation. Three cautions follow. First, loose does not mean well researched. An open answer means the church did not say. It does not mean the guide studied the question and found the church balanced. Second, an open answer is not an answer. The guide found no Disciples text that takes a side on those questions, so nothing here says what the church holds about, for example, what happens to the unrepentant. Third, the shared key is only partly checked. For the Disciples the guide read two statements, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that we enter new life through baptism into Christ. It did not check the other common-ground items, so the page loads them blank. A blank is not a No. If you want to know where a church draws its lines, read the questions where it draws them, and read the Disciples’ profile to see why the lines are missing.

Finding 13: why the churches differ at all. Judgment (the author’s): the churches share one Bible. They differ on what it means. Every question in the guide is a place where the words of Scripture are agreed and the meaning is not. The same verses on election, baptism, the Supper, the gifts of the Spirit, the end times and creation are read in different ways. Governance is how a church decides which meaning will stand. A church with strong governance fixes a meaning and holds its people to it. A church with little governance leaves the meaning to each congregation and, in the end, to each reader. That gives freedom. It also means nothing in the church’s own structure checks a reading that moves away from the text. Strong governance does not make a meaning right either, because a strict church can hold a wrong meaning firmly. The guide cannot tell which is which. It reports what each church requires and how firmly. The testing is left to the reader, with Scripture and prayer. For a seeker, one question helps with every church: who decides what Scripture means here, and who can correct that decision?

Finding 14: why we worship where we worship, and what a score can tell you. Judgment (the author’s): people come to a church by at least three roads. Some are in the church of their family. Some chose the church where the people were friendly. Some chose the church because it matches their understanding of God. The guide speaks only to the third road. It sets what a church’s documents require beside what you hold. It cannot say whether the people are kind or whether your family’s church is a good home for you, and a score is not a verdict on either. The facts about the third road are these. A church that requires little has few differences with almost any reader, so it ranks high for almost any reader. In the sample, the Disciples of Christ are first by score (0.05), but they agree with the sample respondent on 2 of the 6 questions where their documents speak, which is the lowest rate of the 26 churches, and 2 matches is the lowest count too. The Anglican Church in North America agrees on 8 of the 11 questions where it speaks, the highest rate, and ranks fourth by score. The page now shows each church’s agreement where it speaks, and it can order the ranking three ways: by score, by most matches, and by agreement where the church speaks. The orders disagree, and the disagreement is the finding. Judgment (the author’s): a seeker who wants a church that matches an understanding of God should read the matches, the differences and the open answers together, because a score alone rewards silence. Silence is easy to live with. The same ease draws people on the first two roads, since a church that asks little is easy to stay in, and so is one that is familiar or friendly. Ease is no reason to distrust a church and no reason to trust one. The guide reads a denomination’s documents, not a congregation, so it cannot say what is taught in any one room on a Sunday. That is left to the reader: visit, listen, and test what is taught against Scripture and in prayer.

Finding 15: how to read Scripture well without studying theology. Judgment (the author’s): the Bible is the ultimate source, and no one needs a degree to read it. What a reader needs is a way to keep from reading a verse alone. A church can supply that. It hands on a reading that many people have tested against the whole of Scripture over a long time, and so it holds back the habit of lifting one verse out of its context to prove a point. Four habits do the same work for any reader. Read the passage around the verse, and then the book it is in. Ask who wrote it, to whom, and why. Set it beside other passages on the same subject, since Scripture is best read as a whole. Ask how the church has read it, across the centuries and across traditions, and treat a reading that stands entirely alone as a warning. The limits are these. A church is an interpreter and not the source. A strong church can fix a wrong meaning as firmly as a right one (Finding 13). Churches also disagree about how far their readings should bind, and the guide records each church’s answer to that (Q2, and how firmly it holds its people to its teaching). If a church’s reading and your own part ways, the answer is neither to drop your reading quietly nor to hold it alone. Take it back to the text, to prayer, and to someone in the church who knows the text well. The guide’s part is smaller. It tells you which interpreter you would be joining and how firmly that interpreter holds its reading. It does not tell you the reading is right.

What the research leaves undecided. Silence does not tell us whether a church leaves a matter open because of the size of its tent, its trust in the Spirit, its inability to agree, or its habit of writing little. Two steps would settle more: code the reason a church gives in each sentence that leaves a matter open, and read the documents in Finding 10. Neither is done.

How to use an empty answer. Read it as “the documents the guide read are silent.” Do not read it as “the church is free here” or as “the church has no view.” If a question matters to you, ask the church or read the documents named in its profile.

A closing word

Come back to the prayer. Jesus asked that his people be one so that the world would know the Father sent him. A guide like this one can help you see where your convictions sit, and it can show you how much other believers hold in common with you. Use it to understand other churches before you argue with them, and to pray for them by name. Where you disagree, "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15), and "bear with one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2). The differences in these pages are real. They are held inside a unity that Christ himself prayed for and gives.

Reader edition of working draft v1.19. Built from the author's full guide, which holds the sources, the by-question lists, the open items, and the revision history. It is not published, because of its size; to check a source, contact the author.

© 2026 Michael W Winslow - The Michlaude Discipleship Project. Denominational Mapping Instrument v1.19. Free to use. You may share it unchanged for personal, congregational and educational non-commercial purposes, with credit. See Terms of use. Text and answer sheets licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Text-and-data-mining and AI-training rights are reserved.

What this covers. The questionnaire, the plain-language church profiles, the answer sheets, the way the churches' answers are coded and arranged, the guide, the Reader Edition and the scoring page are the author's work. Words quoted from a church's own documents belong to that church and are quoted for commentary, with a link to the source. The facts about what a church teaches belong to no one.
You may. Use the tool free of charge. Save, print or export your own results. Share the link to the page. Share the guide, the Reader and the answer sheets unchanged, with credit to the author, for non-commercial purposes. Quote short passages with credit and a link. Use it in a congregational or classroom study.
You may not, without written permission. Sell the work or put it behind a payment or sign-up wall. Publish, mirror or republish the guide, the Reader, the answer sheets or the page, in whole or in substantial part. Adapt the coding, the questions or the profiles, or build a competing tool or data set from them. Scrape or copy the data in bulk, including from the page's source. Use the work to train, fine-tune, test or populate any machine-learning or AI model or data set. Remove or change this notice. The page carries its coded data in its source, so anyone can see it; these terms, not a technical lock, say what you may do with it.
Your answers are yours. Your answers are kept in this browser (local storage) and in a cookie named dmi_answers that holds the same save code and lasts one year. If the link you opened allows saving to an account, they are also saved to your own private account copy, which only you can read. A copy goes to the author only if you tick the box that says so. It holds your answers, your importance marks, the church you attend and the time it was saved; it has no name or email field, though it is stored under your account's identifier. The church you compared and the church you loaded answers from are never sent in that copy. The page loads two fonts from Google Fonts. Tapping Save as PDF loads a PDF library (jsPDF 2.5.1) from cdnjs.cloudflare.com; your answers are not sent to either. If you type a name for the heading of your personal creed, it is used only to print that heading in the PDF built in your browser; it is not saved and it is not sent anywhere. The creed PDF ends with a save code that holds your answers and level marks, so anyone who has the PDF can read and load them; it holds no name, church or comparison.
What the work is. A description of what churches' own documents say, not a ruling on any church or on anyone's salvation. It describes; it does not grade. It describes a denomination's documents, never one congregation.
Permission and licence. To ask for permission, contact contact@michlaude.com. Text and answer sheets licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Text-and-data-mining and AI-training rights are reserved.

Text and answer sheets licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Text-and-data-mining and AI-training rights are reserved.

Privacy. This page runs in your browser. The answers you give, how much each matters to you, and the church you attend are kept on your own device, in this browser’s local storage and in one small cookie named dmi_answers (kept a year, only for this page), so they are there when you come back. They are not sent to the author or to anyone else, and the author cannot see them. The save code is your answers written as text; anyone you give it to can read them. The PDF and the creed are made in your browser and are not uploaded. To remove what is kept, use “Clear all answers” in the questionnaire or clear this site’s data in your browser settings.

The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which, like any web host, handles the network address of each visitor in order to deliver the page. The author runs no advertising or tracking on this page. The page loads its two typefaces from Google Fonts, so Google also receives your browser’s address when they load. Questions: contact@michlaude.com.