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was a pastor's kid, and then a pastor for almost 20 years, including two church plants.

Every church of any substantial size and duration is funded by a larger denomination, normally with just one or two degrees of separation. And EVERY church plant older than 5 years and more than 300 people only became such because people came there after splitting from another church.

The only exceptions I can think of are house churches, and even then a lot of them are networked from larger denominations (which includes funding).

Some denominations (like the SBC) have entire, multi million dollar branches exclusively for that purpose. Other organizations are funded by a conglomerate of smaller denominations.

The process of fundraising for church planters was enough to cool any ferver I had for starting a new church. It's just a business. Plain and simple.

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You can go to the SBC website and see this. Dozens of churches around my city that are like “fellowship church” or similar, super involved in the community, seen as “independent” and non partisan and secretly affiliated with the SBC. I raised concerns about it after their recent vote because many of the churches that purport to support gay marriage are actually still part of the SBC around here. Very funny.

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Mosaic Hollywood is a super cool hip mega church in Los Angeles that appeals to young entertainment industry people. I heard an openly gay celebrity talk on a podcast about visiting with a friend. The church is part of the SBC, but you have to dig deep to find that.

Such a bait and switch.

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grew up in a GCC church (check out the exGCC subreddit for more information and history). It was exactly this and they keep changing their denomination name.

GCC “officially” disbanded in 2020, but the churches and most of the leaders still exist, just under different names and different associations.

They have been (rightfully) accused of being a cult, so, I think they change the names so they can avoid association with their past. This post reminds me that while they think they are special and different from other churches, they really are the same as so many other “independent” evangelical churches.

sarazbeth

Yeah the one I grew up going to always said they were “independent” but they were (and still are) part of the SBC

JazzFan1998
I totally agree with your sentiment. People should look up how the "Southern" Baptist church came into existence. Also doesn't the bible say something about no schisms!schism!? SMH.

u/Zeus_42

They (churches) actually hire marketing professionals and this is the trend now because of all the bad press with denominations. But they still are just as affiliated as they were before.