There is no organized group called Protestantism. It is a label applied to every Christian group who has broken away from the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Jesus . . . do you see how that works? We who are not biased towards religion, who say that it's about a relationship, not a religion, claim Jesus as their leader.
NO, not a human leader.. They will probably ALL claim "Jesus" as their leader. But even Heretics, even Cult leaders, claim that.
I'm not saying that Protestants are all heretics and cult members..but the point is... anyone can make that claim and to some degree, even live up to it.
But for sure, they have no organization, no leader, no "council" no "board members" or "elders" to keep them all on the same page, spiritually. No one to ensure that over time.. their beliefs don't go more and more off base or wayward. Nothing to keep them ONE and united.
They may all claim to be based on the bible.. but history has taught us that a book is not enough to keep everyone on the same page. -- literally and figuratively.
In fact that underscores the very issue. ALL believe that what they believe or interpret from their bibles is not merely their own thoughts and ideas.. but the guidance and teachings of Jesus Christ himself.
This has 2 immediate affects.
A) It is nearly impossible to argue with a devout Protestant, as they believe their faith comes directly from Christ
B) It essentially makes each one of them infallible sources of interpretation. As in- they read their bibles and pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit. Because of their faith, they believe that what they interpret is correct, because it came from God and from reading God's word.
Even if what they believe contradicts ALL the other 2.0 billion or so Christians in the world. Even if what they believe has NO historical reference and is an entirely NEW interpretation -- they are confident that whatever they believe -- is from Jesus.
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Without a leader, Protestantism has horribly splintered into tens of Thousands of different groups and denominations. Very few with any link to one another. Many professing different beliefs or "gospels" to the world.
I've heard that the IRS has some 30,000 denominations or churches registered with them for tax purposes. -- So at the very least.. Protestantism continues to break apart and further splinter, yet despite this.. they will claim to be based on Jesus Christ and the bible. -- How can this be true if there are so many versions and they are NOT one and NOT in union?
There are 35k+ leaders... each with their own sundry interpretation of scripture. These individual leader are called heretics... oops... I meant their "pastors".
The Catholic Church has the Pope as its international leader, and Cardinal George Pell as its Australian leader
The Anglican Church has ArchBishop of Canterbury as its international leader, and ArchBishop Peter Jenson as its Australian Leader
SDA's have a group of 7 that are selected at their annual conference
COGIC chooses a "president" as do numerous others
Lutheran breakdown:
In 2008, the head of the main churches are as follows:
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson
Missouri Synod: President Gerald Kieschnick
Wisconsin Synod: President Mark Schroeder
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada: National Bishop Susan Johnson
The following churches are in countries where the majority of the population is Lutheran:
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia:
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (different):
Church of Norway: the king or queen of Norway and the Norwegian Archbishop
Church of Denmark: the king or queen of Denmark and the Danish Archbishop
Church of Sweden: the king or queen of Sweden and the Swedish Archbishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland: Archbishop Jukka Paarma
National Church of Iceland:
In Germany, the mainline Lutheran church merged with other Protestant denominations after World War II to become the Protestant Church in Germany: President of the Board, Bishop Wolfgang Huber.
There are also large Lutheran churches in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Indonesia.
The Lutheran World Federation is an inter church organization with 140 member churches; it is headquartered in Geneva. The current LWF president is Mark S. Hanson, who is also the current head of the ELCA.
all your Baptists denominations usually have elders and a president too -- southern baptist, first baptist, mt zion et al
there there are the AME & CME which elect a president too i think it was for a 2 year term.
GCEPC/LEPC PRESIDING BISHOP
(evang. prot and lutheran evang prot)
The Most Rev. Nancy Drew
if you have a specific branch in mind please ask more directly.
even a non-denominational church has an earthly leader -- a pastor! sad people can't grasp a very simple concept.
EDIT -- ROTFL at Chris who claims to be a pastor and HEAD of his church and teaches his way/interpretation is the only way,... makes him a supposed HEAD of his own church!
No centralized leader, reason for their schism from the catholic church. If they did, they will be catholics. The 38k are splintered and competing with each other.
Every one of the 37000+ branches or so of Protestantism have their own leadership and own hierarchy. Every one of them--especially cuckoo fun dies like Chris--bleat about how "Jesus" is their leader, despite the glaring fact that most of their denominations are less than 25 years old and were founded by one fun die getting mad at the other fun dies in his fun die church and inventing his own, like Chris (although in Chris' case, his "church" is in his mom's basement, and he's the only member).
Does Protestantism have a leader?
