Where Protestantism came from
In the sixteenth century, reformers across Europe protested (hence the name) against practices in the medieval church and called Christians back to Scripture, to salvation by grace through faith, and to worship in the language of the people. In England the Reformation arrived through a tangle of conviction and politics under Henry VIII and his children, producing the Church of England. In Scotland, John Knox and others led a more thorough Reformation that made the national church Presbyterian. Almost every British denomination since descends from one of those two streams, or from later renewals of them.
Anglicans
The Church of England describes itself as both catholic and reformed: it kept bishops, cathedrals and a set liturgy, while embracing Reformation teaching. Its sister churches, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church of Ireland, share the Anglican inheritance without established status. Within Anglicanism you will find high church parishes with incense and chant, evangelical parishes with worship bands, and much in between.
Presbyterians
Presbyterian churches are governed not by bishops but by elders (presbyters) gathered in local and national courts. The Church of Scotland is the largest, joined by the Free Church of Scotland and other smaller Scottish churches, and by Presbyterian churches in Northern Ireland, where this family is the largest Protestant tradition. The theology is Reformed, tracing back to John Calvin through the Scottish Reformation.
Methodists
Methodism began inside the Church of England, when the brothers John and Charles Wesley took to preaching in fields and market squares during the eighteenth century revival. John organised converts into disciplined societies (the “method” behind the nickname); Charles gave the movement its hymns, thousands of them, still sung far beyond Methodism. After the Wesleys' deaths the societies became a separate church, known for warm hearted faith, teetotal roots and social action. The Methodist Church in Britain remains one of the largest free churches, and conversations about closer unity with the Church of England continue.
Baptists
Baptists, whose English story begins in the early seventeenth century, hold that baptism is for believers who profess faith for themselves, by full immersion, and that each local congregation governs itself under Christ. Many British Baptist churches belong to the Baptist Union of Great Britain; famous names include the Victorian preacher Charles Spurgeon, whose London congregation was the megachurch of its day. See our guide to baptism by immersion.
The United Reformed Church
The URC was created in 1972 by a union of English Congregationalists (heirs of the Puritan independents) and English Presbyterians, later joined by the Churches of Christ. It is a small denomination with a big ecumenical heart, often sharing buildings and ministry with Methodist and Anglican neighbours.
Pentecostals and newer churches
The twentieth century added a vigorous new branch. Pentecostal denominations such as Elim and the Assemblies of God, both with deep British roots, emphasise the gifts of the Holy Spirit, lively worship and confident evangelism. From the Windrush generation onwards, black majority churches, many Pentecostal, transformed urban Christianity, and today include some of the largest congregations in the country. Since the 1970s, new church networks such as Newfrontiers and Vineyard have planted hundreds of congregations outside the older denominations. Together with independent evangelical churches, this is where much of British Protestantism's current growth lies.
What unites and divides them
All these denominations confess the same essentials: the Trinity, the death and resurrection of Jesus, salvation by grace, the authority of Scripture. They differ over church government (bishops, elders or congregational vote), baptism (infants or believers only), worship style (prayer book or spontaneity) and how tightly doctrine is defined. These are family differences, and the family increasingly works together: Churches Together partnerships, shared food banks and joint carol services are now ordinary features of British church life.
Exploring for yourself
Labels tell you less than a visit does. Two churches in the same denomination can feel utterly different, and two from rival branches can feel like twins. Browse the main types of church, then use the directory to find a church near you and experience a few first hand.