Jehovah's Witnesses:

Church, sect, cult, established religion or denomination?

Examined in comparison to college Sociology textbook,  Sociology in a Changing World by William Kornburn and Carolyn D. Smith, City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center, 1994, 3rd edition. 

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How can the religious body of Jehovah' Witnesses be defined?

The book, Sociology in a Changing World by William Kornburn and Carolyn D. Smith, City University of New York, Graduate School and University Center, 1994, 3rd edition, defines several types of religions groups, Churches, sects, cults, established religions, and denominations.

A Church is described as a religious body with strong ties to society, the community, the political world. The Catholic Church, Anglican Church are two examples.

A sect is an offshoot from a church or denominations, that rejects the beliefs and practices of the established churches. It limits its benefits to it's own members, but not to others, in contrast to the church, whose doors are open to anyone, and extends benefits to non-members, as well, whoever might come and visit to listen at the service.

A cult, is described as a new religion, whose beliefs and rituals are different from existing religions. Early Christianity is described as a cult of Jews who believed that Jesus of Nazarene was the Messiah and who practiced rituals that were quite different from those of Judaism.

A denomination is a religious body that has come from, or developed from established churches or other denominations, to form its own religious body. It is basically on good terms with the church from which it developed, but it also competes with other similar religions for members. A denomination sometimes develops from a sect.

Jehovah's Witnesses and definition as a religious body

In considering Jehovah's Witnesses, as a religious body, some things become apparent. First, Jehovah's Witnesses cannot be considered to be a church, it distances itself from politics and keeps the religious part of life seperate.

Compare John 17:16, where Jesus stated that his followers were, "no part of the world."

It identifies with early Christianity, which has been described by some as a cult which centered around Jesus, but at the same time, it is not a new religion, it has deep roots in 1st century Christianity, and as a modern organization has roots from the mid-1800s. It sprang from the Adventist religion, in the mid-1800s, as well as the works of some Protestant ministers. While the first century Christians might have been considered to be a cult in its beginning stages, it afterward, was more closely akin to a sect, and then to a religion in its own right, as its doctrine and organizational structure developed and stabilized.

Jehovah's Witnesses might have started as something of a sect, in that it did reject the mainstream view of doctrine, that most of the Protestant Churches practiced and taught, however, it does not bear all the characteristics of a sect, in that, it's doors are open to all, it extends its benefits to anyone who walks through the doors, and who wants to listen to a service, or even participate in it, regardless of their religious or political views.

Also, while part of the reason of their evangelizing work is to "make disciples" what a sociologist would say, to make converts, it also recognizes that those who actually become coverts are relatively few in comparison with those who are contacted, but often, in the  magazines of Jehovah's Witnesses, it describes the positive benefits of the evangelizing and Bible teaching work of Jehovah's Witnesses for persons who did not, or probably, will not ever become Jehovah's Witnesses.

So, their work has a positive benefit on the community at large, in addition to the relatively few who eventually become members. This includes many who study the Bible with individual Jehovah's Witnesses in home Bible studies, who never become members of the congregation, and those who might come to the meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses just once or twice a year.

These persons, too, are made to feel welcome, and derive some positive benefit from being able to identify and participate in this limited way in a religion with which they find identity with, despite the fact that they might never become baptized members. In this way, it is much different than a sect or a cult, in the modern sense of the word, a cult, today, also carrying the connotation of a closed community whose sole purpose in outreach to the community is to gain more members and along with it control, and most likely, money and other resources from its members.

A denomination fits the religious body of Jehovah's Witnesses in many respects, it competes with Methodists and Baptists for members, at the same time, it is not really, as described, "on good terms" nor does it find cohesiveness with the religious bodies from which it sprang, that is the Adventist movement, or its slight connection with Protestantism. Rather, it is or has become, more of a separate entity, its own religious body.

Therefore, categorizing the religious body of Jehovah's Witnesses with a strict definition of the aforementioned terms is not easy, but Jehovah's Witnesses bear a close resemblance to a denomination, or, an established religion, another term used by Kornburn and Smith. It's doctrines are relatively stable, usually changing only in details, it's pattern and way of worship has been consistent over many decades, and it's membership is stable and steady, in gradual, rather than dramatic growth.

Conclusion: While the religious body of Jehovah's Witnesses, like many religions, bears some resemblance to a number of types of religious bodies, it most closely resembles what might be described as an "established religion," rather than a church, cult, sect. While in its beginning years, in the mid to late 1800s, it might have been considered to have developed into a sect, in the past decades It more closely bears many, but not all, characteristics of a religious denomination.

Page updated: November 28, 2009