What It Means to Be a Mainline Church
Many of you have heard me use the term Mainline to describe our church, but I want to take a moment to clarify what that means. Understanding this term can help us see who we are, how we fit into the wider Christian family, and why our identity matters in a community where there are many different kinds of churches.
The word “mainline” originally comes from the Main Line suburbs outside Philadelphia, which developed along the Pennsylvania Railroad. The churches most prominent in those communities—Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and others—came to represent the mainstream of American Protestant life in the early 20th century. As these traditions grew across the country, they became known collectively as the Mainline Churches.
Mainline denominations include the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the American Baptist Churches (USA), and the United Church of Christ—our own denomination.
Privilege and Reckoning
It is also true that Mainline churches have historically been associated with people of greater education and affluence, and in many cases, they were predominantly white. That legacy is something we must reckon with honestly. While these churches often had influence in culture and politics, they did not always use that influence on behalf of the marginalized.
Yet the gospel we proclaim is not a gospel of privilege, but of liberation. Jesus calls us to follow him among “the least of these”—the poor, the excluded, the suffering. To be faithful Mainline Christians today means grappling with our history, confessing where we have fallen short, and renewing our commitment to stand with those on the margins. Our tradition gives us resources for that work, but it also challenges us to remember that the church belongs to Christ, not to social standing or cultural influence.
Theology and Identity
What makes Mainline churches distinctive is not just history, but a way of living the Christian faith. We are:
Rooted in tradition, but open to learning. We take the Bible seriously, engaging it with historical study, theology, and prayer, while also listening for how God still speaks today.
Inclusive and justice-oriented. Mainline churches have often been leaders in movements for civil rights, women’s ordination, and LGBTQ+ inclusion. We see social justice and liberation not as side projects but as expressions of and responses to the gospel itself.
Ecumenical and cooperative. We seek unity with other Christians and dialogue with people of other faiths, working together for the good of the world.
Discipleship-focused. Our faith is not simply about “getting into heaven” after we die. It is about following Jesus here and now—learning his way of love, serving our neighbors, and becoming a community that embodies God’s reign of peace and justice.
In short, to be a Mainline Church is to be both faithful to the gospel and engaged with the world.
The Local Picture
Here in Ramona, we are not alone in this tradition. Our friends at St. Mary’s in the Valley Episcopal Church, Ramona United Methodist Church, and Spirit of Joy Lutheran (ELCA) are also part of the Mainline family.
There are other churches in town with similar names but different identities. The Presbyterian church here belongs to the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), which formed in the 1970s in response to what they perceived as the “liberal drift” of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The PCA emphasizes biblical inerrancy, male-only leadership, and a more fundamentalist approach to theology. Likewise, the other Lutheran church in Ramona belongs to the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), a denomination that historically separated from other Lutherans over doctrinal strictness and today continues to hold more restrictive positions on women’s ordination, sexuality, and biblical interpretation.
Alongside these are many Baptist and non-denominational churches in our community. These churches often fall under the broader umbrella of American Evangelicalism, with a strong emphasis on personal conversion, biblical authority, and evangelism. Many are vibrant communities of faith, and we respect the ways God is at work among them. But our theological DNA is different.
Mainline and Evangelical
This brings us to another word: Evangelical. Historically, “evangelical” simply meant focused on the evangel—the good news of Jesus Christ. By that definition, we are evangelical! We proclaim Christ, celebrate God’s love, and seek to live transformed lives. But in recent decades, the word “Evangelical” has shifted in American culture, coming to be associated with a particular set of conservative social and political positions. In that sense, we are not Evangelical. We stand in the older, broader tradition of being both evangelical (in spirit) and Mainline (in identity).
You might ask: why does any of this matter? Why spend time on labels at all?
The answer is that clarity about identity helps us live faithfully. It’s not about comparing ourselves to other churches or deciding who is “better.” Rather, it’s about knowing who God has called us to be. We are not a “big-box” evangelical church. We are not fundamentalist. We are a Mainline church: rooted in the gospel, thoughtful in our theology, inclusive in our welcome, and committed to justice as an expression of our discipleship.
Understanding this helps us discern what does and does not fit with our identity. It shapes how we read Scripture, how we worship, how we make decisions, and how we serve the world. It reminds us that our calling is not to replicate someone else’s church model, but to be faithful to the tradition we have received—a tradition always being reformed and renewed by the Spirit.
Being Mainline doesn’t mean clinging to the past or holding on to old privileges. It means standing in a historic stream of faith while also confessing where we’ve gone wrong, listening for God’s voice today, and living into the gospel of Jesus Christ with courage and joy.
