What are the branches of Christian religion?

Answer 1

The universal Church is organized into different communities, which are to some degree estranged from each other:

• The Orthodox community that accepts the authority of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon
• The Orthodox community that accepts the authority of the Council of Ephesus
• The Orthodox community that rejects the decisions of the Council of Ephesus
• The Catholic community
• The Protestant community

The Protestant community includes very many different "communities," which all have their own government, and are organized quite independently of each other.

See also the related question, below, "How is the universal Catholic Church organized?"

Another Answer:

Unfortunately, there are numerous 'branches' of the 'Church of God' (as it is called in a dozen Scriptures) that Jesus established on the first Pentecost in 31 AD. The Apostles were tasked with spreading this 'One True' Christian Church teaching throughout the world. Unfortunately, no sooner than they began this ministry of Christ, false teachings began to sprout up and even invade the newborn Church itself.

The largest offshoot of the Apostolic Church began in Rome and quickly spread through its Empire. Beginning basically with the same teachings, this church soon had the interpretations of men and synercisms of other traditions incorporated into their teachings - in effect, creating a new 'branch.' And this eventually 'branched' into varying groups of 'Catholic or Universal Church' groups as noted in the other answer above.

In 16th Century Europe, a protesting group split from the mainstream Church forming another branch called Protestanism. In England, the then King also split from the 'mother' Church and formed the Church of England or Anglican community. And the firestorm continued for the next century or so with various groups or branches developing from the lead of Martin Luther.

Answer 2

• Baptists
• Methodists
• Lutherans
• Presbyterians
• Non-Denominational