In Table E the Protestant churches are grouped according to their polity. It will be seen that about 1,600 have a Congregational form of government, in which authority rests in the local church; that in nearly 1,200 churches the polity is Presbyterian, in which authority is largely in the local church, but partly in a representative body of several churches grouped in districts. Under the title of “Episcopal Bodies” are grouped denominations comprising 2,721 churches, or more than the total number of the Presbyterian and Congregational combined.
The Methodist Protestant Churches are not placed in either of these groups because their polity resembles, in some respects, that of the Congregational and in others that of the Episcopal churches. Authority with them rests largely in the local church, which owns its property and has authority to receive and dismiss its own members, but in other respects resembles closely the churches of the Episcopal order. In the fourth group are 82 other churches or religious organizations which we have failed to classify. The Catholic bodies, including Greek and Russian, number 253.
Differences as to church polity are not sufficiently great to constitute a dangerous obstacle to the progress of church unity among the Protestant rural churches of Ohio. Our system of universities and public schools, together with the custom of reading religious articles, books, and other literature without regard to the denomination of the author, is tending to remove theological differences as between denominations. It may be said it has already removed them in the eleven denominations represented in the Committee of Interchurch Coöperation. This is true whatever differences may still exist between individuals.
TABLE E
Churches Grouped According to Their Polity
| Congregational Bodies | ||
| Total | 1,601 | |
| Baptist, including Free, Free Will and Missionary | 379 | |
| Disciples | 367 | |
| Christian | 228 | |
| Congregational | 135 | |
| Christian Union | 92 | |
| Friends | 84 | |
| Mennonite | 56 | |
| Church of God | 54 | |
| Union | 40 | |
| Universalist | 39 | |
| Colored Baptist | 38 | |
| Disciples, Non-Progressive | 32 | |
| Primitive Baptist | 21 | |
| Seventh Day Advent | 13 | |
| Advent Christian | 12 | |
| United Baptist | 5 | |
| Nazarene | 5 | |
| Seventh Day Baptist | 1 | |
| Presbyterian Bodies | ||
| Total | 1,192 | |
| Presbyterian | 396 | |
| Lutheran | 362 | |
| Reformed, including German Reformed | 175 | |
| Brethren (German Baptist) | 113 | |
| United Presbyterian | 77 | |
| German Evangelical | 48 | |
| Calvinist Methodist | 12 | |
| Reformed Presbyterian | 8 | |
| Slavic Lutheran | 1 | |
| Episcopal Bodies | ||
| Total | 2,721 | |
| Methodist Episcopal | 1,793 | |
| United Brethren | 521 | |
| Evangelical Association | 129 | |
| Radical United Brethren | 95 | |
| African Methodist Episcopal | 40 | |
| Protestant Episcopal | 39 | |
| United Evangelical | 27 | |
| German Methodist Episcopal | 27 | |
| Free Methodist | 27 | |
| Wesleyan Methodist | 27 | |
| Moravian | 4 | |
| Primitive Methodist | 1 | |
| Catholic Bodies | ||
| Total | 253 | |
| Catholic (Roman) | 248 | |
| Greek Catholic | 4 | |
| Russian Catholic | 1 | |
| Other Bodies | ||
| Total | 293 | |
| Methodist Protestant | 211 | |
| Holiness | 25 | |
| Brethren (O. O., Prog. and River) | 21 | |
| Latter Day Saints | 6 | |
| Saints | 5 | |
| Christian Missionary Alliance | 4 | |
| Christian Science | 3 | |
| International Bible Students Association | 3 | |
| Federated | 3 | |
| Missionary Church Association | 2 | |
| Pietist | 1 | |
| Wengerite | 1 | |
| Seven Sleepers | 1 | |
| Denomination not reported | 7 | |