47 Christian Denominations In 47 Weeks: This Content Creator Is Trying Them All
Christian content creator Micah Waldman was raised in a non-denominational church and still attends one to this day. Three years ago, he said he became a Christian “when I took my faith in my own hands.”
Near the end of last year, during a conversation with his mother, Waldman came to the realization that he “just would have no reason to go to a Catholic Mass.”
“And I was always curious,” Waldman added. “Like, I was just curious about all these other denominations, especially ones that are so different from what I'm used to. And I would go my whole life without ever experiencing them.”
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It inspired him to change that. He set about visiting 47 Christian denominations — though there are tens of thousands of denominations worldwide, he narrowed the list to “the most notable ones” — and began recording and reviewing his experience at each.
He ranks each denomination by four categories after attending a Sunday service: Worship, sermon, hospitality and overall environment. He has no desire to change denominations himself, but instead to experience them himself and educate others about the differences in practice.
Waldman has had a love for making videos his entire life — he made Minecraft videos, albeit ones that didn’t get much traction, for fun starting when he was ten years old. He’s only really launched into Christian content creating in the past few months on top of a full-time job, and he’s already started developing an impressive following. His posts reach over 12,000 TikTok followers and over 41,000 Instagram followers.
“It's kind of funny because, growing up, I always wanted to be a YouTuber and do that kind of stuff full time,” Waldman said. “And the time that it actually started blowing up and doing well is when I wasn't really trying to get followers or anything.”
But Waldman said “it works” because he was interested in broadening his horizons, “because I think other people are interested in it as well.”
His most-liked video on Instagram — his visit to a traditional Pentecostal church — has almost 47,000 likes. He often gets recommendations for other, more specific, denominations in the comments, and insight from people who are as curious as he is.
“I've even had three or four comments from people that have said, ‘I'm a straight up atheist and I'm following because I find this very interesting; I just like to see the different types of churches,’” Waldman said. “It's just such a big thing in society.”
But he’s gotten his fair share of backlash and negative comments as well.
Some commenters disparage Waldman’s rating system; others suggest there’s heresy taking place.
“People just want to be right,” Waldman said of those who suggest as much. “And when they see something that they don't think is right, they want to tell that person that they're wrong. The devil's whole thing is division. That's his biggest tool against the church, is to divide us. He wants groups of Christians to feel as though other groups of Christians are wrong.”
Waldman said he takes an understanding view of his naysayers as he does the churches he visits. After all, the choice not to involve theology in his reviews is an intentional one.
“Who am I to inject my own theology and say that other people are wrong when that might not even be the case, you know?” he said. “I trust people to judge all of them individually, based on the Bible.”
He does, however, post follow-up videos after every visit, one with additional thoughts and one that’s purely informative, unpacking the theological differences of the denomination he’s visited.
In 2026, Waldman has continued his journey. He’s now visited 10 denominations == and has 37 more to go. Most of the churches he’s visited so far he’s done locally in Ohio, though he’s visited congregations in Forth Worth and Chicago, and he’s prepared to travel as far as he needs to go.
He’s most excited to visit more churches on the opposite end of the spectrum he’s used to — “Orthodox, Catholic and Presbyterian were all the most fun ones for me so far, because that was super, completely unfamiliar to me,” he said.
Beyond his own journey, Waldman said he hopes his audience will embrace differences as he is. He views the series as a way to combat division among Christians.
“I want people to see that these other denominations — even if they look different, they sound different, they act different — their focus is still on Jesus Christ,” he added. “We're all made uniquely. We're all made in the Lord's image. We're going to gravitate to certain things and do things certain ways.”
Waldman takes a friend every time he goes to help with those first-time visitor’s nerves, and he says it helps make the experience more fun every time. He’d encourage people to embark upon the same journey, whether for curiosity or just to experience a church community for themselves.
“Go experience it for yourself,” Waldman said. “I promise you it's a lot better than watching my videos.”
Jillian Cheney is Religion Unplugged’s Senior Culture Correspondent. She writes about film, TV, music, art, books and more. Find her on X @_jilliancheney.