Results for “Local Church”
Encyclopedia article
Local Church
The Local Church is a Christian movement begun in twentieth-century China by Watchman Nee and continued and spread by Witness Lee. Holding that there is only one church in each city, it does not use denominational names. Several Korean Presbyterian denominations have declared it heretical.
Articles 45, showing 20
- Particular ChurchOrganization & Polity
A particular church is an individual local church that belongs to the whole church throughout the world, the universal church. The term is used chiefly in Presbyterian church constitutions. In Korean Protestant usage, the corresponding term can also refer to a branch congregation that a megachurch establishes in another area.
- Church BylawsOrganization & Polity
Church bylaws are a written body of self-governing rules that set out the basic principles of a church's operation, including its purpose, membership qualifications, decision-making bodies, election of officers, and management of finances and property.
- Congregational ChurchDenominations
The Congregational Church is a Protestant denomination that follows congregational polity, in which the entire membership (the congregation) of each local church makes the final decisions on church matters. It arose from the Puritan and Separatist movements of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.
- Installation of Church OfficersWorship & Rites
The installation of church officers is a rite in which a church formally sets apart the officers it has elected, such as elders, deacons, and, in Korean churches, kwonsa (exhorters). In Korean Protestant usage, the rite is called an ordination service when it involves the laying on of hands, an inauguration service when duties are entrusted without the laying on of hands, and a pastoral installation service when a pastor is installed in a local church.
- Church Anniversary SundayChristian Life
Church Anniversary Sunday is a Sunday on which an individual congregation remembers the day of its founding and holds a service of thanksgiving. Because it is not a common observance of the church year, each church sets its own date and manner of observance.
- Church PolityOrganization & Polity
Church polity refers to the systems and structures by which a church appoints its officers, makes decisions, and exercises governance and discipline. It is broadly divided into three forms: episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational.
- Congregational MeetingOrganization & Polity
A congregational meeting is an assembly of all the baptized (communicant) members registered in a local church, convened to decide important matters such as electing church officers, calling a pastor, and approving the budget. The name is used in Presbyterian churches; in Korea, other denominations use names such as "general business meeting," and the courts refer to it as a "general meeting of church members."
- Session (Presbyterian)Organization & Polity
The session is the lowest church court in Presbyterian polity, governing an individual congregation. Composed of the senior pastor and the active ruling elders, it oversees the spiritual life of church members and makes decisions about the operation of the church.
- Senior PastorChurch Offices
A senior pastor is the minister who holds responsibility for a local church and oversees its preaching, sacraments, pastoral care, and administration. The procedures for appointment and the status of the office vary according to each denomination's form of church government.
- Institutional PastorChurch Offices
An institutional pastor is a minister who does not serve a local church but instead works in a Christian institution such as a denominational headquarters, school, hospital, media organization, or mission agency. The title is used chiefly in the constitutions of Presbyterian denominations.
- Short-Term MissionsChristian Life
Short-term missions are trips in which church members travel to domestic or overseas mission fields, for periods ranging from a few days to several weeks and in longer cases one to two years, to assist local churches and to engage in evangelism and service. In Korean churches the practice is also widely known as a "vision trip."
- Discipleship Training MovementHistory
The discipleship training movement seeks to train laypeople as disciples of Jesus Christ so that they share in the ministry of the church. In South Korea the movement spread from 1978 onward, when Oak Han-hum and SaRang Community Church brought discipleship training, previously the work of parachurch mission organizations, into the local church.
- Disciple-making Ministries InternationalInstitutions
Disciple-making Ministries International (DMI) is a discipleship training ministry affiliated with SaRang Community Church in South Korea. Founded in 1986 by Pastor Oak Han-hum, it has conducted the CAL Seminar, a discipleship leadership seminar for pastors.
- Annual ConferenceOrganization & Polity
In Methodism, an annual conference is both the yearly meeting at which the clergy and lay representatives of a given region decide on the ordination of ministers, clergy membership and appointments, and the administration of local churches, and the regional unit over which that meeting has jurisdiction.
- Ok Han-heumPeople
Ok Han-heum (玉漢欽, 1938–2010) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong). He founded SaRang Community Church, and through his book *Called to Awaken the Laity* he spread lay discipleship training in the local church throughout Korean Christianity.
- Watchman NeePeople
Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng, 1903–1972) was a twentieth-century Chinese church leader and author. He founded the local church movement and wrote works such as The Spiritual Man. Imprisoned under the Communist regime, he died in custody.
- Nevius Mission PolicyHistory
The Nevius Mission Policy was a mission policy adopted by the Presbyterian missions in Korea in the early 1890s, based on methods proposed by John Nevius, a missionary to China. At its core are the three-self principles, under which the local church propagates itself (self-propagation), governs itself (self-government), and supports itself financially (self-support), together with systematic Bible study.
- District ConferenceOrganization & Polity
A district conference is an intermediate-level body formed by the churches of a given region in Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, and other denominations, or the meeting that such a body holds. It occupies roughly the same position as the presbytery in Presbyterian churches.
- Cooperating PastorChurch Offices
A cooperating pastor is an ordained pastor who is affiliated with a church or institution and assists the senior pastor in ministry. The title is used mainly in Presbyterian churches, and its conditions of service and standing within the presbytery vary according to each denomination's constitution.