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Annual Conference
[Organization & 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.
Gospel Songs
[Worship & Rites]Gospel songs are Christian songs composed outside the hymnals officially authorized by denominations and sung in church and in the life of faith. In Korean Protestant churches, the term is also used interchangeably with CCM (contemporary Christian music) and praise songs.
Representative Prayer
[Worship & Rites]Representative prayer is a prayer offered aloud by one person on behalf of the entire congregation during a worship service or gathering. In Korean churches it is usually led by lay officers such as elders, senior deaconesses (kwonsa), and deacons.
General Assembly
[Organization & Polity]A general assembly is the highest national decision-making body of a denomination. It amends the denominational constitution, sets policy, and elects officers. Among Korean Protestant denominations, Presbyterian bodies usually hold their regular general assembly each September.
Presbytery
[Organization & Polity]A presbytery is a governing court in Presbyterian churches in which the ministers and ruling elder representatives of a given region meet to govern the churches of that region. It is the intermediate court between the session and the general assembly.
District Conference
[Organization & 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.
Hymn
[Worship & Rites]A hymn is a song sung by a congregation to praise God and confess the faith; the term also refers to a book collecting such songs. In Korean Protestant churches, the term commonly refers to the common hymnal shared by many denominations.
Responsive Reading
[Worship & Rites]A responsive reading is an element of worship, and also the text used for it, in which the leader and the congregation read a passage of Scripture, usually from the Psalms, alternately verse by verse. In Korean Protestant churches it is also known as seongsi gyodok, "the alternate reading of sacred poems."
Church Discipline
[Organization & Polity]Church discipline is the practice by which a church examines the sins and wrongdoing of its members or officers, urges them to repent, and, when necessary, imposes censures in accordance with its church constitution. It is also referred to as church governance or, in its judicial form, ecclesiastical trial.
Church Polity
[Organization & 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.
Presbytery District (Sichal)
[Organization & Polity]In Korean Presbyterian polity, a presbytery district (sichal) is a subordinate unit formed when a presbytery divides its territory into several districts, so that its member churches can be visited and the presbytery can be assisted in its administration. The meeting of the ministers and elders of such a district is called a district council (sichalhoe).
Pastoral Call
[Organization & Polity]A pastoral call is the process by which a church formally invites and receives a minister, such as a senior pastor or associate pastor, according to established procedures. The specific procedures and the body that makes the decision vary with each denomination's system of church government.
Church Plant
[Organization & Polity]A church plant is a newly established church, founded in an area with no church or too few churches or directed toward a new group of people; the term also refers to the process of establishing such a church. In Korean Protestant usage, it commonly denotes a church in its early years with a small congregation and a limited financial base.
Denomination
[Organization & Polity]A denomination is a grouping of Protestant churches that share the same theological tradition and form of church government. Examples include the Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.
Church Planting by Division
[Organization & Polity]The founding of a new, independent church by an existing church (the "mother church"), which sends out some of its members, ministers, and part of its finances. Also called "daughter-church planting," it is distinct from a "church split," in which a congregation divides through conflict.
Congregational Meeting
[Organization & 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."
Installed Pastor
[Organization & Polity]An installed pastor, a term used chiefly in Presbyterian churches, is a senior pastor who has been called by a congregation and installed by the presbytery to serve that church without a fixed term. The office is distinguished from that of a temporary (stated) pastor, whose term of service is limited.
Church Bylaws
[Organization & 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.
Advent
[Feasts & Seasons]Advent is the season that includes the four Sundays before Christmas. During Advent the church remembers the coming of Jesus Christ and awaits his return, and the church year begins with this season.
Pastoral District (Gyogu)
[Organization & Polity]A pastoral district is a unit into which church members are divided, by region or by group, for pastoral care and church governance. In Korean Protestantism the term (gyogu) usually refers to a pastoral district within a single congregation, while in Anglicanism it refers to a regional church unit, or diocese, under the jurisdiction of a bishop.