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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.
Theological Seminary
[Organization & Polity]A theological seminary, or graduate school of theology, is a graduate-level program whose primary purpose is the training of pastors. Its core program is the Master of Divinity (M.Div.), and many Korean Protestant denominations treat completion of this program as a basic requirement for ordination.
Non-Self-Supporting Church
[Organization & Polity]A non-self-supporting church is a church that cannot cover its pastor's living allowance and operating expenses from its members' offerings alone and therefore receives support from its denomination or from other churches. It is also called a "future self-supporting church."
Holy Week
[Feasts & Seasons]Holy Week is the week immediately preceding Easter, a period that commemorates Jesus Christ's entry into Jerusalem, his suffering, and his death on the cross. Korean Protestants commonly call it Passion Week, while Catholics and Anglicans in Korea generally call it Holy Week.
Denomination
[Organization & Polity]A denomination is an organized body formed by churches that share a common confession of faith and system of church government. Several denominations may exist within a single denominational tradition.
Church Year
[Feasts & Seasons]The church year is the church's calendar, which arranges a year of worship in sequence according to the life of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit, beginning with Advent and continuing through the season after Pentecost. It is also known as the cycle of church seasons.
Lent
[Feasts & Seasons]Lent is a season of the church year lasting forty days before Easter, excluding Sundays, during which Christians meditate on the sufferings of Jesus Christ and prepare for Easter through repentance and self-denial.
Bible Sunday
[Feasts & Seasons]Bible Sunday is a Sunday set aside to reflect on the value of Scripture and to pray and give offerings for the translation and distribution of the Bible. In Korea, churches observe it each year on the second Sunday of December, with the Korean Bible Society leading the observance.
Church Finance
[Organization & Polity]Church finance is the work and system by which a church manages the money it receives through offerings and other sources, prepares and carries out budgets, and closes its accounts. The topic includes church accounting and financial disclosure.
Quiet Time
[Christian Life]Quiet Time (QT) is a personal devotional practice of reading a passage of Scripture, meditating on it, and praying at a set time each day.
Small Group
[Christian Life]A small group is a gathering within a church in which anywhere from a few to a dozen or so members meet regularly to share Scripture, pray, and care for one another. Depending on the church and denomination, such groups go by various names, including cells and classes; Korean churches also use terms such as guyeok (district), sokhoe (class), mokjang (pasture), darakbang (upper room), and sun.