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Church Architectural Styles
[Doctrine & Theology]Church architectural styles are the period and regional forms evident in the floor plan, exterior, and ornamentation of church buildings. The arrangement of a building reflects theological convictions about what belongs at the center of worship.
Church Anniversary Sunday
[Christian 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 Bazaar
[Christian Life]A church bazaar is a church event at which members sell donated or handmade goods and food, using the proceeds for relief, missions, or church projects.
Forms of Church Government
[Christian Life]Forms of church government classify church organization according to who holds decision-making and disciplinary authority in the church. They are commonly divided into episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational polity.
Particular Church
[Organization & 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.
House Church
[Christian Life]A house church is a form of church in which believers gather in homes to share meals, study the Word, and pray together as a community. Among Korean Protestants, the term usually refers to the pastoral model that Pastor Young-Gi Chai began at Seoul Baptist Church of Houston.
Eastern Orthodox Church
[Denominations]The Eastern Orthodox Church is one of the three major traditions of Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. It is a communion of Eastern churches that take the tradition of the early church and the decisions of the seven ecumenical councils as their standard of faith. It is also commonly called the Orthodox Church.
Catholic Church
[Denominations]The Catholic Church, also called Catholicism or the Roman Catholic Church, is a Christian church under the leadership of the Pope in Rome. Together with Protestantism and the Orthodox Church, it is regarded as one of the three main branches of Christianity.
Independent Church
[Denominations]An independent church is a Protestant church that does not belong to a denomination; each congregation manages its own affairs and makes its own decisions. Because such churches do not identify with any particular denominational tradition, they are also called "nondenominational churches."
Congregational Church
[Denominations]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.
The Church and Politics
[Controversies]The question of how the church and individual Christians should engage in politics. Views differ on the meaning of the separation of church and state, the boundary between preaching and political speech, and the proper forms of the church's social engagement.
Early Church
[History]The early church is the church of Christianity's first period, which arose around the apostles after the resurrection of Jesus. The term commonly designates the church from the apostolic age until the legalization of Christianity in 313 or the Council of Nicaea in 325.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
[Heresies & Cults]The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a religious organization founded by Joseph Smith in the United States in 1830 and commonly known as the Mormon Church. It accepts the Book of Mormon as scripture alongside the Bible. In South Korea, the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), the Korean Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapshin), and other denominations have declared it heretical.
Unification Church
[Heresies & Cults]The Unification Church is a religious organization founded by Sun Myung Moon in 1954 under the name Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. It is now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Korean Protestant denominations, including the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), have formally declared it a heresy and a pseudo-religion.
Commissioner (Church Delegate)
[Organization & Polity]A commissioner is a delegate sent by a lower church assembly, such as a session, presbytery, or district conference, to represent it at a higher assembly, such as a presbytery or general assembly. The term is used mainly in Presbyterian churches; other denominations use terms such as "delegate" or "representative."
Sanctuary (Church Building)
[Worship & Rites]A sanctuary is a building or space in which a congregation gathers for worship. Among a church's facilities, the largest space used for Sunday worship is often called the main sanctuary.
Reformed Church
[Denominations]The Reformed Church is a Protestant tradition descending from the sixteenth-century Reformation in Switzerland led by Zwingli and Calvin. In the broad sense, the term refers to all Calvinist churches, including Presbyterian churches. In the narrow sense, it refers to the churches that developed on the European continent under the name "Reformed Church."
Moravian Church
[Denominations]The Moravian Church, or Moravian Brethren, is a Protestant denomination that originated among the followers of Jan Hus, the fifteenth-century Bohemian reformer. It was renewed in 1722 at Herrnhut, Germany, and is known for pioneering Protestant foreign missions.
History of Korean Church Missions
[History]The history of Korean church missions is the history of Korean Protestantism sending missionaries to other regions and abroad. Its starting points are generally identified as the 1907 sending of a missionary to Jeju Island by the Independent Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Korea and the 1913 mission to Shandong, China.
The Church and the Democratization Movement
[History]The church and the democratization movement refers to the activities of South Korean Protestants who, on the basis of their faith, called for the restoration of human rights and democracy under the military governments of the 1970s and 1980s. Pastors and young people from denominations affiliated with the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) were at its center.