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Exhorter (Kwonsa)
[Church Offices]The exhorter (kwonsa) is a lay office in Korean Protestant churches whose holders exhort church members and care for them through pastoral visitation and prayer. The office originated in the Methodist tradition, and its qualifications and role vary by denomination.
Elder
[Church Offices]An elder is a church officer elected from among the members to care for and govern the church together with the pastor. In Presbyterian churches the term refers to the ruling elders who make up the session; the status and role of the office vary by denomination.
Officer (Salvation Army)
[Church Offices]An officer is a member of the clergy of The Salvation Army, equivalent to a pastor in other denominations. Within the Salvation Army's military-style organization, officers complete training and are commissioned, after which they lead corps (local congregations) or carry out social service and administrative work.
Online Worship
[Worship & Rites]Online worship is a form of worship in which a church streams or broadcasts its service over the internet or other media, allowing members to participate through a screen rather than gathering in a church building. It is also known as remote worship or video worship.
Baptism by Immersion
[Worship & Rites]Baptism by immersion is a mode of baptism in which the person's whole body is submerged in water and then raised up again. In Korea, certain denominations, including Baptist churches and churches of the Full Gospel (Pentecostal) tradition, follow this practice.
Baptism
[Worship & Rites]Baptism is a rite in which water is used to signify that a person has come to faith in Jesus Christ and become a member of the church community. Most Protestants count it, together with the Lord's Supper, as one of two sacraments.
Apostles' Creed
[Worship & Rites]The Apostles' Creed is a confession of faith of the Western church that briefly summarizes belief in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Korea, many Protestant churches recite it together in Sunday worship.
Board of Church Officers (Jejikhoe)
[Organization & Polity]The board of church officers (jejikhoe) is a deliberative body in which a congregation's officers, such as pastors, elders, deacons, and kwonsas, meet to discuss and carry out the practical work of church finances and service. It is found chiefly in Korean Presbyterian churches, where it operates under the provisions of the church constitution.
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.
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.
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.
Epiphany
[Feasts & Seasons]Epiphany is a Christian feast, observed on January 6, that commemorates the manifestation of Jesus Christ to the world as the Son of God.
Pentecost
[Feasts & Seasons]Pentecost is a church festival observed on the Sunday that falls on the fiftieth day after Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 2). It is also called Pentecost Sunday.
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.
Songguyeongsin Service
[Feasts & Seasons]The Songguyeongsin service is a worship service held from the night of December 31 until about midnight as January 1 begins, in which worshipers look back on the past year with thanksgiving and entrust the new year to God. It is widely observed across denominational lines in Korean Protestantism.
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.
Tongsung Kido
[Christian Life]Tongsung kido is a form of prayer in which everyone gathered prays aloud at the same time, each in his or her own words. Since the Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907, it has become one of the characteristic prayer practices of Korean Protestantism.
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.
Christmas
[Feasts & Seasons]Christmas is a Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed by most churches on December 25. In South Korea it is a statutory public holiday officially called Gidok Tansinil ("the Day of Christ's Birth").
Thanksgiving
[Feasts & Seasons]Thanksgiving is a Protestant observance in which believers thank God for the year's harvest and for the grace they have received. Korean Protestant churches generally observe Thanksgiving Sunday on the third Sunday of November.