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Sabbatical
[Organization & Polity]A sabbatical is a period during which a pastor or missionary, after serving for a set length of time, steps away from ministry to rest, study, pursue further training, and recharge. The term is taken from the Old Testament ordinances concerning the sabbatical year.
Steward
[Doctrine & Theology]A steward is a person entrusted with managing a master's household and property. In Protestantism, the term refers to the teaching that life, time, talents, and material possessions are entrusted to people by God and are to be used responsibly.
Joint Easter Service
[Worship & Rites]A joint Easter service is a worship service held on Easter at which multiple denominations and churches gather together, often at dawn. In Korea, the first such service is reported to have been held in 1947 on Namsan in Seoul.
Pastoral Honorarium
[Organization & Polity]A pastoral honorarium is money that a church pays regularly to its ministers, such as the senior pastor, associate pastors, and evangelists, to support their living. It is often referred to simply as an "honorarium."
Vow
[Christian Life]A vow is a voluntary promise by which a believer pledges to God to do something or to offer something. In Korean Protestant churches, vows commonly take forms such as vow prayers, vow offerings, and vows by parents to dedicate their children to the pastoral ministry.
Calling
[Doctrine & Theology]Calling is God's summoning of people, whether drawing them to salvation or entrusting them with a particular life and work. It is also commonly referred to as "the call," and the term is used especially often of being called to pastoral ministry.
Hospital Chaplain
[Church Offices]A hospital chaplain is a minister attached to a hospital who carries out pastoral ministry, such as worship services, counseling, and visitation, for patients, their families, and hospital staff.
Bible Transcription
[Christian Life]Bible transcription is the devotional practice of copying the text of Scripture by hand as a spiritual discipline for meditating deeply on the Word and taking it to heart. In Korea it is widely practiced across denominational lines.
Commitment Prayer
[Christian Life]Commitment prayer is prayer for which the period, time, and subjects are determined in advance and then continued without interruption for the entire period. In Korean Protestant churches it is often undertaken by individuals or whole congregations for a fixed number of days, as in a "40-day commitment prayer" or a "21-day commitment prayer."
Moderator of Presbytery
[Church Offices]The moderator of presbytery is the officer who represents a presbytery and presides over its meetings. In Presbyterian churches, a presbytery is the governing body made up of the churches of a given region and their representative ministers and elders. The moderator is elected at a stated meeting and usually serves a one-year term.
General Assembly Moderator
[Church Offices]A general assembly moderator is the person who represents and presides over the general assembly, the highest deliberative body of a denomination. The office exists in many denominations, including Presbyterian, Holiness, and Baptist churches, and its term and authority vary from one denomination to another.
Belgic Confession
[Doctrine & Theology]The Belgic Confession is a Reformed confession of faith in thirty-seven articles, written in French by Guido de Brès in 1561. Together with the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort, it is known as one of the "Three Forms of Unity."
Christian Counseling
[Christian Life]Christian counseling is counseling that helps individuals and families with psychological, relational, and spiritual difficulties from the perspective of the Christian faith and the Bible. The term encompasses both pastoral counseling by ministers and counseling by professional counselors.
Evangelism Explosion
[Christian Life]Evangelism Explosion is a lay evangelism training program begun in the early 1960s by the American Presbyterian minister D. James Kennedy. It is characterized by the memorization of a set gospel presentation outline and by on-the-job training in which trainers and trainees go out together.
Early Morning Devotion
[Christian Life]Early morning devotion is a devotional practice in which an individual, alone in the early morning, reads the Bible, reflects on its meaning, and prays. It refers to private devotional life, as distinct from the early morning prayer meeting, at which believers gather at church.
Christian Books
[Christian Life]Christian books are works of Christian literature, other than the Bible itself, written to aid the life of faith. The category includes devotionals, collections of testimonies, biographies of people of faith, introductory works of theology, and sermon collections.
Prayer Retreat Center (Kidowon)
[Christian Life]A prayer retreat center, known in Korean as a kidowon, is a Protestant facility, usually built in the mountains or on the outskirts of a city, where people can devote themselves to prayer and fasting. Equipped with meeting halls and lodging, it is used for individual prayer and group retreats.
Taesinja
[Christian Life]*Taesinja* (胎信者) is a term used in Korean Protestant churches for a person whom a church member keeps in mind and prays for with the aim of evangelizing. It refers to someone who does not yet attend church but who, it is hoped, will one day become a believer. The word carries the sense of "a believer carried in the womb."
Scripture Memorization
[Christian Life]Scripture memorization is the devotional practice of committing passages of the Bible to memory and taking them to heart. Its purpose goes beyond recall to using the memorized Word in meditation, prayer, and evangelism. In Korean Protestant churches it is widely practiced through memory verses in Sunday school, discipleship training, and the training programs of mission organizations.
Quakers
[Denominations]The Quakers are a branch of Protestantism that arose in mid-seventeenth-century England under the leadership of George Fox. Their official name is the Religious Society of Friends, and they are known for silent, expectant worship and for pacifism.