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Epistle of Barnabas
[History]The Epistle of Barnabas is an early Christian writing composed in Greek between the late first and early second centuries. It interprets the laws and institutions of the Old Testament as symbols pointing to Christ. It was not included in the New Testament canon.
Veneration of the Saints
[Doctrine & Theology]The veneration of the saints is a devotional practice of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in which saints who serve as models of faith are honored and asked for their intercession. Protestants remember the saints as examples of faith but do not make them objects of prayer.
Mayflower Compact
[History]The Mayflower Compact was an agreement for self-government signed by forty-one adult male passengers in November 1620, after the Mayflower reached Cape Cod and before they went ashore. It became the first governing document of Plymouth Colony.
Carthusian Order
[History]The Carthusian Order is an enclosed Catholic religious order founded in 1084 by Bruno of Cologne in the Chartreuse Mountains of the French Alps. It is distinguished by its combination of eremitic life, in which each monk prays alone and in silence in his own cell, with communal worship.
Deathbed Service
[Christian Life]A deathbed service is a brief service of worship held by family members and ministers at the side of a believer who is about to die or has just died. In Korean Protestant churches, it is regarded as the first rite of the funeral process.
2 John 1:6
[Bible Verses]Second John 1:6 states that love consists in walking according to God's commandments, and that the commandment is to walk in love, as the readers have heard from the beginning. The verse is frequently cited for defining love and obedience in terms of each other.
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.
Benediction
[Worship & Rites]The benediction is the part of a worship service in which, at its close, the minister asks for or pronounces God's blessing upon the congregation. In Catholic and Anglican usage, it is commonly referred to as the blessing.
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.
Bivocational Ministry
[Organization & Polity]Bivocational ministry refers to pastors and other ministers holding an outside occupation alongside their pastoral work. Denominations differ on whether and under what conditions it is permitted, as they weigh ministers' need for a livelihood against full-time devotion to ministry.
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.
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.
Tithe
[Christian Life]The tithe is an offering of one-tenth of one's income given to God. In Korean Protestantism it is the most prominent regular offering.
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
[Doctrine & Theology]Baptism in the Holy Spirit refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon a believer. Denominations differ in their understanding: some hold that every believer receives it at conversion, while others regard it as a distinct experience received after conversion.
Westminster Confession of Faith
[Doctrine & Theology]The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith produced by the Westminster Assembly in seventeenth-century England. Together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms prepared by the same assembly, it serves as the doctrinal standard for most Presbyterian churches worldwide, including most Presbyterian denominations in Korea.
Tithing Controversy
[Controversies]A debate over whether the tithe, the giving of one-tenth of one's income, remains an obligation for Christians today.
Lausanne Movement
[Institutions]The Lausanne Movement is an evangelical world mission movement that began at the International Congress on World Evangelization (the First Lausanne Congress), held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974. The Lausanne Covenant, adopted at that congress, is the movement's foundational document.
Third John
[Bible]Third John is the twenty-fifth book of the New Testament. A brief personal letter from "the elder" to a believer named Gaius, it urges hospitality toward itinerant evangelists and rebukes the conduct of Diotrephes.