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Church Year
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 referred to as the cycle of church seasons.
Feast of the Holy Innocents
The Feast of the Holy Innocents is a commemoration in the church calendar honoring the victims of Herod's killing of the young boys of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). The Western church observes it on December 28.
Baptism of the Lord Sunday
Baptism of the Lord Sunday commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. In the Western church calendar, it is usually observed on the first Sunday after Epiphany.
Transfiguration Sunday
Transfiguration Sunday commemorates the event in which Jesus was transfigured in glory on a mountain (the Transfiguration). In the Protestant church calendar, it is commonly observed on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season, the Sunday immediately before Ash Wednesday.
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday is the Thursday immediately before Easter. Observed during Holy Week, it commemorates Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples, at which he instituted the Lord's Supper and washed the disciples' feet.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the Sunday immediately before Easter. It commemorates the occasion when crowds carrying palm branches welcomed Jesus Christ as he entered Jerusalem. Holy Week begins on this day.
Easter Controversy
The Easter controversy is a dispute within the church, dating back to the second century, over when Easter should be observed. The term encompasses the Quartodeciman controversy in Asia Minor, the decision of the Council of Nicaea, and the calendar differences between the Western and Eastern churches.
Pentecost
Pentecost is the Sunday falling on the fiftieth day after Easter, a church festival commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ (Acts 2). It is also called Pentecost Sunday.
Songguyeongsin Service
The Songguyeongsin service is a worship service held on the night of December 31 and continuing until about midnight as January 1 begins. In it, believers 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.
Church
The church is the community of those who believe in Jesus Christ. The word translates the New Testament Greek term ekklesia (an assembly of those who have been called out), and it refers first to a gathering of people rather than to a building.
Church Minister (Gyoyeokja)
Gyoyeokja (敎役者) is a general term for a person whose primary occupation is ministry in the church, such as preaching, teaching, and pastoral care. Associate pastors, evangelists, and others who assist the senior pastor are referred to separately as bugyoyeokja (associate ministers).
Church Bulletin
A church bulletin is a newsletter that a church publishes every Lord's Day, containing the order of worship, sermon information, church news, and announcements.
Church Dedication
A church dedication is a service in which a newly built church building is offered to God as a place of worship. In Korean churches it is usually held after all construction debt has been paid off.
Church Constitution
A church constitution is the foundational body of rules in which a denomination codifies its principles of confession of faith, church government, offices, worship, and discipline. Depending on the denomination, it may be called a "constitution," *The Doctrines and Discipline*, or another name.
Church Discipline
Church discipline is the practice by which a church examines the sins and wrongdoing of its members or officers, urges them to repent, and, when necessary, imposes censures in accordance with its church constitution. It is also known as *chiri* (church governance) or ecclesiastical trial.
Church Polity
Church polity refers to the systems and structures by which a church appoints its officers, makes decisions, and exercises governance and discipline. It is broadly divided into three forms: episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational.
Church Plant
A church plant (Korean: gaecheok gyohoe) is a newly established church in an area with no church or too few churches, or one aimed at a new group of people; the term also refers to the process of establishing such a church. In Korea, the term commonly refers to a church in its early years with a small congregation and a limited financial base.
Church Planting by Division
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
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.
Church Finance
Church finance refers to the work and systems 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.