Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| state departments of religious affairs | Over 75 countries operate government departments or ministries of religion, usually for purposes of control and surveillance of the churches. |
| state religion | An established religion, national religion recognized in law as the official religion of a country. |
| stateless persons | Persons who are citizens of no state at all. |
| stations, mission | See mission stations. |
| statistical compassion | The extending of the Christian attitude of agape (love, compassion) beyond one’s immediate, visible circles of persons in need, to the demographicallyvast but invisible multitudes beyond, and in particular to the entire world population in its totality. |
| statistics | (1) Numeral, numerical or quantitative data, or numerical facts systematically collected. (2) The science of collecting and classifying numerical data, or that branch of applied mathematics that actually arranges, describes and draws inferences from sets of numerical data. (3) Abody of methods for making wise decisions in the face of uncertainty. |
| statistics | Facts or data of a numerical kind assembled, classified, and tabulated so as to present significant information about a given subject; the science of this process. Statistics are the shortest and most compact form of factual description with regard to a population or situation. |
| Sthanakavasis | Subsect of Svetambaras (qv) in western India. |
| strategy | In war, the overall military and psychological plans that a general (in Greek, strategos) makes, or the science or art of employing all the resources of a nation or coalition of nations to achieve the objects of war. In missions, the overall plans guiding the long-term evangelization of a people or territory. |
| strategy coordinator | See nonresidential missionary. |
| Strict Brethren | Exclusive Brethren (qv). |
| structures of sin | The superstructure of organized human activity based on selfishness, greed, sin, evil, that keeps half the world’s population in degrading poverty. |
| student organizations | Christian organizations for students, significant at the national or wider levels, number over 500. |
| studio | A room or center for the preparation (but not transmission) of Christian radio and TV programs. |
| study centers | Church- or Christian-operated study centers and other specialized lay training centers. |
| Stupa | A Buddhist hemispherical mound or tower, surmounted by a spire or umbrella, forming a memorial shrine of the Buddha and often containing sacred relics; also known as chaitya, tope, chorten (Tibet), dagoba (Ceylon), pagoda (Burma). |
| style | The mode of address normally used for church dignitaries. |
| sub-culture | See homogeneous unit. |
| sub-deacon | A person in holy orders who ranks below a deacon, with duties including preparation of vessels for the eucharist. |
| subject | A citizen (qv), often of a colonial territory. |
| sub-Orthodox sects | Formerly Russian Orthodox in the USSR who have split with their parent body to embark on total non-cooperation with the state yet retaining elements of Orthodox ritual, discontinued in 1990. |
| sub-population | In any population, part of the total inhabitants, e.g. schoolchildren, persons of marriageable age, etc. |
| subsidiary georeligion | A large megabloc or other segment of a universal georeligion. |
| subsidized distribution of scriptures | Annual sales of scriptures produced by UBS-related and other Bible societies, which are subsidized to locally-realistic prices. |
| Sudanic | An African ethnolinguistic family; with over 255 languages. |
Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.
Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.
Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.
Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.
Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.
A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.