Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| Christian socialism | A political tradition in Europe with close links with the Catholic Church. |
| Christian World | In the 3-tier schema, this is World C, consisting of all who individually are Christians. |
| Christian world communion | Formerly termed a world confessional family, now a standard term for any communion of Christian denominations. |
| Christian world communions | Official name since 1979 of what were previously termed world confessional families (WCFs), most of which are rooted primarily in Europe and North America, giving expression to the common heritages of worldwide groups of churches. Most have their own organized world confessional councils (confessional conciliarism). World total: (2000) 250. |
| Christian year | The year as it is observed by Christian churches marked by various festivals or commemorations at special seasons and on special days; the church year, church’s year. |
| Christianity | The whole worldwide body of Christian believers and their religion. |
| christianization | The process of christianizing; the whole 3- fold process of church planting and growth (as outlined in the Great Commission in Matthew 28.19, qv), namely discipling, baptizing, and perfecting. |
| christianize | To make Christian, to convert to Christianity, to imbue with Christian principles. |
| Christians | Followers of Jesus Christ of all kinds: all traditions and confessions, and all degrees of commitment, including: (a) Catholics; (b) Protestants; (c) Orthodox; (d) Independents; and (e) unaffiliated. |
| Christians ever | Total number of Christians who have ever lived, computed as (a) live Christians (those alive today), plus (b) dead Christians who lived at earlier times. |
| Christmas | The annual church festival kept on 25 December (Oriental Orthodox on 6 January) in memory of the birth of Christ. |
| Christmas attenders | The total of all persons who attend church at Christmas each year. |
| christocentric | Used of all thought, actions or theological systems in which Christ is placed at the center. |
| Christopaganism | A synthesis of popular Catholicism in Latin America with traditional pre-Columbian American Indian religion. |
| Christopagans | Amerindian Catholics in Latin America who syncretize folk-Catholicism with organized traditional Amerindian pagan religion. |
| Christopagans | Catholics of Latin background, chiefly in Latin America, who combine traditional pre-Columbian ethnoreligion with popular Catholic religiosity (images, shamans, incense, idols, nomenclature). |
| Church | (when used with a capital C). A particular denomination; or the universal Church |
| church | (when used without a capital C). Abuilding set apart for Christian worship, or the services which go on in it; the historical institution composed of believing members, or the body of Christian believers; a local congregation or worshipping body; the visible organization to which Christ committed his mission. |
| church attenders | These can be categorized under 8 mutually- exclusive types: daily attenders, weekly (or Sunday) attenders, fortnightly attenders, monthly attenders, radio/TV service listeners, festival attenders, occasional attenders, annual attenders. (Church attendance is not detailed in WCD). |
| church growth | The study of the growth of churches is usually divided into (a) quantitative (numerical) growth, and (b) qualitative growth, the latter including organic and spiritual growth as well as other less tangible aspects. |
| church in exile | See exiled church. |
| church invisible | The entire company of those on earth and in afterlife who whether members of the church visible or not belong to the faithful saved by Christ. |
| church members | Affiliated Christians (qv). |
| church militant | The Christian church on earth regarded as engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies, the powers of evil. |
| Church of Rome | The Catholic Church, also officially termed ‘the Holy Roman and Apostolic Faith’ and ‘the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Religion’. |
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.