Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| awakening, evangelical | A movement of the Holy Spirit in the church bringing about a revival of New Testament Christianity. |
| awareness | In evangelization, the quality or state or extent of realization or knowledge of the gospel; perception, understanding, cognizance, consciousness, comprehension, recognition of the facts of Christianity, Christ and the gospel. |
| awqaf | (Arabic: plural of waqf). Muslim trusts or foundations. |
| ayatollah | (Persian). Shia Muslim leader or cleric of great personal accomplishment, holiness, and renown. |
| baby | Infant (qv). |
| Babylon | See of Chaldean Catholic patriarchate. |
| back-calls | In Jehovah’s Witnesses’ terminology, return visits (qv) during house-to-house visiting work. |
| backsliders | Former church members who are falling away or have fallen away from the Christian faith; lapsed, disaffiliated, dechristianized, apostates. |
| Baha’i | The doctrine and practice of a sect founded in Iran in the 19th century that emphasizes the spiritual unity of mankind and advocates peace and universal education. |
| Baha'is | Followers of the Baha’i World Faith, founded in 1844 by Baha’u’llah in what is now Iran. |
| Baltic | A European ethnolinguistic family. |
| banned churches | In many countries, a few, some, several, many or even all denominations and religions have been banned by decree of the regime in power. Such churches rarely dissolve themselves or cease Christian worship and other activity; they usually simply disappear from public view and operate underground. |
| Bantoid | An African ethnolinguistic family, with 205 languages. |
| Bantu | An African ethnolinguistic family with 440 languages. |
| baptism | The sacramental rite which admits a candidate (adult or infant) to membership in the Christian church; usually by immersion (submersion), affusion (pouring), or aspersion (sprinkling) with water. |
| baptism by immersion | (1) The rite of adult baptism through submersion in water, practiced by Baptist, Pentecostal and other Protestant traditions; believer’s baptism. (2) Baptism by total immersion is also universal for infant baptism among Eastern and Oriental Orthodox (e.g. Copts, at 40 days old for boys, 80 for girls). |
| baptism rate | The number of baptisms in a church or area in a given year, expressed as a percentage of the total baptized membership. |
| baptismal candidate | A catechumen (qv). |
| baptisms, annual | (1) The number of persons baptized in a given year. (2) The number of services of baptism held in a given year. |
| baptisms, annual Catholic | (1996) 18,103,810 (15,867,550 children up to seven years old). |
| Baptist World Alliance | (BWA). The major Baptist communion. Global members: (1999) There are 192 Baptist unions and conventions in over 200 countries with a membership of more than 42 million baptized believers in a total community of 100 million Baptists. |
| Baptistic-Pentecostals | Also termed Keswick-Pentecostals, mainline Classical Pentecostals teaching 2-crisis experience (conversion, baptism of the Spirit). |
| Baptists | (1) In contrast to Pedobaptists (qv) who baptize infants, all Christian traditions which baptize adults only are termed Baptist, in its widest meaning. (2) The specific tradition of Protestants and Independents calling themselves Baptists. |
| baptized | Persons who have been admitted to churches through the rite of baptism. |
| baptized, the | Followers of Christianity who have undergone the formality or ceremony of baptism. |
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.