Alternative spellings

• churche (obsolete)

A Church has two commonly used meanings. Often the word 'Church' is used to describe a place of worship, a church building, or congregation or local gathering of religious believers. It is used to describe the local congregation or the larger body of a religious community.

Church may refer to:

In Christianity:

• Church (building), building used for religious services and worship.
• Christian Church, worldwide body of Christians.
  • Catholic Church, Christian church that adheres to the Papacy, and separated from Eastern Orthodoxy since the 11th century East-West Schism.
  • Church body, Christian religious body (local, national, or worldwide) made up of congregation(s), members, and clergy.
  • Invisible church, the "invisible" body of the elect who according to Christianity are known only to God.
  • Orthodox Church, various Eastern but otherwise-unrelated Churches including
    • Eastern Orthodox Church, various Christian Churches rejecting the supremacy of the Pope, and separated from the Catholic Church since the 11th century East-West Schism.
    • Oriental Orthodox Church, any one of various Christian Churches rejecting the Chalcedonian Creed and separated from Chalcedonian Christianity since the 5th century.
  • Protestant Church, form of Christian faith and church organization originating from the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation.
  • State church, various Christian Churches officially endorsed by the state
  • Established church, various Christian Churches officially sanctioned and supported by the government of a country
• Church service, time of communal worship, often on Sundays.
• Christian clergy, formal Christian religious leadership.

In other faiths:

• Unitarian Church, a phrase to describe Unitarian Universalism.
• Church of Scientology, controversial organization devoted to the Scientology belief system

In film:

• The Church, a 1989 Italian horror film directed by Michele Soavi.

In names:

• Church (surname), English surname (and list of people with that name).
• Church, Lancashire, suburb of Accrington, England.
• Adam Gilchrist, nicknamed "Church", retired Australian cricketer.

In music:

• The Church (band), Australian rock band.
• "The Church", song by Hawkwind from Church of Hawkwind.
• "Church", song by OutKast from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
• "Church", song by Galactic from Coolin' Off.
• "Church", song by T-Pain from his album Epiphany.

In fiction:

• Church (Red vs. Blue), fictional character
• Church, family cat in Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary

Other uses:

• Church (sociology of religion), classification of religious movements in the sociology of religion

A church is an association of people who share a particular belief system, particularly used in Christianity. The Christian concept "Church" (Greek εκκλησία — ekklesia, ref. Strong's Concordance — 1577) is mentioned in the New Testament, of the 114 occurrences. The Greek term εκκλησία — ekklesia, which literally means a "convocation", was a governmental and political term, used to denote a national assembly.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
• 2 Unsourced
• 3 See also
• 4 External links

Sourced

• And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.
  • Mt 16:18, Revised Standard Version, English translation from Greek.
  • Recorded as words of Jesus Christ(-33?) in Koine Greek. Original saying however may have been in the Aramaic language which was spoken widely in Palestine at that time.
  • The analysis of this passage has been disputed between Rome Catholic and other denominations.

• Είς μίαν, αγίαν, καθολικήν καί αποστολικήν Έκκλησίαν. (Original: Greek)
  • Translaiton: [We believe] In one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
  • Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed , 381

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Thu Aug 6 14:00:16 2009