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Achurch (orlocal church) is a religious organization or congregation that meets in a particular location, often forworship. Many are formally organized, withconstitutions andby-laws, maintain offices, are served byclergy or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seeknon-profit corporate status.
Local churches often relate with, affiliate with, or consider themselves to be constitutive parts ofdenominations, which are also called churches in many traditions. Depending on the tradition, these organizations may connect local churches to larger church traditions,ordain anddefrock clergy, define terms of membership and exercisechurch discipline, and have organizations for cooperative ministry such as educational institutions andmissionary societies.Non-denominational churches are not part of denominations, but may consider themselves part of larger church movements without institutional expression.
The wordchurch may also be used for other religious communities. For non-Christian communities the term may be considered archaic or even offensive, negating existing terms such assynagogue ormosque used to refer to their community orplace of worship.[citation needed]
The wordchurch is used in the sense of a distinct congregation in a given city in slightly under half of the 200 uses of the term in theNew Testament.[1]John Locke defined a church as "a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord in order to the public worshipping ofGod in such manner as they judge acceptable to him".[2][3]
A local church may be run usingcongregationalist polity and may be associated with other similar congregations in adenomination or convention, as are the churches of theSouthern Baptist Convention or like German or SwissLandeskirchen. It may be united with other congregations under the oversight of acouncil of pastors as arePresbyterian churches. It may be united with other parishes under theoversight of bishops, as areAnglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox, andEastern Orthodox churches. Finally, the local church may function as the lowest subdivision in a global hierarchy under the leadership of one bishop, such as thepope (the bishop of Rome) of theRoman Catholic Church. Such association or unity is a church'secclesiastical polity.
TheGreek wordekklēsia, literally "called out" or "called forth" and commonly used to indicate a group of individuals called to gather for some function, in particular an assembly of the citizens of a city, as inActs 19:32–41, is theNew Testament term referring to the Christian Church (either a particular local congregation or the whole body of the faithful). In theSeptuagint, the Greek word "ἐκκλησία" is used to translate the Hebrew "קהל" (qahal). MostRomance andCeltic languages use derivations of this word, either inherited or borrowed from theLatin formecclesia.
TheEnglish language word "church" is from theOld English wordcirice, derived fromWest Germanic*kirika, which in turn comes from the Greekκυριακήkuriakē, meaning "of the Lord" (possessive form ofκύριοςkurios "ruler" or "lord").Kuriakē in the sense of "church" is most likely a shortening ofκυριακὴ οἰκίαkuriakē oikia ("house of the Lord") orἐκκλησία κυριακήekklēsia kuriakē ("congregation of the Lord").[4] Some grammarians and scholars say that the word has uncertain roots and may derive from theAnglo-Saxon "kirke" from the Latin "circus" and the Greek "kuklos" for "circle", which shape is the form in which many religious groups met and gathered.[5] Christian churches were sometimes calledκυριακόνkuriakon (adjective meaning "of the Lord") in Greek starting in the fourth century, butekklēsia andβασιλικήbasilikē were more common.[6]
The word is one of many direct Greek-to-Germanic loans of Christian terminology, via theGoths. The Slavic terms for "church" (Old Church Slavonicцрькꙑ [crĭky],Russianцерковь [cerkov’],Slovenian cerkev) are via theOld High German cognatechirihha.[citation needed][further explanation needed]
Among congregational churches, since each local church is autonomous, there are no formal lines of responsibility to organizational levels of higher authority.Deacons of each church are elected by the congregation. In some Baptist congregations, for example, deacons function much like a board of directors or executive committee authorized to make important decisions. Although these congregations typically retain the right to vote on major decisions such as purchasing or selling property, large spending, and the hiring or firing of pastors and other paid ministers. In many such local churches, the role of deacons includes pastoral and nurturing responsibilities. Typically, congregational churches have informal worship styles, less structured services, and may tend toward modern music and celebrations.[7][8]
Local churches united with others under the oversight of a bishop are normally called "parishes", byRoman Catholic,Eastern Orthodox,Anglican, andLutherancommunions. Each parish usually has one active parish church, though seldom and historically more than one. The parish church has always been fundamental to the life of every parish community, especially in rural areas. For example, in theChurch of England, parish churches are the oldest churches to be found in England. A number are substantially of Anglo-Saxon date and all subsequent periods of architecture are represented in the country. Most parishes have churches that date back to the Middle Ages. Thus, such local churches tend to favor traditional, formal worship styles, liturgy, and classical music styles, although modern trends are common as well.
Local parishes of the Roman Catholic Church, like episcopal parishes, favor formal worship styles, and still more traditional structure in services. The importance of formal office is also a distinctive trait; thus a solemn mass may include the presence of officers of theKnights of Columbus as an escort for the regional bishop when he is present. Likewise, vestments are valued to inculcate the solemnity of the Holy Eucharist and are typically more elaborate than in other churches.
A local church may also be amission, that is a smaller church under the sponsorship of a larger congregation, a bishop, or a greater church hierarchy. Often congregational churches prefer to call such local mission churches "church plants."
A local church may also work in association withparachurch organizations. While parachurch organizations/ministries are vital to accomplishing specific missions on behalf of the church they do not normally take the place of the local church.
The Catholic Church has long offered housing to asylum seekers in the form of church asylum. In this tradition, the church provides sanctuary toasylum seekers for a short duration on their congregation's premises.[9]
During the nineteenth century in the United States, many churches, particularly theAfrican Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, sheltered those escaping Southern slavery. Many of these churches assisted fugitive slaves and aligned themselves with the growing abolitionist movement in the northern United States.[10]
O.E.cirice "church," from W.Gmc. *kirika, from Gk.kyriake (oikia) "Lord's (house)," fromkyrios "ruler, lord."
Gk.kyriakon (adj.) "of the Lord" was used of houses ofChristian worship since c. 300, especially in the East, though it was less common in this sense thanekklesia orbasilike.
