Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| evangelizing | Actively involved in spreading the good news. |
| evangelizing Christians | Persons who contribute definitely and consciously to the ongoing process of the evangelization of their own people or country or the world; the effective evangelizing agency among a people or in a country; the force for evangelism; measured as all practicing Christians. |
| examining chaplain | In Anglican usage, an archdeacon or other learned clergyman who examines candidates for holy orders, usually 3 or more to each diocese. |
| exarch | The primate of an independent Orthodox church, or a bishop with a special charge |
| exarchate | (symbol E). The jurisdiction of an exarch. |
| exarchate apostolic | (symbol EA). The jurisdiction of an exarch apostolic, the title for a bishop with a special mission or commission in some Eastern churches. |
| Exclusive Brethren | Followers of Protestant tradition begun 1848 ex Christian Brethren; also termed Closed, Strict, or Plymouth Brethren; exclusive fundamentalist/dispensationalist. |
| excommunicated | Persons placed under ecclesiastical censure by competent authority for infraction of church law or discipline, and then excluded from communion or the sacraments, often permanently. It remains relatively rare in most churches. |
| exegesis | In theology, the explanation of the original meaning of biblical texts. |
| exile church | A denomination that has largely left, or been expelled from, its original homeland by political circumstances and has begun permanent life in a foreign land; mainly from Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Eastern Europe. |
| exorcism | The act or practice of expelling evil spirits by means of prayer or set formulae and rituals; often practiced in larger denominations only by professionally competent and authorized clergy. |
| expatriate | A person who resides or lives in a foreign country. |
| experiential religions | Those which lay more emphasis on religious experience than on historical dogma (e.g. mysticism, faith-healing, charismatic renewal, Eastern religions, yoga, TM, etc.). |
| expert system | A computer software program that encapsulates the expertise of a recognized human expert in some domain of knowledge; consisting of a knowledge base (facts and heuristics or rules of thumb), an inference engine or reasoning system, and a natural-language user interface. |
| exposition | In preaching or Biblical teaching, the art of interpreting the original meaning (exegisis) and then applying it to contemporary life and issues. |
| exposure | In evangelization, the act or extent of subjecting a population to the influence of the gospel; explaining, laying open, making accessible, making known, setting forth, exhibiting, revealing, disclosing, bringing to light. |
| exposure | Used as a measure of evangelism by numerous agencies (e.g. Campus Crusade for Christ): workers fill in statistical reports stating how many persons they have exposed to the gospel in a presentation over the last month or year. |
| extension growth | Visible, measurable growth of the church, especially in the planting of new congregations and churches. |
| externally evangelized | Those persons in a people or population who have become evangelized as a result of persons or agencies or programs from outside their own people or population. |
| extrapolation | The estimation of values of a series beyond or outside the range of existing known values. |
| faith | Belief and trust in and loyalty to God in Christ; firm or unquestioning belief in something for which there is no proof; orthodox religious belief; also used for religion, creed, credo. |
| faith missions | A term generally applied to those non-denominational and interdenominational foreign missionary agencies since 1860 whose governing concept is to look to God alone for financial support. |
| faithful, the | The adherents of a system of religious belief, especially Eastern Orthodoxy; baptized Christians as opposed to catechumens. |
| faithful, the | Term in wide use in Orthodox church circles to describe total membership or constituency. |
| faith-healing | A method or practice of treating diseases by prayer and exercise of faith in God. |
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.