Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| family | Defined primarily by reference to relationships which pertain to or arise from reproductive processes and which are regulated by law or by custom. |
| family income, average | The total income of an average family or household in an area, computed by multiplying per capita income by average household size (qv). |
| fast | A time in the calendar of certain churches for abstaining from food as contrasted with a feast day. |
| fasting | Abstaining from food voluntarily for a time as a religious duty. |
| father | Used of ecclesiastics, i.e. of Catholic, Orthodox and some Anglican bishops, priests and monks, both in direct address and as title prefixed to the name. |
| fax | Facsimile transmission of digitized pictures or text over telephone lines. |
| feast | A religious festival of rejoicing as opposed to a fast; an annual holy day. |
| federation | A union of nations, states, societies, organizations, churches or denominations. |
| federations of religious communities | See religious institutes, federations of. |
| fellowship | A Christian group with intimate relationship, common purposefulness, brotherhood, partnership, and communion: in some denominations, used of a local worshipping congregation. |
| Ferrette succession churches | Autocephalous Catholic churches under bishops-at-large (qv) whose disputed episcopal orders pass through Mar Julius Ferrette (died 1889). |
| fertility | Capacity for reproducing, actual reproductive capacity, birthrate of a population. |
| festival | A Christian feast day: Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, Trinity Sunday, etc. |
| festival attenders | Affiliated Christians (church members) who attend church services of public worship only on the Christian festivals (Christmas, Easter, etc.). |
| fetishist | A believer in magical fetishes (objects believed by primitive peoples to have preternatural power). |
| field survey | An inquiry or survey in which information is obtained by personal interview. |
| Fijian | An Oceanic ethnolinguistic family. |
| film | In the field of cinema and film, there are over 170 significant Christian organizations. |
| film libraries | Many denominations, councils and parachurch agencies own and operate libraries of 8mm, 16mm and 35mm movies which are hired out to churches on specific occasions. |
| films, religious | See religious drama. |
| financial member | A term used in some denominations in Africa for a full church member who has paid his annual dues. |
| Finnish/Slavonic | Eastern Orthodox liturgical tradition using Finnish and Slavonic in the liturgy. |
| first evangelization | A term used in Catholic mission circles for the first preaching of the gospel in a newlyentered non-Christian area. |
| First World | The Western (or Capitalist) world, as loosely contrasted with the Second (Communist) world (qv) and Third World (qv). |
| First World | In the post World War II terminology originated with Charles de Gaulle, the Western world (Europe, Northern America) in contrast to the communist world and the Third World. |
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.