Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| intercessors | Christians undertaking to pray daily for unreached peoples, for World A, for non-Christians; often in institutions (monasteries, converts, ashrams) or in other structured situations (prayerwalking, Praying through the Window). |
| interchurch aid | Aid given by one church or denomination to another, usually as finance, personnel or other resources. |
| intercommunion | Mutual fellowship and limited sacramental and ministerial recognition between 2 or more churches or confessions, but falling short of full communion (qv). |
| interconfessional | Involving, supported by, or common to major Christian families or communions having different confessions of faith. |
| interdenominational | Occurring between or among or common to different denominations (qv). |
| interdenominational | Occurring between or among or common to several or many different denominations; accountable to several denominations, or partially or completely controlled by them. |
| intermediate technology | Technology that is sufficiently simple to directly benefit peasants and workers in developing nations. |
| internal province | In Anglicanism, a self-governing ecclesiastical province within an autonomous church. |
| internally evangelized | Those persons in a people or population who have become evangelized as a result of persons or agencies of their own people or population. |
| international Christian radio stations | There are some 50 powerful radio stations under Christian auspices which beam programs worldwide in several hundred languages. |
| International Conference of Old Catholic Bishops | See International Old Catholic Bishops Conference. |
| International Congregational Council | (ICC). Confessional council begun 1891 linking all Congregationalist denominations. Merged in 1970 with World Alliance of Reformed Churches. |
| International Council of Christian Churches | (ICCC). The major global Fundamentalist, anti-Ecumenical, council. Global constituency: (AD 2000) 100 denominations with 3 million members. |
| international denominational bodies | See non-confessional international denominational bodies. |
| International New Thought Alliance | (INTA). World communion for metaphysical Christian bodies, begun 1914. |
| International Old Catholic Bishops Conference | Also known as the Union of Utrecht, begun 1889; the major Old Catholic world communion. |
| international sharing of personnel | The sending and receiving, between and amongst all countries of the world, and between and amongst all churches of the world, of 420,000 full-time long-term foreign missionaries and personnel. |
| internationals | (1) Persons living abroad; workers, laborers, businessman, entrepreneurs, students, and many other categories of persons who live, reside, and work in a foreign country; excluding tourists or other transients. (2) Professionals working for United Nations-related agencies or parallel global organizations (as contrasted with national or regional bodies). |
| Internet | A network of computer networks which allows users to communicate using electronic mail, to retrieve data stored in databases, and to access websites and the World Wide Web. |
| internuncio | A Vatican diplomat of lower rank than nuncio. |
| interpolation | The estimation of values of a series at points intermediate between known or given values. |
| interreligious | Existing between 2 or more religions; used of activities or relationships between Christianity and one or more of the major world religions (Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism). Interreligious organizations significant at the national or wider levels number over 150. |
| invisible church | In reaction to excessive denominationalism and fragmentation of the visible Church many Christians profess to believe only in one undivided but invisible church, the Body of Christ, composed only of all true believers. |
| invitation | In evangelization, the act of inviting or challenging persons to accept Christ immediately often at the close of an evangelistic service or meeting. |
| invitations | Clearcut opportunities for hearers to accept Christ and become disciples; synonymous with offers, chances. |
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.