Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| linguistics | The study of human speech in its various aspects; linguistic science. |
| Lisbon | See of Latin Catholic patriarchate and patriarch, since 1716 |
| listeners, radio | See radio listeners. |
| listeners’ correspondence | Postal mail from listeners or viewers received by a broadcasting station or program. |
| listing | A series of items or measurements of religious variables ranked by size; often limited to The Top Ten (countries, populations, etc). |
| literacy | The ability to read and write, as measured by the percentage of the adult population who can read and write their own names and a simple statement. A higher level of competence is required for functional literacy (qv). |
| literate | A person is defined as literate if he can, with understanding, both read and write a short, simple statement on his everyday life (United Nations). |
| literates | Adults over 15 years old who have learned how to read and write in a language, either their mother-tongue or lingua franca or other second language. |
| literature, Christian | See Christian literature. |
| liturgical languages | Languages used in the liturgies of Catholic and Orthodox churches, of 2 main kinds: (1) ancient liturgical languages now no longer living (Latin, Coptic, Ge’ez, Syriac, Church Slavonic, etc.), and (2) contemporary living languages into which the liturgy has been translated. |
| liturgy | A rite, series of rites, observances or procedures prescribed for public worship in Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches; the eucharist and its ceremonial and ritual. In the field of liturgy and worship, organizations significant at the national or wider levels number over 150. |
| live Christians | Christians actually alive and living, at the date indicated; by contrast, Christians ever includes all who have died in previous years. Likewise with population, evangelized, charismatics, and any other long-term categories. |
| local church | (1) In Protestant usage, the church in a particular restricted locality. (2) In Catholic usage since Vatican II, either the nation-wide church, or the diocese, or the parish, or other well-defined (usually basic ecclesial) communities |
| local councils of churches | Councils of churches and denominations in a metropolis, city, district, province or other entity smaller than a country. |
| local personnel | Full-time church workers of local (not foreign) citizenship. |
| local preacher | An unordained unpaid but officially-accredited spare-time lay preacher. |
| local race | Demographic unit variously defined as culture province, culture net, culture area, culture sphere, nation, national race, local breeding population, reproductive isolate, genetically distinct population. |
| local religion | A single ethnoreligion or tribal religion restricted to a local tribe’s, or people’s, population. |
| local religionists | Adherents of local (as contrasted with universal) religions, such as tribal religionists (qv); usually restricted to a single tribe each, and with non-missionary aims. |
| locally-founded churches | Indigenous churches (qv). |
| logistics | The science or art of planning, handling and implementation of personnel, material, facilities and other related factors. |
| longitudinal study | The study of values of a variable over a period of time. |
| Lord’s Supper | The Eucharist, Communion Service, Liturgy, Holy Communion, Breaking of Bread, Mass, Agape, Love- Feast. |
| Low Church Anglicans | Conservative Evangelicals and Fundamentalists within Anglicanism, stressing the Evangelical heritage. |
| low spiritists | Afro-American spiritists (qv). |
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.