Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| migrant church | A church made up largely or wholly of foreign immigrants from another country. |
| migration | Geographical or spatial mobility; the declared intention to reside in or leave a country for at least a year. |
| migration change, migration increase | The annual net aggregate of Christian or religious immigration into a country or other body (arrival or transfer of members or co-religionists from other countries or areas) minus emigration out of it (departure or transfer of members or co-religionists to other countries or areas); sometimes termed transfer change. |
| military chaplaincies | Organizations specializing in ministry to military forces number over 200. |
| military vicariates or ordinariates | (symbol MV). Catholic jurisdictions each under a bishop serving the military forces of a particular country; vicariates castrensi. |
| millenarian | One who believes in the millennium (the 1,000 years of Revelation 20 during which Christ will reign on earth); a chiliast. |
| millennialism | The doctrine that an earthly millennium of 1,000 years of universal peace and the triumph of righteousness will be fulfilled. |
| Millerites | Adventists (qv). |
| milliard | In British and French languages, 1,000 millions; equivalent to the American term billion. |
| Milliarde | (German). A milliard or one (American) billion; 1,000 millions. |
| million | 1,000 thousands; a very large or indefinite number; the mass of common people. |
| millionaire | An individual (or occasionally a family) worth one million USA dollars or over. |
| minifundia | (Latin; Spanish, minifundio; Italian minifondo). In Latin America, a subsistence farm, or sub-family farm (too small to sustain a family) employing 2 or less workers. |
| minipeople | The largest people group within which the gospel can spread as a church-planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance. |
| miniscule episcopal churches | Small or minute Catholic denominations operated by bishops-at-large (qv). |
| minister | One duly authorized by ordination to conduct Christian worship, preach the gospel, and administer the sacraments. |
| minister’s fraternal | A regular but unofficial meeting for fellowship of clergy and ministers of different denominations working in the same city or area. |
| ministry | See apartment, full-time, group, part-time, team, telephone, tent-making, threefold. |
| ministry option | One of a list of possible or potential ministries or missionary or evangelistic approaches that a nonresidential missionary draws up, which he considers could be undertaken by a large variety of agents and agencies on behalf on his target segment. |
| minor | A person who has not yet attained his majority, generally a person under 21 years of age. |
| minor orders | Catholic lower clerical grades: porter, lector, exorcist, acolyte. |
| minor religions | Peripheral, marginal, or hidden groupings on the periphery of this survey’s definition of a religion. |
| minor seminary | In Catholic usage, a school at secondary level for young men intending to enter the priesthood; junior seminary, preparatory seminary. |
| minority | An ethnic or linguistic group who live in a country but exhibit notable differences from the majority of the population. |
| missio Dei | (Latin, the mission of God). A theological term for God’s purposes in the 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.