Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| missionary religions | A name given to those religions which undertake deliberate and organized missionary work in order to win converts in other countries and cultures. |
| missionary societies | Local, denominational, national or international religious organizations dedicated to the opening of missionary work. |
| missionary training colleges | Foreign missionary training centers (qv). |
| missionary transportation | Service agencies specializing in transport of missionaries by land, sea, and air, are now numerous. |
| missioner | A home missionary, especially an evangelist in an Anglican diocese. |
| missionization | The act or process of conducting a mission. |
| missionize | To carry on missionary work. |
| missionizer | One carrying on missionary work. |
| mission-receiving | Countries, areas or churches which regularly receive foreign missionaries in their midst. |
| mission-sending | Countries, areas or churches which regularly send foreign missionaries abroad. |
| mission-sharing | Countries, areas or churches which regularly both send and receive foreign missionaries. |
| mitra | Crown worn by Byzantine Catholic bishops. |
| mitre | Hat worn by cardinals, bishops, abbots and other prelates. Styles: precious, gold and simple. |
| mixed marriages | Marriages of a Catholic to a non- Catholic. Total (1996): 302,630 (8.4% of all RC marriages). |
| mixed-economy states | States combining elements of freeenterprise competition with state ownership or direction of key industries. |
| mobilization evangelism | See total mobilization evangelism. |
| modality | Part of a missiological dichotomy; see under sodality. |
| moderator | The presiding officer of various denominations or church assemblies in Protestantism, mainly Presbyterian, Methodist, Reformed. |
| Modernism | A movement in Protestantism from 1870 onwards seeking to establish the meaning and validity of the Christian faith in relation to present human experience and to reconcile traditional theological concepts with the requirements of modern knowledge. |
| modernist | An adherent of Modernism in religion. |
| monastery | A house of religious retirement or seclusion from the world for persons under religious vows; in Catholic usage a house operated by a religious monastic order for men or women and always dependent on an abbey. |
| monastic order | A religious institute dedicated to the monastic life. |
| monasticism | The monastic life, system or condition; organized asceticism as practiced in a monastery. |
| monitoring | The process of regularly tracking and recording the progress of evangelization in a particular unreached people or unevangelized population segment with special reference to measuring the impact of all Great Commission activities and influences. |
| monk | A man who is a member of a monastic order. |
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.