World Christian Database: glossary

Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).

Glossary item Definition
Movements A cover term for groups within Christianity that overlap the major traditions (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant and Independent) and are therefore counted separately. The largest are the Evangelical and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements.
Mozarabs Spanish Christians living under Arab rule in Spain. AD 711-1100.
Mulatto The issue of a White and a Black (Negro).
mullah Among Persians, Pakistanis and North Indians, a Muslim religious practitioner or cleric.
multichanneling A mode of operation which accepts the present unsatisfactory multiplicity of global plans on the part of hundreds of mission agencies, recognizing that their standalone nature at least serves as insurance against multiple or overall failure.
multi-counted Religionists who are counted as adherents by several separate religions, requiring care to avoid overestimation in statistical totals.
multiethnic church A church or denomination whose members come from a variety of distinct and different ethnic groups.
multi-individual conversion (or decision). The entry of non- Christians into the church, not through one-by-one individual conversion or decision, but at a single point in time through a corporate collective decision of the whole family/ village/clan/tribe/people/nation, as a result of evangelistic methods taking into account local village or extended- family decision-making patterns.
multilateral conversations In ecumenical terminology, theological conversations undertaken by officially-appointed representatives of several churches, denominations, traditions, or confessional families.
multilinguals Persons speaking or using or understanding, or fluent in, more than 2 distinct languages.
multimedia campaign An evangelistic or total mobilization campaign in which extensive, coordinated use is made of several of the mass media (radio, TV, film, audiovisuals, print media, et alia).
multimillionaire An individual worth many tens of millions of USA dollars.
multinational corporation A large centralized business organization with foreign branches whose activities outside its parent country represent a considerable percentage of its total sales, investments and profits, but whose decisions regarding production, forms of production, marketing, financing, opening of new factories, etc., are made by the parent company.
multi-party states States in which more than one genuine political party are permitted, active, and alternating occasionally in government; often termed democracies.
multiple-counted religionists Persons counted as belonging to , or part of, or regarded as in, more than 2 distinct religions.
multiplication-evangelism Evangelism and discipling of small numbers of believers with a view to them also becoming disciplers (qv) and multiplying exponentially.
multi-religious, multireligious An organization or activity jointly operated by 2 or more religions.
Munda-Santal An Austro-Asiatic ethnolinguistic family, with 70 languages.
music and song In this field, Christian organizations significant at the national or wider levels number over 200.
musical groups Amateur, semi-professional and professional groups specializing in Christian presentation through music and song have mushroomed in the Western world since 1960, and now number over 50,000.
musicals, religious See religious drama.
Muslim religious orders In Arabic, tariqa (qv).
Muslims Followers of Islam, in two primary branches: (a) Sunni; and (b) Shia. Other, significantly smaller, branches include Kharijite, Sanusi, Mahdiya, Ahmadiya, Druzes, and Sabbateans.
mutually-exclusive categories A typology or series of categories each exclusive in its coverage.
mutually-unintelligible languages A group of languages any 2 of which are each unintelligible to the other.
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Religions

Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.

Countries and regions

Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.

Denominations

Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.

Cities & provinces

Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.

Peoples & languages

Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.

Archive

A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.