Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2024).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| mysticism | The experience of mystical union or direct communion with God; the doctrine or belief that direct communion with God is attainable. |
| myth | A traditional story explaining some practice, belief, institution or natural phenomenon, parable, allegory, legend, saga, fable. |
| mythology | The myths dealing with gods and demigods of a particular people. |
| name for God | In any people’s Christian scriptures, the major name used for God, the Supreme Being. |
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.