Church

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Look up church in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A Church has two commonly used meanings. Often the word 'Church' is used to describe a place of worship, a church building, or congregation or local gathering of religious believers. It is used to describe the local congregation or the larger body of a religious community.

Church may refer to:

In Christianity:

• Church (building), building used for religious services and worship.
• Christian Church, worldwide body of Christians.
  • Church body, Christian religious body (local, national, or worldwide) made up of congregation(s), members, and clergy.
  • Invisible church, the "invisible" body of the elect who according to Christianity are known only to God.
  • Orthodox Church, various Eastern but otherwise-unrelated Churches including
    • Eastern Orthodox Church, various Christian Churches rejecting the supremacy of the Pope, and separated from the Roman Catholic Church since the 11th century East-West Schism.
    • Oriental Orthodox Church, any one of various Christian Churches rejecting the Chalcedonian Creed and separated from Chalcedonian Christianity since the 5th century.
  • Roman Catholic Church, Christian church that adheres to the Papacy, and separated from Eastern Orthodoxy since the 11th century East-West Schism
  • Protestant Church, form of Christian faith and church organization originating from the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation.
  • State church, various Christian Churches officially endorsed by the state
  • Established church, various Christian Churches officially sanctioned and supported by the government of a country
• Church service, time of communal worship, often on Sundays.
• Christian clergy, formal Christian religious leadership.

In other faiths:

• Unitarian Church, a phrase to describe Unitarian Universalism.

In names:

• Church (surname), English surname (and list of people with that name).
• Church, Lancashire, suburb of Accrington, England.
• Adam Gilchrist, nicknamed "Church", retired Australian cricketer.

In music:

• The Church (band), Australian rock band.
• "The Church", song by Hawkwind from Church of Hawkwind.
• "Church", song by OutKast from Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.
• "Church", song by Galactic from Coolin' Off.
• "Church", song by T-Pain from his album Epiphany.

In fiction:

• Church (Red vs. Blue), fictional character
• Church, family cat in Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary

Other uses:

• Church (sociology of religion), classification of religious movements in the sociology of religion

[edit] See also

• Church and State
• Churchianity
• Place of worship
• Religion and politics
• List of new religious movements
• Religion-supporting organization

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