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Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of its central figure, Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible – the textual basis for the Old Testament in Christianity – and chronicled in the New Testament. It is the world's largest religion, with about 2.4 billion followers as of 2020. Christians make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories.
Evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity that maintains the belief that the essence of the Gospel consists of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, solely through faith in Jesus's atonement. Evangelicals believe in the centrality of the conversion or "born again" experience in receiving salvation, in the authority of the Bible as God's revelation to humanity, and in spreading the Christian message. The movement has long had a presence in the Anglosphere before spreading further afield in the 19th, 20th and early 21st centuries.
Pentecostalism or Classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Christian movement that emphasises direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, and the speaking in "foreign" tongues as described in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. In Greek, it is the name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks.
Jews for Jesus is an international Messianic Jewish non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1970 by Moishe Rosen, a Baptist convert and member of the American Board of Missions to the Jews, as Hineni Ministries, before being incorporated under its current name in 1973.
Messianic Judaism is a modern Christian religious movement that incorporates some elements and practices of Judaism and Jewish tradition with Evangelical Christianity. The movement emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from the Hebrew Christian Movement[7] and the Baptist organisation Jews for Jesus founded in 1973 by Conservative Baptist minister Martin Rosen.
Christian Church is a Protestant ecclesiological term referring to the church invisible comprising all Christians, used since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. In this understanding, "Christian Church" does not refer to a particular Christian denomination but to the "body" or "group" of believers, both defined in various ways. A prominent example of this is the branch theory maintained by some Anglicans. This is in contrast to the one true church applied to a specific concrete Christian institution, a majority Christian ecclesiological position maintained by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox churches, Assyrian Church of the East and the Ancient Church of the East.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is a Pentecostal megachurch and denomination founded in Lagos, Nigeria. The General overseer is Enoch Adeboye, ordained in 1981. The church in Lagos has an average church attendance of 100,000.
Pilgrim Holiness Church (PHC) or International Apostolic Holiness Church (IAHC) is a Christian denomination associated with the holiness movement that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church through the efforts of Martin Wells Knapp in 1897. It was first organized in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the International Holiness Union and Prayer League (IHU/IAHC). Knapp, founder of the IAHC, ordained and his Worldwide Missions Board sent Charles and Lettie Cowman who had attended God's Bible School to Japan in December 1900. By the International Apostolic Holiness Churches Foreign Missionary Board and the co-board of the Revivalist the Cowmans had been appointed the General Superintendents and the Kilbournes the vice-General Superintendent for Korea, Japan and China December 29, 1905. The organization later became the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1922 which eventually merged with the Wesleyan Methodists in 1968 to form the Wesleyan Church.
The conservative holiness movement is a loosely defined group of conservative Christian denominations with the majority being Methodists whose teachings are rooted in the theology of John Wesley, and a minority being Quakers (Friends) that emphasize the doctrine of George Fox, as well as River Brethren who emerged out of the Radical Pietist revival. This movement became distinct from other Holiness bodies in the mid-20th century amid disagreements over modesty in dress, entertainment, and other "old holiness standards" reflective of the related emphases on the Wesleyan–Arminian doctrine of outward holiness or the Quaker teaching on the testimony of simplicity or the River Brethren teaching on nonconformity to the world, depending on the denomination. Many denominations identifying with the conservative holiness movement, though not all, are represented in the Interchurch Holiness Convention.
Outward holiness, or external holiness, is a Wesleyan–Arminian doctrine emphasizing modest dress and sober speech. It is a testimony of a Christian believer's inward holiness. The doctrine is prevalent among denominations emerging during the revival movements, including the Lutheran Pietists and Methodists, as well as Pentecostals. It is taken from 1 Peter 1:15: "He which hath called you is Holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation."
Deeper Christian Life Ministry is a Pentecostal Christian denomination with its international headquarters, Deeper Life Bible Church Lagos, in Lagos. It is overseen by the General Superintendent of Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi.
The Hebrew Christian movement of the 19th and early 20th centuries consisted of Jews who converted to Christianity, but worshiped in congregations separate from denominational churches. In many cases, they retained some Jewish practices and liturgy, with the addition of readings from the Christian New Testament. The movement was incorporated into the parallel Messianic Jewish movement in the late 1960s.
Christianity, and specifically Protestantism, is the most prevalent religion in the United States, with 65% of polled American adults identifying themselves as Christian and 40% holding a strictly creationist view in 2019. The percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has trended downward since the late 1970s. In a 2015 survey, 75% of adults in the United States identified as Christians, 70.6% in 2014, 78% in 2012, 81.6% in 2001, and 85% in 1990. About 62% of those polled claim to be members of a church congregation. The United States has the largest Christian population in the world and, more specifically, the largest Protestant population in the world, with nearly 205 million Christians and, as of 2019, over 141 million people affiliated with Protestant churches, although other countries have higher percentages of Christians among their populations. The modern official motto of the United States of America, as established in a 1956 law signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, is "In God We Trust". The phrase first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864.
Religion in Namibia is dominated by various branches of Christianity, with more than 90 percent of Namibian citizens identifying themselves as Christian. According to the United States DRL, in 2007 up to 75% were Protestant, including as much as 50% Lutheran.
Estonia, historically a Lutheran Protestant nation, is today one of the "least religious" countries in the world in terms of declared attitudes, with only 14 percent of the population declaring religion to be an important part of their daily life.
Christian observances of Jewish holidays is a practice evidenced since the time of Christ. Specific practices vary among denominations: these holidays may be honored in their original form in recognition of Christianity's Jewish roots, or altered to suit Christian theology. Symbolic and thematic features of Jewish services are commonly interpreted in a Christian light: for example, the Paschal Lamb of the Passover Seder being viewed as a symbol of Christ's sacrifice.
The Arnulf Seminary of Theology is a small élite school of theology for the Christian Church International, equivalent to a private college or university for postgraduate students. For postgraduate students the Arnulf Seminary of Theology offers a specialized range of course studies in biblical science, theories of trinity, gnosticism, the teachings of Master Eckhart, the philosophy of Karl Jaspers, advanced methods of missionary work. Teaching Christian process theology for missionaries makes the seminary one of a kind.
References
- ↑ Section “Our Genesis’, retrieved March 12th, 2021
- ↑ Official website, retrieved March 9, 2021
- ↑ Social Media site with follower counter, retrieved March 8, 2021.
- ↑ The Blasting News: “The Christian Universal Life Church has enacted a new dogma”. Published March 31st, 2017. Retrieved November 7th, 2018.
- ↑ Craig D. Atwood, Frank S. Mead, Samuel Hill: Handbook of Denominations in the United States. Abingdon Press, 2010
- ↑ The Blasting News: “Russia: missionaries in trouble?”. Published April 4, 2017. Retrieved November 7th, 2018
- ↑ Reg. #WI/62529, issued Nov 5th 2018
- ↑ Official statement, “That's us” – second last paragraph, retrieved December 9, 2018
- ↑ The Huffington Post, German edition, article about gay marriage and the position of this very church (old name) in regard to that topic: “Ehe für alle? Ja, in Gottes Namen!”, published 30 July 2017, retrieved November 7, 2018
- ↑ Quotes retrieved from the official website on November 7, 2018
- ↑ Mark R. Gornik: Word Made Global. Stories of African Christianity in New York City. Eerdmans Publishing 2011
- ↑ Why two percent of all Afghans are now members of a church. Published in The Blasting News Section on April 1, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
- ↑ Information on the official website, retrieved November 7, 2018.