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A united church, also called a uniting church, is a denomination formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions. Multi-denominationalism, or a multi-denominational church or organization, is a congregation or organization that is affiliated with two or more Christian denominations, whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions.
The Christian Flag is an ecumenical flag designed in the early 20th century to represent much of Christianity and Christendom. Since its adoption by the United States Federal Council of Churches in 1942, it has been used by congregations of many Christian traditions, including Anglican, Baptist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian, Presbyterian, and Reformed, among others.
A free church is a Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government. A free church does not define government policy, and a free church does not accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A free church also does not seek or receive government endorsements or funding to carry out its work. The term is especially relevant in countries with established state churches. An individual belonging to a free church is known as a free churchman.
Lutheranism is present on all inhabited continents with an estimated 81 million adherents, out of which 74.2 million are affiliated with the Lutheran World Federation. A major movement that first began the Reformation, it constitutes one of the largest Protestant branches, claiming about 80 million of 920 million Protestants, The Lutheran World Federation brings together the vast majority of Lutherans, the second largest grouping being the International Lutheran Council with 7.15 million in 46 countries. Apart from it, there are also other organisations such as the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as multiple independent Lutheran denominations.
Christianity in Kazakhstan is the second most practiced religion after Islam. There are 4,214,232 Christians in Kazakhstan. The majority of Christian citizens are Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians, who belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church in Kazakhstan under the Moscow Patriarchate. About 1.5 percent of the population is ethnically German, most of whom are Catholic or Lutheran. There are also many Presbyterians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals. Methodists, Mennonites, and Mormons have also registered churches with the government.
Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka. It was introduced to the island in first century. Traditionally, after Thomas the Apostle's visit in Kerala in AD 52, Christianity is said to have been introduced to Sri Lanka because of its close geographical and commercial ties.
Christianity is a minority religion in Tajikistan.
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The Baptist Church in Ukraine is one of the oldest and most widespread Evangelical Christian denominations in the country. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, over half the 1.5 million acknowledged Baptists and Pentecostals in the USSR lived in Soviet Ukraine. Prior to its independence in 1991, Ukraine was home to the second largest Baptist community in the world, after the United States, and was called the "Bible Belt" of the Soviet Union.
Christianity in Uzbekistan is a minority religion, accounting for 2.3% of the population or 630,000 according to a 2010 study by Pew Research Center.
Estonia, historically a Lutheran Christian 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. This is thought to largely be a result of the Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940, prior to which Estonia had a large Christian majority.
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived errors, abuses, and discrepancies.
Protestantism in Italy comprises a minority of the country's religious population.
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A 2020 Pew Forum survey estimates that approximately 63% of the population of Tanzania identifies as Christian, 34% as Muslim, and 5% practitioners of other religions. Most Christians are Catholics and Lutherans, although there are also Anglicans, Pentecostals and other groups.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, also known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and the Other States (ELCROS), is a Lutheran denomination that itself comprises seven regional Lutheran denominations in Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan as well as individual congregations in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Established in its current form in 1999, ELCROS currently has about 24,050 members in more than 400 congregations within its jurisdiction.
Baptists in Germany can be documented as having existed since 1834, the year in which the first congregation was formed by Johann Gerhard Oncken, Barnas Sears and others, in Hamburg that became the nucleus of the Baptist movement in continental Europe. Together with Oncken, Gottfried Wilhelm Lehmann and Julius Köbner formed the "Baptist cloverleaf" of Germany, having a great impact on the movement. Most German Baptists belong to the Union of Evangelical Free Churches, which is part of the Baptist World Alliance through the European Baptist Federation. Other German Baptist congregations, some with Russian-German roots, joined together in new unions beginning in the 1980s. In addition, other smaller congregational networks and a number of so-called free Baptist congregations emerged.
References
- ↑ World Religion Database on the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-03
- ↑ "Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Central Asia". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
- ↑ "German site on mission in Tajikistan" (PDF).
- 1 2 "US State Dept 2022 Religious freedom report on Tajikistan".
- ↑ "Open Doors on Tajikistan". Archived from the original on April 13, 2008.
- ↑ "European Baptist Federation".
- 1 2 3 4 "European Baptist Federation website, Mission in Tajikistan".
- ↑ "European Baptist Federation".
- ↑ The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, p. 728
