Age of accountability--an indeterminate young age--about six years old--at which point it is believed that the child can now be held accountable for original sin and thus is in need of personal salvation; persons who reach the age of accountability and do not accept Christ are believed to go to Hell at death.

Altar call--an invitation to confess one's sins and to accept Christ as savior; the term is more familiar among Methodists and Presbyterians who more customarily use the term altar to refer to the table of the Lord's Supper.

Altar--the table of sacrifice; the place where the elements of the Mass are set out; loosely, any ceremonial table in the center of a church; the table used in protestant churches for communion or the Lord's Supper; figuratively, the place of conversion or encounter with Christ; the spirit of sacrifice: to "lay your all on the altar".

Amen Corner--the area to either side of the front congregational seating of a church; a special area of seating at the front of a church occupied by deacons or elders who encouraged ministers by saying "Amen" in support of sermon ideas; a general reference to a body of support for the local minister; vocal supporters of an idea or person in a local church.

Baptistry--a pool or font for baptizing; in Baptist churches a special tank or large tub installed above the choir section for the full imersion baptism of new Christians; sometimes the baptistry appears to be part of a wall mural of the Jordan River with a depiction of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

Baptize--to sprinkle with water or immerse in water; an early Christian rite of identification and commitment; some rural churches continue to practice pond or river baptism.

Bible College--an independent educational foundation created by a church or denomination to train ministers; often a deliberate alternative to larger denominational theology schools or seminaries; the curriculum is usually rigorously Bible-centered; ministers of small rural churches have often attended such institutions.

Bible--collective reference to the canonical texts of Christianity containing the Old and New Testaments; typically the Authorized or "King James" translation of 1611.

Bishop--an overseer; an ecclesiastical supervisor; a term used typically by Episcopalians, Methodists, and Catholics but also in use among some pentecostals as well as Mormons and Greek Orthodox people.

Brother--the accepted way of referring to male members of local congregations; the term is nearly universal, but is emphasized in denominations like the Baptists; in some churches it refers only to the lay members while in others the pastor or parson is also referred to as "Brother"; in the context of rural southern protestantism, the term does not refer to the member of a clerical order as it does in Roman Catholicism.

Brush Arbor--a shelter or screen constructed of brush or saplings often erected outside of non-air-conditioned churches in the summer; church pews were moved into the brush arbor or rustic log seats were constructed; now seldom seen.

Bus Ministry--use of recycled school buses to bring people to a local church; some churches operate a single bus or van, some operate fleets of vehicles for this purpose.

Call, calling--a reference to the vocation of the Christian life; a reference to the ministerial vocation; a summons to follow Christ.

Chapel--a rural church; sometimes a reference to a church at which services are infrequent, irregular, or seasonal.

Charismatic--term used to describe individuals or churches which emphasize the "gifts of the holy spirit" witnessed in the early church; sometimes erroneously restricted to persons who speak in tongues.

Choir--a special group of people who sing hymns or anthems in a church service; often distinguished by the wearing of "choir robes;" less often, the place in the church where the choir group sings.

Christian Academy--an alternative to public school education conducted by a local church or denomination often using the Sunday School facility and teachers for regular week-day education; many Christian Academies were formed in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow racial integration of public schools.

Come Forward--to approach the altar, pulpit or head of the center aisle of the church; a way of referring to the act of accepting the invitation at the end of the sermon; a way of referring to any act of voluntarism or donation to the work of the church.

Communion cup, glass--a small glass or now more commonly plastic container somewhat like a large thimble used to hold communion grapejuice or wine; these containers are usually arranged in circular trays which may contain two or three dozen individual containers which are passed row by row to the congregation.

Communion--the term for the Lord's Supper used by Methodists, Presbyterians, and older Episcopalians; not generally used by Baptists or strongly congregational southern protestants; see 'eucharist'.

Crucifix--a cross with a physical representation of the body of Christ on it; typically found in Catholic or some Episcopal churches; seldom found in other protestant churches; during the Puritan era, crucifixes were often smashed or defaced by zealous protestants; some protestants remain sharply critical of any use of this symbol.

Deacon--an elected layperson, usually male, who is consecrated for special ministry and leadership roles in a local church; in the Catholic and Episcopal churches the deacon is a clerical not a lay order.

Dinner, Come to/Invite to Dinner--a customarily empty invitation to go to lunch with a church member or minister immediately following the Sunday morning service; a standard expression of hospitality at church; such invitations are surrounded with appropriate proffering and rejecting rituals which are to be carefully observed. Rule of thumb: if the invitation is made before the worship service it is genuine; if it is made after the service it is symbolic.

Dinner-on-the-grounds--a meal, usually lunch, held on the property of a local church; a church picnic in the church yard; often associated with summer revivals or Homecoming days.

Dis-fellowship--exclusion from membership in a local church usually for disciplinary or doctrinal reasons. See Fellowship.

Doctor--a honorary title given prominent clergy who either have received an honorary degree from an educational institution or who have earned a degree such as the Doctor of Ministry degree; seldom encountered in rural or small town churches; more typical designation of the minister in large or prominent urban churches.

Education Building--an annex or auxiliary church structure used for classes or Sunday School.

Elder--formerly a specific category of clerical representation in ecclesiastical governing bodies; a body of clergy above the level of the local congregation; a general reference to any older male of a congregation or to any older minister.

Eucharist--the name of the Lord's Supper currently in use among Episcopalians and some Catholics; the term emphasizes the strong unity of the congregation as it experiences the real presence of Christ.

Evangelist--originally a reference to the author of a Gospel in the New Testament; now a reference to a ministerial specialty; someone who seeks to lead others to accept Christ as savior.

Fellowship Hall--in larger churches a cafeteria/recreation room; often part of the Sunday School building or annex.

Fellowship--the cordial relation of church members; formal connection to or membership in a local church; membership in good standing.

Fire and Brimstone--an now archaic way of referring to evangelical sermons which emphasized eternal punishment as the wages of sin; a reference to vivid imagery of damnation or sin in a sermon; loud preaching; a description derived from the biblical imagery of the judgement of God on the cities of Sodom and Gemorrah and from the apocalyptic imagery of the lake of fire in the Book of Revelation.

Foot of the Cross--a reference to the point/place at which one becomes convicted of sin and accepts Christ as savior; to stand at the "Foot of the Cross" is to be aware of sin and to accept the Lordship of Christ; the Invitation sometimes asks the person to come to the Foot of the Cross.

Foreign Missions--a reference to missionary work outside of the United States.

Get Religion--to accept Christ as personal savior; to become fervent in religious practice; to become evangelical; sometimes used in the non-church society to refer to the change of life of converted sinners who abandon former behaviors.

Get Right With God--a reference to the spiritual transformation occasioned by conversion; as a summons or injunction it refers to the need to accept Christ as savior.

Glory Land--a reference to heaven, to life with Christ in the New Jerusalem.

Glory--a reference to heaven, the abode of God; a reference to Christ's triumphant rule over sin; an emotional term of praise that may be whispered or shouted over and over during a service in the manner of "Amen."

Glossalalia--speaking in tongues; a technical term used by students of religion to refer to the phenomenon of non-discursive utterance which occurs in several religions.

Grapejuice--the substitute beverage used in the Lord's Supper by churches opposed to the use of wine because of its alcoholic content.

Holiness--term used to describe churches which believe that after conversion or redemption, the Holy Spirit is the agent by which believers are re-fashioned in God's image or "made holy."

Holy Ghost--the third person of the Trinity; the agent of special annointing or divine favors; the bearer or enabler of specific Christian gifts such as the capacity to prophecy or to speak in tongues.

Home Missions--a reference to missionary work within the United States.

Homecoming--celebration of the anniversary of the founding of a local church; usually a special day of preaching, singing, fellowship, and eating; often former ministers and members of the church are invited to "come home" on this day.

IHS--the first three letters in Greek of the word Jesus; often seen as an inscription or carving on the front of pulpits or Lord's Supper tables or on pulpit or altar cloths; erronously but widely translated as "In His Service."

Invitation--1. the summons at the end of a sermon for sinners to accept Jesus Christ as personal savior; often powerfully and emotionally argued; 2. the hymn sung at the end of the sermon during the singing of which sinners are asked to come forward and accept Christ; "Just As I Am" is a classic southern protestant invitation hymn.

Invocation--the opening prayer in a religious service; a general prayer for blessing or divine support during a religious service.

Jordan--the central river of Palestine; now often a figure for conversion from a sinful to a redeemed life or of the passage from this life to the next; a critical point in life; an occasion of life change or passage: to "cross over Jordan;" a reference to the death of a Christian.

Lectern--a stand or platform for the reading of lessons; referred to as a 'lectern' only if there is also a separate pulpit; uncommon in rural protestant churches.

Lord's Supper--communion, the Passover Meal, the Mass; called the Lord's Supper by protestants to distinguish it from the metaphysics of the Catholic Mass; understood to be a 'memorial' rather than a present sacrifice.

Lost, The--a collective reference to all who have not yet accepted Christ as personal savior.

Message--a sermon: "this morning's message"

Messenger--largely Baptist usage to refer to delegates to a church convention.

Missionary church--a church which believes in and supports evangelism and missionary work; distinguished from 'Regular' or Calvinistic churches which did not believe in the universality of redemption; most rural protestant churches are missionary churches except Primitive Baptists, Regular Baptists, and some Congregational Methodists.

Missionary--one who presents the Gospel in a distant place or foreign land.

Offering--money collected during the church service to support the minister or the programs of the church.

Offertory prayer--a short prayer asking God's blessing upon the offering; sometimes made by the minister before the collection of the offering; sometimes prayed by one of the ushers or deacons collecting the offering at the point when the offering is brought forward and presented.

Offertory--a song, hymn, or anthem sung during the collection of the offering.

Opening Prayer--usually a specifically listed prayer at the beginning of a church service; sometimes called the Invocation.

Ordained Minister--a minister or preacher who has attended a bible college or seminary and who has been credentialed by a denominational board or by a local church; sometimes a way of referring to the ministers of city churches as distinguished from ministers of rural churches; an "important" as opposed to ordinary minister.

Outreach Ministry--any effort of a local congregation to conduct pastoral or missionary work in its own area; sometimes a reference to work with local underpriviledged persons; a ministry of charity or relief in the surrounding community; a food kitchen or homeless shelter.

Parson--an older, now quaint, designation of a preacher; the term has connotations of counsel and comraderie not suggested by the term preacher.

Parsonage--the residence of a parson; the home of a local minister; often a meeting place for church women led by the parson's wife.

Pastor--a designation of a minister of a local church emphasizing the work of pastoral care or psychological and spiritual nurture expected of the minister.

Pastorage--the residence of a pastor; similar to a parsonage.

Pastoral prayer--a long prayer near the beginning of a worship service that emphasizes the medical or spiritual needs of church members or family members.

Pastorate--the livelihood of a pastor; a pastor's way of referring to the local church.

Pentecostal--a person or church which emphasizes the presence of the Holy Spirit; the term derives from the Disciples' receipt of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost; stereotypically used to refer to dynamic or emotional religious experience.

Pounding--the support of a church member in need or the honoring of a new minister by the giving of "pounds" of food or canned goods to support the person or family; a limited survival of the 'subscription list' of the Nineteenth Century: "Remember that we will be pounding Brother Bob at the service next Sunday."

Prayer Meeting--a special service of testimony, prayer, and sometimes bible study often held on Wednesday evenings in local churches.

Preacher--the familiar designation of the minister-in-charge of a local church; it is a title emphasizing the prominent place given to sermons in congregational protestantism.

Priest--a way of referring to the minister of Catholic and Episcopal churches.

Pulpit--a special stand or structure where a sermon is delivered; a preaching platform with lectern; a reference to the authority of the minister of a local church; pulpits are usually not on the same plane or floor level as the seats of the congregation.

Radio Ministry--the broadcast of religious services via radio, often AM radio; may include weekday devotionals and funeral notices as well as Sunday morning broadcasts.

Re-dedication--the response of an already saved Christian to an Invitation; a reaffirmation of religious vows or commitment.

Real Presence--an older way of referring to the doctrine that Christ is present in the Lord's Supper once the elements of bread and wine are consecrated by the minister.

Receive the Holy Ghost--to be saved; after being saved, to be annointed with special or divine gifts; some churches carefully distinguish salvation from sanctification and emphasize that sanctification only occurs when the presence of the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost has become real and vivid for the believer.

Revival--a period of intense religious emphasis in a church or community marked by frequent and intense preaching often by an invited preacher or revivalist or evangelist; a period of renewal within a local church.

Right-hand-of-fellowship--a handshake from the minister upon the acceptance of a new member into a congregation.

Saint--a godly person, a saved or churched person, a reference to a saved person who has died and is now "with the Lord".

Salvation--accepting Christ as personal savior; the reality of individual conversion.

Sanctuary--the interior of a chuch; the main worship auditorium; in Episcopal and Catholic churches, the small area around the altar.

Satan--the tempter of Christ and of Christians; often viewed as a real being; the attributed cause of disorder in the life of individuals, marriages, in church governance, and generally in social or political life.

Sermon--a long discourse by a minister characterized by biblical references, moral argument, and emotional flavor; often the focal point of protestant services.

Shut-in--a person who is unable to come to church because of age or health; usually mentioned as "shut-ins" during Sunday School or during the pastoral prayer.

Sinner--any person who has not accepted Jesus as personal savior; a generic reference to any person in a sermon.

Sister--any female member of a local church; see 'brother'.

Steeple--an ornamental architectural roof structure on churches, typically an elongated pyramid topped by a cross or weather vane; anti-Catholic sentiment often dictates that a cross may not be used as the top element on a steeple although many southern churches now accept steeple crosses.

Sunday School--originally a secular education sponsored by churches during the early days of the industrial revolution for laboring children; since the World War I period, the Sunday School has chiefly become a means of religious instruction, indoctrination, and bible study in the local church; extremely important agency for leading children in the congregation to accept Christ as savior.

Tent Revival--a revival conducted in a large tent; tents were used because the expected size of crowds could not be seated in ordinary church auditoriums; a popular form of evangelism in the middle decades of the 20th century, now generally replaced by stadium or arena revivals; a few small tent revivals still occur in rural regions.

Testimony--the narrative or story of one's life leading up to salvation and to subsequent Christian life.

Tongues, Speaking in Tongues--one of the New Testament gifts of the Holy Ghost; classically referenced to the book of Acts and the day of Pentecost on which the disciples received the Holy Ghost and spoke to the assembled crowd in several languages; today, an emotional utterance often purported to be an ancient language such as Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, or other Middle Eastern language. See glossalalia.

Usher--typically lay men who greet and seat arriving members of the congregation at a service; while many ushers are or have been deacons, not all are; in some African-American churches, the ushers are women who are vested in special frocks.

Victory, The--Christ's triumph over death and sin; the triumphant Christian life; attaining God's promised reward in heaven; the eventually triumph of Christ over the sinful world; sometimes referred to as "shouting the victory."

Visitation--the practice of visiting individuals in their houses to witness to them or to extend to them pastoral services; the gathering of friends and relatives at a funeral home the evening before a burial.

Walk with the Lord--to follow the Christian life; to be a disciple; to spend time in prayer.

Washed in the Blood--a reference to salvation; salvation as the result of the blood of the atonement; a fervent plea in southern protestantism to forsake sin and become "washed in the blood"; to be free from sin.

With the Lord--a reference to a Christian who has died.

Witness--to tell someone else about Jesus; to attempt to explain or present the Gospel and to lead someone to accept Jesus as savior; the personal example set by an individual Christian.