Everything here represents my own opinion and not the opinion of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection or the United Methodist Church.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Church Names and Clarifications

In this blog, I tend to use different names when referring to particular communities. Language is important and I want to try to clarify what I mean. References may include the following:
community of faith - a gathering of people united by a particular faith. This could be of any faith tradition.
the church - the universal church of Jesus Christ, incorporating Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and other communities of disciples of Jesus Christ.
local church - a particular gathering of people united by a particular faith. Most often, I use this term in reference to particular congregations of Christian denominations.
United Methodist Church - the particular Christian denomination of which I am a part. (www.umc.org)

What have you found to be the most helpful name or reference for a religious organization in which you participate?