Terms starting with P

A Christian organization that isn't a church — campus ministries, relief agencies, mission boards, publishers, youth outreaches — working "alongside" the church to do things a single congregation can't.

A local Catholic, Anglican, or Orthodox church community and, traditionally, the geographic area it serves — everyone living within its boundaries belongs to it.

The moment in a church service when everyone turns and greets the people around them, usually with a handshake and the words "Peace be with you."

Collecting the offering by handing a plate, basket, or bag down each row for people to put money in — the traditional way churches gather gifts during the service.

The person who leads a church. The title depends on the tradition: Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans have priests; most Protestants have pastors or ministers; "Reverend" is a formal title for any of them.

The day, fifty days after Easter, when the Holy Spirit came upon the first Christians with wind and fire, and the church began — often called the church's birthday.

The idea that Christianity is knowing God personally — a living relationship with Jesus — rather than following rules, belonging to an institution, or attending services.

The long wooden bench in a traditional church, arranged in rows facing the front — where the congregation sits, and where families have sat in the same spot for generations.

A shared church meal where everyone brings a dish — the classic form of Christian community, held in the fellowship hall after the service.

The singing portion of a contemporary church service. Some distinguish praise (upbeat songs about what God has done) from worship (slower songs addressed to God directly).

A church's system for spreading an urgent prayer request quickly — once a telephone tree, now usually a group text or email — so that many people are praying within the hour.

Asking other people to pray for something specific in your life — a health scare, a job interview, a struggling family member.

Someone known for praying often, seriously, and persistently on behalf of others — the person you call when you need prayer that means business.

The standard Christian response to hard news — a promise to bring the person's situation to God in prayer.

Continuing to pray about something persistently — over days, weeks, or years — until it resolves or until you find peace about it.

The teaching that God chose, before time, who would come to faith. Christian traditions hold it in different forms, and the debate over how it fits with human freedom is very old.

Someone who left the faith or the family and came back — from Jesus' story of a son who squandered his inheritance, hit bottom, and was welcomed home by his father.

A guest preacher who fills in when a church's regular pastor is away — sick, on vacation, on sabbatical, or gone — and the arrangement by which churches find one.

The 1990s–2000s evangelical movement urging teenagers to pledge abstinence until marriage — with rings, rallies, books, and modesty teaching — and the wider culture it created, which many Christians have since critiqued.