Presbyterian in the context of "Sacrament"

A church service (or a worship service) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. Most Christian denominations hold church services on the Lord's Day (offering Sunday morning and Sunday evening services); a number of traditions have mid-week services, while some traditions worship on a Saturday. In some Christian denominations, church services are held daily, with these including those in which the seven canonical hours are prayed, as well as the offering of the Mass, among other forms of worship. In addition to this, many Christians attend services on holy days such as Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Thursday, among others depending on the Christian denomination.

The church service is the gathering together of Christians to be taught the "Word of God" (the Christian Bible) and encouraged in their faith. Technically, the church in "church service" refers to the gathering of the faithful rather than to the physical place in which it takes place. In most Christian traditions services are presided over by clergy wherever possible, but some traditions utilize lay preachers. Styles of service vary greatly, from the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Reformed (Continental Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalist) and Anglican traditions of liturgical worship to informal worship characterized by certain free church traditions, common among Methodists and Baptists, that often combine worship with teaching for the believers, which may also have an evangelistic component appealing to backsliders and the non-Christians in the congregation (cf. altar call). Quakers and some other groups have no formal outline to their services, but allow the worship to develop as the participants present feel moved.

In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community. The term is taken from Latin minister ("servant", "attendant"). In some church traditions the term is usually used for people who have been ordained, but in other traditions it can also be used for non-ordained.

In the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglicanism and Lutheranism, the concept of a priesthood is emphasized, though in the Church of England there are nearly as many non-ordained licensed lay ministers as there are paid clergy. In other traditions such as Baptist, Methodist, and Reformed groups like Congregationalists and Presbyterians, the term "minister" usually refers to a member of the ordained clergy who leads a congregation or participates in a role in a parachurch ministry; such a person may serve as an elder (presbyter), pastor, preacher, bishop, or chaplain.

Continental Reformed Christianity or Continental Reformed Protestantism is a part of Reformed Christianity within Protestantism that traces its origin to continental Europe. Prominent subgroups are the Dutch Reformed, Swiss Reformed, French Huguenot, Hungarian Reformed, and German Reformed Churches.

The term is used to distinguish these Churches from Presbyterian, Congregational, Reformed Anglican or other Calvinist Churches, which can trace their origin to the British Isles or elsewhere in the world. Notably, their theology is largely derived from the Swiss Reformation, as Switzerland (specifically Geneva and Zürich) was a base for the most influential Reformed theologians of the era. It was inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli, who formulated the first expression of the Reformed faith. Swiss Reformation was more fully articulated by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin, who became recognized as the leading figure in the Reformed tradition. In the sixteenth century, the movement spread to most of continental Europe, sometimes with the protection of monarchs or members of the nobility, as in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, some German states, and France.

High church refers to Christian beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology which emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, [and] sacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions such as high church Lutheranism, the English term high church originated in the Anglican tradition, where it described a churchmanship in which a number of ritual practices associated in the popular mind with Roman Catholicism were used, or as a description of such practices in the Catholic Church and elsewhere. The opposite tradition is low church. Contemporary media discussing Anglican churches often prefer the terms evangelical to low church and Anglo-Catholic to high church, even though their meanings do not exactly correspond. Other Christian denominations that contain high church wings include some Presbyterian and Methodist churches. These High-Church Protestants tend to adopt more liturgical and ritually extravagant forms of worship common in Lutheranism and Anglicanism, such as grandiose processions, elaborate music, and historic prayers.

The Evangelical Church of Greece (ECG; until 2014: Greek Evangelical Church, GEC) is a Presbyterian denomination in Greece. It was the first Protestant church established in the country.

The Church of Scotland (CoS; Scots: The Kirk o Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais na h-Alba) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While membership in the church has declined significantly in recent decades (in 1982 it had nearly 920,000 members), the government Scottish Household Survey concluded that 20% of the Scottish population, or over one million people, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity in 2019.

In the 2022 census, 20.4% of the Scottish population, or 1,108,796 adherents, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity. The Church of Scotland's governing system is presbyterian in its approach; therefore, no one individual or group within the church has more or less influence over church matters. There is no one person who acts as the head of faith, as the church believes that role is the "Lord God's". As a proper noun, the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland used in the media and by the church itself.

The Charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity, with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gifts (charismata). It has affected most denominations in the United States, and has spread widely across the world.

The movement is deemed to have begun in 1960 in Anglicanism (through the Episcopal Church USA) and spread to other mainstream Protestant denominations, including other American Protestants by both Lutherans and Presbyterians by 1962, and to Roman Catholicism by 1967. Methodists became involved in the charismatic movement in the 1970s.

A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent. The term is often used interchangeably with religious sisters who do take simple vows but live an active vocation of prayer and charitable work in the wider society.

In Christianity, nuns are found in the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican and some Presbyterian traditions, as well as other Christian denominations. In the Buddhist tradition, female monastics are known as Bhikkhuni, and take several additional vows compared to male monastics (bhikkhus). Nuns are most common in Mahayana Buddhism, but have more recently become more prevalent in other traditions.