local church
Community worship building
A local church is a specific congregation meeting in a particular place, as distinguished from the universal church or a denomination as a whole.
The term emphasizes the gathered community rather than the institution: Our local church runs a food pantry.
In some Christian traditions, local church stresses congregational autonomy—each assembly governs itself independently.
- choirOrganized group of singers
- pastorChristian congregation leader
- food pantryCharity supplying free groceries
- collection plateReceptacle for congregational donations
- parishLocal church community
deacon · sermon · sanctuary · congregation · baptism · youth group · salvation · potluck · coffee hour · fellowship hall · parish council · hymn · hymn book · parking lot · stained glass windows · pulpit · altar call · interfaith dialogue
- Baptist beliefsreligious liberty, biblical authority, adult baptism, Lord's Supper, Lords Supper
- churchnave, pew, pews, altar, altars
- communityneighbors, neighborliness, neighborhoods, kinship, community centers
- Rural Americafarm, barns, heartland, countryside, Midwest
- contextual theologyliberation theology, indigenization, contextualization, enculturation, political theology
- small townssmall town, hamlet, town, village, settlement
local churchcathedral
Bishop's principal church
St. Peter's Basilica · Vatican · basilica · megachurch · mother church
local, church, locals, locality, locally, localized, localize, localism, localist