Church (congregation)

Many are formally organized, with constitutions and by-laws, maintain offices, are served by clergy or lay leaders, and, in nations where this is permissible, often seek non-profit corporate status.

[citation needed] The word church is used in the sense of a distinct congregation in a given city in slightly under half of the 200 uses of the term in the New Testament.

[1] John Locke defined a church as "a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord in order to the public worshipping of God in such manner as they judge acceptable to him".

[4] Some grammarians and scholars say that the word has uncertain roots and may derive from the Anglo-Saxon "kirke" from the Latin "circus" and the Greek "kuklos" for "circle", which shape is the form in which many religious groups met and gathered.

[5] Christian churches were sometimes called κυριακόν kuriakon (adjective meaning "of the Lord") in Greek starting in the fourth century, but ekklēsia and βασιλική basilikē were more common.

In some Baptist congregations, for example, deacons function much like a board of directors or executive committee authorized to make important decisions.

Although these congregations typically retain the right to vote on major decisions such as purchasing or selling property, large spending, and the hiring or firing of pastors and other paid ministers.

Typically, congregational churches have informal worship styles, less structured services, and may tend toward modern music and celebrations.

[7][8] Local churches united with others under the oversight of a bishop are normally called "parishes", by Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran communions.