First Presbyterian Church
Jargon

We've tried to make this site as jargon-free as possible. Which is to say, not very. Our linguistic attic has been collecting words for more than 3,000 years, and a lot of that has been dead languages like Latin, Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew. (Latin, of course, is still spoken by pigs. It's also the lingua franca of Latin America.)

We've developed this glossary of jargon that came tumbling out when we cracked the door open, like Presbyterian for example. These definitions are well meant but, ultimately, the work of amateurs. If you want to see what the pros say, refer to a dictionary. For authoritative definitions in the Presbyterian context, consult the PC(USA) site.

church

Christians, collectively. Sometimes applied to a congregation. Compare to denomination.

confession

a systematic statement of belief. Confessions are sometimes called creeds, from credo, the Latin word that begins some of the earliest confessions, such as the Apostle's Creed.

congregation

a building and the group of people who worship there. Part of the church.

denomination

a legal or administrative collection of congregations. A subdivision of the church.

episcopal

a type of organization used in some churches, where members of the clergy govern the church. From the Greek epi+scopos, over-seer. Compare to presbyterian.

Presbyterian

a type of organization used in some churches, where lay persons called elders govern the church. From the Greek presbuteros, elder. Compare to episcopal.