Data source: Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2025).
| Glossary item | Definition |
|---|---|
| visible church | See church visible. |
| visual gospel | (1) A film or movie of the life of Christ, either via video, or in an 8mm or 16mm presentation; or (2) a film strip based on a gospel, or (3) an art exhibit illustrating the Good News by works of art (paintings) or photographs. |
| vital statistics | Registration statistics of births, deaths, marriages, divorces, etc. |
| vocation | A task or function to which one is called by God. |
| volume of evangelism | A scientifically-derived computed estimate of the percentage of persons in a country or other population segment who have become influenced by evangelism to awareness of Christianity, Christ, and the gospel. |
| Wahhabites | Sunni Muslims reform movement of the most rigid school of law, Hanabila. |
| Waldensians | A Protestant tradition dating back in Italy to AD 1173, now loosely united with Methodism. |
| waqf, wakf | (Arabic; plural, awkaf). A Muslim religious or charitable foundation created by an endowed trust fund. |
| ward | In Mormon usage, a small territorial unit or division of a stake (qv) presided over by a bishopric and comprising branches of church auxiliary organizations and quorums of the Aaronic priesthood; equivalent to a parish. |
| Watchtower,Watch Tower | A name for Jehovah’s Witnesses; part of their legal name, also of major publication. |
| weddings, church | See marriages, church. |
| weekly attenders | Affiliated Christians (church members) who attend church services of public worship at least once a week, i.e. regularly every Sunday (for sabbatarians, every Saturday). |
| Wesleyans | Holiness Christians (qv). |
| West Syrians | Syrian Orthodox (Jacobites), Orthodox Syrians (India). |
| Western Church | A collective term for the Christian Churches in the Western world, or western Europe, or the Patriarchate of the West (Rome). |
| Western Syrians | A est Syrians (qv). |
| Western world | A term, based on political alignment, for the Western or Capitalist countries of Europe, North America, et alia, including capitalist and non-Marxist Socialist or Social Democratic countries. |
| white magic | Magic (qv) with benevolent intent, as opposed to black magic (qv). |
| Wider Episcopal Fellowship | An attempt to co-ordinate all churches and denominations with historic episcopacy and with some historical claim to apostolic succession. |
| witch | One supposed to possess supernatural powers in order to bewitch people inadvertently. |
| witchcraft | The inadvertent exercise of supernatural powers to harm others. |
| witchcraft eradication movement | A spontaneous movement, especially in Africa, attempting to eradicate witchcraft by offering holy water or other preventative magic and by denunciation of witches. |
| witchdoctor | A professional worker of magic in primitive society who by spells, charms, herbal remedies et alia seeks to cure illness, detect witches and counteract malevolent magical influences; a shaman, medicine man. |
| withdrawal from church membership | In West Germany and other European countries with state-established Protestant churches of which the whole population largely are members, legislation now provides for the possibility of persons making a formal legal withdrawal from membership, thereby avoiding church income tax. |
| witness | Public testimony by word or deed to one’s religious or Christian faith. |
Data on 18 categories of religion, including non-religious, by country, province, and people.
Data on all religions, Christian activities, and trends.
Membership data, year begun, and rates of change.
Population and religion data on all major cities & provinces.
Detailed information covering religion, culture, and geography.
A repository of historical data, including a chronology of Christianity from the 1st to 21st centuries.