Christian Jargon: 12 Church Words and Phrases That Confuse New Believers

I recently shared my testimony of the 12-year-old classmate who led me to the Lord in seventh grade. What I thought about most, though (and I’m not even sure why I did), was just how little I knew about Christianity and church at the time. Everything was new to me.

It seems almost silly now, but here are some things/words/phrases I did not understand when I first heard the gospel and followed Jesus. These thoughts remind me that still today, we’re trying to reach people who might know even less than I did at the time. We need to keep that reality in mind as we evangelize and disciple.

1. “Ask Jesus into your heart.”

I had no idea what that meant, and I had even less an idea how to do it until the man I later learned was the church pastor helped me.

2. “Old Testament” and “New Testament.”

Nobody told me what a testament was. Nor did anybody tell me why one was old and one was new (even though I figured out it wasn’t really new …).

3. “Invocation” and “benediction.”

I saw the words on the bulletin (though, I didn’t actually know it was called a bulletin then), but I didn’t know what they meant. All I knew was that one was at the beginning of the service and the other at the end.

4. “Redeemer/Savior/Lord.”

Whatever the titles were, I didn’t fully know what they meant. I just knew they referred to Jesus in some way.

5. “Hymnal.”

I figured out it was a songbook, but only because I saw everyone else grab one as we started singing. In fact, much of my learning was only replicating what I saw others do.

6. “Tithes and offerings.”

It didn’t take me long to figure out these words had something to do with giving money, but it was years, actually, before I understood that some people differentiate between the two words.