Have you ever been really confused by all the lingo that Christians use in their everyday conversations? Yeah, me too. So here’s the definitions of just a handful of the many many many words and phrases us Christians and World Racers use much too often.
ATL:
An acronym for “Ask the Lord”, but doesn’t have the same definition as asking the Lord (see below); It’s an organized thing we do on the Race where we purposefully set aside time—usually as a group—for listening prayer with the intent of having God direct us to where or whom He wants, to do what He wants for ministry.
Ask the Lord/Take it to the Lord:
Meaning one needs to pray about a particular situation before proceeding with an action or decision; sometimes used as a means to prevent defensiveness or as an avoidance tactic if a person doesn’t really want to do something.
Brothers and Sisters:
Fellow Christian men and women.
Call You Higher:
What someone says when they want to encourage you to step into something even better than where you are in your current state.
Christianese:
Words or language that Christians use that people outside of the church or a Christian upbringing are unfamiliar with.
Date:
Spending time with a squadmate one-on-one; usually consists of doing fun activities like watching movies or going out for dinner or desert, and getting to know more about each other.
Digging Deep:
Having conversations where you asking harder or more intimate questions than you might normally.
Disciple:
Someone who is an apprentice of Jesus, meaning they are striving to continually spend time with Him, learn more about Him, and become more like Him.
Dive Into the Word:
To read your bible. More specifically, reading it to gain a deeper understanding of the passage. This may include researching historical and cultural context and taking notes from commentaries.
Do Life:
Living in constant community with other people.
Feedback/Super-Feedback:
An allotted time in your team’s schedule specifically to be used to give each other both positive and constructive criticism (however feedback can be given in a one-on-one setting as well). Participation is encouraged, but not required. Super-feedback is a feedback session where every team member is expected to give everyone on the team both positive and constructive feedback.
Fellowship:
Hanging out with other Christians.
Heart Posture:
The way we see, feel and approach any given thing, but it usually refers to the act of worship.
Hedge of Protection:
God’s protection over us or a situation.
Intentional:
The act of being purposeful; usually referring to getting to know someone on a deeper level, but can also refer to being purposeful in our everyday routine and our actions.
Popcorn Prayer:
When praying in a group, people pray aloud in no particular order.
Press into Community:
For me, this means spending time with people even though I don’t want to and it’s super uncomfortable. But actually, it’s just doing life (ooops… Christianese) with other people, having accountability partners, calling out each other where we fail, encouraging each other in ways that we can grow, mentoring each other and gleaning good stuff from each other so that we can grow into more mature Christians.
Process:
The act of taking time to understand and make sense of a particular situation. Each person processes in a unique way.
Quiet Time/Alone Time:
The time you intentionally (please excuse my christianese here) spend with God a.k.a. reading your bible, praying, worshipping, journaling etc. This looks different for every person.
Speak over:
The act of declaring something either positive (many times as a blessing) or negative over someone or yourself.
Here are a couple examples…
Matt: Grace, there is no way you will ever find a husband taller than you.
Me: Don’t speak that over me!
Me: I am going to speak over myself the truth that I am valuable and worthy.
Team time:
An allotted time in your team’s schedule meant for hanging out with each other as a whole group.
Testimony:
A person’s life story highlighting their background, highs and lows, how they came to be a Christian, and how God was present in all of that. Or it could be a short story of a time in someone’s life that God worked in.
Tornado Prayer:
When praying in a group, everyone prays their own prayers aloud and all at the same time.
World Race: Something that is considered super adventurous or foreign when compared to our normal American lives back home.
Example: Driving seven hours through Thailand forests on bumpy and dusty roads into a remote Karen village and eating rat for breakfast is the most World Race thing I’ve done all year.
Worldracism:
Christianese specifically used within the World Race community and culture.
