Church Tags

What do the Tags mean?

KJV Churches uses “tags” on the different church listings to let our users know some information about the churches listed in our database. We have three main goals in utilizing these tags, and in this order:

A church’s stance on the King James Bible (see our Doctrine page for an explanation)
Various doctrinal distinctions
A church’s organizational affiliations, if any
A church’s ministries

Please note: tags are no longer the preferred method of identifying church details.

We are still using tags, and they are very helpful, but we no longer review them as carefully as we did in the past. While tags are excellent for helping to connect relevant content, we use dropdown options on the church listings to display relevant details. Continued use of the tags below will be less than perfectly reliable.

The tags are listed on the place listings in alphabetical order, so check carefully as you read. Here are some of the more common tags that you may see throughout the listings, though the list is far from comprehensive for multiple reasons:

ABA – Associated with the American Baptist Association; typically Landmarkist in philosophy
ABC – Arlington Baptist College, Arlington, Texas; typically affiliated with the World Baptist Fellowship
Addictions – Church offers some variety of addictions ministry; also see RU (Reformer’s Unanimous)
Afternoon Service – Church has early afternoon Sunday service (1-3pm) instead of an evening service (5-6pm)
Anabaptist – Church identifies as a historic Anabaptist church
Arabic – Church offers an Arabic ministry
AWANA – Church hosts the AWANA program; other children’s programs include Master Clubs, King’s Kids, Kids4Christ, and Kids4Truth
BBF – Affiliated with the Bible Baptist Fellowship and/or College in Springfield, Missouri
BEAMS – Supports or is directly involved with the BEAMS missions Bibles project
Bilingual – Regular services are in more than one language
BJU – Pastor and/or staff is a graduate of Bob Jones University, a Bible college in Greenville, South Carolina
Boy’s Home – Church offers a home for troubled boys as a part of their ministry outreach
BPS – Church partners with Bearing Precious Seed “Seedline” ministries to provide printed material
Bus – Church lists a prominent bus ministry in their area
Calvinist – Church’s doctrinal position lines up with “Reformed” doctrine, potentially including limited atonement, or “election”; see also Sovereign Grace
Camp – Church owns a camp property on which it hosts youth, teen, and/or family camps
CLOSED – Church has been reported closed, or we couldn’t contact the church over a period of several years and assume the church has closed. The listing is kept for reference
College – Church sponsors a Bible College (also see Institute)
Contemporary – Church incorporates contemporary Christian music or Christian rock music into worship services
Could not verify – Church information could not be verified; churches that we cannot verify over the course of a few years will likely be listed as CLOSED
Crisis Center – Church offers a crisis pregnancy center to assist pregnant mothers
Crown – Church is affiliated with or staff is graduated from Crown College of the Bible, Powell, Tennessee
Daycare – Church offers a daycare as a part of its outreach ministries
Deaconesses – Church elects female deacons; typically not orthodox churches
Deaf – Church offers either deaf classes or ASL interpretation in church services, or sign language in other languages
Dispensational – Churches typically adhere to moderate dispensational theology, meaning separation of Jew/Gentile, and Kingdom/Grace Gospel, as taught by C.I. Scofield, Clarence Larkin, and others; see also Mid-Acts Dispensational
Estep – Church is affiliated with Charity Baptist Church/Institute in Dayton, Ohio (see also Dispensational, Ruckman, Gipp, PBI)
ESV – Church states that they use the English Standard Version of the Bible (see also Not KJV)
FBI – Church offers Bible institute through the Faith Bible Institute, pastor John Yates from Monroe, Louisiana (see also Institute)
Filipino – Offers a Filipino ministry (see also Tagalog)
Food Pantry – Church offers a food pantry as a part of their outreach ministries (see church website for specific details)
Free Will – Church does not believe in Eternal Security (Also called “OSAS,” Once Saved Always Saved)
Friday Service – Church has a Friday evening weeknight service (instead of Wednesday; see also Thursday service, Tuesday service)
GARBC – Church is affiliated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches
GIBF – Church associates with the Global Independent Baptist Fellowship, loosely affiliated with Heartland Baptist Bible College
Gipp – Dr. Sam Gipp is a prominent evangelist and defender of the King James Bible. Church has some affiliation with Dr. Gipp (see also Dispensational, Ruckman, Estep, PBI)
Girls Home – Church offers a home for girls as a part of its ministry
GSBC – Pastor and/or staff are graduates of Golden State Baptist College, Santa Clara, California
HAC – Pastor and/or staff are graduates of or affiliated with Hyles-Anderson College, Crown Point, Indiana (see also Hyles)
HBBC – Pastor and/or staff are graduates of or affiliated with Heartland Baptist Bible College, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Homeless – Church offers ministries or works with homeless, or holds services at rescue missions
Homeschool – Church specifically offers a co-op or other support for homeschooling families
Hyles – Church has some affiliation with Hyles-Anderson College or First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana
IBFI – Church is affiliated with the Independent Baptist Fellowship International, and/or the pastor and/or staff are graduates from the Norris Bible Baptist Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas
Institute – Church offers a Bible Institute among its ministries
Jail – Church holds services or otherwise ministers in local jails
King’s Kids – Church offers a King’s Kids program for children (see also Kids4Christ, Kids4Truth, AWANA, and Master Clubs)
KJV, KJV-only, KJV Preserved, KJV Inspired – Varying statements on the King James Bible, but these churches typically hold strongly to the KJV as being the perfect Bible in English
Korean – Church is a Korean church or holds services in Korean in addition to English services
Landmark – Church holds to the doctrine of baptismal perpetuity, that the only “true churches” have had apostolic authority handed down through baptism from the time of Christ (see also ABA, MBA)
Martial Arts – Church offers a martial arts program of some sort
MBA – Associated with the Missionary Baptist Association; churches often are “Missionary Baptist” churches and hold to Landmark doctrine (see also Landmark, ABA)
Mission Board, Board – Church offers a mission board to send missionaries as part of its ministries
Missionary – Not to be confused with Missionary Baptist (MBA/ABA); church is pastored by a foreign missionary
NASV, NIV, NKJV, NLT – Church uses one or more different Bible versions (see also Not KJV)
No SOF – Church doesn’t have a Statement of Faith available to read; their doctrinal position is thus unknown
Not KJV – Church does not exclusively use the King James Bible or believe it to be the perfect Bible in English
Nothing KJV – Now “KJV Position Undeclared” – Church has a Statement of Faith that does not make a definitive statement as to which English Bible is the right one; may be KJV-only, may be Not KJV, but we do not know
Nursing Home – Church holds services at one or more assisted living facilities as part of its ministry
Patch – Church offers a Patch the Pirate and/or Pee Wee Pirate ministry for Children
PBI – Pastor is a graduate of Pensacola Bible Institute (see also Ruckman, Dispensational)
PCC – Pastor and/or staff are graduates of Pensacola Christian College or Seminary
Printing – Church offers a printing ministry as an outreach
Prison – Church holds services or ministers in a State or federal prison
Prophets Chamber – Church offers housing for missionaries or traveling ministry workers; contact church for details
ProTeens – A youth program for teens
Public Ministry – Church actively preaches publicly
Radio – Church ministries include a radio station (we typically reserve this for churches that own a radio station, not just churches that have a regular radio broadcast from their church)
Rescue Mission – Church operates a rescue mission; may alternatively indicate a ministry in a separate local homeless shelter (see also Homeless)
Reservation – Church is located on a Native American reservation
RU – Church operates a Reformers Unanimous program for Addictions
Ruckman – Church is affiliated with, associated to, or friendly toward Dr. Peter Ruckman (see also PBI, Dispensational)
RV Hookup – Church offers hookups for travel trailers, RVs, or fifth-wheel trailers (not confirmed by KJV Churches)
RV1865 – Church holds to the Reina-Valera 1865 as being God’s perfect words in Spanish
RV1960 – Church uses the Spanish Reina-Valera 1960 Bible
RVG – Church uses the Reina-Valera-Gomez Spanish Bible
SBC – Church may be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (non-independent Baptist churches choose to be listed in our database sometimes)
School – Church offers a Christian School or Academy amongst its ministries
Spanish – Church is a Spanish church or offers Spanish services
Thursday service – Church holds mid-week services on Thursdays (see also Tuesday service, Friday service)
Tracts – Church provides gospel tracts; contact church for details
TTU – Pastor and/or Staff are graduates from Tennessee Temple University
Tuesday service – Church holds mid-week services on Tuesdays (see also Thursday service, Friday service)
Unaffiliated – Church rejects mission boards, fellowships, and associations
Unregistered – Church takes a public stance against 501(c)3 registration and non-profit status
Use KJV – Church states that they use the KJV, some exclusively, some only use the KJV for preaching, and some use other versions as well; statement is somewhat nebulous and difficult to classify accurately, and a church should reconsider their Statement of Faith if they include this poor choice of wording
Van – Church provides van transportation locally
WBF – Church is affiliated with or associates with the World Baptist Fellowship, Arlington, Texas (see also ABC)
WCBC – Pastor and/or staff are graduates of West Coast Baptist College, Lancaster, California