So I am a christian and attend church. How would I grammatically refer to people who also attend my church. Fellow church mates, church-goer, church attendee?
A fellow ______ gave me a job at her business.
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7Churchgoer is the one I'd use.– John CliffordJan 27, 2016 at 23:02
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5They're "people who go to the same church as I do". If your church has parishes you might refer to them as "fellow parishioners", and there are likely other terms specific to different religions.– Hot LicksJan 27, 2016 at 23:09
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3A "fellow congregant?" "Someone you know from church?"– user867Jan 27, 2016 at 23:11
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3A fellow “in the congregation”. But most people would just say “a guy in my church” ... Or “a guy from my church”– JimJan 28, 2016 at 0:06
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2I am pentecostal if it matters, but I don't think it does. In my essay, I currently use churchgoer. ..."a fellow churchgoer, Laura, offered me a job at her warehouse."– user1470901Jan 28, 2016 at 0:08
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3 Answers
A congregant is a a member of a congregation, so I might say “a fellow congregant,” though that does sound quite formal.
Here is Merriam-Webster's entry:
congregant n | con·gre·gant | \ˈkäŋ-gri-gənt\
: a person who is part of a congregation : a person who is attending religious services or who regularly attends religious services
: one who congregates; specifically : a member of a congregation
It's similar to parishioner. See this question for discussion of the two.
To take up the suggestion that Hot Licks makes in a comment above, parishioner might be an appropriate term for you to use. Here is the entry for parishioner in Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003):
parishioner n (15c) : a member or inhabitant of a parish
and here is the same dictionary's entry for parish:
parish n (14c) 1 a (1) : the ecclesiastical unit of area committed to one pastor (2) : the residents of such an area b Brit : a subdivision of county often coinciding with an original ecclesiastical parish and constituting the unit of local government 2 : a local church community composed of the members or constituents of a Protestant church 3 : a civil division of the state of Louisiana corresponding to a county in other states
So if definitions 1a(1), 1a(2), or 2 of parish apply in your situation, the term parishioner may be a good choice to fill in the blank in the sentence you provide:
A fellow ______ gave me a job at her business.
answered Apr 3, 2016 at 7:17
A fellow Christian would seem logical to me. I've heard many BAC refer to thier friends or church mates in sentences such as, "Oh, you would really like her, she's a fellow Christian."
A fellow Believer.
Or depending on the strength of the relationship would you ever feel comfortable saying my "brother" or "sister"?
