Primary authority for PCPC writing rules including dates, times, phone numbers, capitalization, punctuation, church terminology, ministry terminology, and first-reference conventions.
All PCPC communications should be clear, consistent, and reflect the character of Christ.
For anything not covered in this style guide, consult The Chicago Manual of Style, except where this guide specifies otherwise.
This guide applies to PCPC publications, the website, emails, and any material with group distribution.
Use single spaces after commas, periods, semicolons, and colons; never use double spaces.
Do not underline text in any PCPC communication.
Bold is reserved for dates and times of upcoming events.
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Use the Oxford comma in all lists.
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Do not hyphenate the word 'email'.
Format telephone numbers with digits and dashes only, with no parentheses or dots.
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Format times with two digits after the colon and a space before a.m. or p.m.
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Write dates using full month names, day, and year with commas around the year; avoid abbreviations.
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Spell out whole numbers from zero through nine in running text.
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Use numerals with the percent sign for percentages.
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Format money amounts with a dollar sign; include cents only when needed.
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Capitalize building locations and rooms when using their official names.
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Capitalize official ministry names.
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Capitalize individual professional titles when they appear with a person’s name.
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Capitalize all pronouns referring to the Trinity, even in quoted Scripture.
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Capitalize these theological and biblical terms: Kingdom, Bible, Word, Protestant, Redeemer, Savior, Advent, Scripture, Scriptures.
Do not capitalize the following words unless they begin a sentence or are part of a proper noun: church, gospel (unless part of a book title such as “The Gospel of John”), biblical, scriptural, crucifixion, communion, baptism, creation, cross, reformed, godly.
Use lowercase for general professional titles and groups when not used with a name.
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Use lowercase for email addresses.
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After introducing a person by full name, use only their first name in subsequent references.
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When first introducing staff, include their professional title after their name.
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When referring to a married couple, list the wife’s name first.
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Avoid acronyms that might not be understood by the community or general audience.
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Introduce acronyms by writing the full name followed by the acronym in parentheses on first use; after that, use the acronym alone.
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Do not use NOW as an acronym; always write “Night of Worship.”
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When introducing the church, use the full name followed by the acronym: Park Cities Presbyterian Church (PCPC). Avoid using PCPC alone as the first reference.
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Refer to the different areas of PCPC as ministries, not departments.
Refer to Sunday School classes as communities, not classes.
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Always use “4124 Oak Lawn” as the church address.
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Always use “pcpc.org” as the web address.
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Always use full book names for Scripture references; do not use abbreviations or aliases.
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Do not use Roman numerals or ordinals for books such as 2 Timothy; instead, use Arabic numerals followed by the book name.
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Use a colon between chapter and verse.
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Use a hyphen for continuous verse ranges within the same chapter.
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Use commas to separate non-contiguous verses and verse ranges within the same chapter.
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Use a hyphen for continuous chapter ranges within the same book.
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Use commas to separate non-contiguous chapters and chapter ranges within the same book.
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Separate references from different books with a semicolon.
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