church militant

noun Theology.

those Christians on earth who are engaged in a continuous war against evil and the enemies of Christ.

Compare church triumphant.

Origin of church militant

First recorded in 1530–40

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for church militant

Historical Examples of church militant

This mortar, probably they thought, threw the shell straighter than any of the other field-pieces of the church-militant.
Robert Falconer
George MacDonald