A sacrament is a Christian practice that signifies or effectuates the grace of God. These practices are generally understood to have been instituted (or commanded) by Jesus Christ. In some churches the term is referred to as an ordinance. In the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism and some forms of Anglicanism it is taught that sacraments are not only symbolic but also a means by which God communicates his grace. Most other Protestant churches hold that sacraments are purely symbolic signs of an inward change.