We were looking through the pictures at the Evangelical Library recently and we cam eacross a portrait of one John Langford VDM. What is VDM?
VDM is apparently a religious initialism variously derived from the similar Latin expressions verbi dei minister or verbum dei minister or verbi divini minister or even verbi divini magister, typically appended as a name suffix to a person's full name to denote his status (sometimes self-determined) as a "minister of the divine word". The typically informal designation emphasises the holder's acceptance of responsibility toward the Bible and preaching it.
The appellation can be used practically, by a person who acts as a minister or a lay minister despite not having an actual university degree or situationally, to momentarily emphasise that a minister holding a DD or something similar is or was not distracted by a wish for prominence or by merely esoteric concerns or conscientiously, as an alternative for those who sincerely believe terms such as "Reverend" are unwise or immodest (!).
