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Elder
An elder is a church officer elected from among the members to care for and govern the church together with the pastor. In Presbyterian churches the term refers to the ruling elders who make up the session; the status and role of the office vary by denomination.
Honorary Elder
An honorary elder is a person who holds the title of elder without currently serving on the session. The term refers either to a retired elder honored after reaching the mandatory retirement age or to a person granted the title alone in recognition of service.
Term of Office for Elders
The term of office for elders is the period during which an elder holds and exercises office in the church. Korean Presbyterian churches often regard the eldership as a lifelong office and have elders serve until the mandatory retirement age. Some churches also hold periodic votes of confidence to renew the congregation's endorsement.
Election of Elders
The election of elders is the process by which a church chooses candidates to be installed as elders. In Presbyterian churches, after the session passes a resolution and the presbytery grants permission, the congregational meeting holds a vote; those elected then pass a presbytery examination and are installed as elders at an ordination service.
Kim Dae-hyun
Kim Dae-hyun (金大鉉, 1873 or 1876–1940) was a Presbyterian elder during the Japanese colonial period in Korea. As an elder of Seungdong Church in Seoul, he donated a large sum that laid the foundation for Chosun Theological Seminary (the predecessor of Hanshin University), and he served as its first president.
Titus 1:5–9
In this passage Paul instructs Titus, whom he had left in Crete, to appoint elders in every city, and he lists the qualifications of an elder or overseer (bishop). It is frequently cited in discussions of the relationship between elders and overseers and of the qualifications for church officers.
1 Peter 5
The final chapter of 1 Peter exhorts the elders to tend the flock and the younger members to be humble. The letter closes with a charge to resist the devil, a doxology, and final greetings that mention Silvanus and Mark.
Cheonbugyo
Cheonbugyo is a religious organization founded in 1955 by Park Tae-seon, a former elder in the Presbyterian Church in Korea. Formerly called the Korean Jesus Church Evangelical Hall Revival Association, it was widely known as "Jeondogwan" (Evangelical Hall). In 1956 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Korea declared it heretical.
Jeong Yak-jong
Jeong Yak-jong (1760–1801) was a Catholic lay leader in late Joseon Korea. He wrote the Jugyo yoji (Essentials of the Lord's Teaching), regarded as the first catechism written in Hangul, served as the first president of the Myeongdohoe, and was martyred during the Sinyu Persecution of 1801.
Acts 24
Acts 24 is the chapter in which Paul stands trial before the governor Felix at Caesarea. The accusation brought by the high priest's party is followed by Paul's defense, and the chapter ends with Felix deferring judgment and keeping Paul in custody for two years.
Louis Severance
Louis Henry Severance (1838–1913) was an American businessman and Presbyterian layman. He served as treasurer of Standard Oil and is known as the benefactor who funded the construction of Severance Hospital in Seoul.
Ordination Offering
An ordination offering is an offering made by a person receiving a church office, such as elder, kwonsa (exhorting deaconess), or ordained deacon, on the occasion of the ordination service. Some regard it as an expression of gratitude, while others criticize it as a way of buying church office with money.
Merab
Merab was the elder daughter of Saul, the first king of Israel. An Old Testament figure, she was promised to David as his wife but was instead given in marriage to Adriel the Meholathite. Her younger sister was Michal, who became David's wife.
Adriel
Adriel was an Israelite of the time of King Saul and the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He married Merab, Saul's elder daughter, who had been promised to David.
Diotrephes
Diotrephes was an early Christian mentioned in 3 John. He is described as one who loved to have the preeminence, refused to receive the elder's letter and his workers, and cast out of the church those members who wished to welcome them.
Council of Jerusalem
The Council of Jerusalem is an event recorded in Acts 15. The apostles and elders of the Jerusalem church met to consider whether Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses, and they reached a decision on the matter.
Letter of Aristeas
The Letter of Aristeas is an ancient Jewish writing that, presented as the work of a courtier of the Egyptian king, recounts how the Pentateuch was translated into Greek at Alexandria by seventy-two Jewish elders. It contains the story from which the name Septuagint derives.
Deposition (Church Discipline)
Deposition (Korean *myeonjik*) is a form of church discipline in which an officer such as a minister, elder, or deacon is stripped of the office itself. It is distinct from excommunication, which also removes church membership.
Installation of Church Officers
The installation of church officers (imjiksik) is a rite in which a church formally appoints officers it has elected, such as elders, deacons, and kwonsa (exhorters). When the laying on of hands is involved, it is called an ordination service; when duties are entrusted without the laying on of hands, it is called an inauguration service; and when a pastor is installed in a local church, it is called a pastoral installation service.
Session (Presbyterian)
The session (dang-hoe) is the lowest church court in Presbyterianism, governing an individual congregation. Composed of the senior pastor and the active ruling elders, it oversees the spiritual life of church members and makes decisions about the operation of the church.