Bishop

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term for bishop, gamdok (監督), means "to oversee and direct," and it denotes an office that cares for and governs multiple churches and ministers. It translates the New Testament Greek episkopos ("one who watches over from above"), from which the English word bishop is also derived. Korean Protestant Bible translations render the term as gamdok, whereas the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church render it as jugyo. The alternate term presiding bishop (gamdok hoejang) refers to the bishop who represents the entire denomination in the Korean Methodist Church.

Biblical and Historical Background

The qualifications for a bishop appear in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:7. Acts 20:17, 28 and Titus 1:5–7 refer to the same people as both "elders" and "bishops." For this reason, many interpreters hold that the two terms originally designated essentially the same office. By around the second century, a system is said to have taken hold in which a single bishop led the church of a city, with elders and deacons serving under him.

After the Reformation, churches came to understand this office in different ways. The Anglican Church retained the episcopate, which it regards as continuing from the time of the apostles. The Presbyterian churches identified the biblical bishop with the elder and entrusted oversight of the church to deliberative bodies such as the presbytery rather than to individual bishops. Methodism arose from the movement led by John Wesley, and the Methodist church organized in America in 1784 adopted an episcopal system, which was later carried over into Korean Methodism.

Practice in the Korean Church

• Methodist: The Korean Methodist Church has a presiding bishop who represents the denomination and conference bishops who lead each annual conference. Districts within an annual conference are overseen by district superintendents. Methodists do not regard the bishop as a separate clerical order distinct from that of the pastor; rather, they understand the episcopacy as a role held for a fixed term by a pastor elected to it. Elections for presiding bishop are reported to have led to legal disputes on several occasions.
• Anglican: The Anglican Church of Korea calls this office jugyo and regards it as one of the three holy orders, together with deacon and priest. A bishop has charge of a diocese, ordains clergy, and presides at confirmation (a rite in which a baptized person personally professes the faith and has that profession confirmed). Episcopal orders, once received, are understood to be retained for life.
• Presbyterian, Holiness, Baptist, and others: Most of these denominations have no office of bishop. The moderator of the General Assembly or of a presbytery is a presiding officer who chairs meetings, usually for a one-year term. Baptists place particular emphasis on the autonomy of the local church.