Parish and Diocese (Gyogu)

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term gyogu combines the characters gyo (敎, "to teach") and gu (區, "district"). It refers to a district into which the church divides its members for pastoral care and governance. In Korean Christianity the term is used in two senses.

• A pastoral unit within a congregation: an organization that divides the members of a single church by region or age. It is used mainly in churches with large memberships.
• A jurisdictional unit grouping several churches: a regional church unit governed by a bishop (the highest-ranking cleric in the ordained hierarchy), corresponding to the English "diocese." The Anglican Church of Korea and the Catholic Church use the term in this sense.

Biblical and Historical Background

The New Testament does not describe an institution of dioceses or parishes. Churches were identified by city, as in "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2), and some churches met in homes (Romans 16:5). Paul instructed Titus to "ordain elders in every city" (Titus 1:5).

The English word "diocese" derives from the Greek dioikēsis, which denoted an administrative division of the Roman Empire. As the church became established within the empire, the term came to designate a bishop's area of jurisdiction. "Parish," referring to a local congregation, derives from the Greek paroikia, meaning "sojourning" (1 Peter 1:17). In Korean Catholic usage today, the unit governed by a bishop is still called a gyogu (diocese), and the individual congregations within it are called bondang (parishes).

Practice in Korean Churches

The Anglican Church of Korea consists of the Diocese of Seoul, the Diocese of Daejeon, and the Diocese of Busan. Each diocese has a diocesan bishop, and multiple churches belong to each diocese. In this usage the diocese is an organization spanning several churches and serves as the basic unit of denominational administration.

Other Protestant denominations, such as the Presbyterian, Methodist, and Holiness churches, do not use the term gyogu for the bodies that group churches by region. Presbyterians use the terms presbytery and visitation district (sichal), Methodists use annual conference and district conference, and the Holiness Church uses district conference. In these denominations, gyogu generally refers to an organization within a single church.

Churches with large memberships, especially megachurches, often divide their members into several gyogu according to place of residence. Some also organize them by age or life stage, such as a young adults' gyogu or a newlyweds' gyogu. Each gyogu has an assigned minister; often an associate pastor serves as the "gyogu pastor," responsible for pastoral visitation, counseling, and ministry at weddings, funerals, and other family occasions for the members of that gyogu. Beneath each gyogu are small groups such as cell districts (guyeok), mokjang ("pastures"), or cells, led by lay leaders such as a cell leader. The names and structure of gyogu, and whether a gyogu is headed by a minister or a layperson, vary from church to church.