Church Minister (Gyoyeokja)

Definition and Meaning

Gyoyeokja means "one entrusted with the work of the church (敎役)." In Korean churches, the term refers to a person who has received theological education, belongs to a church, and makes ministry his or her principal work. It includes the pastor, the licensed preacher (gangdosa), and the evangelist (jeondosa). The term is used chiefly to distinguish such ministers from lay officers, such as elders, exhorters (gwonsa), and deacons, who serve the church voluntarily rather than as an occupation. Similar terms include mokhoeja ("pastor") and sayeokja ("minister").

All ministers other than the senior pastor, who represents the church and bears responsibility for it, are collectively called bugyoyeokja (associate ministers). This group includes the associate pastor, the education evangelist, and the full-time evangelist.

Biblical and Historical Background

The New Testament refers in several places to the ministries of building up and teaching the church. Ephesians 4:11 names "apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers," and 1 Timothy 5:17 speaks of elders, "especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." First Corinthians 9:14 states that "they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," a verse frequently cited as the basis for ministers receiving their support from the church.

Since the Reformation, Protestantism, following the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, has not divided clergy and laity by status, explaining the distinction instead as a difference of function. Accordingly, a minister is understood not as a person of special status but as one entrusted with the ministry of the Word and pastoral care.

Practice in Korean Churches

The path to becoming a minister and the system of church offices differ by denomination.

• Presbyterian churches often classify the pastor in their church constitution as a perpetual office (one held for life) and the evangelist as a temporary office. Candidates for the ministry complete seminary (graduate school of theology), pass through the licensed-preacher stage, and are then ordained by the presbytery.
• In Methodist churches, the annual conference has jurisdiction over the qualifications and appointment of pastors.
• Holiness churches appoint ministers within a structure of district conferences and a general assembly.
• Baptist churches emphasize the autonomy of the local congregation, so the local church plays a major role in the call and ordination of ministers.

In medium-sized and large churches, several associate ministers serve under the senior pastor, each overseeing a different area of ministry, such as parish pastoral care, the Sunday school, young adult ministry, or worship ministry. It is also common for seminary students to serve as part-time "education evangelists" who minister only on weekends. Ministers meet regularly in staff meetings to discuss their work.

Denominations differ on whether women ministers may become pastors, a question closely tied to the issue of women's ordination. In recent years, the compensation and treatment of associate ministers, as well as bivocational ministry, in which ministers hold employment outside their church ministry, have become subjects of discussion within the Korean church.