District Worship Meeting

Definition and Meaning

A district worship meeting is a small worship service and gathering for which a church's members are divided by place of residence into districts of several households each, and the members of each district meet in a home. A district usually meets once during the week, rotating among its members' homes, and the meeting is led by a district leader. In Methodist churches, a gathering of the same kind is called a class meeting (sokhoe, 屬會).

The order of the meeting varies from church to church, but it generally consists of hymn singing, prayer, Scripture reading and discussion of the Word, an offering, and the sharing of prayer requests. For the discussion of the Word, many groups use district lesson books (study materials) published by the church or denomination. After the meeting, members often share a meal or refreshments and enjoy fellowship together. When no pastor is present, the meeting often closes with the Lord's Prayer instead of a benediction.

Biblical and Historical Background

Churches that hold district worship meetings trace their roots to the house gatherings of the early church. Acts 2:46 records that believers gathered, "breaking bread from house to house," and Romans 16:5 mentions "the church that is in their house."

The sokhoe originated in the class meeting that John Wesley established within the Methodist movement in England, which is said to have begun in Bristol in 1742. Members were organized into groups of about twelve, each under an appointed leader, so that they could watch over one another's spiritual condition and collect offerings. This system came to Korea along with Methodist missions.

Other denominations also adopted district structures that grouped members by area for pastoral care. In particular, after the Full Gospel Church led by Pastor David Yonggi Cho became widely known as an example of a church that grew through a district structure centered on women district leaders, the district system spread throughout the Korean church.

Practice in the Korean Church

• Methodist: Methodist churches, including the Korean Methodist Church, call this gathering a class meeting (sokhoe) and its leader a class leader (sokjang), and they value it as a tradition handed down since Wesley's time.
• Presbyterian: The district leader often leads the meeting, while a district caretaker (gwonchal) looks after the needs and circumstances of district members. A parish made up of several districts is overseen by an assigned minister, who conducts pastoral visitation.
• Pentecostal: Full Gospel churches have made the district structure central to church administration.
• Diversification of names: In recent years, a growing number of churches have replaced districts with, or operate them alongside, small groups under names such as cell, mokjang ("pasture," in the house church movement), and sun or darakbang ("upper room," in the discipleship training movement).
• Methods of operation: Districts are sometimes organized around members' life circumstances, such as women's districts that meet during the day and districts for couples or working people that meet in the evening. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, some churches have also begun to use video meetings alongside in-person gatherings.