Bishop Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Others === Some Baptists also have begun taking on the title of ''bishop''.<ref name="bost_More">{{Cite news | title = More Baptist pastors adopt bishop title | author = Lisa Wangsness | newspaper= The Boston Globe | date = 19 July 2010 | access-date = 2014-09-07 | url = http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/07/19/more_baptist_pastors_adopt_bishop_title/?page=1 }}</ref> In some smaller Protestant denominations and independent churches, the term ''bishop'' is used in the same way as ''pastor'', to refer to the leader of the local congregation, and may be male or female. This usage is especially common in African-American churches in the US. In the [[Church of Scotland]], which has a Presbyterian church structure, the word "bishop" refers to an ordained person, usually a normal parish minister, who has temporary oversight of a trainee minister. In the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)]], the term bishop is an expressive name for a Minister of Word and Sacrament who serves a congregation and exercises "the oversight of the flock of Christ."<ref name="presby">{{cite book|publisher= Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of the General Assembly|title= Book of Order (2009–2011)|location= Louisville|page= G-6.0202|url= http://www.presbycoalition.org/2009-11%20Book%20of%20Order.pdf|access-date= 7 September 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140729184807/http://www.presbycoalition.org/2009-11%20Book%20of%20Order.pdf|archive-date= 29 July 2014|url-status= dead}}</ref> The term is traceable to the 1789 Form of Government of the PC (USA) and the Presbyterian understanding of the pastoral office.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/oga/pdf/peter.pdf| title = "The Successor To Peter" |date=2000 |website=Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231118220748/https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/oga/pdf/peter.pdf |archive-date= Nov 18, 2023 }}</ref> While not considered orthodox Christian, the [[Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica]] uses roles and titles derived from Christianity for its clerical hierarchy, including bishops who have much the same authority and responsibilities as in Catholicism. The [[Salvation Army]] does not have bishops but has appointed leaders of geographical areas, known as Divisional Commanders. Larger geographical areas, called Territories, are led by a Territorial Commander, who is the highest-ranking officer in that Territory. Jehovah's Witnesses do not use the title 'Bishop' within their organizational structure, but appoint elders to be overseers (to fulfill the role of oversight) within their congregations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/congregations-organized/ |title= How Are Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses Organised? |website=Jehovah’s Witnesses |access-date=4 August 2015}}</ref> [[File:Ingwer Ludwig Nommensen (1834–1918).png|thumb|upright=1.2|right|[[Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen]], the [[Germans|German]] Lutheran missionary from [[Rhenish Missionary Society]], also first Ephorus of the Batak Christian Protestant Church]] The [[Batak Christian Protestant Church]] of [[Indonesia]], the most prominent Protestant [[Christian denomination|denomination]] [[Protestantism in Indonesia|in Indonesia]], uses the term ''Ephorus'' instead of ''bishop''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://iksynod.org/hkbp/ |title= Global Missions in the Indiana-Kentucky Synod: Indonesia: the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan Church on the island of Sumatra|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref> In the Vietnamese syncretist religion of [[Caodaism]], bishops ({{lang|vi|giáo sư}}) comprise the fifth of nine hierarchical levels, and are responsible for spiritual and temporal education as well as record-keeping and ceremonies in their parishes. At any one time there are seventy-two bishops. Their authority is described in Section I of the text {{lang|vi|Tân Luật}} (revealed through seances in December 1926). Caodai bishops wear robes and headgear of embroidered silk depicting the Divine Eye and the Eight Trigrams. (The color varies according to branch.) This is the full ceremonial dress; the simple version consists of a seven-layered turban. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page