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44-627: The Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui is divided into three dioceses in Hong Kong and one missionary area in Macau. Each diocese is led by a bishop and the missionary area is directly led by the Archbishop. The primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui holds the title of Archbishop of Hong Kong , and is elected from the diocesan bishops of the province. Andrew Chan is the current Archbishop and Primate and Bishop of Western Kowloon . Timothy Kwok

88-700: A "province", participating in the Anglican Communion under the leadership and jurisdiction of an archbishop . The Four Instruments of Unity for the Anglican Communion : The Anglican faith is based on the belief that the Bible , the Holy Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments, "contain[s] all things necessary to salvation ". Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui further maintains the ministry of

132-774: A bishop in each diocese. The dioceses are: (The Diocese of Eastern Kowloon and the Diocese of Western Kowloon are divided by the geographical constituencies of the Legislative Council in the New Territories, and along the Kowloon-Canton Railway in Kowloon and New Kowloon.) The missionary area is: The Provincial General Synod is composed of the House of Bishop, the House of Clegy and

176-485: A circuit, and the circuit is overseen by a superintendent minister who has pastoral charge of all the circuit churches (though in practice he or she delegates such charge to other presbyters who each care for a section of the circuit and chair the local church meetings as deputies of the superintendent). This echoes the practice of the early church where the bishop was supported by a bench of presbyters. Circuits are grouped together to form Districts. All of these, combined with

220-564: A few churches that submit to the leadership of a body of elders , as well as the Episcopal Baptists that have an Episcopal system . Continental Reformed churches are ruled by assemblies of "elders" or ordained officers. This is usually called Synodal government by the continental Reformed, but is essentially the same as presbyterian polity . General Synod of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui The General Synod of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui ( Chinese : 香港聖公會總議會 ) exercises

264-540: Is Bishop of Eastern Kowloon and Matthias Der is Bishop of Hong Kong Island . Peter Douglas Koon is the provincial secretary general. The church has approximately 29,000 members. The Anglican Communion is a global family and a fellowship of churches which trace their roots to the Church of England , with a province being a basic autonomous unit. There are presently 41 independent and self-governing provinces spanning over 160 countries. With well over 100 million members,

308-505: Is Anglican, said that gay "people should not be discriminated against" regardless of religious views. Later, in 2015, Peter Douglas Koon , the Anglican province's secretary general, denounced conservative schools' policies against LGBT relationships as discrimination and reassured the public that Anglican educational institutions would welcome LGBT faculty and students. There are altogether 33 secondary schools sponsored by Sheng Kung Hui in

352-633: Is Archbishop Robert W. Hotes. The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) has dioceses throughout the United States. In the COGIC, most states are divided into at least three or more dioceses that are each led by a bishop (sometimes called a "state bishop"); some states have as many as ten dioceses. These dioceses are called "jurisdictions" within COGIC. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ,

396-632: Is part of one episcopal area (though that area may contain more than one conference). The African Methodist Episcopal Church has a similar structure to the United Methodist Church, also using the Episcopal Area. The bishops govern the church as a single bench. In the British Methodist Church and Irish Methodist Church , the closest equivalent to a diocese is the 'circuit' . Each local church belongs to

440-531: The Anglican Communion . The one change is that the areas administered under the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of York are properly referred to as dioceses, not archdioceses: they are the metropolitan bishops of their respective provinces and bishops of their own diocese and have the position of archbishop. The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia in its constitution uses

484-616: The Church of Sweden do have individual dioceses similar to Roman Catholics. These dioceses and archdioceses are under the government of a bishop (see Archbishop of Uppsala ). Other Lutheran bodies and synods that have dioceses and bishops include the Church of Denmark , the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland , the Evangelical Church in Germany (partially), and the Church of Norway . From about

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528-587: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have a bishop acting as the head of the synod, but the synod does not have dioceses and archdioceses as the churches listed above. Rather, it is divided into a middle judicatory . The Lutheran Church - International , based in Springfield, Illinois , presently uses a traditional diocesan structure, with four dioceses in North America. Its current president

572-609: The Holy See into ecclesiastical provinces for greater cooperation and common action among regional dioceses. Within an ecclesiastical province, one diocese can be designated an "archdiocese" or "metropolitan archdiocese", establishing centrality within an ecclesiastical province and denoting a higher rank. Archdioceses are often chosen based on their population and historical significance. All dioceses and archdioceses, and their respective bishops or archbishops, are distinct and autonomous. An archdiocese has limited responsibilities within

616-653: The Pope , the equivalent entity is called an eparchy or "archeparchy", with an "eparch" or "archeparch" serving as the ordinary . The Eastern Orthodox Church calls dioceses episkopies (from the Greek ἐπισκοπή) in the Greek tradition and eparchies (from ἐπαρχία) in the Slavic tradition. After the English Reformation , the Church of England retained the existing diocesan structure which remains throughout

660-774: The Protestant Reformation and more specifically the Swiss Reformation led by John Calvin . Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government , which is governed by representative assemblies of elders. The Church of Scotland is governed solely through presbyteries , at parish and regional level, and therefore has no dioceses or bishops. Congregational churches practice congregationalist church governance , in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. Churches of Christ , being strictly non-denominational , are governed solely at

704-524: The United Methodist Church (the United States and some other countries), a bishop is given oversight over a geographical area called an episcopal area . Each episcopal area contains one or more annual conferences , which is how the churches and clergy under the bishop's supervision are organized. Thus, the use of the term "diocese" referring to geography is the most equivalent in the United Methodist Church, whereas each annual conference

748-637: The diocese ( Latin dioecesis , from the Greek term διοίκησις, meaning "administration"). Christianity was given legal status in 313 with the Edict of Milan . Churches began to organize themselves into dioceses based on the civil dioceses , not on the larger regional imperial districts. These dioceses were often smaller than the provinces . Christianity was declared the Empire's official religion by Theodosius I in 380. Constantine I in 318 gave litigants

792-531: The 13th century until the German mediatization of 1803, the majority of the bishops of the Holy Roman Empire were prince-bishops , and as such exercised political authority over a principality, their so-called Hochstift , which was distinct, and usually considerably smaller than their diocese, over which they only exercised the usual authority of a bishop. Some American Lutheran church bodies such as

836-683: The Anglican Communion is the third largest church in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches . In the Anglican Communion, there is no central governing authority. Churches uphold and proclaim the Catholic and Apostolic faith. The front-line unit of Church is the " parish ". Parishes of similar vicinity are then grouped together to form a " diocese ". Dioceses sharing similar cultural and national background would unite and form

880-590: The Anglican Province of Hong Kong and Macao, with Ming Hua being the Provincial training centre for clergy and laity. Diocese In church governance , a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop . In the later organization of the Roman Empire , the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated in a larger unit,

924-779: The Church which it has received through the Episcopacy in the three orders of Bishops , Priests , and Deacons . Sheng Kung Hui was founded in British Hong Kong in 1843, following the Treaty of Nanking . The first colonial chaplain was Vincent John Stanton . The first Chinese church, St. Stephen's Church, was founded in 1865. From then onwards, in the course of development of the Anglican Church in Hong Kong and Macao , churches continued to grow and witnessed

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968-652: The East, where the Roman administrative apparatus was largely retained by the Byzantine Empire . In modern times, many dioceses, though later subdivided, have preserved the boundaries of a long-vanished Roman administrative division. For Gaul, Bruce Eagles has observed that "it has long been an academic commonplace in France that the medieval dioceses, and their constituent pagi , were the direct territorial successors of

1012-606: The House of Laity . Members come from the Diocese of Hong Kong Island, the Diocese of Eastern Kowloon, the Diocese of Western Kowloon and the Missionary Area of Macao. Under the General Synod, there are different Commissions responsible for different areas of ministry. The Church is a community with no boundaries in age, social or ethnic status. Members include Chinese , other Asians and Westerners from all over

1056-467: The Roman civitates ." Modern usage of 'diocese' tends to refer to the sphere of a bishop's jurisdiction. This became commonplace during the self-conscious "classicizing" structural evolution of the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century, but this usage had itself been evolving from the much earlier parochia (" parish "; Late Latin derived from the Greek παροικία paroikia ), dating from

1100-638: The Vice-President, who is always a deacon or layperson. Each District is headed by a 'Chair', a presbyter who oversees the district. Although the district is similar in size to a diocese, and Chairs meet regularly with their partner bishops, the Methodist superintendent is closer to the bishop in function than is the chair. The purpose of the district is to resource the circuits; it has no function otherwise. Many churches worldwide have neither bishops nor dioceses. Most of these churches are descended from

1144-588: The civil administration until the town councils, in decline, lost much authority to a group of 'notables' made up of the richest councilors, powerful and rich persons legally exempted from serving on the councils, retired military, and bishops post-AD 450. As the Western Empire collapsed in the 5th century, bishops in Western Europe assumed a larger part of the role of the former Roman governors. A similar, though less pronounced, development occurred in

1188-536: The closure of the orphanage, the SKH let Cheung Kong Holdings develop luxury apartments on the site, and were estimated to have made profits of HK$ 450 million in cash, in addition to receiving 120 apartments for free. On women's ordination, the church was the first in the Anglican Communion to ordain women to the priesthood: Florence Li Tim-Oi in 1944 and another in 1971. Churches in Hong Kong and "Christian clerics are often divided on topics such as... gay rights". In 2007,

1232-547: The congregational level. Most Baptists hold that no church or ecclesiastical organization has inherent authority over a Baptist church. Churches can properly relate to each other under this polity only through voluntary cooperation, never by any sort of coercion. Furthermore, this Baptist polity calls for freedom from governmental control. Most Baptists believe in "Two offices of the church"—pastor-elder and deacon—based on certain scriptures ( 1 Timothy 3:1–13 ; Titus 1–2 ). Exceptions to this local form of local governance include

1276-617: The cooperation of the presbyterium, so that, adhering to its pastor and gathered by him in the Holy Spirit through the gospel and the Eucharist, it constitutes a particular church in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ is truly present and operative." Also known as particular churches or local churches , dioceses are under the authority of a bishop . They are described as ecclesiastical districts defined by geographical territory. Dioceses are often grouped by

1320-545: The elderly, rehabilitation service, community development service and other supportive services. There are more than 230 units providing social service run by Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui at present. In January 2010, the Inland Revenue Department began to pursue the SKH for unpaid taxes in the amount of HK$ 180 million, relating to a parcel of land in Tai Po which originally housed an orphanage. In 1993, after

1364-685: The establishment of the Diocese of Victoria ( Chinese : 維多利亞教區 ) in 1849 under the See of Canterbury ; the establishment of the Kong Yuet Diocese ( Chinese : 港粵教區 ) under the Province of the Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui ( Chinese : 中華聖公會 ) in 1913, which ran in parallel with the Diocese of Victoria, until it resolved in 1951; and the birth of the Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao ( Chinese : 港澳教區 ) in 1951, which

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1408-512: The former primate, Archbishop Peter Kwong, stated that "Anglicanism is inclusive...so why shouldn't we find a common ground on homosexuality?". Beginning in 2013, some leaders in the Hong Kong Anglican Church endorsed social and civil rights legislation under the auspice of providing protection for LGBT citizens from employment and other varieties of discrimination. The Equal Opportunity Commission chair, York Chow Yat-ngok, who

1452-489: The increasingly formalized Christian authority structure in the 4th century. Dioceses ruled by an archbishop are commonly referred to as archdioceses; most are metropolitan sees , being placed at the head of an ecclesiastical province . In the Catholic Church , some are suffragans of a metropolitan see or are directly subject to the Holy See . The term "archdiocese" is not found in Catholic canon law , with

1496-662: The local membership of the Church, are referred to as the "Connexion". This 18th-century term, endorsed by John Wesley , describes how people serving in different geographical centres are 'connected' to each other. Personal oversight of the Methodist Church is exercised by the President of the Conference, a presbyter elected to serve for a year by the Methodist Conference; such oversight is shared with

1540-557: The metropolitical authority of the Anglican Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui . It is a tricameral synod which governs the Province and has the final authority in all matters affecting life, order and canonical discipline of the Church. Its chairperson is the Archbishop of Hong Kong . The General Synod is composed of: The 4th General Synod of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui at its meeting on 15 October 2007 adopted

1584-600: The right to have court cases transferred from the civil courts to the bishops. This situation must have hardly survived Julian , 361–363. Episcopal courts are not heard of again in the East until 398 and in the West in 408. The quality of these courts was low, and not above suspicion as the Bishop of Alexandria Troas found that clergy were making a corrupt profit. Nonetheless, these courts were popular as people could get quick justice without being charged fees. Bishops had no part in

1628-537: The same ecclesiastical province assigned to it by the Holy See. As of April 2020 , in the Catholic Church there are 2,898 regular dioceses (or eventually eparchies) consisting of: 1 papal see , 9 patriarchates , 4 major archeparchies , 560 metropolitan archdioceses , 76 single archdioceses and 2,248 dioceses in the world. In the Eastern Catholic Churches that are in communion with

1672-495: The specific term "Episcopal Unit" for both dioceses and pīhopatanga because of its unique three- tikanga (culture) system. Pīhopatanga are the tribal-based jurisdictions of Māori pīhopa (bishops) which overlap with the "New Zealand dioceses" (i.e. the geographical jurisdictions of the pākehā (European) bishops); these function like dioceses, but are never called so. Certain Lutheran denominations such as

1716-582: The term "bishopric" is used to describe the bishop together with his two counselors, not the ward or congregation of which a bishop has charge. An organization created by the Gnostic group known as the Cathars in 1167 called the Council of Saint-Félix organized Cathar communities into bishoprics, which each had a bishop presiding over a specific division, even though there was no central authority. In

1760-478: The terms "diocese" and " episcopal see " being applicable to the area under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of any bishop. If the title of archbishop is granted on personal grounds to a diocesan bishop , his diocese does not thereby become an archdiocese. The Canon Law of the Catholic Church defines a diocese as "a portion of the people of God which is entrusted to a bishop for him to shepherd with

1804-524: The territory, amongst which namely: Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, with its sponsored primary and secondary schools, were embroiled in the School-Based Management Policy controversy with the government in 2002, five years after the handover. Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui runs its own theological college: Ming Hua Theological College, named after Bishop Ronald Owen Hall . Ming Hua College was established in 1947 by Bishop R.O. Hall in what

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1848-627: The world. The worship in Churches features English , Filipino , Cantonese Chinese and Mandarin Chinese . Social service of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui started in mid 18th Century. At present, many social service organizations and social service models in Hong Kong were those initiated and promoted by the Church. Services provided by the Church are multi-faceted, including services for family and child-care, children and youth,

1892-455: Was subsequently completely separated from the national Chung Hua Sheng Kung Hui. In the 40th Synod of the Diocese held in December 1991, it was resolved that steps were to be taken to expand the Diocese into a province and eventually in 1998, the Province of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui was established. Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui consists of three dioceses and one missionary area. There is

1936-497: Was then the Church of England’s Diocese of Victoria. It was at first dedicated to the education of Chinese lay Christians, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds. In 1996, now part of the Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao, the College was renamed Sheng Kung Hui ("Holy Catholic Church") Ming Hua Theological College and given the responsibility of training priests for full-time ministry in the Church. This work continues today as part of

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