English

Noun

churchdom ‎(plural churchdoms)

1. The institution, government, or authority of a church.
   • 1659, John Pearson, An Exposition of the Creed:

     Whatsoever Church pretendeth to a new beginning, pretendeth at the same time to a new Churchdome, and whatsoever is so new is none.

   • 1922, “The Pastor”, in Homiletic Review, volume 84, page 34:

     When a preacher knows that, if he should be turned from his church to-morrow, there are other paying fields of activity for him, he is not going to bow before any of the petty or the strong bosses of churchdom.

   • 2010, Susanne Schröter, Christianity in Indonesia: Perspectives of Power, page 70:

     Like Malaysia, the work of individual evangelists who largely became active without having institutional ties to any missionary or ecclesiastical organization was instrumental for the emergence of indigenous churchdoms in the Netherlands Indies.