churchdom

plural churchdoms

1. countableuncountableThe institution, government, or authority of a church.

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

   1659, John Pearson, An Exposition of the Creed

   2 more examples

   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.

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

   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.

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