In the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a conservative Presbyterian denomination, there is a sizable contingent of Korean-Americans – they make up 12% of the denomination's members and have 212 churches (source).
These churches often have a position called kwonsa or kwon-sa, which, as I understand it, is for elderly women who are recognized as spiritual pillars of the church. In the PCA, where there are no female church officers, these kwonsa are neither elders nor deacons, and thus do not have official spiritual authority. However, I'm not sure that that's the case more broadly in Protestantism.
Thus I'd like to better understand 1) what kwonsa are, in the context of Protestantism, and 2) how the position is commonly seen to relate to "traditional" leadership positions like pastor, elder, and deacon.
That is, I'm looking for an overview answer that attempts to explain, at a high level, the role of kwonsa in Korean-culture Protestantism, particularly in relation to other church leaders.
I'm aware of the existence of a Korean Language Stack Exchange, but I ask this question here because my query is not merely linguistic, but rather primarily about how this role is understood in the specific context of Protestantism.