Pastoral community
The village of Lohn am Schamserberg as an example of a small village parish that has long been part of a pastoral community with other villages and has been part of a merged parish of Zillis-Schamserberg since 2015
A pastoral community (Swiss term) is an amalgamation of several independent church parishes that also remain independent in administrative matters for the purpose of a common pastoration, i.e. pastoral care and worship .
As a rule, this means that the pastoral community chooses and installs a common pastor for all individual parishes involved.
In German-speaking countries such as the Evangelical - Reformed State Church of the Swiss canton of Grisons is an example of a church organization with lots Pastorationsgemeinschaften. This is due to the vastness of the area and the low population of the often quite scattered villages.