Pastors

Pastors are shepherds of flocks of people. Their main function is to guide, guard, tend, and care for the needs of their flock, not to command it. They should not be expected to exercise all of the gifts of the Spirit, to be competent to do every job in the Church, or to do the whole "work of the ministry" in place of the members of their flock.

This is one “office” all agree still exists in the Church. A “pastor” is a shepherd of the flock.^1,2 That is, in fact, the primary meaning of the Greek word poimen used in Ephesians 4:11 and other places–a shepherd, a “pastoralist,” one who tends, guards and cares for a flock of sheep and leads them from pasture to pasture. It is only metaphorically used of a “shepherd” who cares for a flock of people rather than a flock of sheep. A shepherd guides and protects his flock and cares for their needs.^3,4,5 As a shepherd is responsible for the sheep in his flock individually, a pastor is accountable for the souls of his flock, and we are to obey pastors and submit to their authority.⁶ But we are also to submit to each other and to all in authority in the Church, first of all Jesus himself, as previously discussed.

            However, there is much misunderstanding of the role of a pastor. As already noted, the Church has tended to make pastors into professional “ministers” who are expected to do the work of the ministry in place of their flock. Corresponding to this is an unstated but real expectation that a pastor should have all of the gifts of the Spirit and be able to perform the function of any of the offices. Most would recognize this expectation to be absurd when it is exposed, but it is a direct consequence of converting pastors into paid “ministers” who are expected to do the work of the ministry for the flock.

            Moreover, this attitude that the pastor should be able to do everything is aggravated in churches that deny the continued existence of apostles and prophets, circumscribe the role of the evangelist, and combine the roles of pastor and teacher, since the functions of each of these gifts to the church still needs to be performed and only the pastor is left to perform them. To be sure, there are people who are given to the Church in dual roles, such as pastor and apostle or pastor and teacher. But most pastors probably do not have dual roles, and should be left to function as what they are without facing the expectation that they should do someone else’s job.

            On the other hand, the Church as a human organization has also had a tendency to expect that, before a person may function in the organization in any other “full-time ministry” capacity, he must first pass an apprenticeship as a pastor. But the gift of God is not a human “career path” superintended by committees, bishops, or denominational personnel officers. The visionary and administrative functions of an apostle, or the training and organization functions of an evangelist, for instance, do not necessarily need or imply the abilities of a shepherd. Requiring people given in these other capacities to first prove their ability as pastors makes about as much sense as requiring those who wish to become computer programmers to first pass an apprenticeship as plumbers. We limit God’s working in the Church when we refuse to allow Him to give us gifted people for non-pastoral functions who are not first able to meet our expectations for a pastor. We also seriously limit God’s work when we convert pastors into “ministers” who are expected to do the work in place of the rest of us.

NEXT: Teachers.