WHO LEADS THE CHURCH?

I went to a gabfest today that was intended to bring together “youth pastors” in the shire. Many years ago, I was the deputy youth leader in the church I was in. Most churches had one pastor and several departmental leaders.

Today it seems that everyone in leadership is a ‘pastor’. In one church I was in, a rather large one, the guy who looked after the finances was the ‘pastoral administrator’ and the one who looked after missionary work was the ‘evangelism pastor’.

As the biblical meaning of pastor is one who shepherds the flock, I want to know how you can shepherd dollars and cents. To me it makes ‘no cents’.

It almost seems that the term ‘pastor’ is used to inform the flock that a person is a cut above the rest and demands our respect and adoration. Another use seems to be that it indicates that they are the person with the power and authority.

In another large church I was in, the ‘pastors’ were ensconced in private offices as far away from the people as possible. If you dropped by one day and fancied a chat with anyone of them, the chances were usually nil as the churches work had to come first and you had to make an appointment, which was made via a receptionist. Not exactly an example of 'pastoring'.

Compare that with Jesus, who spent quite a bit of time telling people that if you want to be great, you had to be a servant. Not if you want to be great being a servant is a good idea and if that is not your idea of fun, you can still be great if you push hard enough and make an impact.

When we wake up to ourselves we will realise that most so called ‘pastors’ are not pastors because they do very little shepherding. Most of the time they are involved in administration and are nothing more than a CEO of a religious business organisation.

True shepherds are more interested in people than organisations. They want to provide spiritual food and pasture for the flock and grow them in their walk with the Lord. In the New Testament Church, those who had a pastoral ministry supported and worked alongside the elders who were appointed to oversee the local congregation. Nowhere does it say that they had authority over the elders.

I have read more than one denominational rationale that says the elders are there to support the ‘pastor’. Where does it say that in scripture? Whilst we insist on an unscriptural pastor ruling the roost, we will stunt the growth of the church. God’s way is always the best way. His way is very clearly a plurality of elders, with the ministry of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher working alongside them to grow the church.

If we had all these ministries working in their God ordained way, we could change the world.