Church Leadership - The Church Part 3

Wanted: Senior Pastor

Duties include preaching the inerrant Word of God three times each week, visiting members in their homes, hospital, and nursing homes, leading and participating in outreach evangelism, administering the business of the church, conducting and leading all aspects of worship, teaching Sunday School, recommending an annual budget, attending meetings of all committees and ministry teams, setting up table and chairs for all educational ministries, changing light bulbs and mowing the church grounds, minor plumbing and electrical repair; these are just a few of the duties. A full job description is available from the pulpit committee. Qualified candidates should have a seminary degree, over five years of pastoral experience. Plumbing, electrical, and landscaping experience a plus. Projected salary $15,000.

Ok. I may have exaggerated a little, but not as much as you might think. Even so, what is wrong with this approach and why is it hampering our churches being what God wants them to be? It is wrong in its focus. In our culture we have a tendency to focus on personality. This is not just a phenomenon in the secular culture, but within the church as well. All of our Christian celebrities are the “beautiful people.” Therefore, we focus on the outward appearance rather than the inward man. We become centered on who our Pastor is and what he can do of us. If we need more ministries, we get more Pastors. Is this a scriptural approach? I think not.

In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, the Bible sets forth the qualifications and plan for leadership within the church. Deacons and Pastors are its two Scriptural offices. The qualifications for those offices are surprisingly similar. They concentrate on the Christian character of the leader rather than his outward appearance. We are often more concerned that our Pastors be good preachers than we are that they be good men. There is nothing wrong with preaching. I believe in it and understand the importance of it. There can be no real preaching without character to back it up. Then are all preachers perfect? Not by a long shot! It simply means that they take their own struggles and communicate the power of God’s Word through them. The difference between the qualifications for Deacon and Pastor is that the Pastor is “apt (or able) to teach.” Pastoral authority comes from the Word of God and its teaching. The Word is central rather than the personality.

Does this mean that Deacons and Pastors are the same? No they are not. Acts 6 is a perfect study in the practical nature of the differences in these two offices. In this passage, the widows from Jerusalem and the widows who were Hellenists were in conflict over the service of their daily meals. The Pastors of that first church were not willing to leave their prayer and study in order to wait on tables. Did these Pastors think they were too good to serve others? I don’t think that is the case at all. They just chose to do something better and more important to the church. We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word (verse 4). So who was going to take care of these widows? That was the job of the first Deacons. Is it a surprise that those who are called servants (diakonos) are called upon to serve the church? Their role is to accomplish the practical, hands-on ministry to the church. If a church member is in the hospital, a Deacon should make sure someone goes to visit them. If chairs and tables need to be set up, the Deacons should organize that ministry, and so on.

Then what do the Pastors do? The Pastors lead the church. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching (1 Timothy 5:17). There are three words that are used synonymously in the New Testament for the office of the Pastor:

Episkopos – Usually translated “overseer” or “bishop”

Pesbuteros – Usually translated “elder”

Poimenas – Usually translated “pastor” or “shepherd”

These three terms are used synonymously (Acts 20:17, 28 and 1 Peter 5:1-4). Their usage throughout the New Testament gives us an understanding of the role of Pastors within the church. First, the 1 Timothy passage quoted above states that Pastors are to “rule.” That means that they are to lead the church. They are the main administrators of the church. There are some who contend that the only way Pastors lead is through preaching and teaching. They ignore that one of the main synonyms of the word Pastor is overseer. Another is shepherd. Pastors, by their use of and expertise in the Word, are qualified to teach it and to lead the church where the Lord would have it to go. There is no other passage or teaching in the New Testament that states that any others are responsible for the leadership of the church.

Second, Pastors are responsible for preparing the members of the church to do the ministry of the church. The idea that Pastors are to do all the ministry and the members of the church are to watch them minister, is not a biblical teaching.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:11-14)

It is the Pastors’ job to teach, encourage, and equip the members of the church so that they (that is the members of the church) can go do the ministry of the church. It is not your Pastor’s job to take care of your every need. It is his job to equip you so that you can be a light shining in the darkness. That is why it was so important that the Pastors in Acts 6 not be distracted. They were capable of waiting on tables. But if they did, who would prepare and teach the members of the church so that they could reach the world? The church affirmed their stance by choosing the first Deacons to support them. God also confirmed this with His blessing. The Word of God increased and the church was built up (Verse 7).

Third, then to whom are the Pastors accountable? That is a good question and one that Bible answers. The answer is twofold. Primarily, the Pastors are accountable to God:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17)

If we do not have men in the pastoral role that fear God and feel accountable to Him first and foremost, then we are in big trouble. The Pastor is to be an example by his teaching and his lifestyle of what the Bible teaches that every Christian should seek to attain. Therefore, the Pastor must lead only as he is following God himself. Secondarily, the Pastor is accountable to the church as a whole. The church has the last say in the difficult issues of the day (Matthew 18:15ff and 1 Corinthians 5:1ff for example). Jesus taught that leadership is service. Therefore, the Pastor is also responsible and accountable to the church he is called to serve.

When I was young, my mom asked me once to help tidy the house.

“That is not my job, it’s yours,” I replied.

I quickly and painfully learned that was not the right thing to say to my mom! I also learned in time, that if a household is going to run smoothly, all the members have to participate in it. The same goes for the church. We have developed a spectator mentality where the question that is important to us is, “what are you or the church going to do for me?” We have lost our heart for service. We have turned things upside down. We have made our Deacons into administrators and our Pastors into Jacks of all trades. It naturally follows that we would have power struggles, pastoral burnout, short tenure, and church splits. We have Deacons doing the best they can to lead when God never called them to that ministry and we have Pastors burning the candle at both ends trying to do all of the ministries of the church as well as preach and teach the Word. When we do things our own way, we get the results that we are capable of attaining. When we do things Gods way, the results are unbounded. Which will we choose?