I was reading an article about expository preaching, one of my favourite subjects. I am just not into tickling ears preaching. The article talked about being a teaching pastor and my mind began to wander through the use of the word and I thought how ridiculous so let me begin.
If you are the leader of a church you are a Pastor. Ignoring the fact that the New Testament church did not have pastors as leaders. The pastor always used to be a man and then the AOG started this idea of the husband and wife both being pastors.
And then other churches jumped on the bandwagon and made women pastors on their own account. You can blame Debra and Junias for that.
It occurred to me why is the leader of the church the pastor when he is not in the New Testament church? When I raised this matter with several denominal leaders the response was the same in every case. "Yes but..." It was a case that denominational belief was more important than belief in the Scriptures.
Following on from this, another position arrived and that was the teaching pastor. If you are a teacher you are not a pastor. If you are a pastor, you are not a teacher. One of the reasons why the church is all at sixes and sevens is the fact that people are trying to be what they are not.
If I am a teacher and I am, I don't want to be a shepherd (pastor). The two are not compatible. it would be the same in a company asking the chief financial officer to be the sales manager. Different training and different temperaments. The same in the church. Jesus appointed five ministries because they required different temperaments and motivations.
An apostolic ministry wants to get out there and share the gospel and start new churches. A pastor wants to stay and help the members all they can and to care for them.
If you are going to give every person who is paid to be a Christian the title of pastor, why not everyone else? Here are some examples. Refreshment Pastor. Cleaning Pastor. Welcoming Pastor. Sunday School Pastor. Young People's Pastor. Car Parking Pastor. Financial Pastor. Barista Pastor. Guitar Playing Pastor. Drumming Pastor. Choir Pastor. Praying Pastor. Communion Pastor. Art and Craft Pastor. After School Activity Pastor. Small-Group Pastor. Washing Up Pastor. Groundsman Pastor. Window Cleaning Pastor. Repairman Pastor. Newsletter Pastor.
That will do for the time being but I am sure you can add a few more to that list. Apart from the fact that no one needs a title because you do what you do because you are anointed for that ministry and if you are not you should not be doing it so no one should be called pastor, especially as those who ARE called pastor often reveal the fact that they have no anointing for that ministry so they should step down and let someone else do the job.
Having been in leadership, I have NEVER ever been called or addressed as a pastor because I do not have a pastoral ministry. In fact, I was turned down for a statewide position for a para-church ministry because the policy of the denomination was that everyone in full-time ministry was addressed as pastor. I said I would accept the job but not the title because I was not a pastor so it would not be right for me to be addressed that way. As a result, I was not appointed to the position. Denominational rules took precedence over telling the truth.
If the church wants to progress beyond where it is at the moment it will have to come to terms that Jesus got it right when he decided to give the church five ministries and none of them were called pastor (they were known as a shepherd) and start to implement the appointment of them to people that have the gifting and not call them pastors when they are teachers or evangelists. That way people will know who is supposed to be doing what and why they are doing it and it will stop churches putting people that are a square peg into a round hole.
Apart from the most important fact those who have the gifting for those five ministries are not gifted so they can do their thing but mature the saints so they can do what is being done by the five ministries. In other words, replicate themselves over and over again. Everyone who has one of those ministries should be training up others for the same role. A lot of the time that doesn't happen because the person with the ministry does not like competition so they keep it all to themselves.
If you are the leader of a church you are a Pastor. Ignoring the fact that the New Testament church did not have pastors as leaders. The pastor always used to be a man and then the AOG started this idea of the husband and wife both being pastors.
And then other churches jumped on the bandwagon and made women pastors on their own account. You can blame Debra and Junias for that.
It occurred to me why is the leader of the church the pastor when he is not in the New Testament church? When I raised this matter with several denominal leaders the response was the same in every case. "Yes but..." It was a case that denominational belief was more important than belief in the Scriptures.
Following on from this, another position arrived and that was the teaching pastor. If you are a teacher you are not a pastor. If you are a pastor, you are not a teacher. One of the reasons why the church is all at sixes and sevens is the fact that people are trying to be what they are not.
If I am a teacher and I am, I don't want to be a shepherd (pastor). The two are not compatible. it would be the same in a company asking the chief financial officer to be the sales manager. Different training and different temperaments. The same in the church. Jesus appointed five ministries because they required different temperaments and motivations.
An apostolic ministry wants to get out there and share the gospel and start new churches. A pastor wants to stay and help the members all they can and to care for them.
If you are going to give every person who is paid to be a Christian the title of pastor, why not everyone else? Here are some examples. Refreshment Pastor. Cleaning Pastor. Welcoming Pastor. Sunday School Pastor. Young People's Pastor. Car Parking Pastor. Financial Pastor. Barista Pastor. Guitar Playing Pastor. Drumming Pastor. Choir Pastor. Praying Pastor. Communion Pastor. Art and Craft Pastor. After School Activity Pastor. Small-Group Pastor. Washing Up Pastor. Groundsman Pastor. Window Cleaning Pastor. Repairman Pastor. Newsletter Pastor.
That will do for the time being but I am sure you can add a few more to that list. Apart from the fact that no one needs a title because you do what you do because you are anointed for that ministry and if you are not you should not be doing it so no one should be called pastor, especially as those who ARE called pastor often reveal the fact that they have no anointing for that ministry so they should step down and let someone else do the job.
Having been in leadership, I have NEVER ever been called or addressed as a pastor because I do not have a pastoral ministry. In fact, I was turned down for a statewide position for a para-church ministry because the policy of the denomination was that everyone in full-time ministry was addressed as pastor. I said I would accept the job but not the title because I was not a pastor so it would not be right for me to be addressed that way. As a result, I was not appointed to the position. Denominational rules took precedence over telling the truth.
If the church wants to progress beyond where it is at the moment it will have to come to terms that Jesus got it right when he decided to give the church five ministries and none of them were called pastor (they were known as a shepherd) and start to implement the appointment of them to people that have the gifting and not call them pastors when they are teachers or evangelists. That way people will know who is supposed to be doing what and why they are doing it and it will stop churches putting people that are a square peg into a round hole.
Apart from the most important fact those who have the gifting for those five ministries are not gifted so they can do their thing but mature the saints so they can do what is being done by the five ministries. In other words, replicate themselves over and over again. Everyone who has one of those ministries should be training up others for the same role. A lot of the time that doesn't happen because the person with the ministry does not like competition so they keep it all to themselves.
