Elders in the NT Church

At first the apostles were in charge if there was one in the local church. That is why Paul devotes some parts of his letters to demonstrate that he was an apostle. If there was no apostle in the local church, then a group of elders with various gifts were in charge. Pastor was not a position, but a ministry to new christians who need a lot of attention. Teachers and prophets (preachers) ministered to the whole church. Today the position of pastor is in charge of it all. Who knows? This may be Gods will for the church today.

 

I coulda' swore that my Bible referred to 'pastor' as a gift. 'Course, my copy is over 10 years old!
Ed

 

Every church starts with one leader. Most house churches would have only been about 20 people or less. No need for more than one pastor with a church that size.

 

Thanks rl, I just wanted to make sure that was still there. After reading about the office of pastor, senior pastor, etc. from some I thought maybe that had been changed, and no one told me. Heh! Heh! Now if maybe you can find where Scripture says that there is a pastor in every church, as some have claimed, we'll all be on the same page. No wait, I've got a better idea. I'll go buy me a couple of new inexpensive Bibles, say an ESV or HCSB, or some other version, or even look at BibleGateway on line, and maybe I can find out when that part was put in, as well. Hey, I just found a verse- in fact I'll quote it for some.
It's Phillipians 1:1 -
"Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops[a] and deacons: "

To use my nephew's favorite quote, "Unbelievable!"
It is amazing. How rude of Paul! Maybe there were some personal problems, or something! Paul could call attention to every member, the BISHOPS, and the DEACONS, and still leave out the church's most important person of all, the Senior Pasto...!
Ed