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"Pastor" is found in passages such as Acts 20:28, 1 PEter 5:1-2, Eph 4:11, and others. The concept of pastor is sprinkled liberally throughout the NT. You previously asked about "senior pastor" in the Bible and I answered the the NT does not seem to conceive of a church with multiple pastors. The "Plurality of elders" is allowable, but certainly not demanded. There is no evidence that all the "elders" of a given church were on equal footing, and it seems likely that one elder was a little more "elder" than the rest. The concept of Sr. Pastor is clearly a biblical concept, and the extensions of the office of hte pastor to meet different needs is largely a 20th century phenomenon as churches grew larger and the needs necessitated more help. Most churches only have one pastor because of size.Actually, could you tell me where the word pastor is specifically used in the new testement? I would really love to see the word senior pastor in the Bible.
Yes they do. The verb form is translated "Shepherd." The greek word group is poimen.you are right about eph 4:11. The other 2 passages does not say pastor.
Again, as I said, that is because in teh first century there were not multiple staff churches with pastors for different functions. That is a modern day convention. Someone in the church has to be the head guy. It is impossible not to have one.I did not see senior pastor anywhere.
I'll be willing to bet you have one.Senior Pastor just sounds a little business like to me.
Violation of the pastoral qualifications in 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1.Larry, when should the pastor be fired??
No one argues that the words are the same. They aren't. But when you read the NT, you see 1 Peter 5 and Acts 20 that the elder is to pastor and oversee. Elder describes who he is, a man of sobriety and maturity. Pastor and oversee describe what he does. They are descriptions of hte same office in the church.Hrm bishops and elders same as pastors eh?
Who has been maybe a little sloppy reading the Greek raise your hands - I'll admit I have - but lets take a look
for a primer lets look at 1 Peter 2:25
- bishops and shepherds - geeee the words are different
- elders and pastors - geeee the words are different
- overseers and pastors - geee the words are different
What's he in charge of?An elder with the gift of pastoring SHOULD be in charge - but in no ways does an elder hire or fire anyone - thats the congregations job.
But there is, practically if not officially, one guy who is the senior pastor.Originally posted by Sularis:
He's in charge of pastoring
surprisingly there's another elder in charge of something else - and so on and so on and so on and so on and so on - assuming you have a large church
I don't think any of those things are necessarily true.This means he gets to preach whatever he likes!
He gets to do visitations however he wants to!
He gets to do spiritual counselling anyway which way he pleases!
He gets to offer spiritual advice concerning temporal matters no matter how annoying or bossy he may seem - although that may get him fired
The Bible allows for plurality, but does not demand it. Practically, true plurality as usually used in impossible. There is always someone recognized as the head.Plurality of elders Larry - not supposed to be one head elder -
You won't find one verse of Scripture to support this, even if you do have a plurality. The only people you see voting in Scripture is the congregation, so far as I know.the pastoral elder is supposed to be the guy without a vote who makes sure the other elders dont fight
No we didn't. God created the office of pastor. I am not sure where in the world you got your idea, but the office of pastor/overseer/elder is the same office. You are correct that "ALL elders should preach. All elders should oversee. All elders should pastor" but to jump from that to "there should be an elder specially gifted in each area - heading up that area - training others in that gift" has no support that I know of in Scripture. I think we need a serious revival of biblical church polity here.Remember we created the office of pastor due to a shortage of people to be elders who could preach