God’s Order and Assignment for Pastors
Eric J. Hanson
July 8, 2012
Pastor Dallas recently shared a message on the five giftings mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. These are gifts from God in the form of men and women whom God has raised up, for the purpose of equipping His people to minister the presence and reality of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God, to others. These people are listed as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. A quick and accurate way to reference these “people gifts from God” is to refer to them as the “equipping gifts”.
Today I am continuing with this theme. Perhaps the most familiar to church people is the gift of pastor.
What is a Pastor?
First: what does “pastor” mean? Simply this: shepherd. One of the strongest metaphors the Lord Jesus used in describing people was to call us sheep. He is the Good Shepherd, and we who have received him as Lord and savior are His sheep. Let’s turn now to John’s Gospel to hear the Lord’s own words about this. (Read John 10: 11, 14, 27-28)
The Good Shepherd, Jesus,
• lays down His life for His sheep.
• He knows His sheep.
• His sheep hear His voice and follow Him.
• He gives eternal life to His sheep.
Other verses elaborate that the Lord
• leads his sheep in and out of the sheep gate and that he
• gives them good pasture to feed upon. In another place (Matthew 18:12) the Lord tells us that a true shepherd will
• pursue a sheep that has wandered away. If he has 100 sheep and one wanders off, he will leave the 99 and go
• retrieve the 1 who has left the sheep fold.
Jesus, of course, is the great role model for all of the equipping gifts. By looking at His earthly ministry years, we can glean a good understanding of how these people gifts are intended to work.
• Jesus the Apostle was “sent” to the people of the whole planet Earth. By setting the apostolic gifting (sent forth) into action in others, He set the stage for Churches to be planted and raised up to maturity all the way to the ends of the Earth.
• Jesus the prophet addressed the issues of those around him, from individuals all the way to ruling councils. He spoke the mind of God to them. He ministered this way to friend and stranger alike.
• Jesus the evangelist (bringer of the “evangel” or good news) proclaimed the “good news” of the Kingdom of God to crowds, small groups, and individual people. He called them to follow Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life; the only Savior. Legitimate evangelists today call people to follow Jesus wholeheartedly.
• Jesus the teacher addressed the crowds, small groups, and individuals. He taught them many things regarding himself, the Kingdom, things to come, and how to live a life connected to and pleasing to God.
• Jesus the pastor, however, had nothing to do with crowds, with masses of people, or with ruling councils. In His office as Pastor, Jesus called 12 to himself, to train up close and personally, to share life with on many levels, and to bring to maturity in the things of God. (Luke 6:12-13) This requires much time investment. Besides these 12, there were a few others, such as Mary, Martha, and Lazarus whom Jesus invested himself into on the level of a pastor.
From the scriptures we just studied, we see that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. In 1 Peter 5:4 we also see that he is the Chief Shepherd. As the chief shepherd, he has many helpers who are not the Chief Shepherd. Let’s look at these now.
Ground Level Pastors
The “ground level” for the operation of the gift of pastor or pastor/teacher is small group ministry. The small group can be a Home Fellowship. It can be a Church Class. It can be people one is working with through a parachurch ministry such as the Teen Center. The small group can be a task oriented group such as a worship leadership team, a drama ministry team, or other task oriented group.
I believe that those who thrive as Sunday School teachers across the years, and who care about their students, follow upon them when they are missing, reward their accomplishments, and rejoice to see those students become real followers of Jesus Christ, are pastors. They have their 12, and possibly a few more, whom they are investing their life into in Christ. They are inconveniencing themselves for the sake of these others. They are protecting them from false teachings and watching over them in prayer.
I believe that a worship team leader who takes time to pray with and listen to his team members, and gets to know each one well is exhibiting a shepherd’s heart. When he rejoices in the newer team members developing in their giftings to the place where they lead the people along with him, he is being a shepherd, a pastor. When he asks one of his developing team to take the public lead next Sunday in calling and leading the church into worship, he is guiding them, as a good shepherd, not jealously guarding the spotlight for himself, as a music performer.
I believe that God has sprinkled the gift of pastor into His people (the Church/the Body of Christ) at a ratio of about one pastor in fifteen believers. This ratio works with both the example of the Lord’s own life, and the needs of the Church in real life.
Elder Pastors
There is another level of the gift of pastor/teacher. That is the level of elder/pastors. In First Peter chapter 5:1-4, the apostle, speaking also as an elder, addresses the elders in the Body of Christ at large. He points out that Jesus is the Senior Pastor (Chief Shepherd). As for the genuine elders in the Church in each city? –We are brothers, called to be mutually submitted to each other.
Here are the high points of his instructions to the elder/pastors.
• Shepherd the (people) flock, exercising oversight.
• Not because you must, but willingly
• Not because of the money, but with eagerness (to do the work)
• Not as “slave drivers”, but as fine examples.
• When the Chief Shepherd returns, he shall bring the rewards with him.
The task of shepherding the (entire) local flock of believers is a huge one. In the church at Ephesus for example, at the time Paul met with the elders there during his journey toward Rome, there were many thousands of believers in the local city Church Body. These few men who came down to the sea shore to meet with Paul, had the God given task of overseeing this thing under Jesus Christ.
They could not possibly get to intimately know and guide thousands of people on a one on one basis. They could not possibly do pastoral counseling with every troubled person in that vast flock. How could they do it? Here’s how.
Yes, in God’s plan, the Elder/Pastors are personal pastors to the ground level pastors! In this way, those hard working people get personal attention, correction if needed, and encouragement from men who have been in the Faith for a long time. The elder pastors are also available to anyone as needed, but their priority, as an equipping ministry, is the training and oversight of others the small group servant/leaders we have already looked at today, who then work at the ground level of pastoral ministry to individuals.
Elder level pastors also shepherd the flock by preaching to and teaching the whole church family in the large group setting. In our culture, that generally translates to bringing Sunday morning messages along with any courses we elder/pastors teach, books that we write, etc.
I believe that God’s perfect ratio of elder/pastors in the church family is around one elder to 12 ground level pastoral persons. This translates to one elder/pastor per 120-150 church people. The elder/pastors are those, whose “work is the Word of God and Prayer”. These are staff level workers in God’s church. In any new church, being set up in genuine New Testament order, the founding team of apostles will be able to see (over the course of two or three years) just who God has his hand on for initial eldership in the new church. They will then set these brothers in as elders/pastors, recognizing what God is doing.
Ideally, as a church family grows larger and more mature in the Lord, several elder/pastors will be raised up and set into office, as he existing elders recognize what God is doing in the newer potential elders. In God’s beautiful mix, there will likely be one with the Romans 12 motivational gift of exhorter. (encourager) Another will probably operate from a teacher motive gifting. A third elder may be prophetic in his motive gifting, while yet another comes from a server perspective. Each of these will tend to equip the local Body of Christ with some excellence in his own area of personal gifting.
Who can be an Elder/Pastor?
Read I Timothy 3:1-7
The requirements are as follows:
1. He desires this work (God sets it in a man’s heart.)
a. Above Reproach in how he lives (not crooked or deceptive in any way)
b. Not a practitioner of polygamy (very common problem then)
c. Temperate in how he lives/eats/spends his time, money, etc
d. Prudent (not foolish in decision making)
e. Respectable (well thought of in the community)
f. Hospitable (a welcoming home to others)
g. Able to teach (God’s truths)
h. Not dependent on alcohol or drinking to excess
i. Not one who tends to fight, argue, put others down
j. Gentle and not given to contentiousness
k. Not a lover of money
l. Running his own household well
m. His children are well kept and under reasonable control
It is obvious that many people do not qualify for eldership. Unfortunately, it is also true that many have been made elder level pastors who did not qualify. Heart ache always follows when that happens, one way or another.
• Many times successful businessmen who are neither gentle nor agreeable have been set in as elders, because of “leadership” qualities, and power struggles follow.
• People have been made elders because of academic seminary achievement, experience in big name ministries, etc, and have been proven prideful and harmful over time.
Only men who are truly known by the church family, and are known to be living out the above qualifications should ever be set in as elder/pastors in the church.
Bottom Line
The gift of pastor/teacher exists in order to shepherd the Lord’s sheep (His people!)
There are teachers, traveling and otherwise in the Body of Christ who are not pastors, but all genuine pastors are also teachers, if only (to start with) teaching others to follow their example in pursuing the Lord, but most teach actively too.
There are genuine pastors, (who have God-given shepherd hearts) over various small groups in each local church, who are not also elders over the whole local church. This is ground level pastoral ministry.
Elder pastors have authority and responsibility over the whole local church. These men primarily pastor the small group servant/leaders who are the ground level pastors.
Jesus Christ is the Senior Pastor (Chief Shepherd/ Greek” Arche Poimen)
I have much more detailed teaching about this for all who are interested.
