Our Position on Pastors 

“I heard that you don’t believe in pastors.” 

Well, my friend, you heard wrong. We do believe in pastors. In fact, within a local assembly, the more pastors, the merrier! 

We have heard this ridiculous accusation repeatedly since we first began discussing the teaching of biblical eldership. There are a number of possible reasons for this, including: 

(1) We have been very forthright in presenting our position on this subject, which differs from the traditional Institutional Church’s structure and practice. As word spreads regarding the changes in our teaching and practice, so does the interpretation by those who are not familiar with the teaching or with us. Remember that game where one person would whisper a phrase in the ear of another person, who would them pass it along to the next person, and so on, and by the time it reached the last person in the line, it would be a completely different context than when it was originally passed along? Ditto with our situation. Any misunderstanding has not been the result of a lack of available information. We have put our position and our literature out there for anyone who has an interest in studying it for themselves. 

(2) Admittedly, we do not believe in the traditional hierarchal structure found in nearly all Institutionalized Churches, including the church with which whom we were formerly associated. We do not believe, nor does the Bible teach that pastoring is a position or office within a church that is vacated and filled by a person, no matter what approach may be used in filling the position, i.e., voting, general agreement of the membership, pastoral search committees, etc… We view pastoring as a gifting rather than a position. The scriptures make this very clear for those who really want to know the truth on the matter. 

(3) Some have concluded that this is an “either/or” situation. Either we must accept their view that there can only be one person identified as the Pastor, or you don’t believe in pastors at all. Clearly, this is faulty logic and is not supported by the scriptures either. It is not an “either/or” situation. The word “pastor” is only recorded one time in the entire New Testament, and in that one instance, it is in the plural (Ephesians 4:11). The religious world has certainly placed a lot of emphasis and granted a lot of responsibility and authority to a word found once in the New Testament! 

(4) To preserve their power and position of authority, some leaders are willing to find fault and to even misrepresent anything that is a challenge to that power and position of authority. This is clearly the case of some in leadership with whom we once were associated. Such people are usually (1) positional Pastors, (2) Pastor wannabes, or (3) people with hidden agendas. Such persons have little to no interest in searching the scriptures “to see if these things be so”. Rather, their interest is in defending their position, power, pocketbook and personal agenda. Rarely has a person who has actually taken time to study God’s word on this subject defended the institutionalized church system or structure as it stands today. 

So, let us sum up where we are thus far. 

We believe in pastors, but not in the traditional sense that a Pastor is a person who occupies a position (salaried or otherwise) in a local congregation. Rather, a pastor is a person, of equal importance with all the other members in the body of Christ (the church), who is gifted of the Spirit of God to feed, care for and protect others. As such, a local body may have one or multiple persons who are gifted as pastors.  

Let us illustrate this in a practical manner: 

Teaching is also gift given by the Spirit of God and is listed along side of other ministry gifts, including pastoring. (Ephesians 4:11, 1 Cor 12:28-29) Suppose that this gift is given to five individuals within a local body and all of them are using this gift to edify the body. Would we hesitate to call them all teachers? No. Why? Because God equipped them as teachers and they are using their gifting accordingly. We would not even think to call only one of them “The Teacher” and the remaining four something else.  

Yet when we apply this same scenario to the gift of pastoring, we automatically restrict this gift to one individual and one position per congregation. Why do we do this when there is not even a hint of such limitation found in Scripture? It is because we have adapted the world’s governing model and wrongly applied it to the church, a divine organism. The world’s way of governing will never work in God’s church. In the case of the world, the government is on man’s shoulders. In the case of the church, the government is on Christ’s shoulders. There is a vast difference between the two.

But let us go one step further. 

At a school, a teacher is an individual who is hired in a teachers position and given a salary to perform the job duties of a teacher. That teacher may work until he either dies, retires, moves to another position, quits or is fired. When the teaching position is vacated, a fill action is initiated and the search begins for another teacher. Once another teacher is found, the position is again filled and this same pattern continues. Position filled. Position vacated. Position filled. Position vacated. Why? Because it is a position. In reality, the position does not make the teacher a teacher. His skills are what make him a teacher. If the teacher volunteers his skills elsewhere, aside from his position, is he still not a teacher? Certainly he is.

The church has adapted this same method with regard to the position of a pastor. They come, they go. They retire, quit, move elsewhere, etc…usually resulting in some congregational turbulence or even an occasional “church split”. Vacate the position, fill the position. Vacate the position, fill the position. Little to no regard is given as to whether the applicant has the gift of pastoring or not. We have made pastoring a job rather than what it really is, a spiritual gifting.  

As a result of adapting the world’s method, there are many individuals who occupy the position of Pastor who do not have the spiritual ministering gift of pastoring. Many do not even realize that pastoring is a spiritual gifting. We have seen this happen many times and the end result is always a mess. Pastor burnout, church splits, dictators, lords, spiritually famished congregations, stubbornness, arrogance, pride, etc… are just a few of the results when this happens. Contrarily, there are many individuals who have been given the gift of pastoring, but that gift is not being fully exercised simply because we have reduced pastoring to a person in a position, and restricted it to one individual per congregation. 

Again, the church has adopted the world’s governing model rather than God’s way, which is clearly laid out in the New Testament. We have heard it openly stated where a pastor has been compared to the President of the United States or the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a company. Is it any wonder that our churches have become institutionalized and are operating more like a business than a divine organism? 

To illustrate this way of thinking, consider the following article written by a pastor and published in the Gospel Trumpeter Magazine. This magazine is sponsored by the church group with which we were formerly associated. Curiously enough, while the underlying motive is unknown, this article was published just a little over a year after we began to teach Biblical Eldership. The article was titled Church Leadership: 

Leadership in the church is one of the most abused doctrines in the Bible. While some would overdo it and want to bring the whole church, collectively, under one earthly head and into bondage, others completely ignore any God-ordained leadership in the individual congregations. Both of these views are conducive to error and failure. While there is no Scripture for any head of the church collectively, certainly many Scrip­tures teach leadership and authority in the local congregation, without which no congregation can grow and prosper spiritually.  

No Authority Higher Than the Local Pastor: Although the Bible speaks of there being wisdom in a multitude of counsel (certainly there is nothing wrong with consulting with other ministers concerning some important problem or doc­trine), the fact still remains that there is no higher human authority in any given congregation than the pastor. The pastor is responsible directly to God for his flock. Acts 20:28 tells us the Holy Ghost makes overseers (plural) over the flock (singular). There is only one Church of God, but many congregations that make up the church. Therefore, the overseers are the pastors of the indi­vidual flocks that make up the church.  

The Holy Ghost Hath Made: Acts 20:28 says the Holy Ghost makes the overseers of the flock. First Corinthians 12:18 says, "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" Notice that the Scripture does not say as it hath pleased you or me, but as it hath pleased God. This is telling us that God Himself calls, qualifies, places, and sends a pastor to the congre­gation that he is to be responsible for. There is only one pastor in each congregation. All others under His leadership or who attend his congregation, regardless of their positions, are directly under his leadership and authority and are as accountable to him for their respon­sibility he has placed them in as any other lay member.  

Who Needs a Pastor? Everyone who is not pastoring needs a pastor. Now, this may shake you, but this is truth. Whether or not one is ordained, has been ordained, or expects to be ordained into the ministry and are not actively pastor­ing a congregation is automatically under the pastor in whose congrega­tion he attends. Fasten your seat belts for the next statement. All or­dained evangelists have a pastor. The local congregation he attends nearest his home when he is not in the field preaching is his home congregation, and the pastor of that congregation is his pastor while he is home. Technically, the pastor of the congregation in which he is evange­list is his pastor while he labors there, while maintaining his individuality and liberty in his office as an evangelist.  

All those in a pastor's congrega­tion are directly responsible to him in all the positions he places them in. All heads of committees, Sunday school, vacation Bible school, choir director, building maintenance, building programs, printing works, radio programs, or whatever are all under his leadership and directly or indirectly responsible to him and have no more freedom to be absent without permission, or to work con­trarily to the pastor's wishes than any other lay member. 

Every Man Has a Head: In the human family, God has a plan in His Word. The Apostle Paul said, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God" (1 Corinthians 11:3).

Also, in the spiritual realm the head of every person is the pastor and the head of the pastor is the Lord. That is the reason Paul said in Hebrews 13:17, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you."  

Since the pastor is responsible to the Lord for you, is it not reasonable to expect the members of the congre­gation to be cooperative and submis­sive to his leadership? Those who do not, make it grievous for the pastor to watch and be responsible for him. This should not be hard to do. First Timothy 5:17 tells us, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." The Bible makes it very plain that it is a sin for anyone to rebuke an elder or to receive an accusation against an elder unless there are two or three witnesses (1 Timothy 5:1, 19). Let us take heed lest we find our­selves disobeying the Scriptures and falling under condemnation and the wrath of God for disrespect to God's anointed.  

God's Wrath on Those Who Will Not Submit to the Pastor: There are numerous examples where the wrath of God was poured out on those who disrespected God's leaders in the church. Moses' own sister earned the wrath of God for challenging her pastor, and she was stricken with leprosy (Numbers 12:10). Korah got some influential men behind him and proceeded to foolishly resist the leadership of Moses and the priesthood, and God had the earth open up under their feet and swallow them up, both Korah and those who followed him in rebellion against God's man (Numbers 16:1-32). Then we have the example of Uzzah who thought he was justified in putting his hand on the ark of God to steady it, and God struck him dead, for God's Law said the priesthood was able to take care of the ark (2 Samuel 6:6-7). It is a very serious thing to touch God's anointed and resist his leadership and authority.  

Saints Take Warning! It is better to play around with a keg of dynamite than to play around with the pastor and his responsibility. Do not ever get involved with any indi­vidual or group of people who are in any way undermining or trying to kill the influence of your own pastor. You should flee for your life and let your pastor know what is going on, or you, too, might be swal­lowed up in the "earth," even as Korah and his sympathizers were.  

There is much that could, and should, be said in response to this article; however, the article speaks for itself. Suffice it to say that it clearly sets the stage for modern day popery at the local congregational level. It could well have been written by Ignatius himself. It is a far cry from what the scriptures teach regarding church leadership! 

However, we will refrain from detailed comments about this article for the time being. Suffice it to say that fear tactics, intimidation, bullying, pressure, coercion, threats of terror, disease, sickness and even death (lightening bolts, trees falling on people, house fires, car accidents, etc.), have been issued over the years from pastors just like this brother…. all to defend the authority and unscriptural position of “The Pastor”. This method will never build the church of God. It is not sound doctrine. It is a million miles away from the divine principles of humble servant hood and gifted pastoring. 

So, do we believe in pastors? Absolutely! The church could not operate without them. The gift to pastor is an essential gift within the body of Christ. Do we believe in having a head? Yes, most definitely. But it is not the Pope, the Priest nor the Pastor. The Head of the church is Christ, and He alone. Anything with more than one head is a monster. We should never turn the true gift of pastoring into a position and operate the church like the world does a business. In doing so, we seriously err from the scriptures.