The Office of Pastor
 

I posted this on another thread, but wanted to start a new thread so as not to hijack Brother Eastman's thread.

A few posters made statements to the effect that saints are stupid, pastors can preach and teach whatever they want, and that in order to make it to heaven we have to obey the pastor.

I am not against pastors, in fact, I used to be one, but how did this single office of the five fold ministry gain such power and authority?


The Bible lists the five fold ministry as such:

Ephesians 4:11 (Whole Chapter)
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

In our Apostolic culture, we seem to have elevated the office of pastor to the highest level. We acknowledge evangelists, but THEY don't have this kind of power. We won't even acknowledge prophets and apostles, in most cases.

Is there scripture that supports this type of authority for pastors only?

How did this come about?

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

It came from the most powerful book of all....

The book of tradition.

Suggested Reading: Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola.

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

Think of it Michael, a pastor generally is around the saints at least twice a week, sometimes much more. Of course his word is going to carry a bit more weight than somebody that a saint sees once or twice in a lifetime.

I know this thought is very simple, but I think it is true nonetheless.

He's the guy that marries, buries, christens and teaches.

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

Modern day Pentecostal definition:

Apostle - The older preacher that is a mentor to other preachers. He's not called an apostle, because he is a pastor of an established church.

Prophet - The guy that the pastor has to reign in to keep order in the church. He may also be a pastor that is a visionary.

Evangelist - The guy who is on the preaching circuit learning the ropes before he becomes a pastor!

Pastor - The head honcho

Teacher - A member of the congregation responsible for Sunday School lessons.

Have you noticed in the above mentioned scripture that pastors and teachers are bundled together? They are a package deal, while the apostle, prophet and evangelist are separate from each other!

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

But why?

Why the pastor instead of the prophet?

Why doesn't each church have as many of the other 4 ministries as it does pastors?

Why is the pastor the full time position while most of the others are relegated to traveling temporary positions usually only practiced by those hoping to some day settle down and be a pastor?

The word seems to even insinuate that there were multiple people in the congregation that operated in the various ministries.

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

Good point, I appreciate the input.

But, I have to agree with DFT's post above - there really does seem to be an imbalance.

Again, I'm not against pastors, just curious as to what happened to the other ministries?

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

Yes sir... that is so...

But, in practice, one would never guess that in a million years.

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

Re: The Office of Pastor
 

The apostle Paul considered himself an apostle and teacher.