“Elevating Pastors”

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by JamesGlen

My teenage daughter recently asked me, “daddy, do you think pastors are elevated too much?”

The grace of God was given as a gift to each one filled with His spirit, and these gifts minister in different ways to the church.

One gift should not be elevated above the other.

None of us are to think more highly of ourselves... or others... Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.

Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

1 Peter 4:10
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Ephesians 3:8
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Romans 12:3-8 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another. We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

None of us... not a pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet, encourager, leader, merciful... have anything that the grace of God has not given us, and were it not for His grace, we would have nothing ordained of God to offer the body of Christ.

Let us not seek to lift up one gift above the other, but rather seek to glorify God with our gift.

And of course it goes without saying, that those who labor among us should be honored, and their efforts appreciated, but in all things, give GOD the glory for what is done through the grace of His giftings.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by returnman

I have never heard of any UPC, oneness church that practices the NT form of Deacons, elders. All, in similar form have the Pastor as head of everything in the church and the final vote on how everything operates. An elder is another name for Pastor or Bishop but it always comes back to the head man. Deacons? Not sure if I've ever met one. In most churches things run along just fine but the system lends itself to too much control without the proper checks and balances should someone of questionable character rise up. On a darker note, you can find yourself on the outside looking in a hurry should u fall into disfavor with certain pastors and in such no one in the church to confide. In summary I believe regardless of the title that the overseeing of the church in the NT refers to more than one. I attend a church where there are 4. The congregation is equally assigned to one of the 4 but we have the liberty to bring our need to any one of those we desire.

There is at least one UPC Church that practices plural elders. They also teach the full foundation concerning foundation doctrine.

Type in Carlisle Christian Fellowship on Youtube.

http://www.weareccf.org/

Three Pastors

http://www.weareccf.org/our-pastors.html

[CC1]

Every time I see the title of this thread when looking at the thread topics I always picture in my mind a bunch of pastors riding one of those glass elevators in some building.

[jediwill83]

Originally Posted by CC1

Every time I see the title of this thread when looking at the thread topics I always picture in my mind a bunch of pastors riding one of those glass elevators in some building.

Is gospel elevator music a thing?

[returnman]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

There is at least one UPC Church that practices plural elders. They also teach the full foundation concerning foundation doctrine.

Type in Carlisle Christian Fellowship on Youtube.

http://www.weareccf.org/

Three Pastors

http://www.weareccf.org/our-pastors.html

Congratulations! You found one!

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by returnman

Congratulations! You found one!

Didn't say it would be easy!