The Church and The Pastor
Let me pose two questions, who does the church belong to? And what is the role of the Pastor?
In a Baptist church you might hear answers such as the congregation is the decision maker, or the constitution declares that the church is in the Baptist Union, or the church belongs to the congregation who seek to glorify God. Yet in all of these answers we start with a tradition or what we think rather than what the Bible declares. So, rather than start with constitutions and previous experience, we start with Scripture.
Now many will head to Acts and to the early believers in Christ. However, I want us to go much further back, all the way to Genesis 1:27 which says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” When you create something, it belongs to you. If an important discovery, we will often apply for copyright and a patent. The creator owns the creation. The Triune God create Man and Woman, we are His creation, therefore we are owned by God. Paul says as much in Philippians 3:12 “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Do you see - Jesus makes the believer His own.
At the most foundational and fundamental level, we are owned by God. Therefore we belong to God. What is the church? At the most foundational and fundamental level it is believers in Christ joined together. When we put these two together, we can say the church is created and owned by God himself! We then need head to Colossians 1:15-18 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.”
Did you catch that, Jesus is the creator, all things are in Him and through Him? More than that, He is the head of the body of the church. Therefore, not only are we owned by Jesus as His creation, He also has authority over us as members of the body of the church. In Acts 2, after listing all that the early believers did, we read in verse 47 “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” As the owned creation of Jesus, and under His authority, the church is grown, not by us, but by Jesus!
So, back to our first question, whose church is it? The answer is not found in a constitution, in a members meeting or even in congregational models, for the answer is in the word of God, the church belongs to God, for He created it, He has authority over it and only by His grace does it grow.
What, therefore, is the role of the Pastor? Again, if you ask those in church, I am sure you will get many a different answer, likely similar to the following – He should preach every Sunday, He must visit every member of the church, He shakes the hand of everyone as they leave church, he chairs all meetings and so on. Again, I want to take us to Scripture and to several key passages.
Firstly, Ephesians 4:11-12 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Now we are interested in the shepherd and teacher. The Greek word for Shepherd can also be translated to mean Pastor. In some translations you will see it phrased as the Shepherd teacher. They are appointed by God to equip the saints for the work of Jesus. Take this verse in reverse – to truly equip the church to serve Jesus, they must be taught and shepherded. Or in other words, the Pastor uses the Word of God to carefully and lovingly show the way of God.
Secondly, 2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” Here we have Paul writing to Timothy, a young Pastor. Specifically, Paul commands Timothy to preach the word of God. He needs to preach it in all seasons for it is the power of God’s word that changes peoples lives. He is to patiently teach Gods word and seek the Lord to work through his ministry. In Ephesians we were told that the Pastor will teach to equip, here in 2 Timothy we are told the pastor will teach to reprove, rebuke and exhort. Notice in both passages, it is the word of God that does these things, it is the Pastors role to preach and teach it.
Thirdly, we head to Titus 2:1 which says, “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” Again, we have Paul writing to another young Pastor in Titus. He commands Titus to specifically teach sound doctrine to the church. He commands this after he declares the need to denounce the false teachers in the church. He is to teach what is good and healthy doctrine in a time when people are walking away from what is Godly.
Now, I could go to passages such as 1 Timothy and start talking about overseers, however, these three passages I have given are specifically focused on Pastors. And I hope you see the pattern. Pastors are to teach the word of God and they are to Shepherd the people of God. However, notice that shepherding comes through the teaching. It is not about countless pastoral visits over tea and cake. It is not about phone calls telling the Pastor about your woes. To shepherd the church is to lovingly, graciously yet boldly teach the word of God.
This, I believe from Scripture, is the most important role of the Pastor – to teach the word of God. It can be done as a sermon to the whole church or as a Bible Study with the leaders of the church. In some senses, it doesn’t matter the size or scope of the ministry, the Pastor will always have the role to teach the Bible.
God owns the church, God has authority over the church, God grows the Church and God calls the Pastor to teach His words.
Pastor Ross Ferguson