What is a Pastor?
A Pastor is an overseer of God’s people.
In Ephesians 4:11 we read that one of the kinds of people that God gives as a gift to the church is pastors, a word that is interchangeable with ‘shepherd.’ Curiously, however, almost every other use of this word in the New Testament is in reference to our Lord Jesus himself.
John 10:10-16 is a particularly rich vein of reference: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them… I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (ESV)
Now if you study the Gospel of John, you will see that when Jesus makes these “I am” statements, there are strong overtones of his divine nature. John 8:58 is the most explicitly clear, but even as He says “I am the good shepherd” He is revealing a further aspect of His divine nature, for the Old Testament shows clearly that it is God who is the shepherd of His people (Genesis 49:24; Psalm 23, 80:1; Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 23:1, 50:6). So God really is the “Pastor” of the Church.
It’s peculiar then, isn’t it, that we learn of Jesus being our One Shepherd, but then we have this seemingly one off New Testament reference to the way that certain people in the Church have been gifted as shepherds of God’s people? The reason for this is that, although Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd of His people, He mediates this ministry through certain people of his choosing – under-shepherds, if you like. This is why I agree with Martin Bucer, who says: “the Lord is never absent from his church, but is always personally present, personally doing and performing everything in all things” (Bucer, The True Care of Souls, 13). Christ is vitally at work through the under-shepherds that he appoints.
We see in scripture that the way in which Jesus passed on his authority as the Shepherd to other under-shepherds in the first place was through Peter. Three times Jesus charged him in John 21: Peter “Feed my lambs… Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep.” Jesus has all authority (Matthew 28:18-20), and the right to delegate it as He will (Romans 13:1), and so He has chosen to delegate and work through under-shepherds in order to pastor his people. This has always been part of the way that God works in and among His people, for He used similar language to describe the role of Joshua as he was appointed (Numbers 27:16-17). Likewise in Jeremiah 23:1 the leaders of Israel are described as shepherds. And while this role went immediately to the Apostles at the inception of the New Testament Church, it was something that has then passed down to Elders since then (Timothy 1:5). Another term for these Pastor-Elders is overseer (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1), which is explicitly tied to the shepherding role in scripture (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 2:25, 5:1-4). So the role of Elder and the role of Shepherd are one and the same according to the New Testament.
So, the pastor is a shepherd of God’s people called and gifted by God. “The image of the shepherd is the underlying paradigm of ministry. This single image contains within it references to the authority, tender care, specific tasks, courage and sacrifice required of the pastor” (Tidball, Skillful Shepherds, p54). Shepherding is the dominant leadership metaphor of the Bible. This makes sense when we see that our word ‘Pastor’ comes to us – via Latin – from the Hebrew word for ‘Shepherd.’ (Capill, Pastoral Care, p.6). Shepherding or pastoring then involves guarding and leading the flock of God’s people. Taking care of them, guiding them, pastoring them. We choose this word ‘pastoring’ because it’s biblical (1 Peter 5:2; Acts 20:28).
So what is a Pastor? A Pastor is an Elder in the Church of God. A Pastor is an overseer of God’s people.
Now at this point you may have a question: am I saying that Pastor is just another word for Elder? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying, and that’s what I believe the Bible says. We often use the word “Pastor” today to refer to the “teaching-elder” (1 Timothy 5:17), but a teaching-elder is merely a ruling-elder with the extra responsibility of preaching and teaching. In this sense, we don’t commonly use the word very well. All the Elders in our churches are our Pastors. It’s perfectly appropriate for you to refer to both Ken and Albie as “Pastor”! And it is actually right to realise that the teaching elder/preacher is no more exalted than his fellow servants on Session. In fact, none of them are exalted, but are rather to be considered the lowest of servants, slaves in the church (Matthew 20:25-28).
Soli Deo Gloria!