What is the difference between elders and pastors

A pastor literally means "shepherd," a metaphoric description of one who cares for and leads a flock of God's sheep. One of five office gifts described in Ephesians Dale A. You may download this article for personal use as long as you retain credit to the author.

Obtain permission before reproducing copies for any reason, by filling out our simple use permission form. He is one of the elders. A chairman? He may or may not be the chairman of the elders. In fact, there are reasons for him not to be the chairman. Having another chairman encourages the other elders to regard him as their equal. First among equals.

Because the senior pastor does the majority of the public teaching, he will likely accrue more authority among the congregation and the elders. In other words, he possesses the same formal authority as the other elders, but his opinion will generally carry more weight.

Particularly as he demonstrates faithfulness and wisdom, he can be treated as the first among equals. Striking a prudential balance. In general, other elders must learn to strike a balance in how they interact with the senior pastor. Like Like. The point is that some elders rule only while others rule and preach. This has been the ubiquitous position of the universal Church all along and does not originate with the Reformation and certainly has no been disproven since then.

Samuel Miller has an entire book about the Ruling Elder that can be accessed for free here, I highly recommend it! Thanks for the response Paul.

There are several ways that Ruling Elders teach without making them Teaching Elders. William Davidson wrote:. Surely, therefore, it is desirable that the Elder be apt to teach. He should not only be a man of sound mind, sound faith and enlarged views; ho should also, upon occasions, be able to make a respectable statement, defence and commendation of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

Thanks for your reply. We might just have to agree to disagree on this one. Or will they identify the teaching elder who preaches most Sundays? Truly, both are pastors.

If we were to rectify this, we would either identify all elders as pastors teaching and ruling pastors? My concern is not at the level of recognition. My concern is who the congregation expects to shepherd them in all the varied ways that word implies , and what ruling elders expect from themselves. Clarifying that all elders are pastors together, seems a very wise and necessary way forward. You are commenting using your WordPress.

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