“Pastor” is only used once in the Bible (Ephesians 4:11), but the root Greek word is poimen. That word is translated as shepherd. A shepherd is defined as: a herdsman, he to whose care and control others have committed themselves,

The tasks of a Near Eastern shepherd were: - to watch for enemies trying to attack the sheep - to defend the sheep from attackers - to heal the wounded and sick sheep - to find and save lost or trapped sheep - to love them, sharing their lives and so earning their trust.

Another key piece I believe about pastors is they should be encouraging and empowering the members of the church to step up and serve. Often American’s believe the pastors should be serving and meeting the needs of the body, but I think we have it backwards and they should be empowering us to serve and be actively involved, living out our faith.

I’m with you 100% about elders vs pastors. I believe the leadership of the church should be shared equally among a group of elders. But, there are other considerations as well and this is just the situation I find myself in at present.

It sounds like elders should be focused on discipling and mentoring those in the church to help them mature into leaders themselves. “Work themselves out of a job” is a good shorthand way to express this. I think I’ll probably do another post and include some of what you and Kathy have said.

Thanks!

That being said, I think his first goal is to bring a more Biblical focus for the church: looking into Scripture at the Gospel and its entailments in lives then subsequently the church. His goal therefore is to work himself out of the job and make sure that believers understand and grow and thus can recognize who are doing the work of elders and have them lead. The pastor then can be a pastor-elder with whichever other pastor-elders and continue doing the work of praying, teaching, and building up a future generation of men and women who can faithfully do the work that all believers have been entrusted with.

I think it would be nice if one’s pastor would extend pastoral care at times of difficulty such as a death in the family, a significant illness, and so on.