Purpose
The purpose of this article is describe the role of the pastor from the perspective of the other trend.
The Role of the Pastor
In the Bible, the role of pastor, elder and overseer are considered to be equivalent. If you have read Alexander Strauch's "Biblical Eldership", or D. A. Carson talks, this should be well understood.
But here we are focusing on the role of the "pastor" in the modern sense, where the pastor is usually the one delivering a sermon each week. We are thinking of the public speaking gifts that are usually associated with this role of pastor. In our modern church, the leaders with this public speaking gift are usually called "pastor" or "senior pastor." 2.traditional In our modern church, elders may be able to do public speaking, but they are not the ones who give a regular sermon to a congregation each week. Elders are usually quite different in their role even though it is not so clearly defined in the Bible.
But lets put aside the role of the elder and focus on the "pastor". We would like to discuss the role of the "pastor" from the perspective of the othertrend.html. Generally, in the "other trend", there is no special role of pastor. There may be an elder who does "pastoring", but no special pastor role. But here there can easily be a huge misunderstanding. There is certainly an important role of doing something like what a modern pastor does, but it is different. The other trend perspective just sees the normal thing a pastor does as belonging to evangelism and missions. We don't have space to describe the "other trend" in this article, but we want says something about how pastors can be appreciated, from this other trend perspective. The "pastor" can be very much appreciated and valuable. Of course, they would not be respected in the usual way, but they can be appreciated when they are involved in areas of ministry that fit with the evangelistic and missionary purposes of the church. These are hugely important in the church. In the other trend, there is an emphasis on the one-another passages and the ordinary Christian. 1.oneanother
There ought to be some some discussion, but instead each side usually misunderstands and undermines the other. There is a great difference between the "other trend" and the traditional church model. But there very little dialog between these two perspectives. Each way of thinking writes books and creates videos to oppose the other perspective. They rarely listen to each other. We appreciate D. A. Carson for suggesting they both should exist. 3.othertrend
At least that is a good way to proceed when there is such an impasse. We could take the strong single minded view of the "other trend". Or we could sit passively in the traditional church. But we don't think either of these approaches are as wise as the leadership statement that D. A. Carson has made. So from the "other trend" perspective, the pastor can be either "resisting" God's Word or "supporting" God's Word based on their choices and mindset.
So, according to the "other trend", as with Apollos, the pastor is appreciated whenever there is any kind of public speaking role in the larger gathering of the church. 1.oneanother The pastor is also appreciated in evangelistic efforts. The pastor is highly appreciated in missionary efforts to the nations. In the local church, there could be special occasions of large gatherings or there could be larger cities, with the need of a strong public leadership role. If we take some wisdom from the Old Testament days and their week-long feasts filtered through the New Covenant where this law is obsolete, there still may be celebrations at the city or town level that need strong leadership roles where public speaking is required.
One can be oriented to the "other trend" and still very much appreciate the pastors. One can be against local church pastoral salaries and still gladly wish to see pastors receive money in what is usually called an honorarium. One can be friendly toward pastors. There can be pastors who are full-time (as in traveling teachers or missionary teachers). Any pastor who is interested in migrating from the traditional model to the "Other Trend" model can do this in a various ways. These pastors can look for opportunities and situations where public speaking is wanted. This could be very frequent in a rather localized area if the area is a city. Or more obviously, they could do what Paul loved to do... to look to where the Gospel was not so well known. By this, we are hinting at missions. Any pastor who is focused on missions work around the world is fully in line with what the "other trend" values for the pastoral-like role. Anyone who is a gifted pastor today is very much like the "traveling teacher" or "Apollos" type role in biblical days. The traditional pastor role today is not respected by the "other trend" because it interferes with the 1 Corinthians 14 style meeting. But there are so many ways that a pastor can be busy and appreciated. If a pastor is against the "other trend", then they are considered to be resisting God's Word to those who see the guidelines as coming from the Apostles. But any pastor who tries to fit in with the guidelines of the Apostles is highly appreciated by the "Other Trend".
But to be genuinely honest with the "other trend", we cannot support the traditional system as it normally works with a regular pastor giving sermons each week (with the laity quietly listening, week after week). That would be exactly the point of why the "Other Trend" is the other trend. This "Other Trend" model could be called the biblical model, which is what the "Other Trend" folks would rather call it. But only for the purpose of relating to the traditional view, we need to call it something for clarity purposes.
So pastors can be highly valued and appreciated. Pastors can be paid* (an honorarium). Pastors can be full-time. But by full-time, we mean not in the usual traditional church style, but rather more like the Apostle Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, Peter, etc. We would even say that pastors are very much appreciated when they are gifted and willing to speak and do not demand a salary. This only works if there is a general rule that the elders are supposed to be ordinary people in the congregation who hold regular jobs. There is no central "senior pastor" in this model. The "senior pastor" is part of the "traditional church" model that is antithetical to the "Other Trend".
What can full-time pastors do who are used to being pastors and have been following the traditional way all their life? First of all, they can just remain in their camp. We do not think this is wise, but that would their decision and their responsibility. We just talk about the biblical teaching that we see as our calling. We understand the Bible to show strong support for the "other trend", and the evidence will not go away. They can hold onto their traditional ways, and even then both sides should strive for peace. Even if this is the case, our opinion of them is not entirely negative. We respect those willing to embrace the conversation (1 Cor 14, etc). If they are willing to participate with those in the "other trend", all the better. If they are interested in joining the "other trend", there are many ways to gradually migrate to this kind of "pastoring". These kinds of changes take time. We don't claim this is easy.
We believe the current situation is struggle and debate. There is not much conversation at this point. Each side ignores the other. There is currently a lack of communication. We are against the ones who want to keep the conversation from taking place. Some want to maintain their power and squelch any conversation that might threaten their favorite model. They may exercise authority in the local church against the ones who are wishing to test a particular model (1 Cor 14). They may resist those who put a higher priority on following the authority of the apostles. They may "lord it over" the ones who are inquiring about what the apostles are suggesting for our modern church (Matthew 20:25). They may claim the church should evolve. They may deny the right of the questioning man who is desires to follow the commands and traditions of the apostles (1 Cor 14).
We believe pastors who are set on following the "traditional model" are in discord with the clearest teaching of the apostles and the Bible. But we also believe they can be more agreeable or less agreeable when dealing with those in the "other trend" perspective. It all depends on their willingness. We believe the best is unity with dialog rather than segmented exclusivity. We believe the only right way for the church to operate is for one-another sharing and unity. But to the degree that there is a blocking of the dialog, like the preventing of the open testing model in 1 Corinthians 14, there will be failure. We grant that there must be some separation to allow the proper expression the men of God who wish to act on truths presented in the simple biblical model (1 Cor 14, etc). They must separate to some degree in order to follow the traditions of the apostles with freedom. But at least the dialog should be open.
NOTE: This article needs much help and many ideas from others but is a
very early starting point of the two models working together.
FOOTNOTES
1.oneanother
We like NTRF. This teaching is very close to how we understand the Bible.
2.traditional
In the traditional way of thinking, the pastor is the main one who presents a sermon every week in church. And there are many other ways in which the role of pastor is different from the othertrend.html.
Here are some link(s) to articles that assume the traditional role of pastor.
tabletalkmagazine.com/.../why-we-need-pastors/
desiringgod.org/articles/two-kinds-of-pastors
3.othertrend
D. A. Carson suggests that we should consider both "trends" found in the biblical evidence. This link explains more.
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