How Many Pastors?

If someone asked us, “How many ministers does your church have?” many of us would probably say something like, “All of us are ministers” and would draw attention to Ephesians 4:10-16 and 1 Peter 2:4-10 to prove our point.  However, if someone asked us, “How many pastors does your church have?” many of us would short-change that answer by saying something like this, “We have one senior pastor and one youth pastor.”  Yet, according to the New Testament our answer to this second question should be, “We have eight pastors.  We have a senior pastor, a youth pastor, and six other men who serve on our pastor board.”  “Pastor board?” you ask.  “Tom, have you lost your mind?  It is actually an elder board.”  Before we jump to conclusions too quickly, let me explain what I mean.

The New Testament uses the terms “pastor,” “elder,” and “overseer” (also translated as “bishop”) to refer to the same office, in other words, the same kind of leader.  In 1 Peter 5:1 Peter writes that he is exhorting “the elders (Greek: presbyteros) among you, as a fellow elder (Greek: presbyteros)…shepherd (Greek: poimaneo: the verb form of poimenos, which is “pastor”) the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight (verb form of episkopos which is overseer [some translate bishop])….”  Here, we have all three terms used together.  Of course, since the last two terms are used as verbs, some can argue that we are not talking here of actual pastors or overseers, but the reality that elders do the same kinds of things as pastors and overseers.  Yet, this does not hold water when we understand that in v. 4 of that same chapter Peter refers to Jesus Christ as the Chief Shepherd (from poimenos [pastor]).  If there is a chief shepherd/pastor, then there must also be pastors underneath Him.  This means that Peter saw these elders as pastors.  Following the same logic he also saw them as overseers.

Additionally, in Acts 20:17 (presbyteros [elder]) and 28 (episkopos [overseer]), as well as Titus 1:5 (presbyteros [elder]) and 7 (episkopos [overseer]) we see that an elder and overseer are the same office or kind of leader. 

The only other place where poimenos (pastor) is used is Eph. 4:11 where it is used in conjunction with teacher such that the best translation is most likely “pastor-teachers.”  These pastor-teachers are given to the church to equip the saints for works of ministry, the very same kind of ministry ascribed to elders (cf. 1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:9) and overseers (1 Tim. 3:2). 

So, the bottom-line is that when the New Testament speaks of pastors, elders, or overseers, it is speaking of the same kind of leader—not three absolutely different offices or some kind of hierarchy of positions (e.g. Bishop, Pastor, Elder).  Since the New Testament never defines or introduces eldership, but seems to assume that readers would understand what is meant by it, there is something to be said for the thought that the early Church may have operated very similarly to the synagogues which predated and were contemporary with it—and had elders.  In many of the Church’s practices there was borrowing from synagogues.  Most likely, then, followers of Christ would have often had one or two pastors (or elders) give leadership to the others.  These 1 or 2 pastors would have been “first among equals”.  The elders/pastors would have seen themselves as equal shepherds of God’s flock—yet with one or two perhaps giving oversight to the others.  It may even be that the pastor-teacher of Eph. 4:11 would have given oversight to other pastors/elders.

One final point we should make about elders/pastors in the New Testament is that there were more than one in each local church (cf. Acts 20:17; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:5).  There is something healthy about having a plurality of shepherds or elders in a congregation.

Based on the above biblical teaching, what we have sought to do here in the Minden Evangelical Free Church with the ministry of pastor/elder is to diminish the distinction between staff elders/pastors and non-staff elders/pastors—not by decreasing the qualifications for those who are on staff. Instead, we have sought to do it by increasing the qualifications for non-staff pastors/elders—to be in line with the Bible. The advantages of this are clear. When you have a team of biblically-sound, qualified, and divinely called elders serving as a team, there is less likelihood that one or two elders will monopolize or control the others.

To look at this from another perspective, accountability does not come first and foremost by having a minimum number of elders required or even by means of term limits. Instead, accountability comes by making sure elders are called to their ministry (cf. Acts 20:28; 1 Tim. 3:1) and by making sure they meet the qualifications of eldership (1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-10; 1 Peter 5:1-4). Of course, there must always be an opportunity to remove staff and non-staff elders/pastor in the event they disqualify themselves, but such a process must never be taken lightly (1 Tim. 5:19).

In future posts we will look at more of what the Bible has to say about eldership.