A church with one minister is like a stool with one leg. Yet most churches persist in appointing one minister to do the work of three and wonder why the needs of members aren’t met and the pastor is on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
Some churches still believe that the ministries of apostles and prophets ceased in the first century. Their ministers perform marriages and baptisms, visit the sick, and then preach on Sundays. Such churches do not claim to be patterned on the New Testament church but rather see themselves as having progressed beyond the Church as it was in the time of the first apostles.
Pentecostal churches, which ought to know better, are even worse, in that while claiming to be unchanged from the Early Church in doctrine and practice, they put pastors in their pulpits to perform, and disapprove as many die by degrees. Death by a thousand unkind cuts.
“And (Christ) himself appointed some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers…” (Ephesians 4:11) Pastors and teachers are probably twin ministry gifts that work together. I believe this not only because the conjunctive “and” joins them but also because a pastor who does not teach becomes humanistic, and a teacher who does not pastor becomes academic.
The usual way for a church to benefit from apostolic, prophetic and evangelistic input is to introduce ministry gifts through visiting apostles, prophets and evangelists. The apostle tells churches what they should be about, the prophet sorts them out, and the evangelist prods them to get up and out.
All Christians have spiritual gifts, but some Christians are ministry gifts placed by God in the church. Bible-based churches value ministry gifts highly, knowing their job is to “equip God’s people for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12).
A pastor is a shepherd. It might surprise you to know that the word “pastor” is used only once in the New Testament (in the above list of ministry gifts). Mostly, the NT Greek word is translated “shepherd” or “shepherds” to describe those who watched over literal sheep. Psalm 23 assures us that the LORD our Shepherd provides, guides, restores and protects. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and as such is the perfect model for pastors. The apostle Peter refers to Jesus as “the Chief Shepherd” and the writer of Hebrews calls the risen Lord “that great Shepherd of the sheep”.
In one parable Jesus speaks of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep that are safe in the fold to seek out the one that is lost. “None of them have I lost” Jesus said, referring to his safe-keeping of the “sheep” given him by his Father. As their Pastor, Jesus shepherds his disciples, guiding them from Galilee to Jerusalem, then back through Samaria to Nazareth and down to Capernaum. He guided them safely through storms and fed them and others with miraculous meals; he taught them along the way by the things he did and their spiritual significance.
But Jesus is not only our Pastor and our Teacher: he is primarily our Apostle, the one who pioneered the way to God through his death, resurrection and ascension. Jesus exhibited his overriding authority by stating repeatedly, “You have heard it said … but I say to you…” He did unprecedented miracles by giving sight to a man born blind, by turning water into wine, and by walking on water. After finishing his earthly work of salvation, Jesus died, rose again, and in heaven began his intercessory ministry (providing us with some insight of that ministry in the Gospel of John, chapter 17).
While on earth Jesus was also a prophet — The Prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18. He prophesied Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, the manner of his own death and resurrection, the siege of Jerusalem, and the destruction of the Temple. The Lord perceived thoughts, and answered tricky, complicated, and unasked questions.
Jesus was also the Supreme Evangelist, reaching an entire village through his personal witness to one woman. In a more personal way, he called Matthew from collecting taxes and Peter from catching fish. He called down Zachaeus from a sycamore tree, and called Nathaniel after seeing him beforehand, seated under a fig tree.
Derided as “a friend of sinners” Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom of God to social outcasts, as well as religious insiders. “What shall it profit a man,” he asked those who were rich, “if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” He said to an adulterous woman, “Go and sin no more.” He likened the difficulty of the rich in getting into heaven to the absurdity of threading a camel through the eye of a needle. His illustrations included people in debt, greedy farmers, a bride waiting for her bridegroom (that’s different!), and a wedding reception filled with people who were not on the invited list.
Jesus was the ground-breaking Apostle, the visionary Prophet, the powerful Evangelist, and the riveting Teacher, as well as the gentle, caring Shepherd so often portrayed. He filled these roles splendidly! In contrast, his apostles are known for their individuality, e.g. Peter for his bold acts of faith and John for his deep devotion. The Apostle Paul was like Jesus in his ability to respond to whatever a situation required, and in being “all things to all men” in his desire to save whoever he could. (Not two-faced but adaptable.) No single apostle could be every ministry gift.
So, why then does a church expect its minister to be what Jesus alone was? If the Lord called your minister to be an apostle as well as a pastor, he would soon leave the church for “regions beyond”! “And so, I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ is named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation.” (Romans 15:20)
If a pastor also became a prophet, the congregation would hear “a word from the Lord” whenever he preached, and would ‘get right’ with God before attending meetings! After a few months of trembling self-preservation, they might even think of stoning him, were it not for the diminishing prophetic return that comes from knowing too much about them as their longtime pastor!
If the pastor were also to be an evangelist, he would long to see people saved, but his desire to fill the building with “whosoever” would mean that social outcasts, as well as ‘respectable’ people, the unlovely as well as the lovely, would make some long-time members shudder. He would ‘evangelise’ the congregation every time that he preached. on “Blessed Assurance.” After a few months of soul-piercing sermons they’d be looking for some blessed reassurance!
The ascended Lord Jesus gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to the church, so that together they can impart what no one ministry can: the ability to energise every one of its members, so that in time the church will grow in the faith and function as a healthy spiritual body. Ministry gifts equip God’s people for the work of ministry. Their role is to build up his body and to unite every member in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. Ministry gifts bring us to spiritual maturity measured by the full stature of Christ.
The result? No longer are we children, tossed around by “every wind of doctrine” or deceived by tricksters with cunning doctrinal plots and practices. Instead, speaking the truth lovingly, we “grow up” in all things into Jesus, who is our Head. From him the whole church body, knit together by its joints and ligaments, works properly, every part active. This activity – and interactivity — between various parts – causes the body to grow and to build itself up in love. The growth progression is:
1. Ministry gifts equip God’s people for the work of ministry and build up the church, Christ’s spiritual body. They unite believers in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, which brings them to maturity.
2. This maturity eliminates the childishness that makes immature believers vulnerable to slick purveyors of dodgy doctrines.
3. Believers grow up recognising Christ as their sold authority. Christ the Head activates the body, which works the way God intended: responsively, contributively, interactively, and above all, lovingly.
4. The body builds itself up in love, not by being organised by another, outside body, knowing not only what to do but having within itself the ability to do it in unity of purpose.
A church with one minister is like a stool with one leg. Yet the vast majority of churches persist with in appointing one minister to do the work of all the ministries, and then wonder why the needs of their members are not being met and the pastor is on the edge of a nervous breakdown. They try to offset this by importing “visiting ministries”. Some, such as prophets and teachers, are effective contributors but others are merely transitory and less so.
All of which brings me back to where I began with that one-legged stool. But that stool now appears nowhere near as absurd as that one struggling church minister trying as best he can to do the work of many. Be merciful to him and begin teaching the church body how to work in the way a healthy body does: as many members in one unity of purpose. It might not happen overnight, but it will happen.