THE "ONE
MAN PASTOR" SYSTEM IS NOT IN THE BIBLE
-by Andrew
Strom.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~revival/lie-3.html
-The third
article in the series on "The 9 Lies of Today's Church".
Most churches
today are run using the 'Senior Pastor' model, where one man
(-almost always with a degree from Bible College) does most of the
ministering and is looked up to as "the man of God". Few could deny
that pastors are truly the ones who are running the church today.
(-Though it could be argued in a number of places that the "big
tithers" run the church and have the pastor under their thumb. Such
a sick arrangement is just further proof of the damage being done by
this "One-Man Pastor" model. It is wide open to abuse).
Personally, I
get on well with a lot of pastors that I meet. But I guess that
writing on this topic will cause people to question my motives and
accuse me of being "rebellious" and having 'problems with
authority', etc. But honestly, this is not the case. I simply
believe that it is time for us to examine the facts of the matter -
and acquaint ourselves with what the Bible truly says. After all,
only the Truth can set us free.
Amazingly
enough, in the Book of Acts, which is the history of the first 30
YEARS of the early church, the word 'Pastor' is NOT EVEN MENTIONED
ONCE. -Which is pretty astounding considering how often we use it
today. In fact, even in the whole New Testament the word is only
used rarely - especially when referring to ministry 'offices'. And
when it does appear, it is found near the bottom of a list of
ministries in the church: "It was he who gave some to be apostles,
some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors
and teachers..." (Eph 4:11, NIV).
There were
elders and 'overseers' (-these terms are inter- changeable) in the
New Testament church. But that is totally different from the
position of "one man pastor" that we have today.
So how did
Pastors end up running everything? And what effect does this have on
the church?
Well, when
you study history it becomes obvious that we mostly got this concept
from Rome - not from the Bible. As Beckham said (-quoted in one of
our previous articles): "Emperor Constantine developed a church
structure that has lasted for seventeen centuries... People go to a
building (cathedral) on a special day of the week (Sunday) and
someone (a priest, or today, a pastor) does something to them
(teaching, preaching, absolution or healing) or for them (a ritual
or entertainment) for a price (offerings)."
In most
cases, what we are seeing today is the continuation of this "Clergy
and Laity" system that dominated the church during the Dark Ages.
There is very little difference, really. The titles have changed but
apart from that it is basically the old Roman Catholic system of
professional 'Priests' running everything. We call them 'pastors'
but the position is basically the same.
These are
people who have gained a degree from Bible College, and now we pay
them to be our "minister". Never mind the fact that we are ALL
supposed to be ministers!
What this
results in is two different 'classes' in the church. -The
"ministering" class and the "churchgoing" class (or 'laity'). -Which
is something that God utterly detests. He cannot stand His people
being divided up into 'classes' like this. It is the doctrine of the
"Nicolaitans" (Rev 2).
But is it
really that bad? What harm does it really do?
Below are the
specific ways that this "one man pastor" model does enormous harm to
the church:
(1) It puts
one person on a pedestal - above all others. In many churches this
veneration of the pastor closely resembles Idolatry. His word is law
and the entire church revolves around this one man.
(2) This
leads directly to PRIDE. The position that we place these men in is
terribly dangerous for them and for the whole church. It is very
difficult NOT to develop Pride when treated in this way. Pride is
the most subtle and spiritually fatal of diseases. It wreaks havoc
wherever it finds a home.
(3) Control,
manipulation and spiritual abuse become common where power is
concentrated in the hands of one 'venerated' figure. Power corrupts.
Flattery corrupts. Veneration corrupts. And before you know it,
people are being terribly damaged and wounded by the control and the
"management techniques" being exerted from the top. Then new
teachings on "covering" and "submission" are wheeled out, to lend an
air of legitimacy to the oppression that is being visited upon
people. Everyone is told to 'submit' and not to question. The "one
man pastor" system lends itself to this whole scenario like a hand
in a glove. It is virtually made for it.
(4) It turns
the church into a bunch of "spectators". In other words, everybody
sits around and watches while the 'professionals' do most of the
work. It is their "job" after all. -This is an absolute disaster.
For we ALL have gifts and callings and anointing from God.
(5) The
position lends itself to "robes and titles" - or perhaps expensive
3-piece suits! Jesus said to his disciples, "You are not to be
called 'Rabbi,' because you have only one Master and you are all
brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one
Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for
you have one Teacher, the Christ." (See Matt 23:5-12, NIV). -None of
this seems to stop men from taking on "titles" today.
(6) Many
pastors by their nature tend to be "play it safe" types. They don't
like the boat being rocked and they are often resistant to real
change. The fact that today's church is in the hands of pastors,
rather than apostles and prophets (as it should be) who are the
"risk-takers" of the church, means that it is slow to react and is
easily out-maneuvered by the enemy. We desperately need anointed
'risk-takers' and change-oriented leaders today.
(7) Because
the position of Pastor is usually the "only job going" in the
church, it forces many who are actually evangelists or prophets to
become Pastors, just so they can get to minister. Often they are
quite out of place, and many times this leads to disaster.
(8) All of
this creates such a load on the shoulders of the man that is
appointed Senior Pastor, that this job has one of the worst BURNOUT
rates in the western world.
(9) At the
end of the day, just like church buildings, the best reason for
rejecting this model of leadership is that it is simply NOT IN THE
BIBLE.
Some people
say that having a 'board of elders' who can hire or fire the pastor
keeps all of this in check. Not so. It may keep the "control" side
of things down, but the mere fact that they feel the need to
"appoint a pastor" just shows how hooked into this system they
really are. It is centuries old, and all we are doing is
perpetuating it.
So how did
they do things in the New Testament?
Well, the
first thing we need to realize is that the apostles were not
"professionals". Apart from Paul they had never been to Bible
College. (-These were run by the Pharisees!) Most of the apostles
were simple fishermen and tax-collectors. But they had spent MUCH
TIME WITH JESUS. -That was their qualification.
And it is
clear that Pastors were never in charge of the church. It was the
APOSTLES who were given that role. But they never "lorded it over"
the people. And wherever they went they appointed elders or
overseers (plural) to watch over the church in their absence.
Unfortunately, some Bible translations use the word "Bishop", which
gives the impression of a 'hierarchy'. But this was not in the
original. As Greek scholar W.E. Vine states: "'Presbuteros', an
elder, is another term for the same person as bishop or overseer.
See Acts 20:17 with verse 28." So these were just simple "elders" -
that's all.
It was only
when the church fell into serious decline and then into Romanism
that the complicated "hierarchies" began. Before this, it was all
very simple. Perhaps one day it will be so again?
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