What is a pastor?

There is so much confusion today as to what a pastor actually is. Is he a brand manager, a personality, a fundraiser, a teacher, a counselor, a CEO, a thought leader, a movement maker? The confusion mostly has to do with the lack of familiarity with what God’s word says about pastors. The confusion is also due to the average church goer's lack of familiarity with an actual pastor. As many people walk away from the church and deconstruct the faith in our post-Christian culture, people are less and less likely to have had any real experience with biblically formed, biblically qualified pastor.  And despite the challenges that plague the pastoral vocation, I am as convinced as ever that there is a great need for the local church pastor. 

Contemporary culture has been hard on the pastor. The surveys show it. In 2021 38% of pastors declared that they were seriously thinking of leaving their vocation all together. Feminism, egalitarianism, distorted masculinity, political divisiveness, the pandemic, are all issues amplifying the difficulties for churches and pastors that want to stick close to the Bible’s definitions and way of doing things.  And still the local church needs to take seriously the immense importance Jesus placed on pastoring in the local church. 

But to truly understand what a pastor is we have to look to God’s Word rather than thinking through this purely based on intuition and cultural preference. Rather than simply asking what leadership structure is practical, or will achieve the greatest financial and numerical results, we need to be asking what’s biblical. 

The Bible provides a clear portrait of what a pastor is. The main way the biblical writers describe a pastor is by using the metaphor of a shepherd. This is what the word pastor literally means. Pastor means shepherd. A pastor is a shepherd. 

But before describing any further the biblical portrait of a pastor we need to clarify some terms. Anyone familiar with reading the New Testament passages on leadership recognizes that the leaders of the church are not always referred to with the same words. Elders, shepherds, and overseers, are used to describe overlapping roles of leadership in the local church. So what do we make of it? 

Also, the word elder calls to mind board elders for many. Board elders at your modern evangelical church and what the New Testament refers to as elders are not the same thing. So here’s the important thing to keep in mind. When the Bible refers to elder they are referring to pastor elders. So we use the words interchangeably. A pastor is an elder. An elder is a pastor. An elder is a shepherd, overseeing and caring for the flock that Jesus has entrusted to their care. 

Note that from here on out I will refer to pastor/elder as pastor. I prefer the term pastor because it suggests shepherding and careful presence. At least it does to me. The word elder too often suggests a board director who is aloof from the spiritual needs and relational life of the flock and is simply serving a position of accountability and administration. So it is worth noting that I will refer to elders as pastors but it means the same thing.

So let’s fill out the word pastor a little more. As I said the Bible paints a portrait of a pastor that is a shepherd. For example in 1 Peter 5:1-2 we find the Apostle Peter, a pastor, charging and encouraging fellow pastors in the church to “shepherd the flock of God.” 

To fill this image out here is what theologian Alexander Strach wrote: “The biblical image of a Shepherd caring for his flock – standing long hours ensuring its safety, leading it to fresh pasture and clear water, carrying the week, seeking the lost, healing the wounded and sick is precious.  The whole image of the Palestinian Shepherd is characterized by intimacy, tenderness, concern, skill, hard work, suffering, and love. It is as former London Bible college professor Derek J. Tidball remarks in his book, Skillful Shepherds, “a subtle blend of authority and care,” and “as much toughness as tenderness, as much courage as comfort.”

This is a beautiful portrait of a pastor. But sadly most people have never experienced this. Many mainstream evangelical churches are too preoccupied with church growth philosophies that bend the role of a pastor to that of a sexy evangelist and organizational leadership guru. And since the whole church experience is often only geared toward attracting the outsiders, always tweaking itself for more growth, catering to those not there, the actual flock gets neglected and they functionally become the outsiders.

This leads to what the primary role of the shepherd is. He is to feed the sheep. Jesus makes this clear with Peter in John 21:15-19. So it is very bizarre to hear ministry leaders complain about their congregation when the congregation desires to be fed. And when people leave churches because they aren’t being fed it is common to hear the leaders of those churches say, ‘well they should know how to feed themselves by now.’ While it is very true that a pastor can not follow Jesus for their congregation, they are undeniably charged by the Great Shepherd with the sacred duty of feeding the sheep.

This raises the question, what exactly is feeding the sheep? Great question. The answer is really pretty simple. Jesus is the bread of life (Jn 6:48). And Jesus himself, when tempted in the wilderness while fasting, told the devil that man can’t be sustained by bread alone, but instead must be nourished by the word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). And Jesus also says that as the Great Shepherd the sheep will hear his voice. So what Peter was charged with when Jesus told him to feed the sheep was to teach them the Word of God, the Scriptures. Because in doing so the sheep will hear the Shepherd's voice. And in particular, Peter was to proclaim the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16). So to put it as simply as I can; a pastor is responsible for rightly explaining and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus, from the Bible, to his congregation. 

In addition to feeding the sheep John 21 teaches us that a pastor is to love Jesus. Peter is repeatedly asked by Jesus if he loves him. There is great emphasis on the pastor to love Jesus above all else. Wouldn’t it be amazing if pastors were renown more for their love for Jesus than they were for their public speaking skills, their leadership styles, their personalities, or their gifts. This is my prayer as your pastor. I want people to walk away from conversations and encounters with me with a great sense that “that guy loves Jesus.” 

But there is another thing even more important that John 21 teaches us about pastors. Pastors must trust the Good Shepherd. Peter’s conversation with Jesus undoubtedly provoked the memory of his failure in denying Jesus three times. What failure would have been more egregious as a pastor than denying the Christ in his hour of greatest need. And so when Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times I’m sure it would have wrecked him. And what Jesus did with Peter is shocking, but consistent with his grace and mercy. Despite Peter’s mistakes and imperfections, Jesus restores Peter to his role as a pastor. And what this demonstrates about pastors in general is that they are not Jesus. They are a fallible, mediocre folk when compared to pastor Jesus. There are certainly character qualifications that a pastor must meet, however, pastors are to trust in the grace of Jesus, and remember the gospel themselves. They cannot be the savior. They can only point people to the savior. 

This reminds me of something I read from another pastor. He said that pastors are simply errand boys for Jesus. They bring Jesus  to people and people to Jesus. And this is certainly what a pastor does if he is pastoring well. He is bringing the sheep to the real source of nourishment, which is never himself and always the presence of Jesus.

This requires pastors to see the congregation as souls. And no I don’t mean disembodied spirits floating around the room or tucked into some lock box in the deep recesses of a person's heart. When I say souls I mean what the Bible means when it says souls. A person does not have a soul. A person is a soul. A soul is someone made in the image of God. And so the state of someone's soul (that’s pastor speak) is a phrase that describes a person's relationship to God. This is why Hebrews 13:17 refers to pastors as overseers of souls, as ones keeping watch. And as ones entrusted by Jesus to watch attentively to the flock in order to make sure that when they stray from Jesus the pastor lovingly guides them back. 

So to summarize: A pastor is a shepherd. But he is not the chief shepherd. That is Jesus. And yet the pastor is one who is charged by Jesus with a great responsibility to watch over, care for, nourish, guide, protect, comfort, bring back, and see to the flourishing of his flock with vested authority from Jesus. 

To put even more meat on the bones to this image lets unpack the protection role of a pastor. In Acts 20 Paul charges the pastors to guard the flock from false teachers. To keep the shepherding metaphor up these false teachers would be wolves. The passage refers to pastors as having empowerment from the Holy Spirit to recognize and resist the damaging influence of false teachers that would draw the flock away from Jesus and his true teaching. So even though a pastor should not be combative (1 Tim 3:3), he should be ready for combat. He should be willing to defend sound doctrine, resist manipulation, see through lies, and champion the cause of truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

This requires a great deal of vigilance from a pastor. He can be no slouch. And it is not for the faint of heart. There also has to be a great deal of trust built between the pastor and the congregation. Because in order for the pastor to be watchful and attentive he will need to be in many homes and in many conversations, and in many stories of heartbreak. If defending the flock from wolves were only about being a keyboard warrior online, then the pastor could fulfill his responsibility without much knowledge of the comings and goings of his own flock. But because we know that what Paul had in mind when he urged the pastor to play defense was more than defending his people from tweets and viral tiktok videos. A pastor needs to be one that has the tough conversations, and is willing to draw the sword of the Word of God when the lying wolves bare their teeth. 

Another piece of the biblical portrait of the pastor is that he is to lead. “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Tim 5:17). And in Titus 1:7 pastors are referred to as “God’s stewards.” The word steward there means household manager. This is someone who oversees and manages the affairs of their household. This is someone who has authority and responsibility to rule well.

To understand the leadership role of the pastor you need to understand the larger biblical framework of household leadership. From Genesis onward the portrait of a biblical family is one of God honoring male headship. The husband and father of the family is charged with the responsibility and given authority to lead his family to life and flourishing. These biblical texts clearly teach this kind of household design.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (Eph 5:22)

Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Eph 5:24)

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. (Eph 5:23)

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Col 3:18)

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine…and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, [5] to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.  (Titus 2:1,4,5)

Authority can often make people uncomfortable. And that’s because authority is often abused and rulers often abuse their positions of power. But good and Godly authority is designed to lead people to life. Jesus himself submitted to the authority of the Father. He obeyed the will of the Father to go to the cross and endure its suffering and shame. And yet the Bible says that Jesus gladly submitted to the Fathers authority and endured the cross for the joy that was set before him (Heb 12:2). So it is possible that modern feminism and the overall cynicism of our surrounding culture has primed us to fill words like submission, authority, and rule with meanings foreign to the biblical writers. If Jesus submitted without any diminishment in opportunity to flourish, and without any diminishment in value, then it is possible that a congregation can submit to a pastor's leadership for the flourishing and wellbeing of the entire flock. 

This is what makes pastors different from chaplains. Despite what is modeled in many churches the pastor is not simply a soft spoken man of suggestion. He is not merely a guy who sits off to the side while others “run the church”  just waiting to pray before a meal. A pastor is an elder. An elder is one who rules. And so the biblical portrait of a pastor is someone who rules the household of the church much like a father is charged with ruling his family. 

I know this has fallen out of popularity but this is the definition of patriarchy which literally means father-rule. Patriarchy is baked into the design of God. A father leading his family well, bearing the primary responsibility for its wellbeing has been the design of God since Adam and Eve. And it has been the norm among God’s people for thousands of years. It is only a recent phenomenon that the patriarchy has been condemned and looked at with almost universal suspicion by popular culture. So if we’re talking about biblical pastoral ministry we have to talk about biblical patriarchy. It’s not a matter of whether we are in some kind of patriarchy, it's a matter of which patriarchy we are going to submit to. Is it the distorted caricature of Satan’s patriarchy? Or is the beautiful patriarchy modeled in God’s own Fatherly character and benevolent goodness shown toward the world. Is it the chauvinistic, toxic, wife exasperating, finger pointing, lazy masculinity of the culture or the life laying down patriarchy that Jesus demonstrates through the laying down of his own life for our flourishing and wellbeing us. 

God’s design for male pastoral leadership is to be modeled after Christ. It is to be sacrificial, responsible, and loving. A pastor ruling well will result in the flourishing of those entrusted to his care. This is why one of the qualifications of being a pastor is that he must be a man that is able to manage his own household well (1 Tim 3:4,5). If the gospel is not good news to his wife and kids how can it be good news to his congregants. If his pattern of decision making is erratic and inconsistent with his family, how can it go well with the local church. If a pastor is domineering, harsh, and impatient with his family how will he shepherd the flock of God? Pastoring a local church in many ways parallels the fathers leadership in the home. And so the pastor must be distinctly and biblically masculine. And his masculinity must be framed and formed by the mascuilne example of Jesus. 

At risk of beating the skins off this drum, I want to say a brief word on masculinity in general here. Because this whole topic rife with landmines I’m plodding through for the sake of clarity. The best definition of masculinity that I have ever heard is the glad assumption of responsibility. And this is what Jesus demonstrated when he gladly assumed the responsibility to lay his life down on the cross. And so I don’t want you to miss the parallel here. A pastor leading the church in a Christ exalting masculine way, will gladly assume the responsibility to lay his life down for the flourishing of others, just as a husband is called to do in a family. He will be a man who digs the trenches and is in them with his people. He will be the kind of man that stands in the elements, exposed and cold in order to watch over his sheep. He will be at bedsides and gravesides with as much eagerness as he gives to being in the pulpit. He will be the first to do the hard things. His leadership will not look like a pyramid scheme. His leadership will look like an upside down pyramid. Leadership is about carrying weight. And the pastor is responsible for carrying the weight of the wellbeing of the souls entrusted to his care by Jesus. And it is to Jesus that he will ultimately have to give an account on the last days. 

If a pastor leads in this manner the biblical call for the congregation to submit to this pastor’s leadership will not be answered begrudging. The call to obey a pastor (Heb 13:17) will be done in gladness and in trust, just as a wife gladly submits to her husband who leads in a Christ-like manner (1 Peter 3:1; Eph 5:22). This is all to be done in such a way that reflects the way of Jesus, the great shepherd, who calls all his followers to submit and obey his righteous rule. 

And so this portrait of a pastor, ruling the church with a fatherly authority, should induce reverence in young men not arrogance. Young men aspiring to become pastors should buckle at the knees and shake in their boots at the thought of this immense privilege and responsibility that it is to lead sheep that are not ultimately his. Much like a young man should be properly terrified with the prospect of marriage. The mingling of souls should not be taken lightly. And neither should the shepherding of souls. 

This is why there is a detailed list of qualifications for a pastor to meet in order to be qualified to pastor the people of God. These qualifications fall into three main categories—character, competency, and calling. The clearest detailed lists of the qualifications are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:6-9; and 1 Peter 5:1-4. 

Alexander Strauch is worth quoting again here. 

The overriding concern of the New Testament in relation to church leadership is for the right kind of men to serve as elders and deacons. The offices of God's church are not honorary positions bestowed on individuals who have attended church faithfully or who are senior in years. Nor are they board positions to be filled by good friends, Rich donors, or charismatic personalities. Nor are they positions that only graduate Seminary students can fill. The church offices, both eldership and deaconship, are open to all who meet the apostolic, biblical requirements.

Biblical pastors must possess the distinctly Christ-like character that the Bible outlines. A pastor must be able to teach the word of God, applying the gospel to people’s lives. He must be able to defend sound doctrine against the heresies of the culture. He must be called by God and recognized by man. If a pastor does not meet these basic qualifications outlined in the Bible he must be seen as disqualified or not yet fit for pastoral ministry. 

The last thing I’ll say about pastoring, which is certainly not the least important, is that it must not be done alone, or in our context of church planting, it must not be done alone for long. The New Testament pattern is that in each place a new church is established, pastors are identified, trained, and installed (Titus 1:5). And so we learn that pastoring is to be done in the context of a team. Each local church should have a plurality of pastors overseeing the flock. The solo pastor may be necessarily for a season, but it is not healthy in the long term. 

This is why I want to end this piece of writing on pastors with a commitment to you. In addition to Jesus charging me with the task of preaching and teaching the word. In addition to being present with you in care and counsel. In addition to governing the church with gentle fatherly affection. And in addition to praying for your souls eagerly and often. I am charged with the responsibility to identify, train, and appoint called and qualified men to join me in pastoring this church. Even now Jesus is speaking this noble call into the hearts of men in our congregation. And as your pastor it is my privilege to fan into flame the call of Christ in the life of other men.