Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has always had a special place in my heart. During the first couple years of my call to serve Bloomfield Presbyterian Church as a Commissioned Pastor, we had “Ephesians 3:14-21” on the front of our bulletins. It also became my fervent prayer as a new pastor in my first call. When it came time to update and develop our vision and mission, I led the Session through the epistle of Ephesians for a year as a guiding structure and frame of discussion and discernment.
I can still remember coming to Ephesians 4:11-12, which reads, “He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” (NRSVUE) and being asked by one the Session members, “What exactly is a pastor?” I was a little confused, so I asked, “What do you mean?” And the member told me he understood the other roles and that basically pastors play all those roles, and yet the list seemed to suggest that “pastor” is a different calling than apostle, prophet, evangelist, and teacher. Soon, our Session meeting turned into a lively, spirit-filled conversation on calling and leadership in the church. And I will always cherish the corporate discernment of God calling many different leaders within a congregation to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” We also felt that it was possible for an individual to have more than one calling, but we also thought it was unfair to assume a leader of the church be expected to fulfill all callings of leadership.
But the question remains: what is a pastor? Or the better question: what is the calling of a pastor. In our Book of Order, there is no definition given for a pastor. It is implied as an alternate title to the Minister of Word and Sacrament [G-2.0501]. But we also know a Ruling Elder can be commissioned to be a pastor [G-2.1001] and that the presbytery is to be a pastor to pastors [G-3.0307]. However, this does give us a clear idea of the calling of pastor that is unique from apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers. I think we have at times collapsed all these callings into the title of “pastor.” And when we think about the training of pastors, do we really attend to this unique call, or do we try to train all callings of leadership into one person? Many of our presbyteries as well as our centers of theological training and seminaries are reviewing and evaluating curriculum and training of pastors. The General Assembly is also engaged in this work reviewing and evaluating ordination standards. And the primary question that we all need to ask is: “what, exactly, is a pastor.”
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