The Three Roles Of The Pastoral Role In The New Testament Church

The three entities of the pastoral role are as follows. The pastor must first of all be a Guardian – Pastor/Shepherd/feeder. The pastor is identified as an Administrator – Bishop/overseer/superintendent. Finally, the pastor is seen as a Counselor – elder/wise, experience, adviser. The pastor’s identity is to be seen as a threefold responsibility in the New Testament church. The supporting Scriptures for the merging of these three responsibilities are “For ye were as sheep going astray: but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.(1 Peter 2:25)” The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock

(Acts 20:28-29)” An effective guardian, will feed his flock but first of all holding fast to sound doctrine (2 Timothy 1:13), preaching and teaching that sound doctrine. He will preach and teach the word of God. He will proclaim Jesus Christ as a crucified and Risen One. It is also his responsibility to preach and teach the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. To be an effective Guardian the pastor must in no doubt know his sheep.” I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known of mine.” (John 10:14). A good shepherd will love (John 10:11), lead (John 10:3, 15), protect (John 10:12, 16), feed (John 10:9), strengthen (Matthew 9:36), perfect (Hebrews 13:20 – 21), and preserve (John 10:27 – 30) his sheep. As a Guardian, the shepherd must understand his responsibility in preaching God’s word.” How very great, then, is the responsibility of those who preach God’s word! If the man is wrong and mingles his own unclean things in with the word, he defiles the word of God, greatly damaging it. The fundamental problem in preaching rests not on how much one knows of the Bible, for the mere knowledge of doctrine is a little avail…. As ministers, though, we can never be like the Lord Jesus who is the Word became flesh; still the Word of God is deposited in our flesh and is to be released through this flesh. We need to be daily disciplined Any defect in us will defile the Word and destroyed its

Within the church functions, finance is probably at the forefront of administration, for without finance the church would not be able to carry about its daily activities and responsibilities. “To our Lord, careful money management is not considered an optional luxury. It is an essential ingredient in the lives of those in leadership… Making sense with dollars is a basic tasks of any leader. Very few projects or accomplished without an outlay of cash. And when cash starts to flow, wisdom, honesty, self-control, and intelligent, realistic planning must prevail. Even Jesus addressed importance of financial planning.” For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counted the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it? Less haply, after he had laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it began to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish. (Luke 14:28-30)” An effective administrator will understand that he must gain experience through successes and failures while recognizing God’s calling on his life to fulfill God’s plan for his people. That in itself requires the Administrator to understand that he will face criticism and opposition. Nehemiah in fact faced opposition in the building of the wall, but Nehemiah knew that, to successfully build that wall, he had to handle that criticism and opposition to effectively lead the team