What Does Pastor/Elder Led, Deacon Served Mean?
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WHAT DOES PASTOR/ELDER LED, DEACON SERVED MEAN? The mission of Park Lake Church, approved by its members is "expressing Christ's compassion through evangelism and discipleship." Our mission statement falls naturally in line with Christ's commission to his disciples for the church in Matthew 28:19-20: "Go," evangelism; and "making disciples," discipleship. These two mandates for evangelism and discipleship merge with the compassion of our Savior in our mission statement evidenced in many places throughout the synoptic gospel narratives such as Matthew 9:36, 14:14, 20:34; Mark 5:19, 9:22; Luke 15:20. Without a doubt one of Satan's most effective lead strategies for combating the Matthew 28:19-20 mission of the church is distraction. This is most notably true as evidenced in Acts 2. Luke records that unity and peace prevailed when the Church was able to minister to one another by in reach, and by outreach to unbelievers, thus allowing Peter and John not to be distracted so they could devote themselves to the Word and prayer. In Acts 6 the primacy of the Word and prayer is once again under attack in Peter and John's pastoral ministry priorities. The answer for this quarrelsome distraction was deacon servant leadership so that the elders, Peter and John, could keep the main thing the main thing, prayer and the ministry of the Word. Again, Paul reminds Timothy of this mandate by exhorting him to give double honor to the elders who rule well, especially those who labor in the Word and doctrine (1 Timothy 5:17). The "Word" here is Old Testament scripture and recognized apostolic teaching that had not yet been canonized into the Bible we enjoy reading daily. Doctrine is simply the formulation of biblical truth for practice by the local church. A proper biblical model for leadership prevents pastoral distraction and prioritizes pastoral ministry functions in our church. This model is called Pastor/Elder Led, Deacon Served. In this model PLC will have a Lead Pastor/Elder and two other Elders. The Lead Pastor/Elder's main responsibilities center on spiritual leadership for the church through preaching and teaching. Our recent core values survey affirms preaching and teaching as the priority of PLC. Preaching and teaching mentioned in the aforementioned paragraphs likewise affirm this Lead Pastor/Elder's priorities. His role lines up well with our mission statement for focusing the church on evangelism and under preaching/teaching-discipleship. Two other Pastor/Elder positions include one as In- Reach Pastor/Elder and the other as Out-Reach Pastor/Elder. The In-Reach Pastor/Elder mainly concerns himself with operations within the church which support both evangelism and discipleship; while the Out-Reach Pastor/Elder concerns himself mainly with ministry outside the front doors of PLC which support evangelism and discipleship touching lives through hands-on ministries in our Jerusalem-Samaria (Acts 1:8), Sachse, and to our regions beyond to the ends of the earth (Acts 13:1—28:31). What about elders? Elders were recognized as leaders in Acts 11:30. On the return trip home from the first missionary journey, Paul ordained elders in every city in these new churches (Acts 14:23). Support for elders as the leaders of the church can likewise be observed in Paul's instructions for leadership qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 Episcopos (Greek) bishop designates oversight, and by his instructions to Titus for ordaining elders in every city, Titus 1:5. Presbuteros (Greek) elder designates maturity; Poimen (Greek) and pastor (Latin) shepherd designates tending, feeding. These church leader words are also used interchangeably apart from their leadership function in the local church, but are collectively summed up in the word elders as a group who led the local church (Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-7). It is correspondingly important to point out that elders have specific, ministerial functions in the local church such as "those who labor in the word and doctrine" (1 Timothy 5:17). Moreover, from the mention of specific ministerial functions in 1 Timothy 5:17 we read that elders "rule." Therefore, elders must have reached a certain maturity to guide the flock of 1 God. Since feeding (teaching-laboring in the word and doctrine) the flock is one of their duties then the Lead Pastor/Elder must be of age and evidence maturity by spiritual growth and life experience, have biblical/theological education at a high education level, and mentored long enough through hands-on experience to lead, not drive the church. The In-Reach and Out-Reach elders support the Lead Pastor/Elder by allowing him to prioritize his teaching ministry and by overseeing the inside ministries of the local church (In-Reach) and the outside ministries from the front door of the local church (Out-Reach). These In-Reach and Out-Reach elders must, not should, be able to do as Paul describes in 2 Timothy 2:24-25: ones who are not quarrelsome, but gentle to all, able to teach, patient, and able to instruct from God's Word. What is the Role of a Lead Pastor/Elder? The Lead Pastor/Elder is not just a hired man who must follow the whims of the congregation. He is a faithful servant and is to be allowed to preach sound, biblical principles. The other elders, deacons, and the congregation as a whole do not have the right to tell the pastor to refrain from preaching on sin or topics that are uncomfortable as long as he is preaching and teaching orthodox doctrine. His authority in the church, as God’s leader, is a moral and spiritual power, not a legal one. While the church cannot ask him to compromise his convictions, he should be gracious in his attitude and never stubborn about personal opinions or desires that do not involve biblical principles. His authority rests in the power of a godly example as well as the fact that he is a biblical officer (1 Timothy 3:1-7; Ephesians 4:11-12). However, he should not be a lord over those entrusted to him but serve as an example to the body (1 Peter 5:3 but see 5:1-4). He has no biblical right to be the sole decision maker or to be domineering and oppressive. No man of God filled with the Spirit should exhibit such attitudes toward the membership of the body. What about deacons? Deacons are to be involved in a compassionate ministry of caring through the local church (Acts 6:1-8). The Elders whose hands were full caring for the spiritual needs of the church, decided to appoint seven leaders who could tend to the physical and practical needs within the body. The biblical requirements of deacons are similar to that of elders, but there is a clear distinction in office (1 Timothy 3:8-13). As we have seen, elders are spiritual and organizational leaders. The practical ministry of deacons in the church is vital, freeing elders to focus on prayer and studying God's Word, pastoral care, organizational matters, and outreach. Consequently, deacons are expected to be involved in the outreach ministry of the local church to the ends of the world and regions beyond for we read that Philip was an evangelist in Acts 8:26-40. The Holy Spirit certainly did not limit Philip to waiting on tables. After all, the foundational meaning of deacon (diakoneo) is an action word, serve. CONCLUSION From this study we can conclude that the leadership of the local church involves a lead pastor/elder whose primary responsibility is to preach, teach, and tend to the spiritual needs of the local church. Other elders watch over the ministries of the church related to the body of believers (In-Reach Elder) and outside through missions near and far (Out-Reach Elder). Deacons serve through compassionate ministry meeting the practical needs for day-to-day living. This study also complements our former study about Church-Led. It was the congregation who alerted the elder leadership to the need for a practical solution. That practical solution was deacon/serving ministry. The leadership provided a solution; the congregation of believers had a voice in deciding who became deacons and undoubtedly were pleased by the leadership's proposed solution because no more need was voiced as recorded in Luke's record. Thus, we see a New Testament snapshot of leadership and congregation working together as a body of believers carrying out the mandate "go" and "make disciples." Feel free to address your questions to Pastor Larry, Dr. Jim Street, Dr. Joel Wilson. Your discretion will be fully respected. Pastor Larry: - [email protected] Dr. Jim Street: - [email protected] Dr. Joel Wilson: - [email protected] 2 .