Pastor: Leader or Teacher?

I thoroughly appreciate the guys at Sovereign Grace and their passion for the Word of God, church planting, and preaching.  Jeff Purswell, Dean of the Sovereign Grace Pastors College, recently blogged for C.J. Mahaney (leader of Sovereign Grace) on keeping consistent with the Biblical and historical understanding of the office of pastor.  In summary, Purswell writes, “We deviate from Scriptural precept and historical example…when a pastor’s role as ‘leader’ displaces his primary role as a teacher—a shepherd who feeds God’s people with the truth of his Word.”

Purswell further expounds on his point:

My concern is rather with a false dichotomy that I fear is all too common: a dichotomy in the pastor’s mind between “teaching” and “leadership.” In the pulpit or behind the podium, we’re “teaching;” anywhere else, we’re “leading.” My modest goal in this post is to destroy this dichotomy. There is no more powerful or fundamental expression of a pastor’s leadership than the preaching of the Word. At its core, that’s what biblical leadership is: setting forth for our people a biblical vision of God and his purposes, and then calling them to give their lives to it and live in light of it (and outside the pulpit, modeling for them what it looks like). Every time we preach, we’re making room for God to lead his people, allowing his Word to set direction, to impart encouragement, to provide comfort, and to instill faith. Much more is happening on a Sunday morning than the mere transfer of information. This is our key leadership moment.

Read the whole post here.

Caleb Gallifant

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