Note: This church is in the planning stage. Contact us!
There are two God-ordained leadership positions in the local church. The first is that of pastor. These are men who should be placed in their role by God. They have a responsibility to protect and pray for the souls of those who voluntarily join a local fellowship. Pastors are not more important Christians than anyone else in the church. They are merely placed into a certain role and serve God and others in that role, just as anyone else in the church. Contrary to a popular notion, pastors are not exclusively the "ministers" in the church. Every member of the church should be seeking God for power to minister to others. One of the duties of the pastor is to encourage each one to move into ministering by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Pastors are servants and shepherds, not controlling dictators. They should be a leader regarding the direction, structure, and doctrines of the church. They are beholden to seek God at every turn and direct the church activities only in the manner that God directs. Unlike cult leaders, they do not control, manipulate or coerce people as to how they should lead their lives. Pastors should help each one discover and know in their own heart what God's will is for them. Only clear-cut sin is handled in a manner that, if not repented of, there must be a separation created between the offender and the rest of the church.
This amounts to a perfect arrangement between the pastor and the other church members. If a pastor openly declares the direction he believes God is leading the church, then Christians who feel led to be a part of such a vision come and walk together in agreement with that pastor. If the church direction is not right for any individual, then they should simply go and unite with the group that is God's will for them. Pastors may come and go with the timing and direction of God, but there is not a "firing" and "hiring" process with pastors as with a corporation. The pastor generally stays in his position until he feels God is telling him to go elsewhere. When the time comes to create new pastoral positions in a church, the existing pastors will seek God and, generally, choose someone from the congregation for this honor. There is no such term in the scripture as "senior pastor," but in practice we will have such a role simply to allow a means to resolve any matter that requires mediation within the pastoral staff.
What are the specific responsibilities of the pastors? In our church, pastors must first be devoted to prayer. On many days, hours will be spent in prayer seeking God for the direction of the church or interceding on behalf of fellow pastors, deacons and other church members. Pastors will typically fast often. In addition to this, pastors in our church will spend time with people. They will spend time with pastors talking and praying about the direction of the church as well as praying for needs of the church and the community. They will engage in spiritual warfare over the church and community. They will spend time with deacons and cell leaders to direct, help and encourage them in their tasks. They will spend time with others in the church to fellowship and build them up. The pastors may also spend time preparing teachings that will be used in cell meetings or preaching for larger congregational meetings.
The second position is that of deacons. These are men who God singles out to prioritize servanthood to the congregation. Originally, they were table waiters and those appointed as deacons in our church will devote themselves to similar duties. They will help with tasks needed to run the church and attend to special needs of her members. The cell groups in our church have "group leaders" that help by facilitating the group meetings. While our structure allows for anyone to facilitate a group, often group leaders will become deacons and expand their servant role when God so leads. This process is initiated by the pastoral team. We have a vision for many members of our groups to one day be group leaders and for some to one day be pastors. In other words, we regularly raise up leaders and staff in our church from within our own congregation.