Guidelines for Church 01: Whose the Boss?

Have you noticed the Bible is often non-specific about certain things? It tells us clearly that by His stripes we were healed (1 Peter 2.24) but doesn’t tell us what to do about it! Some people are healed through anointing of oil, others through laying on of hands, others through a word of knowledge, others by standing on the Word. But the truth is that our healing is accomplished and we have to receive it somehow. But we need to pray and find out the somehow.

Why am I telling leaders this? Because the Bible is explicit that we need leaders. The local church should have leaders, and a structure, but we will need to pray to find out what kind of structure our local church should have.

Now one principle we must look at is – who is the boss of a local church? Now you could be superspiritual and say “it’s Jesus”, but what would that look like? Ephesians 4.11 says that Jesus Christ Himself gives five ministries to a local church – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. So Jesus Himself calls these five. That is confirmed by Paul who told the Galatian church that as an apostle he was not chosen by men (a committee) or man (another apostle) but through Jesus Christ (this is Galatians 1.1).

Jesus appoints the fivefold ministry. Now read Ephesians 4.11 and you will not find an elder or deacon in there. Elders are chosen by pastors in a local church and so are deacons.

Now, here is the principle – the one who appoints is the boss. So the pastor of a church, his boss is Jesus. He has to answer to Jesus. If he is part of a family of churches, he answers to his senior pastor then to Jesus. But an elder has the pastor as their boss. A deacon has the pastor as their boss. They must answer to the pastor.

This seems to be in reverse in many churches where a board of deacons appoint a pastor then they are the boss of the pastor! I pastored like that, and I didn’t last long!

A pastor is tied by Jesus to a church, a local congregation, and he is the boss and the shepherd of that local congregation. He is responsible to Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ gave Him that position and tied him to that church. An apostle needs to come out of a local church and travel and establish and build up churches. Prophets travel too, to encourage the churches. Evangelists travel to preach the gospel and equip the saints to share the gospel. Teachers travel too and teach doctrines and give soundness to the church.

But it is the pastor who is wed by the Lord to a local congregation. It is a sacred and special calling and needs special honour. I currently function as an apostle and a pastor. I knew that would happen and I knew how to steward it years before it happened.

Now, in Acts 14.23, Paul appointed elders in every church. Paul appointed the elders, not Jesus. Elders are appointed by apostles or pastors in the local churches, so therefore the pastor has authority over the elder. That is the way around it should be. The elders should be teaching what the pastor says to teach, the elders should be supporting the pastor. Paul sent Titus to Crete as a pastor, and told him to “appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1.5). I am not writing this blog to outline what an elder is called to do, just to show you that a pastor should lead the elders not the other way around.

This pattern is the Biblical pattern, who appoints you is the boss. It’s the same with deacons, we can see this with Acts 6.5-6, where the apostles appoint the deacons. It says they chose! If they chose, then they are the boss.

This is a simple principle but if everyone adhered to it, it would eliminate so much confusion in the local church. Selah.