Are all church leaders/pastors "appointed by God?"

Hi everyone. I've heard in church on a number of occasions (plus on Christian television) how all church leaders are appointed by God, for there is no authority that exists apart from God. And the bottom line? That as all church leaders are God appointed, Christians need to submit to them.

But is this literal interpretation correct? I personally don't think so as it open to enormous abuse. For eg, I have personally come across crooked and greedy church leaders. Are these leaders "appointed by God?"

Does not the Bible also say for eg, to stay away from those people given to temper outburst? Is not one of the qualifications of a leader that he is to be gentle and not quarrelsome? Well, one of my pastors had an awful temper. He would fly off the handle big time. Do we need to still "submit" to leaders like that? Is he "appointed by God?"

I just see this literalist interpretation as open to much abuse. I barely need mention cases such as David Koresh or Jim Jones, whom I'm sure preached to their congregations how all leaders are appointed by God and so need to be submitted to. I just don't see how every Tom, Dick and Harry that enters the ministry is personally chosen by God himself..

So, what do you all think?

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Clearly god does not appoint any head of any church. Does he influnce, of course, if god had picked every teacher, teachings wouldnt be so confusing. Everything any preacher said would be true. There would be no scandels like the child abuse.

I guess "appointed by God" is relative to how they work for God's kingdom while they are in whatever office they are in. If you want to look at it one way, God has a plan and sometimes that plan may involve certain events occurring for a greater good (such as scandals) it keeps the church on its feet. By that logic every pastor is "appointed by God" in a sense that they are part of the plan, I don't think that they should be looked higher upon because of their status because quite frankly...anyone can be a pastor if they put their minds to it or seek some goal besides what God wants.

A red flag to me would be any church authority who CLAIMS they are appointed by God in a authoritative sense, and that they require total submission to their decrees, I'm not a fan of this subversive behavior it wreaks of cultist tendencies.

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I think God does call certain people to serve in the church. Others, perhaps they are not really called, but feel they are, either because of family tradition or other things.

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Church leaders/pastors are supposed to be called by God, but not all of them are--some are called by themselves: "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice" (Philippians 1:15-18). But so long as they do good work, we should follow them (and in any event, we can't see whether each of them have been called inwardly or not).

Also, even if someone is called by God to be a church leader/pastor, that doesn't mean that they're going to do a good job or to be right all the time. Yes, in a sense it is God's will that they are where they are and this is part of God's plan but this is true of everything including all of the evil under the sun. The real question is whether we should follow them when they're wrong, because while it may be God's will for us to have leaders that are fallible, it may be EQUALLY God's will for us to OPPOSE them.

In the Presbyterian church, the power and authority of the pastor is counterbalanced by the elders and deacons similar to the way in which in the United States, Congress serves as a counterweight to the President. In a Baptist or Catholic church, however, you may be out of luck (but I'll let them speak for themselves!)

I would think church leaders, like worldly leaders, are all there to test our own faith, our own faithfulness to Jesus' teachings.

If we live by Jesus' two love commandments, then there is no law or leader who can prevail against us, but they might test our willingness to follow Jesus. Thank the Lord he provides us a Comforter to see us through these difficult trials.

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23

I think its pretty apparent by the behavior of some church "leaders" that they aren't called by God. I do, however, believe that God uses authority to help teach us. And that each true church leader does have some authority over us.

This is why I tend to be (although not always) against leaving a church to start a house church. I think you lose out on some of the way God grows you when you walk away from healthy church leadership. (unhealthy church leadership is an entierly different conversation)

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Although my wife and I are nominally attending an SBC church (I say this because I find my gripe inherent in the SBC mindset), I have a problem with the idea of attending college/seminary for six to eight years, graduating with an MDiv or PhD, and then announcing to the world that you are "called" and then spend alot of your time trying to work up the corporate ladder to larger churches and six figure salaries.

I am a firm believer that if you are called by God to do something, it is through His work in our life to shape us into whatever vessel it is that we need to be. An overnight revelation, which I don't dismiss entirely, that you are saved, annointed, and appointed to preach the gospel is completely suspect. You cannot preach God's word if you don't intimately know Him and crumble to His will. Even Nebuchadnazer(sp?) was broken and humiliated before he praised the Father.

Sorry for my rant, but I've seen much abuse throughout the church (and on CF) and it breaks my heart that people are being led to focus on things that are not relevant to our relationship with Him.

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Discernment of sound judgment is the ability to perceive reality as it really is. The opposite is deception and/or delusion. Spiritual blindness is inevitable for all unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4) while believers have a discerning spirit given by the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:12-14) In the Old Testament, Solomon asked for a discerning spirit to distinguish right from wrong. (1 Kings 3:9) The writer of Hebrews says that discernment results, in part, from consistently obeying God’s Word. (5:14)

How can we grow in our ability to discern?
1. By consistently practicing the classical spiritual disciplines.
2. By asking God in prayer for and seeking increased discernment in His Word.
3. By developing a healthy distrust for basing our decisions solely on our feelings
4. By consistently putting into practice what we already know to be God’s will.
5. By avoiding unreliable, untrustworthy and ungodly counsel.
6. By seeking a mentoring relationship from a spiritual mature Christian.
7. By being open to the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

2 Peter 2 (New International Version)


2 Peter 2

False Teachers and Their Destruction

1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

read all of 2 peter and know that God sees all they say and do, and it will be upon their heads to reap the consiquences.

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Two, most excellent posts above!

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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23