Is there a Biblical basis for church leaders to have certain titles?

Everyone wants to lead but, no one wants to serve.

This thread has been moved from the Ethics & Morality forum to the Baptists forum​

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Ephesians 4



11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.


People enter ministry for many different reasons, and for some the social and personal esteem gained by "being in charge" is one reason why some believe they are "being called" into a Pastoral ministry. But, and this is a big but, the vast majority of followers of Christ who believe they are called into ministry believe so because of a deep conviction within their hearts that God wishes to work through them in order to edify and build up the body of Christ. And of course one does not need to be called a "Pastor" in order to do so, but rather to be humbly obedient to Christ's call.


It is important for anyone who wishes to serve God in a ministerial capacity, to remember that as a "Pastor" one is a "shepherd", and Jesus is the good shepherd, the shepherd who gave His life for His sheep. Ultimately any shepherd in Christ's body is called under the shepherding of Christ; a Pastor is in fact an undershepherd, one who in Christ is willing if necessary to give his life for those who he is shepherding; one who is willing to guide Christ's sheep to pasture, to mend their wounds, to encourage and uplift His sheep in such a way as to be pleasing to his master, our Lord.


I realize as a Baptist we like to have one person in charge, yet I often wonder if in giving into "organizational" structure, we miss some of the benefits of seeing Christ as our great shepherd, and His undershepherds as His servants, even as we all are in Him.

Lik3 said:

Is there a biblical basis to consider a church leader a Reverend, a Doctor, or a Pastor even? Does it seem rather arrogant for a church leader to refer his (or her) a Doctor? Where are the scriptures that support the words Reverend, Doctor, and Pastor? I cannot find any scriptures which support evidence that Jesus or his disciples were ever called or one who is among the more educated a Doctor, a Preacher, or a Pastor. Are those more recent terms or is there some biblical reasons why those terms for church leaders are used?

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Doctor is from the Latin, docere, and it means teacher. In Hebrew, I suppose it would be rabbi. It has most often been reserved for very special teachers who have had a great influence on the church as a whole. In the RCC, I don't think there are any living church "doctors" as I believe that title is bestowed only after one has died, like sainthood is. The KJV uses "doctor" instead of "teacher" or "teacher of the law" a few times, so the title is Biblical. "Theologian" would be a more common term today for a church "doctor", especially a theologian who is highly honored among his peers. Many pastors and theologians are properly called "doctors" today because of the extent of their education, but that is not what the church has historically meant when it gave someone the title of "Church Doctor".

Preacher - King Solomon is the "preacher" in Ecclesiastes. St. Paul calls himself a "preacher" several times in his Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy) and he wonders what would become of the church if it was not for "preachers" and their "feet" who bring Good News (Romans 10:14-15). Finally, St. Peter calls Noah a "preacher of righteousness" in one of his 2nd Epistle.

Pastor - this title is certainly appropriate as the under-shepherds of Christ who feed and care for His flock. In the NT, "pastor" is used only once however:

"He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ" Ephesians 4:11-12​

I think "Reverend" meaning, "worthy to be revered", might be pushing it a little bit ..

Hope that helps!

--David

I've got a perfect example for this thread. I was raised in North Valley Baptist Church, Redding CA, under the pastorship of Royal Blue, DDiv., ThD. I never called him Dr. Blue, though, I called him Pastor Blue. However, to those who were not pastored by him, I would refer to him as Dr. Blue, or in writing, as above.

Doctor is more an academic title, while Pastor is an ecclesiastic title.

There is only one place in the Bible where God speaks of "Reverend", and that is a ref. to Himself, so how dare one to appropriate that to self. Note also that the ref. in Scripture to teachers, pastors (shepherds), evangelists in a local assembly is always in the plural (as works, not positions). All these things of men is only more of sectarianism to give self a title and be over the laity (note Rev. 2:6). When will christendom learn to bow to God and His Word only?