The First Pastors

I have realized that nobody in the New Testament church called themselves Pastor. Why do we have people using that title today? Who were some of the first people to call themselves Pastor?

So I started to speculate ...

My guess was that it was some guys in the reformation who no longer wanted to use the title Priest. They didn't want to be confused with those other totalitarian leaders. But didn't know what title to use. So they looked through the New Testament in search of a title.

Overseer? That could have described their position where they watched over those in their established congregations. But no... that is what Bishop means and that had already been used.

What about Teacher, or Father? No, Matthew 23:8-12 would be easily used against them.

So they picked Pastor. It only shows up once in the NT, but maybe they could convince Christ followers that they needed to follow someone called a Pastor (or shepherd). Just enough truth to make it work.

OK... enough speculation...

Google searches have let me down. All I can find is reference that John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli were some of the first people to use the title Pastor. I have to thank them for some of their contributions towards the protestant reformation. However this adds to my disappointment as well.

All I can say is I'm glad I'm not living in their day... I would have objected... and that would have reduced my life expectancy.

As always, I appreciate any feedback, even if you disagree with me. I couldn't find many facts on this. Who first used the title Pastor? What motivated them to do this? Do you agree?

Related Posts:

• The Pastor
• Anabaptists and Zwingli
• John Calvin
• Five Points of Calvinism

Nestorius and the Schism in 430s

We in the West think mostly in terms of the Roman Catholic Church when we think of church history. But what about the Christians who lived outside the Roman Empire. They were not all under the authority of Rome.

History has St. Thomas going to India spreading the gospel message. Similar to the church in the West, they are not all homogeneous. There are different organizations/grouping, and I'm not the expert on this at all so I won't try to give a history lesson based on my quick readings.

What I want to say is this. It seems there was a line drawn in the sand around some theory made by Nestorius. The church of the West agreed Nestorius was a heretic. The church in the East was more accepting of Nestorius.

It seems like it was a big thing. People who supported Nestorius actually moved outside the Roman Empire into Persia where Christians were being persecuted. Was the persecution from the Roman Church worse than the persecution they got from non-Christians?

So what was the issue with Nestorius' theory:

Nestorius' teachings became the root of controversy when he publicly challenged usage of the long-used title Theotokos (Mother of God) for the Virgin Mary. He suggested that the title denied Christ's full humanity, arguing instead that Jesus had two loosely joined natures, the divine Logos and the human Jesus. As such he proposed Christotokos (Mother of Christ) as a more suitable title for Mary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorianism#Nestorian_doctrine

I must be missing something. This doesn't seem like Nestorius was questioning any essential belief here. He believed Jesus was both divine and human. He thought the title 'Mother of God' was a bit strong for a human.

We sure do have a history of making mountains out of molehills.

Question about Preaching Ratio

Disclaimer: I'm currently a bit confused about the difference between preaching and teaching. Is teaching done brother to brother, and preaching done to those still outside the faith? Or is preaching done by some and teaching done by others? Or is preaching a one way discourse, and teaching can be more of a discussion? I'm not sure. I think we all need to be proclaiming the good news of Jesus to the world. Anyways...

That aside, here is my question.

Is the mega-church trend having a positive or negative impact on teaching/preaching?

As the gatherings grow we need fewer people preaching. If the gathering has 50 members, the ratio of people using their preaching/teaching gifts to those listening is at least 1:50. I would hope higher.

With a gathering of 200, we can go as low as 1:200.

With a gathering of 10,000 it can go as low as 1:10,000.

I understand there are 50 gatherings in the USA with attendance between 10,000 and 47,000. These gatherings typically have one main preacher/teacher. Many of them have their sermons broadcast to multiple satellite locations.

If we as the church want to encourage each other and allow their giftings to grow.... is it better to have a few big gatherings or many smaller gatherings? Do we want a few great preachers/teachers, or a multitude of more ordinary preachers/teachers?

What do you think?

Hell Fire Gospel Church Sign

(No this is not a real sign... and no this is not what I believe.)

Anabaptists and Zwingli

Been reading about the Sixteenth-Century Anabaptists. Troubling stuff. Makes no sense. Reformation leaders like Zwingli believed the Bible was the prime authority for the church. Yet they murdered their Anabaptist brothers by drowning them.

Why? The Anabaptists saw support in the Bible for adult baptisms, and Zwingli and company didn't. Was it all about control?

The Bible is the authority... as long as you let me interpret it for you!???


(If you have an hour to listen to some history about the Anabaptists, try this link:

http://www.housechurchresource.org/audios/jonzens.mp3 )

Authority of Timothy and Titus

Titus 2:15 "These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you."

1Tim 4:11"Command and teach these things"

1 Tim 6:17 "Command those who are rich…"

1 Tim 6:18 "Command them to do good…"

Is there any evidence to suggest Titus or Timothy where considered elders?

Did they go by the title of deacon, preacher, pastor, bishop, clergy, priest, minister, archbishop, cardinal, ...?

Is there anything to suggest they were given some special authority... or is it possible all believers have been given some special authority?

Shouldn't we all be teaching God's truths with confidence?