The word Pastor is French for Shepherd. Now I confess that I have no idea why the English speaking church uses a French title but this is not beef. What’s the difference between a Shepherd and a Father? What’s the difference between a protestant Pastor and a Catholic Father? Not a lot to my eye.
Jesus himself said “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘Father’, for you have one father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher’ for you have only one teacher the Christ.” (Matt 23: 8 – 11) Now I have heard some pretty convoluted arguments trying to say that Jesus does not mean what he says here, but I personally don’t buy these theories.
So why do we as people committed to following Jesus and following the Bible as best we can not only ignore Christ’s words but we base our churches and even our own identity (if we are in ministry) on being the opposite of what Jesus said. And whether we are Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox we all do it.
Why?
Why do we as protestant pastors especially still mediate between Christ and our congregations (even if we pretend otherwise and use different words) when it was one of the major reasons for us splitting from Catholicism?
The NT does not show professional pastors or titled leaders. Nor does it show pastors leading churches. And from the early church it appears that this type of titled pyramid leadership model was not in use until Constantine’s time.
Surely we cannot deny that pastors are a perfect example of syncretism. A blend of the roman state religion morphing with what had been up to then a fluid out of human control rapidly growing bunch of people who followed a guy called Jesus.
We could say that pastors like Christmas are a reclaimed pagan institution. The only difference is that Jesus was silent about Christmas and vocal about Rabbi’s, Fathers and teachers (but of course Pastors are different!)
Well that’s my ignorant opinionated opinion on syncretism which does not necessarily mean a lot.
First of all: I am not a pastor! Secondly the word pastor isn`t a french word it comes from the latin word for shepherd.And last in Ephesians 4:11-12 Paul is speaking about pastores and their role in equipping the church! The problem is not the word pastor but the way in which we fill this word: Is it a person who equipps and empowers others to fulfill their service or is it a title, a profession or even a hierarchical position!