Sublime

the fundamental role of the pastor or elder (the Bible uses the two words interchangeably) is to disciple by teaching God’s Word.

those who have little doctrinal knowledge but much feeling — or little feeling but a good grasp on doctrine — to bring those two things into balance.

This is the pastoral posture we are exhorted to in 1 Peter 5:3: “not domineering.” There are lots of ways pastors become domineering over those in their charge, but the first step is usually to remove oneself more and more from them. When the local church body stops being “the flock of God that is among you,” it becomes much easier to treat them as

We have seen in our century what happens when people dream wild dreams of world domination, and use the normal methods of force and power to implement them. We have not yet seen what might happen if those who worship the Servant King, now enthroned as Lord of the world, were to take him seriously enough to take up our cross and follow him. But

God gives pastors a remarkable responsibility: to keep watch over our souls. And for this, they must give an account (Heb. 13:17). One of the ways that you can encourage your pastor is by listening to him, not only when he encourages you from God’s Word but also when he does the hard work of calling you to repentance from God’s Word.

There is nothing extraordinary about these virtues. But as I heard D. A. Carson once say, an elder does what an ordinary Christian should do extraordinarily well.

6. A Sense of the Urgent Need for Greater Doctrinal Understanding in the Whole Church. I am convinced that there is an urgent need in the church today for much greater understanding of Christian doctrine, or systematic theology.

In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, the apostle Paul states clearly that the primary task of the pastor is to mature Christians for the work of the ministry, for the building up of Christ’s body.