Interesting isn't it, that in Eph 4:11 Paul gives a list of gifted-roles from God's empowerment and enabling for the church. Does the list convey any order, or is it randomly and arbitrarily ordered?
Well you can argue that as much as you like. Many commentators at least start with the foundational aspects of apostles and then prophets, with Eph 2:20 providing good support for the argument. Thing is, if you follow the logic of that implied order then you are led to conclude that pastors & teachers are at the bottom of the list.
So if such an ordering was Paul's intention, then it would seem by today's church standards that he holds a minority viewpoint!
Looking across the church in the UK, at staff positions, vacancy lists and team profiles (both with stipends and volunteer), one might be forgiven for thinking that the prevailing consensus is that the priority order is the other way round. And thats even before you factor in bishops and their free-church equivalents.
Just food for thought ...
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ah yes but then, when we talk about Pastor, in churches today we really mean super human being capable of all things simultaneously. So not one of the list but all of the list that Paul mentions.
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ReplyDeleteGood point Karl. My mum's restaurant was in the paper recently and in the article it said that I was training to be Ordained. The next day at church one of the congregation came up to me and told me that they had read the article. They then said, 'but they made a mistake in it because they said you were being ordained.' I said it wasn't a mistake and that I was. 'But you're an evangelist' was the reply. I proceeded to explain ministry to them...