Who is in charge - the pastor or deacons

Every church I was the pastor of was about the same way. Deacons would recommend a pastor and the congregation would vote on him. When we got to about 3 hundred and not over 5 hundred we started another church by splitting the home church. Where I live right now within 5 to 15 miles are about 5 churches started from one church. All but one are running around 3 to 5 hundred and none to my knowledge are thinking about started another church. They say they owe to much money on their place, times do change.

 

Tempting- been pretty hot in S. Texas this year. :laugh:

Seriously, I'll PM you a contact that might be a good resource in this area. And pray that you get the right man for the job.

 

Times have changed, obviously. What we call pastors today were simply ministers in years past. In my area of the country, there was one pastor, the one they label as senior pastor or lead pastor.

The rest were staff. They were employees. We called them Minister of Youth, Minister of Education, etc. The jobs are the same, only the names have changed. And few of them were ordained until they moved on to pastor a church.

By the way, at the church I serve, we don't have a board of deacons. We just have deacons. We do not hire the pastor or anybody else. He doesn't work for us. We work for him. He is the head of the staff, which reports to him.

Different churches may have different expectations of their deacons, but at our church, running the church is not one of them.

 

I've been a Baptist for about twenty years and even after all that time, as well as about ten years of ministry in Baptist churches, I've never quite understood why so many Baptists try to redefine the role of deacons.

Biblically, deacons were not church leaders or officers within the church. They were men of good character and good repute, known to be Godly men and strong in their walk with Christ, who were essentially called to do the "dirty work" of the church so that the pastor and elders, who should be the leaders of the church, could devote themselves to prayer and to the study of God's word.

I've been in churches where deacons proclaimed themselves to be the leaders and their imagined power quickly went to their heads and the whole "first shall be last and the last shall be first" thing completely went over their heads.

 

Wow, we agree on something. Must be one of those end times signs.

Seriously, my first answer is the Lord is in charge. Apart from that, it should be the pastor, however, it depends on the local church constititution. You are exactly right about deacons. They are not a governing authority. They are servents, certainly can advise the pastor if he asks.

Around this area, there have been groups of deacons that thought they were a governing authority over the congregation and pastor. If they were allowed to evolve into that, then that is the fault of both the congregation and the pastor, as that is not their role. If a church wants that kind of authority, then they need to switch to elder rule, which is the right of any local church.

 

Christ should be in charge. He should be in charge when the search committee seeks a pastor, He should be in charge when the Finance Committee sets the budget, He should be in charge when the Business meeting is held, He should be in charge when there are divisive issues and someone wants to get rid of the Pastor.

The Pastor should stay close to Christ and lead the church by His direction. But when we put ourselves and personal preferences in everything God is thrown out of the church. In many cases Ichabod is written over the door post and the candle stick is removed. There are to many churches that are much like the army in Ezekiel 37.

It should never be said that the Pastor is in charge, the Deacons are in charge, or the church is in charge. Such language is counter productive and evil.

 

Evil is a little over the top, but otherwise I completely agree with you! A rare occurrence but pleasant when it happens. :thumbsup:

 

As did Southern Baptist Founder W. B. Johnson, The Gospel Developed Through the Government and Order of the Churches of Jesus Christ (1846):

 

Acts 6:3-4
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

I Tim. 5:17
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

 

That about goes along with what I've been taught over the years.

We vote on the budget as a congregation as well as missions and direction of the church. I will say most of the time what the pastor wants is voted in but not all the time. The members handles the finances in the church, not the pastor in any church that I've pastored or been a member of.

 

Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm getting lazy in my old age.