Scriptually Where Did Pastoral Authority Come From?

[Scott Hutchinson]

Originally Posted by commonsense

Well stated.

About 30 yrs ago in another city another state a young saint was concerned with the pastoral influence in his congregation. He did a lengthy study and it became a booklet. The primary topic, the role of a shepherd.

He shared his efforts with friends/saints in the church. Unfortunately this is not a fairy tale with a happy ending. The church suffered a large split and families left. The writer of this paper moved away and has not gone to church in many years. It even seemed to efffect the district. The sentiments in the paper were for the most part true ( I read a copy15 yrs later when we lived in this city.) So much of what we do is not the content but the delivery, approach, attitude and spirit. This young man's purpose was not to cause a split, he sincerely hoped to enlighten the pastor.

This young man should have shared his findings with the pastor, and not the congregation I would think.

[Carpenter]

It is tradition in the UPC (anyway), for preachers to say, "You can't be saved without a pastor."

While this is true in an indirect sense, just because I have someone in my life as a pastor does not mean the opposite will also not be true. If I insist on calling a man my pastor as they would suggest, then it coulud be that will most certainly be lost if things are not as they should be.

There is a gross underbelly in some cases that really if you don't know about it, then it doesn't matter if it exists. When the underbelly is exposed, God help those innocent people left hanging in the balance.

Of course, I am not niave enough to believe the oposite is not true, I have seen folks do their best to undermine the efforts of a pastor.

Once again though, this topic is waaaaay to broad to discuss in the abstract. There are many good men, those who believe good men are good men but who could be questionable in some of their practices, those who have never had a negative experience, and those who are totally jaded because of a slight misunderstanding, and a million other circumstances.

Maybe pastoring should be called a practice like doctors, lawyers, and accountants.

"My pastoring practice" Nice...I kinda like that.

[TK Burk]

Originally Posted by Scott Hutchinson

This young man should have shared his findings with the pastor, and not the congregation I would think.

And what would you expect that to have done?