Ministers Under Pastoral Authority

[Sam]

Some times we talk here about ministers/evangelist/missionaries/pastors being under authority or accountable to other ministers.

I personally think it is good for any Christian to be part of a local church and to be "under" a pastor or accountable to a pastor. I'm not talking about being under the "control" of a pastor and checking with a pastor before doing anything or making any decision. In my opinion, there are elders/presbyters/bishops/overseers/shepherds/pastors in each local church and they have a God-given "authority." This has been abused in some cases and some local churches have become cults where everything is controlled by a dictatorial pastor. But I do think there is a moderate, middle of the road position that fits within the guidelines of Scripture.

I'm 71 years old. I became a Christian over 50 years ago. I preached my first sermon over 50 years ago. I go to a small church and the pastor is the age of my children. If I know that I am not going to be in a Sunday service or at the weekend outreach, I ordinarily let him know personally, by phone, or by text message. Also, if I am going to be preaching somewhere, I let him know. This is not to "get his permission" but just to keep him informed. I also am on the Home and Hospital Visitation Team for another Church. After we make a visit, we file a report to a pastor who oversees that area of ministry. We also include the pastor over the prayer ministry on copy. When I make the report I also include my pastor on copy just to let him know what I am doing.

On another forum there was a discussion about the Apostles Paul and Peter and if they were accountable to someone or not. I responded with a couple of posts and I will include them here in this thread.