What do we call those who lead God’s church?

In the New Testament the two main terms for leaders in God’s church were called either ‘elder’ (this is the translation of the Greek word, presbuteros) or ‘overseer’ (this is the translation of the Greek word episkopos, from which we get our word ‘bishop’ – but in the New Testament ‘bishops’ were ministers of local churches and not of a diocese).

Essentially the two words are synonyms.  Assisting the elders/overseers were the ‘servants’ (this is the translation of the Greek word diakonos, from which we get our word ‘deacon’). Today, however, there are many new names for leaders of God’s church: for instance, vicar or rector, father or padre, priest, parson, pastor or preacher, senior minister or lead minister, or just minister.

The term vicar derives from the English prefix ‘vice’, and has the meaning of a ‘deputy’.  In the first place, vicars are earthly representative of Christ, but in addition they are also representatives of their bishop. In Greek the term for a vicar is the word epitropos, which was used to describe a manager, foreman or steward. So in Jesus’ parable of the labourers epitropos is translated in the New Revised Standard Bible as manager (see Matthew 20.8). The other term which is found in English Anglican churches is rector.  Originally a rector was the minister of a parish where all the tithes were passed to him.  The word rector is derived from the Latin for ‘ruler’.

Another term which is used in Anglican churches and other Protestant churches is parson, which simply means a ‘person of the church’ (the Latin term is persona ecclesiae.  viz. a person of the church). A related term is padre, which comes from the Latin word for father (pater) and in the United Kingdom is most commonly used to refer to a military chaplain.

In Roman Catholic churches and also in High Anglican churches the term that is used as a person who lead’s God’s church is father.  However, Jesus said to his disciples “call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father – the one in heaven’ (Matthew 23.9).  Another term which is found in Roman Catholic and Anglican churches is the term priest.  This is an Old Testament term and in the New Testament is never used to describe those who lead God’s church.  True, the term priest is used of Jesus in Hebrews, but there the reference is to Jesus being the mediator of a new covenant by being less a priest but rather a victim on the altar in order to bear the sins of many.

In most American Protestant churches and also in some English Free Churches the term pastor is found. This term comes from the Latin word for shepherd, and comes from the Latin verb pascere, which means “to lead to pasture, set to grazing or cause to eat”.  However, the implication is that church members can be likened to silly sheep with no mind of their own!  In English Baptist churches the term pastor is normally used of those who are ‘lay pastors’ and have not been trained to be ministers. In many American churches where preaching is a central part of worship, “preacher” is often used.  The truth is that all pastors are preachers, but not all preachers are pastors.

In Baptist churches and other Free Churches the favoured term is minister, which means ‘servant’.  In that respect I find it strange that we have ‘senior ministers’ , ‘lead ministers, and ‘assistant ministers’.  I am conscious that when I was in my last church, I was called the ‘senior minister’.  However, if I were starting again, then I would prefer to be called ‘minister’ and nothing more.  As Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to become great among you, must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10.43, 44).

So what should we call those who lead God’s church today?  Clearly there is no one answer. However, my preferred term is ‘minister’.