Chapter 8
8 The Anointing To Pastor...............................................................................
The word "pastor" appears only once in The King James
Version. That's amazing, when it's such an important office and
so widespread—more so than any other office.
The sole reference is in Ephesians 4:11: "And he gave
some,... pastors ...." However, we can find references to this
office elsewhere in Scripture because the Greek word translated
"pastor" also is translated "shepherd."
Something else you need to understand to save you from
confusion is the fact that the Greek word episkopos translated
"bishop" is also translated "overseer," for they are the same
word. Both words also mean "pastor."
In his farewell message to the elders, Paul said to the Church
at Ephesus, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the
flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
OVERSEERS, to feed the church o f God which he hath
purchased with his own blood'' (Acts 20:28). These elders were
pastors.
Great controversy has come concerning elders. Study Early
Church history and you'll discover that the Greek word
translated "elder" simply means "an older person."
In the beginning days of the Church, they didn't have all of
the ministries listed in the New Testament. The only ministries
the Church had in the beginning were the apostles.
Then came the great persecution in Jerusalem, and the early
Christians were scattered abroad. They went everywhere
preaching Jesus, and every one of them was a preacher.
Acts 8:5 says that "Philip went down to Samaria and
preached Christ unto them." But Philip was not an evangelist