Does a Senior Pastor have authority and final say over Associate Pastor

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MarquezsDg

Puritan Board Freshman
Does scripture ever speak of a Senior Pastor? Does this Senior Pastor have final say in everything. We are having a huge issue regarding this at my church. Ill be honest I never gave this much though but now that I am researching it it appears that a church should have a board of Elders and if one or two are Pastors then fine but I dont see anywhere in scripture in which one Elder has more authority than another. It never dawned on me but is the title Senior and associate pastor even biblical? It appears we have Elders. James mention regarding the sick that the Elders should lay hands on him nothing about one Elder? Paul writes to Elders. Just never really thought about it and now it seems pretty clear that it should be a board of Elders. What yall think?
 
I think that the scriptures give a pattern for a presbyterian model of church government. This guards against one man becoming too powerful and ruling as a dictator. Yes, plurality of elders is biblical and therefore wise.
 
The Senior Pastor designation is often helpful in terms of reporting relationships when there's more than one person on the church staff. In the workplace, it's good for employees to clearly know who they answer to, and having more than one guy answering directly to an elder board is asking for trouble. But in terms of governing the church as a whole, I agree with you that the all-powerful senior pastor is a bad model. Elder-led at the top is biblical and wise.
 
In a presbyterian government, the senior pastor is one among many elders that collectively makes decisions as a "session."

A first among equals perhaps, but only one vote among several.
 
Andres said:
I think that the scriptures give a pattern for a presbyterian model of church government. This guards against one man becoming too powerful and ruling as a dictator. Yes, plurality of elders is biblical and therefore wise.
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:ditto:
 
In my church we don't use the title "senior" pastor. We have four elders, but only one of them is paid and he does the preaching 90% of the time. Although he is just one elder amongst four, the others would probably tend to defer to him in matters of doctrine because of his education and experience. In matters of finance, however, he would probably tend to defer to them. In either case, it is never one person dictating, but rather four coming together and prayerfully considering things.
 
ITA with the danger of concentrated power. As a Baptist(SBC) I have seen the fallacies of a CEO type leadership. I've watched pastors who have had blessed ministries destroy their pastorates and/or churches simply because there was not anyone in authority who could gently rebuke them. Elder led Baptist churches are growing in popularity.

If you want an interesting undertaking ask a Baptist pastor (CEO model) about the Elders in the church. You get about as many different answers as pastors you ask: "The elders are my staff; it's the committees, it's the committee <s>chairmen</s> chairperson; etc." I know Baptist pastors who rightly divide the Word from Genesis to Revelation but the second you get to elders they are off into the wilderness of Western philosophy.


Edit note: Does the board support html strikethrough? That's the reason for the <s> above. Would have been a great special effect but.....:D
 
The tenedency towards using the term "senior pastor" concerns me as weakening our commitment to presbyterianism. It may be the fact that a congregation has more than one pastor and it may be the case that one, due to his greater age and experience should be given greater respect. This is the only sense of 'senior pastor' I can see would be acceptable. More often it is used to designate a particular role or office. A gradation of the ministerial office--pastors with different authority, one pastor reporting to and taking direction from another--is not only not presbyterian, it is the principle upon which episcopacy functions. Doesn't it make you wonder how many 'presbyterian' churches are effectively 'episcopal', if not in theory, at least in practice?
 
Brother,

I notice you are Baptist; so like all of us Baptists, you believe that the Bible teaches the autonomy of the local church (in contradistinction to what our Presbyterian brothers believe).

That being said, a plurality of elders is even MORE important. It is also important that this plurality not be "hierarchical" placing one man at the top of the pyramid. Pastors/elders (same thing), have a duty not to become dictators.

However, we do see a distinction among elders in the New Testament; apparently there are elders that teach, and elders that perform other functions; those who preach and teach are to receive "double honor" (along with those who rule well) (1 Timothy 5:17). Thus, I think it would be Biblical to have a single paid "senior pastor" (I would prefer to just call him "pastor" or "teaching elder"), along with unpaid "lay elders." If you had two paid elders, one which had more "seniority" I could see the purpose of calling one "senior" pastor, and the other just "pastor" or "associate"...I believe there is some distinction which is permissible from an age/experience view (such as with Paul/Timothy).

Sorry, rambling...sometimes I think outloud...
 
What about if two preach? We are a bilingual church. We have a pastor full time ( senior) and an associate ( part time) that preaches. Both men were called by called. The only reason one is considered the senior pastor is because our church could only employ one full time. But that does nothing to tell me he should have the final say in something regarding the associate pastor. Thanks this helped alot but the issue I am having is that I don't see anywhere in scripture one leader. I continue to see a group of elders being the same practice. We are having a huge discussion. On this on Sunday and I'm in a amazed spot because my pastor is the Senior Pastor and I don't agree with him on this. I hope he understands that I do respect him but I ultimately have to submit to what the scriptures say on this.
 
MarquezsDg said:
What about if two preach? We are a bilingual church. We have a pastor full time ( senior) and an associate ( part time) that preaches. Both men were called by called. The only reason one is considered the senior pastor is because our church could only employ one full time. But that does nothing to tell me he should have the final say in something regarding the associate pastor. Thanks this helped alot but the issue I am having is that I don't see anywhere in scripture one leader. I continue to see a group of elders being the same practice. We are having a huge discussion. On this on Sunday and I'm in a amazed spot because my pastor is the Senior Pastor and I don't agree with him on this. I hope he understands that I do respect him but I ultimately have to submit to what the scriptures say on this.
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Without more information being provided I'll just say this: The senior pastor seeing things that way (unless perhaps the assoc. pastor is doing something unbiblical) is a good way to split a church. Those who are left will tend to look to the pastor as "the man of God" and will implicitly do whatever he says. This is a model of leadership that is common in Pentecostal/Charismatic churches as well as many Independent Fundamental Baptist churches.

A plurality of elders presupposes that one cannot simply make a decision (especially an important decision) without the consent of the others. But the title of assoc. or asst. pastor presupposes a subordinate relationship, and that's often how its viewed, even in many churches that have an elder board.
 
MarquezsDg said:
What about if two preach? We are a bilingual church. We have a pastor full time ( senior) and an associate ( part time) that preaches. Both men were called by called. The only reason one is considered the senior pastor is because our church could only employ one full time. But that does nothing to tell me he should have the final say in something regarding the associate pastor. Thanks this helped alot but the issue I am having is that I don't see anywhere in scripture one leader. I continue to see a group of elders being the same practice. We are having a huge discussion. On this on Sunday and I'm in a amazed spot because my pastor is the Senior Pastor and I don't agree with him on this. I hope he understands that I do respect him but I ultimately have to submit to what the scriptures say on this.
Click to expand...

I will say (more clearly than what I said above), that there does seem to be a certain degree of authority afforded more to one than the other, based upon seniority and maturity. Think of Paul and Timothy. Clearly some hierarchy based on experience is seen throughout the NT, though it is not clearly defined. Kind of a "I'll follow your lead as long as it doesn't violate scripture" principle, where the younger defer to the older, unless there is clear reason not to.
 
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