Pastoral Authority

“This question assumes at least two things: 1. That elders, in fact, have authority to direct church members. 2. That their authority has limits. The Bible teaches both truths.” - 9 Marks

“Scripture calls believers to respect church leadership, but it never asks Christians to turn off discernment, ignore conscience, or outsource their faith entirely. When following a pastor is misunderstood, it can quietly damage both leaders and congregations.” C.Leaders

“Where congregants once began with ‘My grandmother always said …’ they now regularly begin with ‘I was listening to this podcast …’ or ‘I saw on YouTube …’” - TGC

9Marks: I want to consider a church member’s responsibility to hold elders accountable.

“Heavy-handed, cult-like leaders abound in churches today. They are in both small and large churches. Micromanagers of the flock and power tripping elder boards are not confined to slick, corporate mega-churches. Pastoral authority has been abused and has overreached its God-given boundaries. The top-down leadership, CEO mentality, bullying, and intimidating are not Jesus’ style of leadership.

Four common acts of stupidity that will get a Pastor fired

Tilting to the Other

Pastoral Example As Pastoral Authority

The Crisis of Pastoral Authority