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Titles have always been a problem for the church. Two of the trickiest are “elder” and “pastor.” Both refer to an office as well as a function. Neither has anything to do with where one receives his paycheque. In our church, there are five men who are described by these words. Two receive their paycheques from BBC and three do not. But all are pastors.

BBC has undergone some wonderful reformations over the years, not the least of which has been a realigning of our order of church government with the biblical pattern of a plurality of pastors. Such a reformation has been a tremendous blessing to the health of our church, as many gifted men (raised up by God) have been added to the team of leaders. Decisions are made after hearing the input of all the men and this process serves as a built-in safety gauge.

The Scriptures teach that there is wisdom in the multitude of counsellors and this particular principle is evident week after week in the functioning of the eldership. Though Christo and I carry the lion’s share of the pastoral burden, we do not carry it alone. Mark and Barry and Neil each shoulder their pastoral burdens and they provide leadership in many ways.

As an example, we would probably not be engaged in our current Grace Groups if it were not for Neil’s passion for them. It was a long discussion, but we (i.e. the rest of the leadership team) finally surrendered!

I am making this point because I desire that BBC increasingly appreciate the plurality of the pastoral team and that we work on practically acknowledging the reality that we lead the church as a team. Let me give an example.

Christo and I often receive emails from members with regard to a concern that they have for a ministry, or for some idea they have with reference to beginning a ministry, or even occasionally a complaint (usually aimed at Christo, of course!). We are happy for the correspondence but we would prefer that such letters be addressed to the eldership as a whole. In fact when we receive such correspondence we almost always forward them to the other pastors.

Now, of course, if you have a personal issue with one of the pastors in particular, then that is a different story. What I am stressing are those situations in which the pastors are addressed as a whole. In such cases we must work on remembering that there are not only two of them, but rather there are five of us. Doubtless, tradition and habit die hard, and so we will need to continue to work hard at this paradigm shift.

Christo and I are committed to seeing this plurality principle increasingly becoming the accepted and practiced ethos of the church. Thank you for your help in this matter.