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The Form of Presbyterial Church Government describes four church officers: pastors, teachers/doctors, elders, and deacons. The pastor is a "minister of the gospel", while the doctor is a minister who "doth more excel in exposition of scripture, in teaching sound doctrine and convincing gainsayers than he doth in application". The doctors are ...
In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions (e.g., Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Methodism) an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching ...
A reference to the qualifications required of deacons appears in Paul's First Epistle to Timothy 3:8–13 (NRSV translation): Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
The term Pastor, Shepherd, and Elder are all the same position. The term "Senior Pastor" does not exist in scripture, but - in multi-staffed churches - is commonly used to denote the pastor who does the preaching. Many Protestant churches call their ministers "pastors". Present-day usage of the word is rooted in the Biblical metaphor of ...
The scriptural basis and description of the role and qualifications of the deacon can be found in Acts 6:1–9, and in 1 Timothy 3:1–13. [81] They may be seminarians preparing for ordination to the priesthood, "transitional deacons", or "permanent deacons" who do not intend to be ordained as priests.
They may have theological degrees and training, which may be required in certain instances, but not all lay ministries require this qualification. Lay ministers are generally chosen in small communities where it is difficult to find professional clergy to serve roles, and in which lay ministers are appropriate to fulfill the pastoral duties (e ...
The word presbyter etymologically derives from Greek πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros), the comparative form of πρέσβυς (presbys), "old man". [6] However, while the English word priest has presbyter as the etymological origin, [7] the distinctive Greek word (Greek ἱερεύς hiereus) for "priest" is never used for presbyteros/episkopos in the New Testament, except as being part of ...
Deacons, Ordained Elders, and Methodist Licensed Local Pastors are addressed as Reverend, unless they hold a doctorate, in which case they are often addressed in formal situations as The Reverend Doctor.