Is the professional pastor a biblical concept?

What I mean by 'professional pastor' is the full time paid pastor associated solely to one local congregation of believers.

Is this a biblical practice to hire a full time pastor to lead or do all the spiritual work of the local church?

The bible does teach that the workman is worthy of his wages, and not to muzzle the ox that treads on the grain.

As Christians, we need to support our brothers and sisters in need. I believe this includes supporting those who have given up their jobs to go into full time ministry.  I don't think too many people will disagree with this.  On the other hand, Paul did not ask for any financial support himself, he mended tents in his busy ministry to support himself.

Look at the large number of professionals who call themselves pastors nowadays, do all of them deserve your support indiscriminately?

The test is who he is working for? His own career or God?   What drives the professional pastor?  Can you see him consistently making decisions that build up the church or does his decisions build up himself and what makes him look good?  Does he covet fame and recognition?

Does your pastor or prospective-pastor talk about or look for:

• career advancements? Is it an independent church or is it a large multi church organisation where there are lots of opportunities to be promoted or transferred to a (hopefully) larger congregation? 
• job roles he wants and roles he doesn't want? Will the role increase his career prospects for his next career move 
• how senior his role will be relative to the other pastoral staff? Does he mind working under another pastor, or does he want to be numbero uno 
• does he care how well-to-do the congregation is? is it a rich professional church of doctors and accountants or a blue collar church of farmers and plumbers?  Will the church be able to support him and give him his annual pay increases?

If the answer to any of the above is 'yes', you may have a career churchman and not one who has been called by God. 

Taking the pastoral job is just a career step for him. As Jesus puts it, he is a 'hireling'.  Don't expect a hireling to sacrifice himself for the sheep.  Some might, but I doubt you'll find many.

How important is the will of God in his decision?  Does he genuinely seek God's will or does things according to his human wisdom or training?

Jesus told about the parable of the lost sheep, where the shepherd left the ninety-nine and goes after the one lost sheep. He goes all out to bring back the lost sheep, to the point of leaving the ninety-nine at risk.  Can you see your 'hireling' pastor do this?   Does he, instead, play politics to get what he wants, even pushing those who dare question him out of the church?   Let them be eaten, let them fend for themselves. Has he even made any attempt to reconcile or restore the sheep?  By this you can tell if your pastor is a hireling or a real shepherd.

Keep away from such and don't expect him to:

• work well with other pastors before jealousy and bad feeling rear its ugly head
• exhibit genuine humility to the flock
• love the flock and labour for them like a shepherd
• remain loyal to the local church
• seek God first before making a decision. He will 'plan' and 'strategize' and 'organise' programs and activities based on human wisdom and what he was trained in.  Planning is important but it must be subservient to what God wants and where He leads.

I spoke with a pastor who was searching for another pastor as the church has expanded. He moaned about people not interested due to the remuneration, the benefits, the career prospects, the size of the congregation, the job description, etc.  In the entire conversation, there was not a single mention of God's will in the decision. There was no difference between applying for a pastoral post compared to someone who applies for a job in Walmart.  I suppose this is not surprising as many pastors think of the church as an institution or a club, rather than the body of Christ.
  

The reverse side of the coin is the congregation that hires the professional pastor and hands over all their responsibilities to him.  The pastor, if he is genuine, becomes overloaded and burns out. The work of the local church is to be done by the local church, not a few individuals. But this is the current trend in most churches.  The ugly side of this is that the insecure pastor may be tempted to keep the flock overly dependant on him -  what better way to have job security. Someone said the pastor who is doing his job is the one who makes himself redundant - the church members are able to support and build up one another. How many pastors dare attempt to do this?

The other down side of hiring a professional pastor is that he is at the mercy of the congregation with regards to his career or promotion prospects. Thus he better not annoy any important person in the church or he may find himself looking for a job. This affects what he preach and will tempt him to compromise, especially if he is a young pastor. Will he dare reprimand an elder who is living in sin?    The professional pastor will likely weigh the pros and cons before making his decision. If a person has been called by God, and he knows God is his provider, I am sure he will have no issues with confronting such an elder. If he loses his job, so what? God will move him when He is ready. Before that, no one can move him without God's approval. One young pastor testified that he did just that - he confronted an elder who was living in sin, and lost his job as a result. The pastor moved on to another congregation which is now bigger than his other church because God blessed his faithfulness. Faithful men are rare. 

There are merits in the Brethren assembly where the elders do most of the pastoral work. This over dependence on the single professional pastor is an unhealthy trend.

So back to my original question?  Is the professional pastor biblical?   Let me put it in another way, can you have a professional shepherd? A 'hireling' as Jesus puts it. (John 10:12.13)
I'm not aware of a single case in the New Testament of a professional shepherd. Can you think of one?

However if someone is genuinely called by God to serve full time in the local church, AND his calling has been confirmed independently, we should support him as a full time worker just like we should support full time missionaries.  When you find one of these genuine ministers of God, support him all the way and treasure him - they're a  rare breed.
But if they are one of the many career pastors who threats it just like a job, you're better off holding back and wait for a man who has been called by God.

I'm no Greek scholar, but after searching for the word 'pastor' in the bible, the original literal word used is 'shepherd' - one who looks after and protects the flock. It has been translated 'pastor' in most translations. If we look at every pastor as a 'shepherd', how many of these do or behave like a shepherd ?  I see so many who do not exhibit the shepherd's heart. How can they if they just applied for a 'job'?  How will they ever go after the one lost sheep without this heart? It is not possible to have this kind of shepherd's heart unless this person has been called by God and given such a heart by the Holy Spirit.

Wake up, O sleepy church, and discern what kind of person you have as your pastor. Don't automatically assume he is the Lord's anointed. Have you verified that he really is the Lord's anointed or did he just applied for a job? Don't wash your hands and say it's not your problem either. If you have an unfit pastor, imagine what kind of harm you are going to put your church members through as long as the false shepherd is there.

The career pastor will do more harm to your church than you know.
Much of the harm will not be visible - creating doubts in people, reducing faith in God and His word, hindering the growth of the church, holding back the gifted people in the church, causing divisions, and keeping the church nice and lukewarm.  The sermon is preached every week, but the church remains unfed because the sermon is a hollow shell, tingling ears and flattering egos.  There is an assumption that the pastor has to preach. But the role of the shepherd is to take care of the sheep and protect them. Preaching is one method of feeding the flock (although there is a question if this is the best way to feed a sheep), but if this is all your pastor does, he is certainly not functioning as a shepherd.  He needs to be caring, nurturing, growing, discipling, protecting aspects of shepherding too. Some pastors have never visited their flock in years.  How can you shepherd without talking with the people?  Instead of caring for the sheep, I know of so called shepherds who push their sheep out of the fold deliberately because the sheep dares to question them. These are false shepherds and hirelings.

The test will be the fruits of the pastor's ministry - have the church members grown in their love for God and each other as a result of this pastor's ministry?  Don't look at numbers, don't look at skills or techniques as these are very deceiving and can be manipulated. It's easy to train a group of people on how to witness or lead a bible study.  The cults do these better than us.   Look at his love for Christ, and love for others. These cannot be manufactured and you cannot hoodwink all people all the time. Eventually they will be found out..if the sheep is willing to open their eyes.

If you walk closely with God, I believe He will open your eyes to see what is happening in your church.


Here is an interesting article I found for further reading
http://www.creationliberty.com/articles/onepastor.php