So Christ himself gave\u00a0the apostles,\u00a0the prophets,\u00a0the evangelists,\u00a0the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ\u00a0may be built up until we all reach unity\u00a0in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God\u00a0and become mature,attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.<\/p>\n

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Then we will no longer be infants,\u00a0tossed back and forth by the waves,\u00a0and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love,\u00a0we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head,\u00a0that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows\u00a0and builds itself up\u00a0in love,\u00a0as each part does its work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pastors are among those who are appointed to equip the people for works of service. Their service is, as that of a body, to each other and to those they come in contact with in daily life. As equippers, pastors are responsible to have systems in place for the training and building up of the body. Part of this system is training those skilled at small group facilitation, hospital visitation, greeting and neighborhood care.<\/p>\n

The reason this conversation is important is two-fold. The bible doesn’t actually tell us how big the early church was – we know they met in houses, but also we could make an argument that they met in larger places. What did they do with the three thousand that were added on the day of Pentecost? We don’t know. However, church growth and leadership study tells us that pastors need different skill sets for different size congregation, and that a congregation will grow to the size of the skill set, and no larger. If we believe that house churches are the only good model for a church, we eliminate the skill sets for larger-size congregations. We also (in my opinion) limit the possibilities for reaching a city – house churches by nature would tend to stay in one demographic, not easily crossing socio-economic lines (and in some places, racial lines).<\/p>\n

Yet, there are those, even in large churches that feel the pastor is the only truly appointed pray-er for the sick, counselor for the devastated, kisser of babies, etc. This is an unrealistic expectation because we are each gifted in some areas and not in others. Any one pastor only has one personality. Good stewardship of self and the Body says that the pastor is not the right person for every circumstance. There are those in the body who lean toward mercy, toward administration, toward connective ministries – and each needs to take their place. The idea of a shepherd is to provide food for the flock, but a shepherd of people also provides opportunity for each person to explore and grow in his\/her giftings. Thus, we end up with systems and structures of multiplication.<\/p>\n