Are growth group leaders pastors?

Are growth group leaders pastors? If so, should we start calling them pastors? If you’re a growth group leader, how would you feel about being called, or calling yourself, a pastor? If you’re a growth group member, would you call your leader your pastor?

This is an important question. Terminology matters because terminology about a role shapes our expectations on what that role involves. This is happens whether we’re in the role or not. As evangelical Christians, we want to be biblical in our thinking about ministry but also wise about how we use words.

‘Pastor’ is the same word as ‘shepherd’ in biblical Greek. So when Paul wrote about Christ’s provision of pastors for the church in Ephesians 4:11, he used the same word that Jesus used to describe himself as the good shepherd in John 10:11. Likewise, the verb ‘shepherd/care for sheep’ is used for ordinary shepherds in 1 Corinthians 9:7 but also for church pastors, such as in Acts 20:28 or 1 Peter 5:2. What this means is that a pastor is simply a person who cares for God’s people in a similar way to how a shepherd cares for their sheep.

That’s a helpful start, but how does a pastor care for God’s people? Lead them outside for some grass and water? One of the most helpful passages is Acts 20:17-35, in which Paul describes his own ministry and exhorts the Ephesian elders to continue serving (shepherding) in the same way. His emphasis is on teaching (vv. 20-21, 27), guarding against false teaching (vv. 28-31), and helping the weak (v. 35). These activities (along with prayer) come up frequently in other passages about the role and activities of Christian leaders (e.g. 2 Tim 2:14-15, 4:1-5; Titus 1:5-9).

So are growth group leaders pastors? Well, if they are teaching the Bible, guarding against false teaching and caring for people, then yes they are! They are functioning in the role of pastors for their group.

Should we therefore start calling them pastors? No, I don’t think so. Why not, if they’re functioning that way biblically? I think there are a few reasons to be cautious.

Firstly, labels are not always helpful. We tend to attach a bit too much importance to the status that ‘pastor’ carries. The New Testament itself is fairly flexible when using terms such as pastor, teacher, elder and overseer. It might be wise not to cling to any one of these too closely.

Secondly, many people, both leaders and group members, have quite high or unrealistic expectations of an official pastor. In some people’s minds a pastor should know their Bible inside out, have great relational (even counselling) skills, and be highly available. These are hard enough expectations for paid pastors to deal with, so I’d rather not risk burdening growth group leaders with them too.

Thirdly, calling growth group leaders pastors potentially obscures the relationship between them and the overall pastor or pastoral team. It’s actually helpful to have some distinction between leaders who lead a small group for a limited time under the oversight of senior leaders, and pastors who are leading the whole church for a long time and who take responsibility for many leaders. I think this distinction helps people see the networks of pastoral relationships across a whole church. 

Fourthly, calling growth group leaders pastors potentially obscures the relationship between the small group and the church. There’s a risk people would opt out of the main church if they came to see their group as an isolated church under the leadership of a sole pastor.

Maybe I’m being overly cautious, but while I think growth group leaders do function as pastors within a church, I suggest that we give them a more specific, non-biblical name. As far as I’ve seen this does seem to be the usual practice, at least in Australia. 

Having said that, there are plenty of other ways we can talk about growth group leaders and their work in a way that demonstrates their pastoral nature. For example, we can teach people about the shared pastoral ministry exercised by the staff team and the group leader, involving teaching, guarding and caring, etc. We can talk about how leaders might pastor people in particular situations and how Bible teaching fits with that. Finally, we can teach and apply passages about Christian church leadership to our growth group leaders, even pointing out how theologically they are pastors in our particular church context. 

Growth group leading is a great ministry, even a pastoral ministry, for which the Bible gives heaps of guidance. Let’s just keep things simple and avoid the label of pastors.