Church Governance
- Thread starter momi
- Start date
blazingthru
Well-Known Member
Pastor
Elders
Leadership director
Ministry development
Head deacon
Head deaconess
Treasurer
Clerk
Personal ministries
Minister of music
Community service
Health & Temperance
Sabbath school supt
Family Life
Woman’s ministry
Men’s ministry
Youth leader
AYM leader
Adventures Director
Communications
Education
Investment director
Prison Ministries
Elders
Leadership director
Ministry development
Head deacon
Head deaconess
Treasurer
Clerk
Personal ministries
Minister of music
Community service
Health & Temperance
Sabbath school supt
Family Life
Woman’s ministry
Men’s ministry
Youth leader
AYM leader
Adventures Director
Communications
Education
Investment director
Prison Ministries
SND411
A True Soldier Never Dies
Can you explain the differences between those offices?
GV-NA-GI-TLV-GE-I
New Member
I want to send mine...but people will roll their eyes anyway
...and it'll be LOOOOONG. I just don't want to give an explanation of it ahahaha.Not so fast, Momi, here goes lolol! I don't feel so badly now...others are long too:
# Episcopate
* 1.2 Pope
* 1.3 Patriarchs
* 1.4 Major Archbishops
* 1.5 Cardinals
* 1.6 Primates
* 1.7 Metropolitans
* 1.8 Archbishops
* 1.9 Diocesan Bishops
* 1.10 Other Bishops
* 1.11 Positions analogous to that of bishop
o 1.11.1 Equivalents of Diocesan Bishops in law
# 2 Ordinaries and local ordinaries
* 2.1 Ordinaries
* 2.2 Local ordinaries
# 3 Presbyterate
* 3.1 In general
* 3.2 Priests in service outside their diocese
* 3.3 Positions within a diocese at diocesan level
* 3.4 Vicars Forane or Deans
* 3.5 Pastors
* 3.6 Parochial Vicars
* 3.7 Honorary titles
# 4 Diaconate
* 4.1 Archdeacons
* 4.2 Subdeacons
# 5 The Laity
* 5.1 Lay Ministry/Lay Apostolate
* 5.2 Religious
Last edited:
momi
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the responses. I have been doing a bit of research on church governance...
So, structurally, who is accountable to whom? For example, are the pastors accountable to the elders? Is the pastor/s one of the elders?
What are the deacons and elders responsible for specifically.
So, structurally, who is accountable to whom? For example, are the pastors accountable to the elders? Is the pastor/s one of the elders?
What are the deacons and elders responsible for specifically.
msa
New Member
Bishop (he's the Pastor of my church, but he's the head of all the churches we have). Everyone is under him. Everyone is ultimately accountable to him (directly or through their pastor).
Pastors...one at each church. They all are accountable to Bishop, but they are the head of their individual churches. The only other pastors are the youth pastors, and they are accountable to the Pastor at their church.
Ministers...people who are trained or are training to be ministers (schooling wise). They are usually the head of some department in the church but don't have to be. They are all accountable to the pastor of the church.
Deacons...not ministers. Keep the church running smoothly (though everyone helps with that). They do lots of different jobs. They're accountable to the Pastor.
Leadership...heads of all the different ministries (sunday school, youth, finance, drug/alcohol, usher, service aide, etc. etc.). They are accountable to the Pastor.
So it's Bishop...then Pastor...then Ministers/Deacons/Leadership (all at the same level).
Pastors...one at each church. They all are accountable to Bishop, but they are the head of their individual churches. The only other pastors are the youth pastors, and they are accountable to the Pastor at their church.
Ministers...people who are trained or are training to be ministers (schooling wise). They are usually the head of some department in the church but don't have to be. They are all accountable to the pastor of the church.
Deacons...not ministers. Keep the church running smoothly (though everyone helps with that). They do lots of different jobs. They're accountable to the Pastor.
Leadership...heads of all the different ministries (sunday school, youth, finance, drug/alcohol, usher, service aide, etc. etc.). They are accountable to the Pastor.
So it's Bishop...then Pastor...then Ministers/Deacons/Leadership (all at the same level).
aribell
formerly nicola.kirwan
I am Episcopalian/Anglican, and on the individual church level, it works like thus:
Rector (Head Priest/Pastor)
Associate Priests (generally have a particular area of ministry in the church on which they focus, in addition to preaching and teaching, etc.)
Deacons (read the Gospel, lead service-oriented ministries)
Vestry--an elected board of leaders in the church.
So, the Rector is the leader and is ultimately responsible for the spiritual life and direction of the church. He/she does what pastors do in general, along with the associate priests if there are any (depends on size). There may or may not be deacons. In our denomination, deacons are not ordained at the congregational level, but at the denominational level, and a particular church may or may not be assigned a deacon depending on that church's needs/the availability of deacons in the area.
The vestry is really a powerful body in the church. Anything having to do with church finances and other administrative details must be approved by the vestry, even if it goes against the pastor's wishes. The vestry is elected by the congregation.
And then there's the staff, which includes people like Director of Music, Director of Children's Ministry, etc. They do not have authority, save over their own area. There's also an office called "Rector's Warden" and that person is kind of like the Rector's right hand man, helping things to get done.
As far as accountability is concerned, the vestry would be the ones to check a pastor if he's "off," but it's really more like, the head priest is accountable to the Bishop, who is in turn accountable to the Presiding Bishop and all the other Bishops in the denomination.
Rector (Head Priest/Pastor)
Associate Priests (generally have a particular area of ministry in the church on which they focus, in addition to preaching and teaching, etc.)
Deacons (read the Gospel, lead service-oriented ministries)
Vestry--an elected board of leaders in the church.
So, the Rector is the leader and is ultimately responsible for the spiritual life and direction of the church. He/she does what pastors do in general, along with the associate priests if there are any (depends on size). There may or may not be deacons. In our denomination, deacons are not ordained at the congregational level, but at the denominational level, and a particular church may or may not be assigned a deacon depending on that church's needs/the availability of deacons in the area.
The vestry is really a powerful body in the church. Anything having to do with church finances and other administrative details must be approved by the vestry, even if it goes against the pastor's wishes. The vestry is elected by the congregation.
And then there's the staff, which includes people like Director of Music, Director of Children's Ministry, etc. They do not have authority, save over their own area. There's also an office called "Rector's Warden" and that person is kind of like the Rector's right hand man, helping things to get done.
As far as accountability is concerned, the vestry would be the ones to check a pastor if he's "off," but it's really more like, the head priest is accountable to the Bishop, who is in turn accountable to the Presiding Bishop and all the other Bishops in the denomination.
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