Who Is the Pastor?

Golden Text

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you.” (Hebrews 13:17, BSB) · Read in the Bible

The lesson shows that the Shepherd, with a capital letter, is the Lord Jesus Himself — the Good Shepherd and the Chief Shepherd —, that the pastor of the local church is an undershepherd entrusted with shepherding the flock that belongs to God, and that honoring this work is different from making a man the owner of the sheep.

Try this test on Sunday: ask five people at your church what the pastor does on a Tuesday morning. You will hear "he studies," "no idea," "he rests," and, almost always, a slightly awkward silence. We see the man in the pulpit for forty minutes a week and think we already know what he is.

Yet this lesson starts with a question that comes before that one. Before asking who the pastor of the church is, the Bible forces us to ask: who is the Pastor — the Shepherd — with a capital letter? In this lesson we are going to see three things: that the true Pastor is the Lord Jesus Himself, that He entrusts the care of His flock to men called by Him, and that honoring these men is different from making one of them the owner of the sheep.

I — First of All: The Pastor Is Christ

The Golden Text of this lesson was written by a boy who spent years in the fields with real sheep. David knew the smell of the sheepfold and knew how to face a lion and a bear for the sake of a single sheep (1 Samuel 17:34-35). And when he set out to describe God, he used the only word that could do the job: "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1). Notice who the shepherd in the sentence is. It is not the priest of Israel. It is the LORD.

A thousand years later, Jesus took that same image and put His own name on it: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." (John 10:11). That is the difference between a boss and a Shepherd. A boss sends the sheep ahead; the Good Shepherd goes ahead and dies in its place. And that is how the Bible settles the matter: He is the great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20), the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:25), and the Chief Shepherd: "And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away." (1 Peter 5:4).

Now comes the turning point of the lesson, and it needs to be very clear. If Christ is the Chief Shepherd, the pastor of your church is not the Pastor: he is an under-shepherd. Paul said this in plain words to the leaders of Ephesus: "Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28). Read that again slowly: the church belongs to God. The flock does not belong to the pastor — it was bought with blood that was not his own. He cares for what belongs to Christ, and one day he will give an account to Christ.

This does not diminish the pastor; this explains the pastor. God promised: "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding." (Jeremiah 3:15). The pastor is a gift from God to the church — and he is a gift precisely because he is not its owner.

αβ In the original — Greek. The New Testament uses three words for the same office. Poimén is the shepherd of sheep (pastor): the one who feeds, guides, and protects. Epískopos is the overseer, the one who "looks over" to make sure everything is well. Presbýteros is the elder, the mature man. And the most interesting part: in Acts 20 all three fall upon the same men — Paul calls the leaders of Ephesus elders (sending from Miletus to Ephesus to call for the elders of the church, v. 17) and, eleven verses later, says that the Holy Spirit made them overseers to shepherd the flock (v. 28). Three names, one single work.

II — What God Placed in the Pastor's Hands

Ephesians answers what this office is for: "And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers," (Ephesians 4:11) — and the reason comes in the next verse: "to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ," (Ephesians 4:12). Keep this in mind: the ministry exists for the church, not the church for the minister.

The first part of the work is caring. That is what Isaiah describes: "He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes." (Isaiah 40:11). In practice, this means teaching the Word, feeding with sound doctrine, protecting the flock from false teaching (Acts 20:29-30), and going after those who have wandered away — just as in Jesus' question: "“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”" (Luke 15:4).

The second part is administering. The Bible calls this stewardship: "So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Now it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). A steward is someone who takes good care of what does not belong to him. Joseph understood this in Egypt: he administered Potiphar's house and later the entire nation, and none of it was his own property (Genesis 41:38-44).

And here is a clarification we rarely hear: the pastor does not handle the church's money alone. In the Assemblies of God, the church has a treasury and a board, with financial accountability, and the pastor presides over the work — he is not the cashier. This is not bureaucracy: it is protection. It protects the flock and protects the pastor himself from any suspicion.

There is also a third thing, and it is the heart of our quarter. The one who distributes spiritual gifts is not the pastor — it is the Holy Spirit: "All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines." (1 Corinthians 12:11). The pastor does not hand out talent or choose who will have which gift. What he does — and does a great deal — is help you discover the gift the Spirit has already placed in you and develop that gift in order to serve (Ephesians 4:12). He is the coach, not the source.

🏛 Curiosity — the workday of a shepherd. In the morning he led the flock out of the sheepfold and walked ahead, calling — the sheep followed the voice they knew. He spent the day in the pasture counting heads; if one went missing, he dropped everything and searched until he found it. He always carried two objects: the rod, a weapon against wolves, thieves, and snakes, and the staff, the crook used to pull up a sheep that had fallen — the rod and staff that bring comfort (Psalm 23:4). At night he gathered them all in, counting them one by one as they passed under the rod, and then slept across the entrance of the sheepfold, serving as the door himself. It was not a job for lazy people.

III — Honoring the Pastor — and What Honoring Is Not

The Bible commands us to honor those who work like this, and it commands it twice in the same letter: "Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Hebrews 13:7) and "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give an account. To this end, allow them to lead with joy and not with grief, for that would be of no advantage to you." (Hebrews 13:17). Paul says the same thing in another way, asking believers to hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work (1 Thessalonians 5:13). Honor, here, means truly valuing them: listening, praying, helping, and not treating them like a Sunday decoration.

Yet the same Bible that commands honor also sets limits — and the one who sets them is Peter, who was an apostle and introduces himself as a fellow elder: "Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;" (1 Peter 5:2). And the next verse is decisive: "not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3). In plain words: the leader leads by example, not by force. And God's heritage is once again the church — which belongs to God, not to him.

That is why the Bible praises people who check what they hear. The Christians in Berea heard none other than the apostle Paul preach, and they examined the Scriptures every day to see whether those things were so (Acts 17:11). The text does not rebuke them: it calls them more noble. Opening the Bible to check the preaching is obedience, not rebellion.

And now comes the most important part of this lesson for your age. There is a difference between murmuring and reporting something serious.

Murmuring is talking just to talk: complaining about the sermon in the car, laughing at someone's mannerisms, repeating a story when you do not even know if it is true. The Bible calls that gossip, and gossip destroys a church. If a group starts doing that, you do not need to argue with anyone or make a speech: simply do not join in, and pray for your pastor instead of talking about him.

Reporting something serious is completely different, and it is the right thing to do. If someone — anyone at all, holding any position — hurts you, frightens you, treats you in a way that you feel is wrong, or asks you to keep a secret about something like that, tell a trusted adult the very same day: your father, your mother, your teacher, or another leader. That is not gossip, it is not a lack of honor, and it is not betrayal. Scripture itself provides for an accusation against a leader to be taken seriously, with the care of hearing witnesses: "Do not entertain an accusation against an elder, except on the testimony of two or three witnesses." (1 Timothy 5:19). Keep the rule in mind like this: you speak up; the adult handles it.

One last thing, so there is no confusion. The tithe is not financial relief for the pastor. The tithes belong to the LORD and are holy to the LORD (Leviticus 27:30). Tithing is worship and obedience to God, practiced with joy by those who have an income — it is never a child pressuring a parent, and it is never a burden we take off a man's shoulders. God does not need a bill collector; He seeks worshipers.

❤ For your life. You are not a man's sheep. You are Christ's sheep, and He said: "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27). That gives you two things at the same time: security to trust the leaders God has placed in your church, and freedom to never confuse any of them with the Owner of your soul.

Christ in the Lesson

Every shepherd in the Bible points to One alone. David cared for sheep and wrote Psalm 23; Moses tended Jethro's flock before shepherding Israel; Peter heard from Jesus, by the sea, the command to tend His sheep (John 21:17). None of them is the owner of the flock. All of them work for Someone else.

That Someone entered history and did what no human pastor can do: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." (John 10:11). He did not lose His life in a workplace accident — He laid it down in their place. The church your pastor cares for was bought with God's own blood (Acts 20:28). That is why the flock is precious: look at the price on the tag.

And that is why the final word of the lesson is not about any man. It is about the day when the Chief Shepherd appears (1 Peter 5:4) — when every faithful pastor receives the crown from His hands, and each sheep finally sees the face of the One who has cared for it all along. Psalm 23 already knew how this ends: dwelling in the house of the LORD forever (Psalm 23:6).

Practical Application

At church. Start with the simplest thing: pray for your pastor by name, and do not be the problem he will have to solve. Be quiet when asked for quiet, put your cup in the trash can, and show respect to the one teaching. That is not being "uncool" — it is honoring those who keep watch over your soul (Hebrews 13:17).

With your Bible open. Check what you hear, like the Bereans (Acts 17:11). Write down the reference from the sermon and read the whole chapter at home. Someone who checks the Word does not distrust the pastor — he takes what the pastor preaches seriously.

When the matter is serious. Do not feed gossip. But if something is serious — someone hurting you, frightening you, or asking you to keep a secret — tell a trusted adult the very same day. You speak up; the adult handles it.

With your gift. The Spirit has already distributed the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:11). Go up to your pastor or your teacher and ask: "Where can I serve with what I know how to do?" A good pastor loves that question.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, You are the Good Shepherd: You laid down Your life for the sheep, and I am one of them. Thank You for not leaving me without care — neither in heaven nor down here. Bless the pastor of my church, his family, and his health; give him strength to shepherd Your flock with joy. Teach me to honor without idolizing, to check in Your Word what I hear, and to speak to a trusted adult whenever something is serious. Guard my heart from murmuring and gossip. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, may I be found in Your flock. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria — Scripture governs; everything else, on its knees.

Frequently asked questions about this lesson

Do Psalm 23 and John 10:11 speak about the pastor of my church?+

No. Psalm 23:1 speaks of the LORD and John 10:11 speaks of Jesus. Christ is the Good Shepherd and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4); the pastor of the local church is an undershepherd who cares for the flock that belongs to Him (Acts 20:28).

Are bishop, elder, and pastor different offices?+

In the New Testament, the three names describe the same men. In Acts 20 Paul calls the leaders of Ephesus elders (v. 17), says that the Holy Spirit made them bishops, and commands them to shepherd the flock, that is, to be pastors (v. 28).

Does obeying the pastor mean obeying in everything, without thinking?+

No. Hebrews 13:17 commands us to obey and submit, but 1 Peter 5:3 forbids a leader from lording it over those who belong to God, and Acts 17:11 praises those who examined the Scriptures every day to verify what was being taught. Biblical obedience is not blind obedience.

What if I see or hear about something serious involving an adult at church?+

Tell a trusted adult that very day — your father, mother, teacher, or another leader. That is not gossip; gossip is talking just to talk, without care and without truth. You speak up; the adult handles it.

Teacher's Guide

Essence of the class

Christ is the Pastor; the pastor of the church is His under-shepherd — he cares for a flock that is not his own, with real authority and real limits.

Map of the class

Time	Stage
0–4 min	Opening — who is the pastor's Pastor?
4–12 min	Point 1 — The Pastor Is Christ
12–19 min	Point 2 — What God Placed in the Pastor's Hands
19–26 min	Class activity — The basket of the flock
26–33 min	Point 3 — Honoring without making anyone the owner
33–37 min	Christ in the Lesson + questions
37–40 min	Wrap-up + challenge + prayer

Start like this

Ask, with no introduction at all: "What does the pastor of our church do on a Tuesday morning?" Let three students answer — you will hear "he studies," "I don't know," "he rests," and probably a joke. Do not correct anything. Then ask the second question, more slowly: "And who is the pastor's Pastor?" Hold the silence for a few seconds and read the Golden Text with the class: "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1). Say: "Today's class starts with this second question, not the first."

Point 1 — The Pastor Is Christ

In the quarterly: topic 1, "Someone who cares for the flock," sub-item a ("An exemplary pastor"), and the Pedagogical Space note on Jesus as Chief Shepherd.
What to teach: Psalm 23:1 speaks of the LORD and John 10:11 speaks of Jesus — neither one speaks of the local church pastor. Christ is the Good Shepherd, the great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20), and the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). Only after that does the human pastor come in: in Acts 20:28 he is charged with shepherding the church of God, bought with blood that was not his own. In other words: an under-shepherd.
Anchor verse (BSB): "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." (John 10:11)
Key question: "When Psalm 23 says that the LORD is my shepherd, who is it talking about?"
Likely answers (+ going deeper): "about God"; "about the pastor of the church"; "about both." Go deeper: "If it were about the pastor of the church, verse 1 would be saying that we lack nothing because of a man. Who is the One who never lets us lack anything?"
If no one speaks: read Psalm 23:1 and John 10:11 aloud, one after the other, and just ask: "Who is speaking in the second verse?" The name will come right out of their mouths.

Point 2 — What God Placed in the Pastor's Hands

In the quarterly: topic 1, sub-item b ("The pastor's mission"), and all of topic 2 ("An administrative authority," with Joseph in Egypt and the steward of 1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
What to teach: two fronts. Caring — teaching, feeding, protecting from false teaching, and going after those who have wandered away (Isaiah 40:11; Luke 15:4). And administering — as a steward, taking good care of what does not belong to him. Make it plain, without beating around the bush, that the church has a treasury and a board with financial accountability, and that the pastor presides over the work; he is not the cashier. And explain that the One who distributes spiritual gifts is the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:11): the pastor helps identify and develop the gift, he does not hand it out.
Anchor verse (BSB): "Now it is required of stewards that they be found faithful." (1 Corinthians 4:2)
Key question: "Is a steward the owner of the house or a trusted servant? What does that make the pastor, then?"
Likely answers (+ going deeper): "a servant"; "almost the owner, because he's in charge"; "a caretaker." Go deeper: "Joseph administered the whole land of Egypt and did not own a single grain of wheat (Genesis 41:38-44). What changes in the way you work when you know the house is not yours?"
If no one speaks: give the example of the school custodian, who holds the keys to everything and owns nothing — and then go back to Acts 20:28, which speaks of the church of God that He purchased with His own blood.

Point 3 — Honoring Without Making Anyone the Owner

In the quarterly: topic 3, "The pastor must be respected," sub-item a ("Exemplary leader"), with Hebrews 13:7, 17. The counterbalance of 1 Peter 5:2-3 and Acts 17:11 is the closing you lead.
What to teach: honoring is biblical and serious — listening, praying, helping, holding in high regard (Hebrews 13:7, 17; 1 Thessalonians 5:13). And the same Bible sets limits: the leader leads by example, not lording it over those entrusted to him by God (1 Peter 5:3); the Bereans were called more noble because they examined the Scriptures every day (Acts 17:11). Close by distinguishing murmuring from reporting something serious — and say the rule out loud: the child speaks up, the adult handles it.
Anchor verse (BSB): "not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)
Key question: "What is the difference between complaining about the pastor in the car and telling your mom about something serious that happened to you?"
Likely answers (+ going deeper): "it's the same thing, both are talking about him"; "one is gossip and the other isn't"; "I don't know." Go deeper: "Gossip is talking just to talk, without care and without truth. Telling a trusted adult about something serious is protection — and the Bible deals with an accusation through witnesses, not through silence (1 Timothy 5:19)."
If no one speaks: give two ready-made scenes. "Scene 1: someone laughing at the pastor's accent in the group chat. Scene 2: an adult asking you to keep a secret about something that scared you. Are both of those 'talking'? Where do you speak up and where do you stay quiet?"

Class activity

Goal: to see with their own eyes that the pastoral office has three fronts and that the flock belongs to God, not to the pastor.
Materials: a basket or cardboard box, strips of paper, pens, and three A4 sheets written in large letters: PASTORAL, ADMINISTRATIVE, DOCTRINAL. Tape a label onto the basket: "CHURCH OF GOD — Acts 20:28".
Step by step: spread the three sheets on the floor or table. In pairs, each pair writes two tasks of the pastor on two strips of paper (e.g., visiting the sick, counseling, evangelizing, authorizing payments, presiding over the church, teaching doctrine, discipling a new convert). Each pair reads their strips aloud and places each one on the sheet for the right area — the class helps decide the area. At the end, everyone gathers the strips and puts them inside the basket. No one carries heavy weight, no one is left out: anyone who does not want to read aloud hands the strip to their partner to read.
Wrap-up (back to the text): lift up the basket and show the label. "Look at how much work fits inside here. Now look at the name written on the basket: it is not the pastor's name. It is the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). The pastor cares for what belongs to Christ, and gives an account to Christ. That is why we pray for him and help however we can — and that is why no man is the owner of you."

If they ask you this

"Is Psalm 23 about the pastor of my church?" No. It is about the LORD — it was written by David, who had been a shepherd of sheep and used his profession to describe God. Jesus takes up that image in John 10:11 and is called the Chief Shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4. The church pastor is an under-shepherd: he tends Christ's flock, not his own.
"Are bishop, elder, and pastor different offices?" In the New Testament the three names describe the same men. In Acts 20 Paul calls the leaders of Ephesus elders (v. 17) and says that the Holy Spirit made them overseers (bishops) to shepherd the church (v. 28). Different names for different angles of the same work: maturity, oversight, and care.
"Does obeying the pastor mean obeying in everything?" Hebrews 13:17 commands us to obey and submit — and it is serious. But 1 Peter 5:3 forbids the leader from lording it over God's heritage, and Acts 17:11 praises those who checked the Scriptures to verify what the apostle Paul himself preached. Biblical obedience walks with an open Bible.
"Is the tithe the pastor's salary?" No. The tithes belong to the LORD (Leviticus 27:30): tithing is worship and obedience to God, practiced by those who earn an income. The church supports the work and the ministry through the treasury, with financial accountability. No one tithes to relieve a man, and no student should go home to demand that from his or her parents.

Wrap-up + challenge of the week

Wrap-up: "We came into this class asking who the pastor is. We leave knowing that the Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:11) and that the man who cares for our church is caring for a flock that cost blood and does not belong to him. Honor that work: pray, help, listen. And remember — your soul has only one Owner, and He is coming back as the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4)."
Challenge: this week, write a short handwritten note to your pastor saying thank you for one specific thing he taught or did (not "thank you for everything"), pray for him by name before handing it to him, and place it in his hand on Sunday. On Sunday, come back with the story.

Teacher's kit

Before: read the three topics in the quarterly and, in your Bible, mark Acts 20:17-31, John 10:11-16, and 1 Peter 5:1-4. Memorize the key sentence of the class: "Christ is the Pastor; the pastor of the church is an under-shepherd."
Bring: a Bible, the basket labeled "CHURCH OF GOD — Acts 20:28", the three A4 sheets (PASTORAL / ADMINISTRATIVE / DOCTRINAL), strips of paper, and pens.
Pray beforehand: ask that the class leave loving the leaders God has given, without confusing any of them with the Owner of the flock — and that no student leave thinking he or she must stay silent about something serious.

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