Leadership
At Sojourn Church we follow what we understand to be the biblical New Testament model of church leadership, which is a plurality (more than one) of male elders.
The New Testament uses three different words to describe the same leadership office in a local church: elders, overseers, and shepherds (pastors).
“Elder” is the most frequently used term for church leaders (see for example: Acts 14:23; 15:2, 6; 20:17; Titus 1:5; James 5:14; 1 Peter 5:1).
The term “overseer” is found in Acts 20:28 where Paul is speaking to the elders of the Ephesian church, in the qualifications for overseers in 1 Timothy 3:1, a passage that is generally understood to be applied to elders, and in Philippians 1:1.
The New Testament word sometimes translated as “pastor” is more often translated as “shepherd,” and only refers to church leaders in Ephesians 4:11, as “shepherd-teachers,” and in 1 Peter 5:2, a passage where Peter is addressing local church elders, and he tells them to “shepherd” (pastor) the flock of God.
