By Andrew Silman. The task of the pastoral staff is equipping God’s people to minister. Like some of you, I have seen lots of preachers and churches. The most effective ones have been those pastors who did not try to do all the work themselves. They understood that the work was to be shared by others and that their task as pastors was to coach and equip God’s people to be ministers.

In the New Testament, pastoral leadership is shared. The apostles were a group, and when references are made to elders (pastors) the form is plural. In a congrega