A Church is a spiritual place for Christians where people go to find and learn spiritual peace for their life. The Bible describes that the people who are trusting Jesus for salvation as a community of believers are Christians and Church is a Christian house of worship where religious activities take place. A Minister and a Pastor play an important role in the Church because without them the words of God cannot be reached or passed to the people or believers. Both the Minister and pastor are regarded to be the herald of the world as they lead people in their spiritual way and they act like a preacher, a teacher, or an intermediary who perform spiritual or religious activities
Many people consider that a pastor and a Minister are the same who work in the church and lead people and perform religious activities but there are differences between their duties and qualification. So a person should know who is a believer and follow their path or want to become a minister or a pastor, the difference between them.
In this article, I will tell you about ministers and pastors and their works in the Church and will explain the difference between Minister and Pastor. Read the full article and you will get the proper information here.
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About Minister
A minister is a person who is authorized by a Church or any other religious body. He performs religious activities such as preaching, teaching the words of God, sacrament services like marriage, holy order and baptism, etc. He is considered to be an ordained priest and he can also perform duties of a pastor, priest, teacher, prophet, healer, bishop, and other various roles. They are regarded as the servants of God and the Shepherd of the flock of sheep, here sheep refers to the people or community of believers. It is considered that ministers are like a watchman who oversees people and teaches them the words of God as per the will of God.
Ministers help in many works which include coordinating the work of the volunteers and church community, performing marriage rituals and funerals, community services, confirming young people as the members of Church, preaching, teaching, engaging themselves in the welfare of the society, to walk on the path of the lord, providing leadership to the parish, supervising the prayer, researching and studying the religion, attaining salvation, assisting in any administrative services and many more. In short, they are the leaders of the Church.
About Pastor
A pastor is the oldest person who comes forward to perform the duties as a religious head. There is also a description in the Bible that 1 Peter 5, a pastor, is the shepherd who leads the flock of sheep and serves as an example or role model to those people who serve. A pastor is expected to teach the words which sound doctrine by rightly dividing the word of truth. It is his exact duty to rightly describe the word of God.
A pastor is like a Bible teacher as well as a preacher and most importantly can be referred to as a theologian. A theologian is a person who is an expert in theology like Historical theology, Practical theology, Systematic theology, and Exegetical theology. A pastor has to be a real theologian as he is the one who is responsible for preaching the words of God to the people. He has spiritual authority over a group of communities as he advises, counsels people, and can be referred to as an ordained priest.
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Main Differences between Minister and Pastor
Many people think that the minister and the pastor are the same but it is not so. Here I am comparing both of them so that you can know the difference between them. The following are the main differences between a Minister and a Pastor:
- A Minister is not expected to do the duties of a pastor while A pastor is expected to know the roles and responsibilities of a minister.
- Both the minister’s and pastor’s question of marriage depends on the domination in which they serve like Roman Catholic priests are not allowed to get married.
- A Minister has a large group of applicants as youth can also aspire to become a minister in a Church while Pastor is the oldest person who works as a religious head.
- A person can be a minister without being a pastor while a pastor should be a minister as well.
- The Minister has to maintain coordination in the church activities like administration, teaching, preaching, ministerial sacraments, etc while the pastor has to advise and counsel the members and citizens, preach, teach, sermons, etc.
- A Minister can also be addressed as pastor, father, and reverend while like a minister, a pastor can also be addressed as a father, pastor, and reverend.
- Unlike a pastor, a minister works commonly in Protestant churches.
The Final Words
Both the Minister and pastor lead people towards the spiritual way. They both preach, teach, sermon, perform religious activities, etc. They both should belong to the Christian religion and they perform the duties of a religious head in the church but the only difference between them is that their duties and qualification depend upon the respective domination in which they serve.
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I hope this article was helpful and it has cleared all your queries related to the duties and the difference between Minister and Pastor.
