God has only one church but He certainly does not have only 'one leader'. Leadership in the local church was always meant to be plural. Sadly, it seems that we have become more interested in the concept of 'one pastor' than the truth of 'one church'!
As we study the Scriptures, we repeatedly find that there was a 'body of elders' who were appointed in every local church to direct its affairs. It was not an autocratic one-man show, a democratic congregation-driven set-up or even a committee-led hire and fire style of governance; it was a theocratic rule where godly leaders (known as elders, bishops or overseers) were identified, appointed and together ruled the household of God.
A local church where one man (the pastor) runs the whole show and does all the work of the ministry is not a biblical model. This tragically being the case in many places today, the immediate endeavour of a pastor should be to raise up leaders and equip believers to function in their calling and use the gifts which the Lord has placed within them.
It must also be highlighted here that the office of the pastor has been wrongly elevated above the other ministry gifts. While he is only one among the apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers, today the pastor is considered as some kind of elite individual. He gets all the attention and all the money!
The Scriptures make it clear that the church is to be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, not on the foundation of pastors (Ephesians 2:19-20). One is therefore forced to ask, “Where are those with the apostolic grace and prophetic cutting-edge today? Why do we find only pastors everywhere?” The sad reality is that because we have emphasised only the pastoral ministry, most Bible colleges have ended up as 'pastor-producing factories'!
SAM