The Titles Pastors give themselves: a stain on the Church

In my role as Project Director of Re-Forma, I have made contact with thousands of pastors around the world, and I have become more and more dismayed by a growing trend, particularly in Africa – pastors are giving themselves titles which are the antithesis of the example that Jesus set.

I have encountered the following titles: Chief Apostle, Senior Apostle, Head Apostle, Lead Apostle, Senior Prophet, Head Prophet, Visionary and Prophet, Visionary Pastor, Lead Visionary, Visionary Apostle, and the list goes on. Apart from these terms being unbiblical, they reflect an underlying evil, namely the desire for position and power.

But what does Jesus say? He too encountered this evil, especially among the scribes and Pharisees, and He was very direct in His condemnation:

Mat 23:1-12 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honour at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” 

This desire for privileged power was even found amongst His disciples:

Mar 10:35-40 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

And in case they did not understand, He added:

Mar 10:43-45 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Paul spells it out very clearly for us:

Phil 2:5-8 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Our perfect example, the answer we are looking for, is of course Jesus.

Simply put, Christ renounced equality with God to become man. He emptied Himself of the glories of heaven, of the prerogatives of being divine of rank, privilege, and rights. The Lord became a servant.

It is time for the Church to rid itself of these insidious, power-driven titles and get back to the perfect example that Jesus set – humble Servanthood.