Judge not that ye be not judged...

[Evangelical]

Yes I was thinking about advanced degrees.

Whoever was making the comparison between pastors and full-timers does not know much about full-timers. Having a full-timer or not makes no difference to the running of the church. The campus work can be done by student volunteers and supported by the church. A full-timer certainly helps but is not needed. I have been to many on-campus meetings where there is no full-timer present. Every adult there had full-time jobs.

I do not see the loss of an elder and loss of pastor as the same thing. There are plenty of elders to be an elder if an elder leaves, and the church would keep meeting regardless, because the elder is not "leading the service" and there would be many people who could step-in.

In a denomination, there is unlikely to be many in the congregation who have sufficient pastoral qualifications to "lead the church"... if the organization even allows for it. Typically a church follows a pastor wherever he/she goes.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

We should be careful of how we speak of God's servants, namely, to compare a full time worker who is supported by the church with the hirelings of denominations.

But that doesn't apply to all denominations per se. Witness Lee falsely equated to identify all denominations into the same category of hiring pastors.