“Leaders, pastors and elders are responsible to teach, to warn, to rebuke, and to encourage. They are foremen and organizers, guardians and mobilizers, teachers and models. They provide the conditions under which the rest of the gospel partners [church members] can also get on with vine work–with prayerfully speaking God’s truth to others. However, at a profound level, all pastors and elders are also just partners…A pastor or elder is a vine-worker who has been given a particular responsibility to care for and equip the people for their partnership in the gospel.”
-Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2009), 67.
