What is the role of pastors in making disciples, according to the teachings of the Bible?

As Chris Law discusses in his sermon on Ephesians 4, pastors, elders, and overseers are all synonymous in their roles as shepherds within the church. Their primary task is equipping the saints, the body of the church, through prayer and the word. The Sunday service is a key tool in this process, with the main focus being the glorification of God and the building up of the body. While evangelistic work does take place during these services, it is the strengthening of the body that is the core purpose.

After being equipped with sound doctrine, the church body is sent out to spread the message both in word and deed. The home serves as a crucial place for evangelism, a starting point from which the word radiates out into the wider community. This model of evangelism and disciple making decentralises the process, relying not on a single person and pulpit but on the Spirit of God working through all the saints. It allows for greater expansion, with each family uniquely placed by God to influence their given area.

Ephesians 4:11-12 (NKJV): 'And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.'

In Ephesians 4, those of the teaching ministry and those who are called to be shepherds, shepherds as pastors, elders, overseers, All that is synonymous with one another. Pastors are given the ministry of prayer and the word. And the ministry of prayer can never be overlooked as we see the prayerful dependence of elders proclaiming that we need the Spirit's work, that we need the Spirit's work within the church body. And the primary work of those elders is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And so the Lord's Day gatherings, the work of elders upon the local church is to be equipping the saints to then go out.

The primary purpose of the gathering is to strengthen the body. Yes, there is evangelistic things that take place on a Lord's Day service, but the primary focus of that service is the glory of God and the building up of the body. And so pastors are building up that body, and then the church body is sent out to proclaim the message, to proclaim the message in word and in deed. And so as the church is being sent out, as being equipped with sound doctrine, both from the pulpit and in the home, the home is a place of evangelism. The home is therefore a place that they're sent out and being discipled and evangelized in.

And so it flows out of the local church but then radiates itself through the families in the different communities. And what a beautiful picture that is because it doesn't put all the central focus of evangelism or the disciple making upon one man and one pulpit but it's through the ministry of the word into the hearts of the saints by the Spirit of God going out to the world that God has placed each one of them in. And God places each family through His providence so uniquely. I think about our local church where God has placed us all in different communities and allows us to be able to influence the areas which God has given each of us. And so there's opportunities for overlap, but in the end it's greater expansion.