In the King James, almost always the words translated 'preach' in the New Testament are used in context of proclaiming the Gospel to those who haven't believed it yet. (I can think of one or two exceptions.) There are three Greek words most commonly translated 'preach.' One of them is closely related to the word 'evangelize.'
For much of history, the church referred to church leaders appointed to pastor the flock as 'elders.' We see this in scripture. In Acts 20:28, Paul tells the elders of the church of Ephesus to pastor the church of God over whom God had made them bishops/overseers. Peter tells elders to pastor the flock of God and take the oversight thereof. Later, the role of elder got divided up into the role of one city bishop over the other elders, but the scriptures do not teach this.
The word 'priest' derives from the Greek word for 'elder' and was spread into other Germanic languages by the Anglo-Saxon mission before the Norman conquest of England. The word also came to be used to refer to the descendants of Aaron who offered animal sacrifices.
During the Reformation, Luther wrote of the 'priesthood of all believers' and the Reformed church in Geneva relabled the ministry as 'pastor,' a term used in Ephesians 4:11. They found a model for civic government from Greek-speaking communities in the 300's who called their leaders 'garousia'-- which also translates as elders. So Geneva had city leaders called 'elders.' Church and state were intertwined. When the Scottish Reformed movement copied the model of Geneva for their churches, they took the city government role of 'elder'-- which neither they nor Geneva associated with the Biblical role of elder at first. But did over time.
And the result is now we have this idea that 'elder' is this nonpastoral board elder position. There are no requirements in scripture for the word 'pastor'. But there are for elder or bishop. Some of the theologically educated realize that 'elders' are what they call 'pastors.' Some don't.
There are Biblical requirements for being an elder or overseer of the church. One of them is to be the husband of one wife, or a man of one woman. I Timothy tells us that the bishop needs to be a man, a one woman man to be exact. A woman can't be that.
For much of history, the church referred to church leaders appointed to pastor the flock as 'elders.' We see this in scripture. In Acts 20:28, Paul tells the elders of the church of Ephesus to pastor the church of God over whom God had made them bishops/overseers. Peter tells elders to pastor the flock of God and take the oversight thereof. Later, the role of elder got divided up into the role of one city bishop over the other elders, but the scriptures do not teach this.
The word 'priest' derives from the Greek word for 'elder' and was spread into other Germanic languages by the Anglo-Saxon mission before the Norman conquest of England. The word also came to be used to refer to the descendants of Aaron who offered animal sacrifices.
During the Reformation, Luther wrote of the 'priesthood of all believers' and the Reformed church in Geneva relabled the ministry as 'pastor,' a term used in Ephesians 4:11. They found a model for civic government from Greek-speaking communities in the 300's who called their leaders 'garousia'-- which also translates as elders. So Geneva had city leaders called 'elders.' Church and state were intertwined. When the Scottish Reformed movement copied the model of Geneva for their churches, they took the city government role of 'elder'-- which neither they nor Geneva associated with the Biblical role of elder at first. But did over time.
And the result is now we have this idea that 'elder' is this nonpastoral board elder position. There are no requirements in scripture for the word 'pastor'. But there are for elder or bishop. Some of the theologically educated realize that 'elders' are what they call 'pastors.' Some don't.
There are Biblical requirements for being an elder or overseer of the church. One of them is to be the husband of one wife, or a man of one woman. I Timothy tells us that the bishop needs to be a man, a one woman man to be exact. A woman can't be that.