Protestants (particularly Baptists) and Titles

[Thunderbird]

A little backstory, first.

In high school, there was a classmate of mine that used to play at being a preacher/minister… two-faced in reality but most people only saw the front he put forward. Anyway, I fell out of contact with him until recently… as I understand it, he’s got his own “church” now, which mean he gets to use the Pastor title and what have you. I always thought that even with baptists, there had to be some formal education/licensing in order to form your own legitimate church but whatever. Good on him IF he’s become legitimate.

Anyway, while browsing this guy’s myspace page and he has a friend that is an Elder…but he’s only about 19. I find myself coming back to that question again… even though Baptists aren’t bound by a higher earthly authority (like the Vatican for Catholics), aren’t there usually guidelines in place by the different conventions giving minimum requirements to claim a specific status? Age, at least?

 

[meh56]

I was brought up Baptist i converted to Catholicism in 2000. First of all Baptists don’t have Elders, only Pastors and Deacons. Yes they do require a degree in Theology.
Are you sure he is Baptist?

 

[Rightlydivide]

He may not belong to a conference or convention. He may belong to one that does not dictate the level of theological education etc. The name Baptist can be used by whomever wants to.
And there is such thing as Baptist elders:
bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=17638

 

[djrakowski]

He may not belong to a conference or convention. He may belong to one that does not dictate the level of theological education etc. The name Baptist can be used by whomever wants to.
And there is such thing as Baptist elders:
bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=17638

Right - our independent Baptist church had both elders and deacons, and they served different roles. Elders were, along with the senior pastor, the spiritual leaders, and deacons were responsible for Christian service (that is, meeting the day-to-day needs of the congregation outside of religious matters).

 

[ckempston]

What I want to know is, how come their titles are often so long? I always find it odd when I see a name on a sign and it’s something like:

Doctor Reverend Apostle Prophet Robert Jones, Pastor

 

[djrakowski]

What I want to know is, how come their titles are often so long? I always find it odd when I see a name on a sign and it’s something like:

Doctor Reverend Apostle Prophet Robert Jones, Pastor

Not in our church - it was Dr. Doug Schmidt, Senior Pastor. Short, sweet, to the point. Elders and deacons assumed no such title - it was simply understood that the fulfilled the role, and we addressed them by their given names.

 

[Thunderbird]

Thanks, you guys answered my question. Assuming that these kids even belong to a convention of some sort, they probably don’t have any rules on who can claim what. Guess if I ever go back, I’ll go and give myself a long and prestigious title too.

What I want to know is, how come their titles are often so long? I always find it odd when I see a name on a sign and it’s something like:

Doctor Reverend Apostle Prophet Robert Jones, Pastor

I remember when I was in elementary school, there used to be a comedy skit on the radio where the main character’s full title/name was the “Reverend Brother Pastor Deacon Doctor Doug.” It was pretty funny based on the titular alone.

At my baptist church where I grew up we didn’t have Elders at least not in an official sense… the Elders were just old people that had been in the church for a long time. Literally…elders.

 

[JoeBlow]

A little backstory, first.

In high school, there was a classmate of mine that used to play at being a preacher/minister… two-faced in reality but most people only saw the front he put forward. Anyway, I fell out of contact with him until recently… as I understand it, he’s got his own “church” now, which mean he gets to use the Pastor title and what have you. I always thought that even with baptists, there had to be some formal education/licensing in order to form your own legitimate church but whatever. Good on him IF he’s become legitimate.

Anyway, while browsing this guy’s myspace page and he has a friend that is an Elder…but he’s only about 19. I find myself coming back to that question again… even though Baptists aren’t bound by a higher earthly authority (like the Vatican for Catholics), aren’t there usually guidelines in place by the different conventions giving minimum requirements to claim a specific status? Age, at least?

Some Baptists do have elders, but most don’t.

My church does, but we’re in the minority. A pastor at an old church I went to once stated “We don’t need elders. That’s what the deacons are for”, I had to sit down with him and go through the scriptures with him and show him that elders and deacons are two different offices. I don’t think he’s a pastor anymore.

Among those that do, I can’t imagine any Baptist church making a nineteen year old an elder. Not that there aren’t some very spiritually mature nineteen year olds out there, but I wouldn’t think he’d have had time to meet the requirements and develop the kind of reputation or experience one must have to be an elder.

My guess is that he’s not a Baptist, but a Mormon. They’re big on making teenagers “elders”.