In Ephesians 4, Paul begins by exhorting the body to walk worthy of the calling that God has over their lives by walking "with all lowliness & gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace..." He goes on in that chapter to speak of the five-fold ministry after stating that Christ first descended before He ascended, which is reminiscent of the humility in Philippians 2 & the seemingly foolish leadership of the Cross in I Corinthians 1 &2.
Paul was teaching that those operating in the five-fold ministry must walk in love, meekness, & humility in order to prefer one another & keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The pastoral role is one of the five-fold ministry gifts. The role of the pastor is to make disciples of Christ & to oversee the overall wholeness & well-being of those who have been brought into the church through salvation. After salvation, the pastor looks after the overall well-being of the person. I believe this may involve teaching & some of the deacon-type ministry (diakonos, see Acts 6:1-5). It may also include some of the bishop (overseer) role (see I Tim. 3). It also includes counseling, inner-healing, basic needs, & life instruction.
Each of the roles of the five-fold ministry may interlap in a person here & there, but the Lord created a five-fold ministry to balance the needs of the people over several different leaders so that one person is not burned out or trying to fill a role that they are not fully gifted in.
The problem is that with the current model of church in America, there is usually one person over the church who tries to fullfill the roles of each of the five-fold ministry. As a result, many people take to "church-hopping" because there may be a teacher at one church, a prophetic person at another church, an evangelist at another church, etc... (There is more to be said about the mentality of church-hopping, however, that is not the topic I am addressing at the moment.)
As a result, many pastors are over-worked & burnt out. However, the church was designed to be a body where each part is working together in submission to the Head, which is Christ. Not only should there be a five-fold ministry present in leadership, but also each member of the body should be activated in their giftings & should also contribute to the body as a whole. It takes humility & meekness between each person involved--especially in leadership, for this goal to be accomplished.
Read Ephesians 4 several times throughout this week of my teaching on the five-fold ministry.
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