Is a bishop higher than a pastor or whats the hierahy in the church.?

Question

alot of men of God give themselves positions n titles dat one do not know who is who.i know God call some people to different offices but d latter leave.is d any starting point or highest post n what determines dat? is it how long or how well.thanks

Answer 1

Hierarchy in the Church?
Instruction from the Pastoral Epistles concerning Elders and Overseers
By Benjamin L. Merkle
(This article recently appeared in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Fall 2003, Vol.7 #3; used with permission.)

As in every age since the first century, there is today a variety of opinions regarding the proper organizational structure of the church. Various denominations have deacons, archdeacons, evangelists, apostles, prophets, pastors, senior pastors, elders, overseers, bishops, archbishops, and there is even a pope. To make problems more complicated there is inconsistency among denominations, and even within each denomination, as to what duties church officers should perform as well as the relationship between the differing office-holders.

The goal of this article is not to present a detailed blueprint of how every church should be organized. Rather, this article..........................

Answer 2

I Timothy 3 states:
1Ti 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
1Ti 3:3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
1Ti 3:4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
1Ti 3:5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
1Ti 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.



This applies to bishop (who was a pastor or preacher in the early Christian churches), pastor, preacher, etc...whatever you call the person who stands in the pulpit and preaches the gospel. I don't know how the RCC runs their puppet show, but old fashioned independent fundamental baptist churches have a pastor, assistant pastor (to help in Sunday School and fill in where needed when Pastor has to be away), deacons (who fill in doing administrative works). It's simple..as that's the biblical hierarchy...no need for all the other stuff added in to the RCC and it's offshoots...

Answer 3

I can answer only for the Catholic Church.

The hierarchy goes from top to bottom like so:

His Holiness the Pope

The Cardinals or Princes of the Church, most of whom are also archbishops, or bishops. These are the men who will select each pope.

The Archbishops, who are also bishops. They oversee various geographic regions.

The Bishops, who are each responsible for their see, or diocese.

The Priests, who pastor a parish.

The members of the permanent diaconate, who assist parish priests.

The heads of the various religious orders, who may or may not be priests, but who usually are these days.

In terms of clout, it's Pope, Cardinals, Bishops.

In terms of theology, they're all pretty much equal, except that His Holiness is more so.

Hope this helped.

Answer 4

If you are referring to Catholic church it would be layman, priest, bishop, archbishop, cardinal, pope. (But don't hold me to that cos I have been wrong about other stuff too.) ;-)