What is your description of a pastor? How involved in someone’s life do you think a pastor should be? At what point does it interfere with that person’s own responsibility to seek out God’s voice for themselves and become something more like an oracle sought at every decision made?
Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated Pastor mean shepherd. The shepherd’s job was to keep the flock. That meant he was responsible for the physical well being of the sheep entrusted to him. In the same way, a Pastor is responsible for the spiritual well being of the people entrusted to him. But in my opinion that doesn’t mean running other people’s lives for them. Each of us is responsible for our own life.
Paul’s two letters to Timothy are filled with great advice on what it takes to be a good pastor.