Pastor means shepherd. Through the church, Christ calls pastors to shepherd souls by preaching, teaching, administering sacraments, leading public worship, praying, counseling, and reaching the lost. The New Testament mentions several such men, including Epaphras; in fact, three books of the Bible (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus) were written to explain their responsibilities.
In the OPC, pastors are ministers of the Word. (Ministers can also function as evangelists or teachers.) They are carefully trained and tested. Sometimes ministers are called teaching elders because their shepherding responsibilities overlap with those of the other elders, as seen in 1 Timothy 5:17.
See VI. Ministers or Teaching Elders in the OPC Form of Government for more detail.
