We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.The leadership in our church is the same as it was when Christ set up His church anciently. The church is led by Apostles and Prophets, who receive revelation for the church and the world from Jesus Christ. Locally, we are led in the same was as the church was anciently as well. A pastor is one who leads a local group--we call him a bishop. Teachers are an office within the Aaronic priesthood. We also have in our church a Patriarch (an evangelist) He is able to give us special blessings that tell us much about what we can accomplish in our life.
I am grateful to have leaders who receive revelation from God. I am also grateful to be able to listen to what they teach us.
http://mormon.org/faq/ward-stake-branch/ for help with understanding the organization of members into area church groups. The term "Stake" taken from Isaiah 33:20 and 54:2 Analogy of being grounded or anchored if you will is what I got out of it.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_(LDS_Church If you are curious, as I was, about the historical origin of the term "ward"