To answer your question, I do believe that the pastor has a 'teaching' role associated with it.
Eph 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
In context we see that shepherds and teachers are linked. The "the" before each of the descriptions indicate they are specific.
Hi Nathan,
I'd just like to give a little bit of my input here, as I believe that this is also relevant to me in some degree (as I'll explain). The gift of preaching and teaching are two seperate gifts. However
this does not preclude the possibility that one has both gifts. For example I firmly believe that God has given me the gift of teaching but not the gift of preaching. I have stood up and "preached" a few sermons before but it was only as one presenting a teaching and message impressed upon my heart to share. I however have not been given that
calling and gift to fill the office of a preacher. I have consciously recognized several times when I hear a pastor give an excellent sermon that only a
giftedness to present the message in the manner that they did enabled them to preach as they did and that it is a specific gift from God (one which I sometimes wish I had). And while I may be able to
teach on the same subject I could not proclaim it in the same pastoral way that the preacher did (for which he had a unique giftedness to carry out that role).
I would say that one of the primary enablements of the gift of preaching is one of evangelism and of proclaiming the Gospel in word and in power. Of course we all are to evangelize in a way by drawing others to Christ and spreading the message of the Gospel to them, but pastors/preachers are specifically called as leaders in this regard to guide the flock. And also, of course, to some degree all pastors must
teach the word (as we also should do), and proclaim its truths, but that is not the same as the
gift of teaching. I have seen some pastors which only particularly have this gift of preaching (which is a God blessed gift). However where I have most often been
profoundly impacted by one's ministry and greatly impressed is where a pastor
also has the gift of teaching and it is often those pastors that can blow you away with the truth of God and proclaim it like no other. Charles Stanley (who was/is[?] president of the Southern Baptist Convention) has both gifts, I believe, as well as possibly John Piper. And aside from those more well-known pastors two of the three Churches that I have attended in the last five years (which mostly depends on which city I'm in on the weekends) have
preacher-teachers, as I will call them. My dad and I always enjoy going to my grandparents' church when we go to visit them (I attended that church for 3 years until recently) because the preacher there is an awesome man of God and not only preaches to evangelize but also has a great ability to teach and lay out the doctrines of Scripture with clarity. He has done many deep-diving sermon series in both the OT and NT which clearly demonstrate that he has the gift of teaching the body of Christ. And his heart as a gracious pastor to present all teachings with love only deepens the profundity and applications of the teachings.
So anyway, I said all that to say that
teaching and preaching are two seperate gifts. Some have only preaching, some have only teaching (myself), and some (who have been amazingly blessed) have both.
So that's my (not quite) two-words-in on the matter.
God Bless,
~Josh