Pastor vs. Reverend

Main Difference

The main difference between Pastor and Reverend is that the Pastor is a ordained leader of a Christian congregation and Reverend is a Christian religious title.

• Pastor

  A pastor is an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. A pastor also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation.

  It is derived from the Latin word pastor, meaning shepherd. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, the term may be abbreviated to “Pr” or “Ptr” (singular) or “Ps” (plural).

• Reverend

  The Reverend is an honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a title, form of address or title of respect. The style is also sometimes used by leaders in non-Christian religions such as Judaism and Buddhism.

  The term is an anglicisation of the Latin reverendus, the style originally used in Latin documents in medieval Europe. It is the gerundive or future passive participle of the verb revereri (“to respect; to revere”), meaning “[one who is] to be revered/must be respected”. The Reverend is therefore equivalent to The Honourable or The Venerable. It is paired with a modifier or noun for some offices in some religious traditions: Anglican archbishops and most Roman Catholic bishops are usually styled The Most Reverend (reverendissimus); other Anglican bishops and some Roman Catholic bishops are styled The Right Reverend; some Reformed churches have used The Reverend Mister as a style for their clergy.

  With Christian clergy, the forms His Reverence and Her Reverence is also sometimes used, along with its parallel in direct address, Your Reverence. The abbreviation HR is sometimes used.

• Reverend (adjective)

  used as a title or form of address to members of the clergy

  “the Reverend Pat Tilly”

• Reverend (noun)

  a member of the clergy

  “a retired reverend”