The Pastor As Shepherd

For one of my pastoral ministry classes last semester, I wrote a paper on understanding the role of the pastor in leading change in a congregation. The main basis for this was that understanding the role of the pastor as shepherd was key to the rest. What follows is excerpted from that paper. 

I would appreciate any input by those engaged in pastoral work on how the biblical portrayal of the pastor as shepherd has been applied in past or current ministries, as well as any other words of wisdom regarding pastor as shepherd.

The Pastor as Shepherd

It is necessary to explore the biblical commands and characteristics related to this idea of the pastor as shepherd. The main idea supplying the outline for this section of the paper is Peter’s exhortation to the elders in his first letter. He exhorts the elders to “shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3).[1] An examination of several key Old Testament and New Testament texts will be applied so that a clear picture can emerge as to the role of the shepherd of God’s flock.

The command that Peter gives to the elders to “shepherd the flock” does not stand alone as a foundation to the idea of pastor as shepherd. Paul echoes this idea when he tells the elders in Ephesus that the Holy Spirit had made them overseers so that they might “shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). It should be noted that in the early days of the church the congregational leaders were identified as both overseeing and shepherding, even as shown here in 1 Peter 5:2. Jefferson notes that the shepherd idea “may be said to color the entire New Testament world, to permeate its atmosphere and to flow in its blood…” and that “…the church leaders instructed by Peter and Paul went forth as shepherds to feed and tend Christ’s sheep.”[2]

Peter himself received a commission to be a shepherd. In the last chapter of John, Jesus three times, though with different words, gives Peter this command. He tells Peter to “Tend My lambs” (21:15), to “Shepherd My sheep” (21:16), and to “Tend My sheep” (21:17). Peter passes his commission on to the elders in the churches. So how does the elder shepherd the sheep? How does he exercise oversight over the flock?

The Tasks of Shepherding

It is important to note first that the idea conveyed in 1 Peter is primarily that of spiritual not administrative duty.[3] One of the clearest pictures of the task of the shepherd can be found in Ezekiel 34. In this passage, God through the prophet condemns the leaders of Judah for being bad shepherds (vv. 1-10). God also says that He would be the shepherd of His people (vv. 11-16). Indeed, this is an appropriate place to point out the importance of the flock belonging to God. It is affirmed here in this passage. It is also affirmed on a more individual level in one of the most well-known passages of Scripture, Psalm 23. With this in mind, Peter incorporates this in his instruction, “shepherd the flock of God” (1 Peter 5:2), also noting that the pastor will receive his reward from the Chief Shepherd, that is Jesus, for a job well done (1 Peter 5:4). The pastor is not to be a hireling but he is to imitate the good shepherd, Jesus Himself, who “lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11-14).

With this in mind, it brings to bear the serious nature of being a shepherd to God’s sheep. The bad shepherds of Ezekiel 34 will be judged for not performing their tasks of tending to the flock of God (v.22). God indicts them for not doing what they ought to have done.[4] They were supposed to feed the flock, strengthen the sickly, heal the diseased, bind up the broken, bring back the scattered, and seek for the lost (vv. 2-4; 16).

These are the tasks of pastoral ministry. The first task is to “feed the flock,” a task that is commanded in both the Old and New Testaments. Stowe considers the task of preaching to be the most important of the tasks of the pastor.[5] Frye goes further and includes teaching in the area of feeding the flock. He writes, “Holy Spirit-empowered preaching as a pastoral function points people to discover God, to make them aware of his presence and his work in their lives.”[6] Stowe echoes this when he writes that Christ is to be focus and theme of preaching.[7] The pastor must also keep in mind that a varied diet is healthy to the flock, as “theological favoritism” can “rob his congregation of other much-needed truth.”[8] Jefferson notes that the “problem is how to feed all these different kinds of lambs and sheep on food which will be suitable for each one.”[9] He argues for simplicity and humility in preaching, so that the pastor can effectively do the work of the shepherd in feeding where “he can warn, protect, guide, heal, rescue, and nourish.”[10]

The rest of the tasks listed in Ezekiel 34 point out that the responsibility of the shepherd is to meet the needs of those under his charge and to “take special care of those who are in need, the helpless members of society.”[11] For the pastor, the strengthening of the sickly, the healing of the diseased, and the binding up of the broken provide many challenges, but they are important to the life of the flock. Jefferson has an un-cited quote that says that the mission of the pastor is to “minister to minds diseased; to pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow; to raze out the written troubles of the brain; and, with some sweet oblivious antidote, to cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart.”[12] In order to do this, the pastor must get out from behind the pulpit and into the lives of his congregation, “bringing God to them in the ordinary time and space particulars of their lives.”[13] In writing on shepherd leadership in organizations, McCormick and Davenport write that shepherd leadership is “characterized more by patience, insight, persistence, diligence, and care…It is about being with people, having insight into how they think and feel, patiently observance changes in behavior, and responding appropriately.”[14] It is important to note that these tasks are not just confined to the congregation, though that is the primary realm; the pastor is to be in the community and not just the church.[15]

The two final tasks mentioned in Ezekiel involve that very idea, that the pastor must go and minister beyond his congregation as the shepherd sometimes works outside his flock. The task of “bringing back the scattered” conveys the idea of seeking wholeness in the flock by reclaiming membership that has left the church and activating the inactive members.[16] Andrew notes that all the work of the shepherd is meaningless if he does not take ultimate responsibility for them, even those who have wandered from the fold.[17] Jefferson echoes this when he writes that the “minister who allows one sheep to drop out of his flock without a wound in his heart and without lifting a hand to bring the sheep back is not a good shepherd.”[18]

The final task is that of “seeking the lost.” This idea is first introduced here in Ezekiel 34.[19] It is echoed by Jesus when he says that “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The lost have not just “gone astray but are in danger of perishing unless rescued.”[20] The pastor is to lead others to the Chief Shepherd, not only through the preaching of the gospel, but also through personal evangelism.[21]

The Attitude of the Shepherd

Peter in his charge to the elders notes three antitheses that mark how they are to shepherd.[22] The first two are located in verse two and deal with motivation. Though these two are vital to a complete understanding of this topic, it is the third antithesis that gives guidance to the how of shepherding. Peter writes that their manner is not to be one of “lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3). Leadership by example is a key characteristic of Christianity’s counter-cultural leadership practice. Jesus instructed His disciples that they were not to be like the leaders of the rest of the world, but were to lead through service (Matthew 20:25-28). Indeed, after washing his disciples feet in the upper room the night before His crucifixion, He said, “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you” (John 13:15). Jesus led by example.

Paul also led by example. In Philippians 3:17, he instructs them to follow his example and those others who “walk according to the pattern you have in us.” He remarks in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-9 that he and his fellow leaders disregarded their own right to claim support but instead worked to not be a burden to the church in Thessalonica “in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.” Paul also instructed his protégés, Timothy and Titus, that they were to lead by example. To Timothy, he wrote that he was to show himself an example in his “speech, conduct, love, faith and purity” (1 Timothy 4:12). Titus was to “be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach” (Titus 2:7-8).

Jefferson notes that in regard to the shepherd being a leader that a leader “is not an exhorter, or a scolder, or a declaimer, but a man who goes ahead and points out the particular things which ought to be accomplished, and not only points them out but also shows in what manner they may best be done.”[23] Powers points out that in the ancient world “the most effective shepherd was not the one who drove or threatened his flock, but the one who walked in front, calling them to follow.”[24] Harink asserts that the only authentic authority of the leaders of God’s flock is the giving of their lives as a pattern on which believers might model their lives.[25]

The shepherding tasks and the style of leadership mentioned above point to the very relational nature of the shepherd to his flock, and, by extension, the pastor to his congregation, who “must live with the people, think with their mind, feel with their heart, see with their eyes, hear with their ears, suffer with their spirit.”[26] In order to accomplish the tasks of the shepherd, the pastor needs to have formed a bond with his congregation, as Jesus illustrates in John 10 when he says, “the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of stranger” (John 10:3-5). 

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[1]Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (1995).

[2]Charles Edward Jefferson, The Minister as Shepherd (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 2006), 14.

[3]Charles Bigg, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, ed. S. R. Driver, A. Plummer, and C. A. Briggs, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1989), 188.

[4]Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 20-48, Word Biblical Commentary (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1990), 162.

[5]Eugene L. Stowe, The Ministry of Shepherding : A Study of Pastoral Practice (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1976), 57.

[6]John W. Frye, Jesus the Pastor : Leading Others in the Character & Power of Christ (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Pub. House, 2000), 117.

[7]Stowe, 67.

[8]Ibid., 64-65.

[9]Jefferson, 52.

[10]Ibid., 53-54.

[11]Lamar Eugene Cooper, Ezekiel, The New American Commentary (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 300.

[12]Jefferson, 43.

[13]Frye, 91.

[14]Blaine McCormick and David Davenport, Shepherd Leadership : Wisdom for Leaders from Psalm 23, 1st ed. (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003), 17.

[15]Kennon L. Callahan, Small, Strong Congregations : Creating Strengths and Health for Your Congregation, 1st ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000), 203.

[16]Stowe, 87-88.

[17]M. E. Andrew, Responsibility and Restoration : The Course of the Book of Ezekiel (Dunedin, N.Z.: University of Otago Press, 1985), 166.

[18]Jefferson, 49-50.

[19]Andrew, 166.

[20]George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, Rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.,: Eerdmans, 1993), 73.

[21]James and Mac Brunson Bryant, The New Guidebook of Pastors (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2007), 119.

[22]Daniel C. Arichea and Eugene A. Nida, A Translator's Handbook on the First Letter from Peter, Helps for Translators (New York: United Bible Societies : May best be ordered from American Bible Society, 1980), 160-161.

[23]Jefferson, 42.

[24]Daniel G. Powers, 1 & 2 Peter/Jude : A Commentary in the Weslyan Tradition, New Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2010), 146.

[25]Douglas Karel Harink, 1 & 2 Peter, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2009), 124.

[26]Jefferson, 67.