Church leaders, have we lost our ability to shepherd?

My work leading an international parachurch ministry happily includes meeting and spending time with church leaders.

A while back, I was having lunch with a bright, young pastor and was using the time to get to know him better. As he described his work as a pastor and church planter he said, “What I really don’t enjoy much is shepherding.”

A shepherd who doesn’t enjoy shepherding?

It was not the first time a minister had said something similar to me.

One problem with a shepherd not enjoying shepherding is, when he must “shepherd,” he’ll do so half-heartedly or begrudgingly because he would really prefer to be doing something else. AND, the quality of his shepherding may be lacking, meaning those he shepherds often won’t get the spiritual leadership they need.

When shepherds aren’t really interested in the spiritual work that is the heart of their calling from God, the consequences of that lack of interest can negatively impact the people in the congregations they lead.

For example, When counseling a church leader who had fallen in sin, part of working with him was to get his senior minister and board of elders to take on the responsibility of leading him through a process of restoration, something we’re instructed to do in scripture …

“Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself,” Galatians 6:1.

They responded very slowly to the request, finally agreed to serve this brother who had confessed his sin, and now had to repent and work at restoring his walk with the Lord.

While agreeing to walk this brother through a restoration process, most of what followed was the fallen man having to prompt and plead with the church leaders to actually provide him with leadership! They rarely contacted him, gave little to no guidance, didn’t help set any expectations, and had not developed any process for accountability. It was as if these church leaders didn’t have a clue about how to help a fallen brother be restored in his walk with Christ.

Why?

Their fellow church leader wasn’t the only person in that church who would struggle with sin. How had they been ministering to others in the congregation who needed help in being restored? They probably had not been, or at least doing very little of such work.

It seems the leaders in this church had immersed themselves in being so interested in “organization building” (not evangelism, but organization building) that they had lost touch with actually shepherding the flock of God. When someone assertively sought their help to turn from their sin, they really didn’t know how to handle it.

Let me suggest here that when church leaders don’t know how to help a sinner battle sin, then those church leaders have lost touch with their basic role in the church and calling from God.

Headlines have recently heralded a story about a female pastor who is an admitted atheist, and fought her denomination for the “right” to remain pastor of the church she shepherds even though she’s an avowed atheist (she won that fight). Many have asked out loud what is the point of an atheist being a pastor? How can she rightly shepherd the flock of God in her care?

Perhaps we need to ask how can a shepherd who doesn’t enjoy shepherding be an effective shepherd? Further, how can church leaders who don’t know how to lead their flock in battle against sin and into spiritually healthy relationships with the Lord rightly carry out their calling to shepherd the flock of God? It appears some church leaders have, along the journey of their ministry, lost their ability to adequately shepherd disciples of Jesus. In any church where that is a reality, it needs to be corrected.

“Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly — not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor,” 1 Peter 5:2-4.

If you’re a shepherd who has lost interest in shepherding, or a church leader who really doesn’t know how to help people turn from their sin, we would be happy to counsel with you (for free, as always at SFC). You can contact me directly at dr.scott@scottfreeclinic.org.

Scotty