Shepherds and the Flock

The last lesson said the church is the body of Christ. Within the body there is a special kind of service: shepherding.

The book’s Question 69 asks: why should Christians go to church to be shepherded? The answer is Paul’s word to the Ephesian elders: “shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) The church was bought with blood, so shepherding is a weighty thing.

The Bible begins its picture of shepherding with God himself: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1); “He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom.” (Isaiah 40:11) The true shepherd is God; human shepherds look after the flock on his behalf.

So the book’s Question 76 says shepherding is to be “not under compulsion, but voluntarily,” (1 Peter 5:2-3) “not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:2-3) These words are written to shepherds, but also to sheep: they show us how to pray for our pastors, and what kind of ‘shepherding’ is unhealthy.

This lesson does not teach you how to be a pastor—who becomes a shepherd and how they are appointed differs from church to church; please ask your own church. This lesson says just one thing: those who want to serve should first learn to be a good sheep. Jesus asked Peter whether he loved him, and only then said: “Tend my sheep.” (John 21:16)