A Shepherd for God's Flock
Ask ten church members what a pastor does, and you may get ten answers. He preaches on Sunday. He marries and buries. He sits in hospital rooms, counsels couples, settles conflicts, trains leaders, and answers the phone at midnight. A full list would run past fifty items. The Bible gathers all of it under one picture: a pastor is a shepherd.
The word pastor comes from the Latin for shepherd. It translates the Greek poimēn, and the King James New Testament uses it only once: Christ gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). The same office is also called elder and bishop. Elder speaks of maturity, bishop of oversight, and pastor of care (see The Autonomy of the Local Church and The Qualifications of a Pastor). This study takes up the shepherd's work itself.
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”1 PETER 5:2–4 · KJV
Peter's words hold the whole job. The flock belongs to God. It is the flock which is among you, a real group of people in a real place. The pastor serves it willingly, not for money and not as a lord. And he does all of it under the chief Shepherd, who will one day appear.
That makes a pastor an undershepherd. Paul told the elders at Ephesus that the Holy Ghost had made them overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28). Every sheep in the fold cost Christ His blood. No pastor owns a church. He tends what belongs to Another, and he will answer for how he tended it.
The pastor's work of feeding, leading, protecting, and caring for the local flock God has placed in his charge, as an undershepherd who answers to Jesus Christ.
Four verbs sum up that work.
- Feed. He gives the flock God's Word, in public and in private.
- Lead. He goes ahead of the flock by example and service.
- Protect. He guards the flock from false doctrine, division, sin, and harm.
- Care. He knows the sheep, prays for them, and goes to them when they hurt or stray.
Pastor, whose flock are you tending? Church member, does anyone know you well enough to shepherd you?
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For Deeper Study
- The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your ChurchAmazon Timothy Z. WitmerA practical guide built on knowing, leading, feeding, and protecting the flock. Presbyterian, so we differ on baptism, church government, and salvation, but its picture of hands-on care is very useful.
- Pastoral Ministry: How to Shepherd BiblicallyAmazon John MacArthur and The Master's Seminary FacultyA broad handbook by a dispensational, expository faculty. We differ on Calvinism and on required elder plurality.
- Visit the Sick: Ministering God's Grace in Times of IllnessAmazon Brian CroftA short, practical book for the hospital room and the home. Croft is a Reformed Baptist, and we differ on the doctrine of salvation.
- The Reformed PastorAmazon Richard BaxterA Puritan classic (1656) on watching over the flock and teaching people in their homes. “Reformed” here means revived. We differ on infant baptism and the state church.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Qualifications of a Pastor
God has set the standard for the one office of elder, bishop, and pastor in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1: a qualified man whose character, home, teaching, and reputation a local church can examine and affirm.
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