Shepherding

Marcus and Adele Herbert have served at Cornerstone Church in Johannesburg, South Africa for the last 20 years. Marcus has lead Cornerstone for the last 10 years. 18 churches have been planted out under his leadership.

Shepherding

Matthew 9:35-38 ³⁵And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; ³⁸therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’.

The flow of events is important – Jesus went, saw and then what He saw, harassed and helpless people, caused compassion to rise up in Him. We usually wait to have compassion before we go! Jesus places shepherding in the forefront, a pioneering task, and not just passive maintenance! Like with Isaac re-opening the wells his father had dug, but the enemy had stopped up, we need to re-open the ‘shepherding’ well again.

We need to redeem shepherding from the many misunderstandings: -

·      Is this thing for the more sedate and ambitionless among us

·      Merely a maintenance task

·      A hospital function  and not an army function

·      ‘If you don’t visit I won’t come to church’

·      It’s the job of a select few whose disposition suites it

The fact of the matter is that if we have been called to serve in God’s Kingdom, we need to have a shepherding heart! The church in Jerusalem had 5000 believers, 7 deacons and 12 elders, and it flourished! Why? One of the reasons is that there was a culture of shepherding that was well established in the priesthood, no doubt with the leaders leading in it!

Two chapters in the Old Testament highlight God’s shepherding heart, Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34. In both these chapters God rebukes the shepherds of Israel for their lack of concern and care for the flock. And because of this He will shepherd the nation. He will go after the lost, heal the broken and wounded and gather them to Himself, under the leadership of David – a type of Jesus to come. As we well know Jesus came to do exactly that, and now encourages us to pray to the Lord of the harvest for those who are moved with compassion for the people because they are sheep without a shepherd!

A question to ask is, ‘Who was God talking to when He rebuked the shepherds for not doing their job?’ Most would think that the profile would fit the priests best. But, when we read these two chapters in context, God was rebuking all the leaders for their lack of shepherding, the king, the prophets, the elders and the priests. They were more concerned about themselves than the flock! Many hundreds of years later, Jesus is still concerned with the lack of shepherding, and challenges us to pray for workers/leaders who are shepherds at heart! Every leader in the body of Christ needs to have shepherding as a foundation in their hearts! For example, a prophet or an administrator or a teacher without a shepherding heart is dangerous!

There is a robust, pioneering and courageous aspect of shepherding that we need to recover! In John 10:9-11 Jesus reveals Himself as the good shepherd and the gate. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. ¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Therefore, good shepherding is both caring and opening gates for the sheep (the apostolic)! Not one or the other, but both! Through Jesus we come in (caring), go out (apostolic) and find pasture (feeding).

In conclusion, let’s make this blog practical!

·      There is a need to open this ‘shepherding’ well, and redeem shepherding from its many misunderstandings

·      We need a closer working relationship between leaders (elders and deacons) to establish shepherding as a culture in the body of Christ.

·      Every leader will give an account for every person entrusted to them Heb 13:17; 1 Cor 4:2

·      We build people into a reliance on Jesus and not ourselves.

·      Every leader is called to shepherd. Each leader should be looking to innovate, pioneer and reach out with God’s caring heart, wanting to see the flock shepherded. The flock is shepherded when everyone is integrated and functioning, and therefore bearing fruit. It's a corporate or priesthood task.

Lets return to the biblical heart of shepherding. Use Jer 23; Ezek 34 and John 10 as practical guidelines.

Our shepherding heart should extend to the lost and not only the believers. This will motivate us to pray for them and reach out with the love of Jesus.

One of the greatest authorities we have in imparting a shepherding heart is, leadership by example, ‘Follow me as I follow Christ’. 1 Cor 11:1. We can't take them where we are not going. We lead by the example we set in love for the sheep, building them into His Kingdom!