Psa 23:1 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psa 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
Psa 23:3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Psa 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Joh 10:1 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2 "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Joh 10:4 "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Joh 10:5 "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."
1Pe 2:25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
Act 20:27 "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
Act 20:28 "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Act 20:29 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
Act 20:30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Act 20:31 "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.
Heb 13:20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
Heb 13:21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
1Pe 5:1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,
1Pe 5:2 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;
1Pe 5:3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.
1Pe 5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Andy Stanley who denies "shepherd" is a right term for pastors in his interview with "Leadership Journal":
There's nothing distinctly spiritual. I think a big problem in the church has been the dichotomy between spirituality and leadership. One of the criticisms I get is "Your church is so corporate." I read blogs all the time. Bloggers complain, "The pastor's like a CEO." And I say, "OK, you're right. Now, why is that a bad model?"
So what's the principle behind the CEO model?
"Follow me." Follow we never works. Ever. It's "follow me." God gives a man or a woman the gift of leadership. And any organization that has a point leader with accountability and freedom to use their gift will do well. Unfortunately in the church world, we're afraid of that. Has it been abused? Of course. But to abandon the model is silly.
Should we stop talking about pastors as "shepherds"?
Absolutely. That word needs to go away. Jesus talked about shepherds because there was one over there in a pasture he could point to. But to bring in that imagery today and say, "Pastor, you're the shepherd of the flock," no. I've never seen a flock. I've never spent five minutes with a shepherd. It was culturally relevant in the time of Jesus, but it's not culturally relevant any more.
Nothing works in our culture with that model except this sense of the gentle, pastoral care. Obviously that is a face of church ministry, but that's not leadership.
Isn't shepherd the biblical word for pastor?
It's the first-century word. If Jesus were here today, would he talk about shepherds? No. He would point to something that we all know, and we'd say, "Oh yeah, I know what that is." Jesus told Peter, the fisherman, to "feed my sheep," but he didn't say to the rest of them, "Go ye therefore into all the world and be shepherds and feed my sheep." By the time of the Book of Acts, the shepherd model is gone. It's about establishing elders and deacons and their qualifications. Shepherding doesn't seem to be the emphasis. Even when it was, it was cultural, an illustration of something.
What we have to do is identify the principle, which is that the leader is responsible for the care of the people he's been given. That I am to care for and equip the people in the organization to follow Jesus. But when we take the literal illustration and bring it into our culture, then people can make it anything they want because nobody knows much about it.
End quote.
Wow. How utterly wrong could Stanley be? "Shepherding" first of all, was established in a different culture and different millenium before Acts, starting in Genesis. In Acts, it is the establishment of the elders AS shepherds that Paul refers to interchangeably in Acts 20:28--a charge that was to continue, not discontinue. Moreover, the term and duties of shepherding continues even in 1Peter 5 which was written later than Acts. Additionally, shepherding and the Lamb of God, are both taught in the very last book of Scripture, the last words from God:
Rev 7:17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."
James White on the hand, states the biblical role and duties of pastors and elders:
But the strongest argument I know regarding the biblical nature of church membership is probably the most obvious. What are the duties of elders? We can find their qualifications listed by Paul in writing to Timothy and Titus (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-11)and from these glean much about their duties. And we have the plain statement of Peter,
Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 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; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3).
The argument is simple: shepherds must know their sheep to be able to fulfill their duties as shepherds. Its just that simple. You cannot shepherd the flock of God when you havent a clue who the flock of God is. Every good shepherd knows his sheep. Only the hireling does not know the identity of the members of the flock. And, of course, the relationship is mutual. The sheep know their shepherd. They will not listen to anothers voice because they have been with the one shepherd so long they know his voice over against any pretenders or strangers. Such involves a relationship over time, just as the Christian elder is not to be a hireling, some young gun brought in from outside, but should be one who ideally fulfills the commandment of Paul, The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2). The gospel is something that is precious, and you entrust it to the next generation. But it is the elders who make this decision, as they have to decide just who is truly faithful and who has the ability to teach others. All of this requires community, exposure, contact, once again demonstrating that the shepherd must have direct knowledge of the identity, personally, of the sheep who have been entrusted to his care.
Further, Peter speaks of exercising oversight. While we may discuss the exact nature of what this means (and allow for differences given culture and geography and the like) one thing is for certain: it cannot be done without a relationship of some kind that involves real life. Obviously, this involved teaching and exhortation and discipline on the part of the elder. He is to be an example. You cannot be an example from a distance. You cannot be an example through a television screen or through the pages of a book. Modeling Christian maturity takes contact, exposure, and a reciprocal relationship that involves at least some kind of personal, communal, corporate context. All of this proves that despite the lack of the specific term membership rolls(something that would have been pretty dangerous at that point in time anyway), the activities of the elders and the form of the church itself requires one to see the necessity of commitment to a particular fellowship identifiable by a particular group of elders. And if these texts were not enough, surely this command to all obedient Christians should be:
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you (Hebrews 13:17).
Here the Christian duty of obedience and submission, coupled with a need to make this work on the part of the elders of the congregation one of joy rather than grief, is enjoined upon all. This is not a command to servility, nor does it grant to Christian leaders despotic powers. But it does require believers to know who their leaders are. It is empty to say, "Jesus is my leader!" for the writer to the Hebrews did not say your "Leader" but your "leaders," plural, and he would distinguish between them and the Great Shepherd only a few lines later (13:20). Nor does it do to claim to be in obedience and submission to men who do not see your face but once or twice a year. How can they give an account when they have no meaningful knowledge of your life, your Christian experience, your growth in godliness? How can they do so when you never attend upon their teaching or encounter them in the congregation?
End quote.
If we take out "shepherd" from the role and duties of elders, then we must also remove " savage wolves" from the description of false teachers and the death and pain they cause. One then, must also do away with following Christ, listening to His voice, have full dependence on Him for everything pertaining to life, and not recognize Him as the Great Shepherd and Good Shepherd. Its ironic that "pastor" Andy Stanley is proving to be a wolf while dismissing biblical shepherding which relies on the Great Shepherd. I find that a CEO model is one founded on money and employer-employee relationship, not owning the very people who merely show up to work 5 days a week. Its limited to the world and very temporary, after all, no employer owns a person nor does an employee work 24/7. I wonder if Stanley would also reject the slave-Master terms and relationship, since that too, is not part of our culture; it is in fact, very offensive to Americans because of our history of slavery. Yet slave-Master is one of the most important relationships reiterated throughout the New Testament (and conversely a slave to money or sin is described as being anti-Christ, being unregenerate--no one can have two masters). Jesus is called "Master" (aka "Lord") several hundred times because of the distinction of HIM as well as us: HE is owner and Master, commanding us, His slaves to do as He commands without question and rebellion, but gladly.
God is deliberate in choosing every word, jot, tittle, illustration, and analogy in Scripture to tell us about Himself as well as mankind in relation to who He is. To have such arrogance as to rip out the Shepherd/sheep relationship terms is to destroy Scripture and reject God's authority.
Hath God said? Yes He has. Stanley should realize he echoes the words of the ancient Serpent when he despises shepherding and following as Scripture proclaims.
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