A year or so back Bill Blair recommended this little book to me, The Minister As Shepherd, and it quickly became one that I pick up often. I love the idea the minister/pastor as being a shepherd. I believe it is the Biblical idea of leadership; this is so true for me & for our community that we even call our leadership group “shepherds”.

If you are in leadership in a church community…you NEED to read this book!

I don’t know a great deal about Charles E. Jefferson but I know that he gave us a gift in these writings from back in the early 1900′s and this little book is a great example of how are words live long after us…for the good or bad.

Over the next few days, I’m going to post some lines form the book. I invite your thoughts & would love for this to be a great discussion starter for us.

Introduction & Chapter 1:

*Let the preacher be a pastor and the flock will strengthen itself and increase. no gimmicks, nothing spectacular; simply a dedicated man of God going in and out among his people with the refreshing Word of life. (pg. 6)

*Before men dared to think of God as their Father, they called Him Shepherd. (pg. 12)

*If we are called to fulfill Christ’s mission, then our work is that of a shepherd. If we are to be judged by Christ, then the standard of judgment day is to be the standard of a shepherd. Since Christ is the image of His Father, it follows that God Himself is a Shepherd God. To glorify Him we must do a shepherd’s work, and to enjoy him forever we must have the shepherd heart. (pg. 15)

*The New Testament truth knows neither the altar nor the pulpit. The first elders and bishops were not preachers in our sense of that word, and it was not for generations that the Lord’s Supper was converted into the mass. The first permanent officials of the local congregations in the days of the apostles were overseers, superintendents, guides, presbyters, bishops – in other words, pastors, herders of the sheep. (pg. 21)

*No man can truly be the pastor of more than a few hundred people, and yet churches roll up their membership sometimes to a thousand while that one man is expected to go on doing all the work of the church. The result is he can do nothing well. He is a failure as a pastor, and sooner or later he breaks down as a preacher. (pg. 22)

Have you ever met a relaxed small groups pastor?

Me either. They are always on the phone, watching a video, taking someone to lunch, working on spreadsheets reading a book about the next thing. (and I have been here…one of these peeps)

I think it is because they know that every group that get’s started is just like a plate of spaghetti thrown on a wall. It will stick for a bit, but eventually it’s all coming down.

Some pieces will fall immediately.
Some pieces stick together then slither apart & down.
Some pieces crust & dry up then fall off.
Etc.

It’s just not gonna stick. There is a connection between the elements involved but the whole environment…the whole situation is manufactured. Pieces of spaghetti to be all that they were created to be need to live together with other parts of the dish…where they belong, in the bowl or on the plate.

Community cannot be manufactured. We have moved groups from the church building class room to the neighborhood living room thinking that geographic’s, time of day,  or a more laid back feel will help people fall in love with each other. It doesn’t work – eventually the group will come apart. The psuedo intimacy will fail.

As churches how do we leverage existent relationships or groups toward discipleship?

How do we as servants, disciple people in those circles to be disciple makers where they are – in place of shared affinity or places where people gather together constantly?

How do we act as resourcers, mentors and cheerleaders instead of dictators?

How do we help people see that the small group is not the extension of the church or the way the church gets to know each other better? Honestly, a small group done right is a church.

Peace ~