Every now and then a book comes your way that seems to way about 30 lbs. more than its peers. A couple of years ago The Shepherd Leader by Timothy Witmer was that book.
I should say at the outset, in a manner that I’m sure Witmer would appreciate, the book’s great impact is not due to the author’s creativity with words or concepts. It was quite the opposite actually. Witmer dusts off the biblical concept of shepherding and provides a very helpful guide to ministry.
When I say shepherding I am not saying anything that pastors, or people who have been around Christianity very long, aren’t already familiar with. We know that pastors are shepherds and elders are pastors. This is drilled into our minds. However, what Witmer so helpfully does is remind us that pastor/shepherd/elder is not just a noun–but a verb!
Along these lines, the author writes in the introduction:
Therefore, this book is designed to be a practical guide 1) to convince you that shepherding provides a comprehensive framework for what you need to be doing as a church leaders and 2) to provide a practical guide to help you start a shepherding ministry among your people, or to improve the one you already have.
And this is pretty much what we have in The Shepherd Leader.
In Part 1 we see the biblical and historical foundations for shepherding or leading the people of God. Here Witmer helpfully draws some lines of continuity between our day and both the Old Testament as well as the Apostolic era. This he does with helpful interaction with the contemporary resistence to the concept of authority in general and the church in particular.
In Part 2 Witmer identifies what Shepherds are to do. This is where he gets very practical. It becomes convicting and affirming depending upon where you are. But regardless, it is helpful, refreshing and instructive.
The chapter titles explain what you are getting here. Each chapter is represented in italics: Shepherds Know, Feed, Lead, Protect, the sheep.
In Part 3 the author helps you to put it all together, or implement an effective shepherding stategy for the local church.
One of the recurring lenses that Witmer uses is the Macro and Micro concept. That is what the shepherd leader does on the large scale and what he does on the small scale. I found this to be very helpful. It helped to united the too often estranged elements of pastoral ministry. What I mean is, often times churches are really good on the individual level but then lack in the public ministry of the Word. Others do a lot of preaching and teaching but neglect discipleship. Witmer won’t have that (because the Bible won’t have that imbalance). He helps to show the better way of active shepherding via relationships, visitation, preaching, leading, small group discipleship and general communication.
As a church planter who is working to establish leaders this book is gold. My copy is dog eared and highlighted all over the place. It is what we use to talk through pastoral ministry with any potential elders or interns. Our other elders and I rarely reference Witmer but are very often dropping Shepherd Leader references in our conversations. Thankfully, it has permeated ministry.
If you are a pastor let me give you a few more reasons to give this book a serious look. He hits these perennail pastoral burdens:
- How do you handle your back door issue? Lots of people come but not as many as you’d like get plugged in and serve. What do you do about that?
- How do you handle fluid membership role?
- Is there a way to anticipate counseling needs so that they don’t always have to go to triage?
- At the end of the day, what is my real responsibility before God for these people?
- How can I develop an effective shepherding plan?
- How do I develop more leaders?
- What do I look for in these leaders?
I could go on and on. The book is great. It’s under 300 pages so it’s not exhaustive, however, it’s what is needed.
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