Articles
Practice Shepherding Now
Men who serve as leaders in the church are called “elders”, “overseers”, and “bishops” (Acts 20:17,28, 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:5-7). Even more revealing than those terms is the idea of being a “pastor” or “shepherd” (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2, Ephesians 4:11). What we think of shepherds goes a long way toward our perception of serving as an elder one day. “Our images of shepherds have been framed by Christmastime, through the charming little figurines found on coffee-table crèche displays, or, closer to my point, the neighborhood kids in bathrobes, with towels on their heads. They are cute. Actual shepherds are rugged” (The Way of the Wild Heart, John Eldredge, p. 15). It is hard work they do, but necessary. Every man, whether or not he ever ends up serving as an elder, needs to be practicing the “shepherding way” in every facet of his life. We need to be striving, as men and as prospective elders, to be working on:
Being willing to confront sin with great courage;
Being willing to oppose false teaching for the sake of the souls of our family members;
Being willing to sacrifice our time;
Being willing to care about others and make emotional investments;
Being willing to become emotionally involved in others, and not seeing this as a weakness or character flaw.
Even as young men, we can practice the skills necessary to become faithful pastors one day. Shepherding is hard, dirty work sometimes, and we should never think that being an elder will be easier than it is. We can make the transition easier on ourselves, though, if we prepare for eldership by practicing pastoral skills as young men in the home. Notice the parallels:
We need to develop a habit of making time for our wives and children, which will help us make time for needy church members as elders.
We need to invest in the problems of our children, as elders care for the problems of their flock.
We need to be very defensive of our families, as elders are charged with being ultra defensive of the church (Acts 20:28-31).
We need to keep in mind how our families see us, since a reputation in the community for love and good works is necessary for elders (1 Timothy 3:7).
We need to manage our children, keeping them under control, since those same skills will come in handy when dealing with contentious church members (Titus 1:10-11).
We need to learn self control in our tempers, never punishing our children more than their deeds merit. Elders, too, must have self control and must not be pugnacious (1 Timothy 3:3).
We need to accept the discipline of making mistakes. Sometimes we fail our families, disappoint our wives, and succumb to temptation. Allow these failures to temper your spirit and make you stronger, so that all may see your prudence.
