Spiritual Shepherdology

Countries disintegrate, place of worship and corporation fail, people become dysfunctional, descendants lose their direction, and mankind drift from God on behalf of one distracting reason; insufficiency of leadership. These disappointments are often for the reason that of the deficiency of instruction, appropriate leadership, and misperception on what Christian leadership subsists and exactly how that leadership is pertinent to every component of professional and personal life. From a Christian worldview perspective, Psalm 112:5 explains, “A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion” (NKJ). A Christian manager should always keep in mind that bounteousness and admiration for God, demonstrates that one has placed trust in Him, and not our material possessions.

The Christian worldview of leadership is distinctly different from most secular views on the subject. In the secular, leadership tends to be viewed primarily in terms of a company’s bottom line and how well the leader can urge employees to produce more and better work. That view is profit-centered rather than person-centered, and it does not give much attention to employees’ human needs and qualities nor on how developing excellent work relationships can promote productivity. In the Christian worldview, however, people are key, and their human needs are important. The leader in the Christian worldview understands how meeting employees’ needs promotes the kind of productivity desired and

Atkinson (2014) believes effective leadership displays, “No person is less divine than another, and therefore no person is less than another” (p. 145). Throughout the bible, there are many people in scripture that God placed in leadership roles. Jesus, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart.

When I think about leadership, Matthew 26:36-45 always comes to my mind. In this passage, Jesus unpacked the roles and responsibilities of a true leader. A true leader leads by sample without looking back. The scripture states, “…My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little further, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed…. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.

My faith tradition informs my theology of pastoral care as that a pastor has an authority in the pastoral care relationship. The pastor’s image in my faith tradition is an advisor, director, and guide. In my faith tradition, the lay people like to have the pastoral care, when they make important decisions. Since my culture is the hierarchal and patriarch system, the lay people believes that pastors are better to know about God’s will. Therefore, the lay people are too much depending on the pastor’s advices, and taking pastor’s perspective, rather than choosing what they want. There is no space to listen their inner voice in the pastoral care in my faith tradition. My theology of pastoral care in my faith tradition was that what Jesus did is what we should do. Because of my traditional ideal of pastoral care, I thought pastors have to know everything and be better than others until becoming like Jesus. However, I realized that the theology can be dangerous to look down the lay people and non-Christians, and is not helpful for the pastors and the lay people as well. I think it is important to remember in my tradition that the head of the church is the only one, Jesus, and we are all the body of Christ. There is the better part in the body of Christ. We are all the same and we need each other.

In the book Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, by Reggie McNeal it examines the need for strong spiritual Christian leaders in today’s society. McNeal looks at the good and bad characteristics of a leader in order to help leaders understand and develop the characteristics needed in one’s own life to be a good leader. McNeal states “we are desperate for great

Servant leadership from a Christian perspective is a replica of what Jesus Christ symbolizes. Jesus was a servant because he showed truth, vision, humility, commitment, teacher to his followers, and brought about change; he was a suffering servant, yet was merciful, he was a teacher, yet willing to be taught by the Holy Spirit. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Both Baxter and Witmer, in their books “The Reformed Pastor”,” The Shepherd Leader”, argue about how to be a good leader in a biblical way for Maturate Pastoral Ministry. While Baxter is describing from his own point of view, Witmer harmonizes with Baxter including other points. Firstly, in this essay, we will Compare and contrast Timothy Witmer’s framework for leadership with his “old shepherd friend” Richard Baxter in The Reformed Pastor (1657)

"Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away“(NIV, 2005, p. ).

I read the assigned reading from Laniak’s Shepherds After My Own Heart with great interest. The author does not waste time and starts by giving the reader a through overview of the historical context of the shepherd motif in the ancient world. This concept is grounded in the cultural traditions of the ancient near east world. After a lengthy exposition of the shepherd role in the ancient world, the author gives of a thorough explanation of the role the shepherd motif played in the Old and New Testament. Laniak’s says that ‘the thesis of this present work is that a discernable pastoral ‘stream of tradition’ flows through the Scriptures’ (Laniak 2006: 24).

Business shepherds are called by God in various duties and stewardship within His Kingdom, giving them differing talents and abilities. The stewardship of the shepherd’s roles and talents determine success in the eyes of God. Success is the dominion in one’s sphere through obedience to God’s will. Obedience to God’s will flows out of our relationship with Jesus, and in that relationship, obedience is not a daunting task, on the contrary, it is a complete willingness to glorify God.

There are many people in scripture that God has placed in leadership roles. Jesus himself, David, Moses, Paul, Peter, Abraham and many others are some of those leaders. There are core attributes discussed in the lecture that personally reflect my opinion of what an effective leader of Christ needs such as, a shared vision, model of the way, empowerment of others, challenge of the process, and encouragement of the heart. Leaders establish a model of the way others should be treated and how goals should be pursued, with standards and examples of what others should follow by exemplifying God’s example. Christian leaders inspire a shared vision to make a difference

Psalms 23:1-3, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” (NKGV) In this scripture, God views himself as the leader of the sheep and guides them. God shows how a biblical leader should be envisioned. Biblical leaders are chosen by God to lead others through their Christian influence to guide them down the right paths. What is biblical leadership? According to Todd Engstrom, “Biblical leadership is meeting someone where they are, and taking them where Jesus wants to go.” Biblical leadership is therefore intensely personal and at the same time intensely biblical. The definition provides a basic foundation for leadership, but also expands to a more biblical meaning. Leadership is not about position, authority, or who knows the most information but more so about one life influencing another. A good leader seeks leadership from God, Proverbs 16:1 “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.”

I never thought to be a Christian leader. As a matter of fact, I am a person who did not know about God for 26 years. I was the center of my life, and there was no room for God to enter. Even when I was attending church service, I was trying not to be exposed to other church people. In other words, I was the kind of person who was afraid to walk into a life of faith. However, in the past three years, God has changed me in many ways, and showed me so many miraculous things. And, finally here I am. Being a Christian leader seems the most challenging job in the world. I am working as the chairman of a youth ministry, and walking on the path to be a church leader. When God called me to work for the

Leaders are appointed to serve here on earth on behalf of Christ since Christ is the good and chief shepherd. Leaders should lead the believers based on how Christ related with the church when he was on earth[5]. Shepherds had to feed the people of God and to protect them from predators[6]. Churches today ought to do things how the New Testament churches did[7].