In a leadership class I’m in, we’ve been having discussions about the pastor being the shepherd and that part of being a shepherd is protecting the sheep against wolves or even wolves in sheep’s clothing. Although I agree with that, I want to propose a question no one seems to ask or probe but one that in my opinion beckons:

“Who protects the sheep from the shepherd?”

We talk about protecting the flock (congregation) from people who may be “false teachers,” harmful or malicious people who destroy unity and hurt others, but what happens when the wolf is the pastor – the very shepherd who is suppose to protect?

Who protects the sheep from the pastor who handles conflict in explosive and unhealthy ways, or the pastor who is manipulative and controlling, or the pastor who is teaching false doctrine, or the pastor who doesn’t keep confidence, or the pastor who is having an affair? In the discussion of pastor as shepherd, the question MUST be asked: who guards the sheep against them? How does the shepherd/pastor protect the sheep and his or her ministry from himself/herself?

Here are a few practical ways I thought of doing this:
1) To avoid against slipping into preaching false doctrine and being unfaithful to scripture: I think constant education as well as having a group of colleagues who rotationally listen to each other’s sermons and provide feedback. This serves not only to guard against false doctrine but aids in professional development as well.
2) To protect the church against a controlling pastor there needs to be understanding, resources and encouragement for the pastor to keep emotionally healthy in ministry. As Pete Scazzero says…it is impossible to have a healthy ministry and spirituality if one is emotionally unhealthy.
3) To keep one’s life of moral purity (financially, sexually, emotionally, etc.), there must be a level of accountability with someone whom the pastor can be totally honest with. There are also practical fences one can build to protect one’s self from temptation and falling into the deep well of sin.
4) To remember to rest and to have times and places where you can have fun and be yourself, apart from professional expectations.

To be a good shepherd, one must begin with humility; a recognition that one is human and can fall fast and hard into sin’s grasp. If we, as pastors, are shepherds of the sheep and part of our calling is to protect the flock then we must…WE MUST…do what we can to protect them from ourselves.

Have you ever had the experience that what you believed didn’t integrate with what you experienced. That which you once held so dear seemed lacking when life jerked it away from it’s comfortable place in your grasp. That is one of the many experiences I have had lately in my life and faith.

There are certain theological beliefs (orthodoxy) and practices (orthopraxy) that I hold and others that I embrace and I think there is a difference in nuance that I want to explain. There are beliefs I embrace which identifies them with something I love, cherish, adore and hold tightly. These things are those that are non-negotiable: importance of the Church and community, theological beliefs such as the Trinity, inerrancy of Scripture or the incarnation of Christ.

There are other beliefs and practices that I hold but not embrace. Holding implies a looser grasp, beliefs that are open for debate and ones that are not as essentially foundational to my faith. These allow me to worship with brothers and sisters in Christ that differ with me on what I hold but agree with what we embrace. These are things like my hermeneutical (fancy name for interpretation) technique for the Book of Revelation, my view on what happens to the elements at communion, how communion is celebrated, whether the creation account was seven literal days or representing God’s good creative work over time, or whether I worship God though contemporary choruses or traditional singing without instruments. These are just a few examples.

Oddly I find, as I grow and mature in my spiritual life, that I embrace less and hold more, but what I do embrace, I am learning to truly embrace – to love and cherish.

I have been reflecting on leadership lately; more specifically, I have been reflecting on the idea of pastoral leadership. You don’t have to look very far in Church sub-culture and you realize the incessant desire to be the best leader you can be (just take a tour of your local Christian bookstore). I am not against that but what I do struggle with is the measure by which pastors often view “successful pastoral leadership.” Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, John Maxwell are but a few of the plethora of leadership gurus out there, all of which are considered very “successful.” They have pastored large churches, written books, regularly speak on leadership, and many pastors look to them as their example and what they are striving to be.

I am not against good leadership, leadership workshops or leadership books. I am a leader who is passionate about being the best leader I can be, but I struggle with what I call the “mythical leader.” By “mythical leader,” I refer to the fact that, like superstars in our culture, people have warped views of what they are like in person. Like young girls measuring their exterior beauty with models that are Photoshopped and airbrushed, many pastors can feel a deep blow to their self-esteem because they believe the myth that these “leaders” are superhuman, never making mistakes or wrong decisions. I am not saying that they aren’t very gifted, but they are also human. So we can compare ourselves with mythical figures and think we are not worthy of our calling, but in the end we are comparing ourselves with a mythical character that, although gifted, is not as perfect as we perceive them to be. Contrarily, I believe, and think the Bible clearly teaches, that each pastor has been created and gifted uniquely for the calling that God has given them.

I think this conversation also needs to address the perceptions of the Church. Many people in church (speaking generically) compare their pastor (his/her leadership capability, administrative prowess, preaching gift, and counseling skills) with these mythical figures and of course no one can measure up to a fictionally ideal standard. In fact, that is one of the drawbacks of our twenty-first century culture. Sixty plus years ago, there wasn’t this same mythical picture. I think this began a bit with the iterant speaker, expanded with the use of radio and exploded with TV. Although I am very comfortable with the pastor that I am, my gifts and my limitations, there is always this opaque expectation I place, and at times others place, before me that I will never reach.

I wish there were more books and ministries that focused on being the person, follower of Jesus, and pastor that we are called, gifted and created by God to be. Maybe if we, as pastors, spent less time focusing on something we can never be and tried more to be better at who we are and how God created us, we would see a revolution of pastoral leadership that would lead to greater self-esteem, greater ministries and therefore greater effectiveness.

I don’t think this dismisses the need for personal and professional growth or the desire to be a better leader or even the need for good leadership in the church. All of these I wholeheartedly embrace, but maybe we need to focus more on being ourselves and thus be a better leader within the framework God has created and called.