Healthy, Growing Church (1)

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints… Ephesians 4.11, 12

Epistle to the Ephesians 2.4.11-12
Jerome (347-420)
“It is not to be supposed that as with the first three … he has allotted different offices to shepherds and teachers. For he does not say ‘some shepherds, some teachers’ but ‘some shepherds and teachers,’ meaning that he who is a shepherd should at the same time be a teacher. No one in the church, even a saintly person, should take to himself the name of shepherd unless he can teach those whom he feeds.”

The place to begin in assessing the health and growth of a local church is with those who have been charged with nurturing such a condition. How do we regard our work? To look at some churches, we might think that pastors are like busboys, cleaning up messes so that all appearances continue clean and in order. Others look to us as coaches or CEOs, the ones with vision and charisma who point the way for the rest. People want pastors to be good preachers, available and skilled counselors, keen organizers, and adept managers. They want them to be serious but funny, entertaining but profound, accessible but not necessarily to everyone (mainly them). But no one “should take to himself the name of shepherd unless he can teach those whom he feeds.” If we regard ourselves as shepherds, then we must make certain we understand what that role entails. Shepherding is not simply what we say it is, but what Christ says it is. And if weare doing anything other than shepherding God’s flock, our churches may be growing numerically, but they will not be healthy.

What specific aspects of your work as a pastor/teacher fulfills the Biblical requirements of a shepherd?

T. M. Moore

The Work of Shepherds
In case you missed our series on shepherding and the work of shepherds, you can receive a free PDF of 28 morning and evening readings, in which we unpack the Biblical teaching concerning the work of shepherding, guided by great shepherds of the past. Simply write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and ask John to send you a copy of The Work of Shepherds.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.