Stephen Barkley
The most common metaphor for leadership in the ancient Near East as well as the Bible is shepherding. Pastors are called to be the shepherds of their people—a weighty responsibility to be sure! Timothy Z. Witmer leans into the shepherding metaphor in this very practical pastoral theology book.
For Witmer, shepherding can be divided into four main tasks:
- Knowing
- Feeding
- Leading
- Protecting
These four tasks provide a helpful rubric to consider the variety of pastoral responsibilities. (It’s worth noting that Witmer’s four tasks is an expansion of Laniak’s three tasks described in Shepherds After My Own Heart. Laniak includes ‘knowing’ as a subtask of leading.)
While the general task of the pastor is well described by Witmer, the practical application of those roles is limited in two ways. First, Witmer is a Presbyterian pastor who writes from a strong Calvinist and complementation perspective. An example: he offers “a simple suggestion” to help pastors feed the sheep—focus on Fathers since they’re the under-shepherd heads of their families (149). What about the women who disproportionately attend our churches?
Second, despite having written this in 2010, it feels awkwardly dated at times. An example: under the task of protecting, Witmer advocates taking church attendance as a way to alert the pastor of worrying trends and thereby aid the pastor in protecting the sheep. To accomplish this task, he notes how some churches use “pew pads” to pass down the rows at set times during the service so all members and non-members can sign in (184)!
The Shepherd Leader does a good job describing the broad strokes of the pastoral task, but unless you’re serving in an older Calvinist church, the practical pieces are of little value to modern-day pastors.
Witmer, Timothy Z. The Shepherd Leader: Achieving Effective Shepherding in Your Church. P&R, 2010.
