Good Shepherding

From The Forum Magazine, Winter 2014 - view the full issue here

One of the warnings that John Calvin voiced so many years ago about parish ministry was that of the danger of pastors who were “shut up in their studies” and not out in the community, visiting parishioners, attending to the pastoral needs of God’s people who were under their spiritual care. Good shepherding in the parish gives credibility to good preaching from the pulpit. Parishioners who are well attended in the midst of crisis, the challenges of engaging cancer or the loss of a child, for example, will long remember and be forever thankful for good pastoral care. They will be usually be quick to forgive pastoral shortcomings, whether in the pulpit or elsewhere. On the other hand, parishioners may long remember and struggle to forgive the lack of good pastoral care. They will remember the neglect of a needed visit or the dismissal of a child with a disability or the pain of silence when an encouraging word is needed. In times of spiritual crisis, when people are in the midst of unfinished lament, good shepherding means paying careful attention to the spiritual needs of people, one by one, name by name, or family by family. The good shepherd knows the sheep.

Pastoral care might be defined as bringing someone into the presence of God— or, more carefully, as being used by God’s Spirit to bring someone into the awareness of the presence of God in his or her life. Jesus, when speaking about himself as the shepherd in John 10, states his great purpose in coming to Earth: “I came that they might have life and have it in abundance” (my favorite verse in the Bible). The goal of our good shepherd is that we might all have life to the full—life that is filled with meaning, that takes great delight in God’s creation, that enjoys the richness of deep relationships in friendship, marriage, family, church, and community. But as we all take turns with different forms of human suffering, there are times in our lives when each of us is in need of a good shepherd because life is not abundant. Often in Scripture our Lord portrays himself as such a shepherd, tending to his flock, knowing each by name, protecting those in his care from danger, and sometimes even going out in the wilderness to find that one lost sheep. This metaphor for ministry captures the selfless, sacrificial quality of effective pastoral care in its many dimensions.

The tradition of pastors attending to the needs of people has, of course, a long history in the life all the church. But the discipline of pastoral theology that informs good pastoral care is the youngest of the theological perspectives on ministry. It was once called poimenics, a word correctly translated as “shepherding.” In the 1950s, a Lutheran pastoral counselor named Seward Hiltner parsed out shepherding functions to include the practices of healing, sustaining, and guiding. Later, church historians Jaeckle and Clebsch added reconciling as a fourth function of shepherding ministry. Each of these roles in ministry is an opportunity for pastors, elders, and other caregivers such as Stephen ministers to shepherd God’s people in the name of Jesus Christ. And they give us a lens through which to see the good shepherding that we are called to do.

Healing

Our prayers for healing are usually our most desperate—whether from physical, emotional, or spiritual distress; whether caused by suffering or by our own sin; whether for ourselves or for someone dear to us. “Lord, if it be thy will let this cup pass from me” or “Lord, have mercy” are very often our first prayers to God when we are knocked sideways in this very broken world. We long for restoration, for forgiveness, for a return to the way things were; we long to be healed. Good shepherding often involves entering the suffering of God’s people and praying such prayers with a tear in our own eye. Good shepherds, realizing their own need for deliverance, are able to pray for deliverance for others—from addiction or from cancer or from the heartbreak of marital breakdown. Pastoral care is sometimes a commitment to suffering with those who hurt from the missteps and tragedies of life. People who experience hardship sometimes push everyone away, including God. And then the challenge of coming close, being next to individuals or couples who are suffering may mean gently pursuing them, all in the name of Jesus. Facilitating healing by God’s Word, by our prayer, and by heartfelt empathy is part of good shepherding.

Sustaining

Keeping our faith and keeping our faith strong entails the need for nourishment. When Jesus instructs Peter to “feed my sheep” he makes explicit the importance of the pastor’s role as a nurturer of the flock. Faith that is not nurtured and grown may lack the staying power needed in times of difficulty. Assisting those in our care to sustain faith in the face of doubt, for example, or in the face of broken relationships, or in the face of terminal illness is an important pastoral challenge. There are times when holding on to faith becomes a serious spiritual challenge, and at those times God’s presence, mediated through the care and concern of a pastor, elder, or Stephen’s minister, is of great importance. Much of the work of sustaining faith comes from the pulpit. Pastorally sensitive sermons must be part of the lived experience of the community of faith. When, for example, people are in the throes of doubt because of what appears to be God’s distance from them, good shepherding may mean coming alongside these people, hearing their laments in all their painful detail. And God’s Word faithfully preached the Sunday before may be the foundation for personal shepherding during the week. We do well to remember God’s covenantal promise to never leave us or forsake us as a worshiping community as well as within personal pastoral conversation.

Guiding

Jesus was a Rabbi, a teacher. This is part of his shepherding role in our lives. Pastoral guidance has to do with offering spiritual direction. “God’s Word is a light unto our path”—but there are times when we need help discerning that path. Sometimes guidance is asked for, sought after by someone who desires to hear from their pastor what they should do. In other circumstances, pastoral guidance may mean gentle persuasion—that is to say, pushing in a certain direction for the spiritual good of the parishioner. And sometimes such guidance may be a word of accountability, a spiritual reality check of sorts, when a person’s attitude or behavior falls short of the mark of a Christian lifestyle. Yes, pastoral guidance may sometimes require a word of admonition for sinful behavior. The challenge in all of these circumstances is to carefully provide direction and explanation for the spiritual disciplines of lifelong learning in faith.

Reconciling

“Just as God the Father has reconciled all of us unto himself by the work of Jesus Christ the Son, so we..."

The ministry of bringing estranged people together, of building bridges between people in conflict, must be an important part of the pastoral agenda. A good shepherd will labor for reconciliation in a wide array of situations: marital breakdowns; situations of bias against gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, and so on; fractions over issues of doctrine, styles of worship, or other polarizing topics. In any congregation where these experiences are relevant, the whole congregation grieves.

When we count the cost—the collateral damage of fractured relationships—it becomes so evident that reconciliation is not only ethical, it is also wise. There are times when the directive of Jesus to love our enemies becomes a spiritual challenge that needs the mediation of a thoughtful and sensitive pastoral voice. In fact, the ongoing work of reconciling is critical for the future of a congregation. Good shepherding means keeping the flock together, being one in Jesus Christ.

Challenges with the Shepherding Metaphor

The shepherding metaphor puts a great deal of pastoral responsibility on the shoulders of the pastor. At times perhaps too much. Although there are certainly moments in our walks of faith when the pastor’s presence is critical, a wider view of pastoral responsibility would include the contribution to ministry made by many in the community of faith. We are to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). The Reformation theme of the “priesthood of all believers” should be kept in mind as we in the Christian community minister to each other, all in the name of Jesus Christ and in the presence of his Spirit. Remembering that we are all part of one body, and that we each have roles to play in that body (Eph. 4;1 Cor. 12), challenges us to keep balance between seeing the pastor as the provider of care and seeing the community of faith as the provider of care. Small groups, families, friends, neighbors, and coworkers can play a vital role in this spiritual work.

The idea of being sheep within the fold also has its limits. We are called to our own spiritual growth—our ongoing sanctification. Put differently, we are to “grow up in every way into Jesus Christ.” Good shepherding is also about maturing the flock. The Good Shepherd wants such a life for each of us. Jesus Christ came and modeled how we are to be with each other, emptying ourselves for the sake of the other. In so doing we ask not so much what the community of faith can do for us, but (in our maturing) what can we offer to our church community, especially as it relates to the good shepherding that we are all called to do. The great privilege of pastoral ministry is the gift of entering the lives of so many people and demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ thoughtfully, carefully, empathically, all for the glory of God.

(Ron Nydam, Professor of Pastoral Care, emeritus)