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T heS h e ph e r dLeaderAchieving EffectiveShepherding in Your ChurchTimo thy Z. Witm erRWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 31/11/10 10:55:27 AM

2010 by Timothy Z. WitmerAll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—except for brief quotations for the purpose of review or comment, without the prior permission ofthe publisher, P&R Publishing Company, P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, New Jersey 08865–0817.Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New American StandardBible . Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 byThe Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONALVERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Usedby permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.All rights reserved.Italics within Scripture quotations indicate emphasis added.Printed in the United States of AmericaLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataWitmer, Timothy Z., 1953The shepherd leader : achieving effective shepherding in your church / Timothy Z. Witmer.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-1-59638-131-5 (pbk.)1. Discipling (Christianity) 2. Elders (Church officers) 3. Christian leadership. I. Title.BV4520.W538 2010253--dc222009047315Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 41/11/10 10:55:27 AM

ToThe officers of Crossroads Community Church (PCA),who faithfully shepherd the flock of God under their careand toCaptain Nathan T. Witmer,who bravely shepherded his troops through the valley of theshadow of deathOperation Iraqi FreedomWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 51/11/10 10:55:27 AM

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Con t e n tsForeword ixIntroduction 1Part 1: Biblical and Historical Foundations1. Not a New Idea: Old Testament Themes 112. Fulfillment: The Good Shepherd and the ApostolicImperative 293. Lost and Found: Where Did All the Shepherds Go? 454. The Shepherd’s Biblical Right to Lead: A Few Words aboutAuthority 75Part 2: So What’s a Shepherd to Do?A Comprehensive Matrix for Ministry5. Shepherds Know the Sheep 1076. Shepherds Feed the Sheep 1397. Shepherds Lead the Sheep 1558. Shepherds Protect the Sheep 169viiWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 71/11/10 10:55:27 AM

ContentsPart 3: Putting It All Together9. Seven Essential Elements of an Effective ShepherdingMinistry 19310. Implications of Having a Shepherding Ministry 22511. Let’s Get Started! Suggestions for Implementation 241Conclusion 247Appendix A: Additional Resources 251Appendix B: “Arguments against Term Eldership” byJohn Murray 255Index of Scripture 263viiiWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 81/11/10 10:55:27 AM

F o r e wo r dIt is both an honor and a privilege to be able to write a fewwords to introduce and commend this very important book.The Shepherd Leader is just the kind of book that those whoknow Tim Witmer and his work have been hoping he wouldwrite—an intelligent, biblical, balanced, pastoral, sensitive, andrealistic exposition of the nature of true leadership in the Christian church. And there is a double bonus: this book is as readable asit is interesting. Not every study of eldership is as well acquaintedwith the shepherding practices of the Nix Besser sheep farm inrural Pennsylvania as it is with the pastoral care of the humansheep of Kidderminster during the remarkable ministry of Richard Baxter in seventeenth-century England!This is an intelligent and informative book. Here exegesisand exposition provide a solid biblical foundation. Knowledge ofthe history of the cure of souls—in Scripture, in the medievalworld, the Reformation, right through to the strategies of thegreat Thomas Chalmers in a deeply deprived urban parish innineteenth-century Scotland—provides color.One might expect all this on learning that Dr. Witmer isprofessor of practical theology at Westminster Seminary inPhiladelphia. But what he modestly refrains from underliningin these pages, however, is that he serves simultaneously asixWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 91/11/10 10:55:27 AM

F o r e wo r dthe preaching pastor of a vibrant, multicultural Presbyterianchurch in a highly urbanized community just outside Philadelphia. Under his ministry the hundred-year-old CrossroadsChurch has been renewed and built up both spiritually andnumerically. Indeed, even in its size it equates to what JohnOwen regarded as ideal for a congregation in which everyonecounts, in which gifts abound, but no one is sidelined! Thus longpersonal experience of pastoral ministry provides relevance andcontemporary wisdom. So this is also a wonderfully practical aswell as instructive book. It underlines principles that ministersand leaders can employ in the specifics of their own churchcontext, and it provides workable suggestions about how toput them into practice.These pages have, therefore, been personally test-driven.They do not give us idealistic counsels of perfection that failto take account of an honest reading of the New Testamentand what it teaches us about the condition of Christ’s flock.Professor Witmer is too good a theologian to do that. But he isalso too caring a pastor not to provide us with approaches toleadership and spiritual care that are practical and workable inall kinds of situations.To be among the congregation Tim Witmer pastors is—atleast in my experience—to sense a little of what it means forsheep to be loved and cared for, well-protected in the flock,and devotedly fed a balanced and healthy diet from God’s Word.There is something indefinable, atmospheric about such congregations. It is explicable only in terms of the knowledge ofGod, faith in and love for Jesus Christ, and a sense of the Spirit’spresence. This is what unites the Lord’s people together as afamily as they worship, pray, and enjoy fellowship together inservice and evangelism. Since these things are present in partxWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 101/11/10 10:55:27 AM

F o r e wo r das a direct fruit of Tim Witmer’s ministry and leadership, whenhe speaks on the subject of pastoral care, we listen. And whenhe writes about it in this permanent form, we eagerly read. Iam personally deeply grateful for our years of friendship, whichhave given me the opportunity to learn from him, and, in morerecent days, for his immediate rapport with and help to theleadership of our congregation.The reasons The Shepherd Leader has these rich and variedqualities—intelligent, biblical, balanced, pastoral, sensitive, realistic—are not hard to discover. In fact there are two reasons.Firstly, these were the qualities expressed in the pastoral careand leadership of the Lord Jesus and his apostles. And, secondly,Tim Witmer himself exemplifies them. Our Lord said that thegood shepherd knows his sheep and is prepared to lay down hislife for the sheep. He spends time with them, gets to know them,and brings them to the Heavenly Father in prayer. And he doesthis because he “loves them to death.” These are the qualities ofthe “shepherds after my heart” that God has promised to give tohis people. When these qualities are combined with an understanding and wise application of Scripture, God’s flock will beshepherded. We need this desperately today when so many are“like sheep without a shepherd.” These pages have the potentialto transform the way undershepherds together lead their flocks.Few things would bring its author—and his Shepherd—greatersatisfaction and joy.Sinclair B FergusonFirst Presbyterian ChurchColumbia, S.C.xiWitmer Shepherd Leader.indd 111/11/10 10:55:27 AM

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I n t ro d u c t i o n“There is a crisis in the church!” Books like this alwaysbegin by sounding an alarm. In this case it is a shepherdingcrisis, or should I say a failure to shepherd. There can be nobetter introduction to the subject than a “real-life” scenario(details changed):Cathy Williams, affectionately known to many as “Kate,” wasborn on September 22, 1953. In 1986, Cathy became a member of Covenant Church on the basis of her profession of faithand remained a member until her death on July 14, 2005. Thedeath of Cathy Williams became a watershed moment in thepastoral shepherding ministry of Covenant Church. Comingout of a rebellious and loose lifestyle, Cathy made a professionof faith and actively participated in the life of the church. Butthen she began to fall into her old sinful habits. She abandonedthe church and no one knew where she was; or at least noone cared to find out. Her name, however, remained on therolls of the church, but just as a name. Shortly before her death,God placed Cathy back on the doorstep of Covenant Church.Pastoral interaction with the dying Cathy was too brief toconfirm how she stood before God. In a cloud of uncertainty,Cathy was memorialized. She will have to stand before thejudgment seat to give account for her life, but before that same1Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 11/11/10 10:55:27 AM

I n t ro d u c t i o nthrone the undershepherds of the flock at Covenant will haveto give account for this one lost sheep.How many Cathys are there in your church? What is the leadership of your church doing to care for these people? What viewdo your leaders hold of their identity as leaders and, therefore,what they are supposed to do? What is your view of the nature andfunction of leadership in the church? What is your congregation’sview of the nature and function of leadership in the church?The simple thesis of this book is, “The fundamental responsibility of church leaders is to shepherd God’s flock.” After all, theword “pastor” comes from the Latin word meaning “shepherd.”However, as you will see, shepherding is not merely the responsibility of those who are called to be pastors but also of thosewho are called to be elders or its equivalent in our churches. Infact, you will see that “shepherding” is at the very heart of thebiblical picture of leadership. Unfortunately, this emphasis ismissing in many churches.Some years ago I attended a series of meetings designed toencourage leaders in our denomination. One well-respected pastor conducted a seminar on leadership and began by introducingus to the most important biblical metaphors for leadership. Ashe moved through his list of biblical terms I kept waiting forhim to mention the metaphor of “shepherd,” expecting that itwas certainly going to be next. However, it wasn’t on his list atall! With the concept of shepherding so conspicuously absentfrom meetings such as this one, it should be no surprise that theministry of shepherding leaders is conspicuously absent in manyof our churches today.Therefore, though this is not a book on church polity, it willchallenge your thinking on the nature, function, and structure of2Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 21/11/10 10:55:27 AM

I n t ro d u c t i o nleadership in your church.This is important because the failure toshepherd in our churches is the simple but dangerous result whenchurch members and leaders fail to embrace this fundamentalbiblical model. For example, if the church leader is called to be a“shepherd,” those chosen to serve will be different than if he is tobe merely a “decision-maker.” Are the elders or leadership team a“board of directors” making decisions, or is it a team of shepherdscaring for the flock? The answer to this question will also have animpact on whether the primary qualification for your leadershipteam is corporate success and experience or a shepherd’s heart.Obviously, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but whatis the fundamental orientation of your leaders?The failure to shepherd produces several symptoms, and wecan observe at least one micro symptom and one macro symptom.The micro symptom can be seen in the closing verses of Matthew9. As Jesus walked through the cities and villages of Galilee weare given the following description: “Seeing the people, He feltcompassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). What Jesusobserved among the people was described in terms that evokefrustration and discouragement: “distressed and dispirited.”Thesewords could well be used to describe the people in many ofour churches today. The sheep are frustrated and discouragedbecause they are not receiving the care that they need and thatthe Lord requires that his shepherds provide. Many of them maybe spiritually hungry or may have even begun to stray. Failure toshepherd, therefore, impacts church health.This leads quite naturally to a macro problem when thesediscouraged sheep wander from church to church swellingthe roles of some churches while other congregations shrivelaway and die. This may explain the American phenomenon of3Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 31/11/10 10:55:27 AM

I n t ro d u c t i o nthe apparent success and vitality of some megachurches, whichgrow even though church membership and attendance continueto decline overall. Thus, there is an impact on church growth. Ifwe understand this dynamic we will see that “a sheep retainedis as valuable as a sheep gained.”How did we get into this predicament? There are many reasons for this development, but most fundamentally, either churchleaders don’t know that shepherding is what they are supposedto do, or they don’t know how to do it. This book is designedto prove to you from the Bible that church leaders, specificallyelders, are fundamentally undershepherds. Having proven thatpoint, the book will then help you to implement an effectiveshepherding ministry in your church.This subject came to my attention as I was doing my doctoralwork at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida.Having been converted through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ and then involved in a church plant followed byan urban church revitalization project, I was deeply concernedabout the subjects of evangelism and mission. After all, in bothcircumstances it was urgent that the church grow in number!As I reflected on my experience, though, I came to realize thatin both settings, people were heading out the back doors nearlyas quickly as they were coming in the front (or side) doors, andthere came a point when numerical growth stopped. How wasit possible that, though we were doing the same things to reachpeople and were moderately successful in bringing them intothe church, overall it was as if we were “treading water”: lotsof activity but getting nowhere. How was this possible? This ledme to do some reminiscing about my own spiritual pilgrimage.I, like so many baby boomers, grew up in the church, but whenI left home for college, concern from my church ended. I never4Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 41/11/10 10:55:27 AM

I n t ro d u c t i o nheard from anyone at the church, except my parents, of course.This is the reason that most baby boomers, for example, shouldnot technically be characterized as “unchurched Harrys” a laWillow Creek’s lexicon, but as “prechurched Petes.” One studyamong baby boomers cited by Wade Roof claims that “two-thirdsof all boomers reared in a religious tradition dropped out of theirchurches and synagogues during their teens or early twenties.”1How did this happen? Apparently, the church leaders of the“builder” generation did not do a very good job in shepherdingtheir children.The Roof study also made the startling observationthat “dropping out of organized religion during the young adultyears, at least for a transitory period in a person’s life, is a deeplyimbedded cultural problem in America.”2 Now another generation is at stake. The millennial generation (born between 1980and 2000) is making its impact on the culture and the church.Will our churches fail them? If they or anyone else “drops out,”will anyone notice? Will anyone respond and seek them with ashepherd’s heart? Are we going to find more “Cathys?”An important factor to keep in mind as a church leader isthe matter of our accountability for the stewardship of leadership entrusted to us by the Lord. The writer of Hebrews tellsus, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keepingwatch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account”(Heb. 13:17). The motivation for the sheep to respect those inleadership is the clear realization that these leaders will haveto give an account to the Lord one day for their flocks. This isamong the “texts that terrify” as one of my seminary professors used to say. It should certainly motivate us to understand1. Wade Clark Roof, A Generation of Seekers (New York: Harper Collins,1993), 154.2. Ibid., 56.5Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 51/11/10 10:55:27 AM

I n t ro d u c t i o nwhat the shepherding language of “keeping watch over yoursouls” means.Therefore, this book is designed to be a practical guide 1) toconvince you that shepherding provides a comprehensive framework for what you need to be doing as a church leader and 2)to provide a practical guide to help you start a shepherdingministry among your people, or to improve the one you alreadyhave. Though I am a professor at a theological seminary, thisis not primarily an academic work, but I hope those studying(and teaching) in seminaries will find it to be valuable. I am aprofessor of practical theology, so my motivations are pastoralwith the humble desire of helping you apply these principles inyour ministry setting.The following chapters will move from the biblical and historical foundations to practical application. The first sectionwill convince you, I hope, that shepherding is something youshould be concerned about, and the subsequent sections willmove toward the “how to’s” of what a shepherding plan shouldlook like. At the heart of the “how to” section are the seven elements of an effective shepherding ministry.These “elements” arenot “pick and choose.” Each of them needs to be in place if yourshepherding plan is to be effective.The concluding chapters willhighlight some important implications of having a commitmentto shepherd the flock as well as suggest some practical ways toimplement a shepherding ministry.For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to church leaders as“elders,” reflecting what I believe to be the biblical model ofleadership in the local church. If you do not have “elders” (thoughI hope that within these pages I can persuade you to employ thebiblical terminology!), please “fill in the blanks” with the terminology used for the leadership team at your church.6Witmer Shepherd Leader.indd 61/11/10 10:55:28 AM

I n t ro d u c t i o nThis book would not have been possible without the congregation and officers of Crossroads Community Church (PCA),who not only model these principles but allowed me the time toput them into print. Crossroads’ elders are truly shepherds! I amalso grateful to the faculty and students at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia), who helped me to refine andclarify the principles you find here. This material has also beenimpacted by the scores of churches and hundreds of officers towhom I have had the joy of presenting it over the past ten years.It’s great to know that there are so many who are eager to growin their effectiveness as shepherds. My thanks also to Mr. and Mrs.Robert Herr who allowed me to spend some time on their NixBesser (None Better!) sheep farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Their insights in caring for real sheep have helped me toappreciate the wisdom of God in applying the metaphor to hispeople. I am also grateful to Marvin Padgett, Aaron Gottier, andEric Anest of P&R for shepherding me through the developmentof this work, and to Larry Sibley for compiling the Scriptureindex. Last, but not least, I thank the Lord for my dear wife,Barbara, with

Witmer_Shepherd Leader.indd 11 1/11/10 10:55:27 AM. Witmer_Shepherd Leader.indd 12 1/11/10 10:55:27 AM. 1 In t r o d u C t I o n “THeRe iS A CRiSiS in the church!” Books like this always begin by sounding an alarm. in this case it is a shepherding crisis, or should i say a failure to shepherd. There can be no

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