Shepherding God's People

A Guide to Faithful and Fruitful Pastoral Ministry

Tan, Siang-Yang

• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781493418282
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

This comprehensive textbook on pastoral ministry for pastors, church leaders, and students articulates a biblical model for shepherding God's people. Written by a leading psychologist and seminary professor who has served as a pastor for more than two decades, the book covers twelve major areas of pastoral ministry, highlights the essential work of the Holy Spirit, and focuses on the personal and family life of the pastor. It includes cross-cultural perspectives of special interest in our diverse world and a foreword by John Ortberg.

Part 1
Biblical and Theological Foundations of Pastoral Ministry

1
A Biblical Perspective on Pastoral and Church Ministry

Serving as a pastor (or church leader) in a local church is a special and wonderful calling from God to shepherd his people or flock. It is a sacred privilege that has both joys and sorrows, peaks and valleys, triumphs and trials, and blessings and burdens, as does life itself. Some have described the pastoral calling as the highest and noblest calling, while others have called it impossible and most stressful. Albert Mohler wrote:

The Christian pastor holds the greatest office of human responsibility in all creation. He is called to preach the Word, to teach the truth to God’s people, to lead God’s people in worship, to tend the flock as a caring shepherd, and to mobilize the church for Christian witness and service. The pastor’s role also includes an entire complex of administrative and leadership tasks. Souls are entrusted to his care, the truth is entrusted to his stewardship, and eternal realities hang in the balance. Who can fulfill this job description?

Of course, the answer is that no man can fulfill this calling. The Christian pastor must continually acknowledge his absolute dependence upon the grace and mercy of God. As the apostle Paul instructs us, we are but earthen vessels employed for God’s glory. On his own, no man is up to this task.1

These words actually apply to both men and women called by God to be pastors or church leaders. Although the stresses and burdens of pastoral ministry have been highlighted for some time, recent research and surveys have revealed that the majority of pastors are significantly happy, satisfied, or fulfilled in their ministries. However, a smaller study of over 1,000 pastors attending conferences in Southern California reported that about 90 percent experienced frequent fatigue and had thoughts of quitting ministry.2 It has also been pointed out that there are around 350,000 churches in North America and that 3,500 of them (1 percent) die every year. Furthermore, about 1,500 ministers or pastors leave their ministries each month for reasons including loss of their jobs or retirement, but a significant number quit because of burnout and other health and family issues. It is estimated that 3,000 new churches are being planted every year, but more churches are closing down than being planted in North America.3

These statistics, of course, do not apply to some parts of the world where churches are actually growing and multiplying as the Holy Spirit works in wonderful and sometimes miraculous ways—for example, in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.4 Nevertheless, pastors everywhere face unique challenges, including spiritual warfare, and the stresses of ministry are real. A biblical perspective on pastoral and church ministry is needed for pastors to be able to serve their churches and shepherd God’s people in a Christ-centered, biblically based, and Spirit-filled way. Pastors are called to faithful and fruitful servanthood in Christ, which will be more fully described and explicated under two major headings: (1) a biblical perspective on the church and (2) a biblical perspective on pastoral ministry, focusing on shepherding God’s people as God’s servant.

A Biblical Perspective on the Church (Ecclesiology)

Ecclesiology, or the doctrine of the church, has often been approached from a pragmatic or functional perspective, focusing more on what churches actually do and the polity or practices of a local church.5 However, a more theological and biblical perspective of the church, or biblical ecclesiology, has been the focus of some recent authors.

We first need to clarify the meaning of the Greek word ecclesia (or ekklesia), often translated in the New Testament as “church” in English. Ed Silvoso has pointed out that ekklesia is the word translated as “assembly” in Acts 19:32, 39, 41 but as “church” 112 times in other parts of the New Testament.6 He emphasized that the first description of ekklesia, or assembly of the disciples or Christ followers after Pentecost, was in the context of having a meal or eating together: “they were seen continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread [eating] and to prayer.”7 Ekklesia was therefore flowing into everyday life such as at mealtimes. Jesus transformed tables into pulpits and ordinary homes into assembly places where strangers were warmly welcomed and the gospel shared with them. He therefore did not limit the assembly or gathering of his disciples to buildings or scheduled, centralized meetings; rather, his ekklesia, or church (assembly), was wherever and whenever his disciples gathered together, with him and his presence among them.8

The church, then, is the assembly or gathering of God’s people as disciples of Christ and others who may be strangers or friends, anywhere and anytime, including out there in the marketplace and in homes where real life happens and not necessarily within the confines or walls of a church building. Silvoso then provided five key paradigms for understanding church, or ekklesia, biblically so that both pulpit and marketplace ministers serve together as equal partners:

1. The Great Commission is about discipling nations and not just individuals (Matt. 28:19).
2. The atonement secured redemption not only for individuals but also for the marketplace, which is the heart of the nation (Luke 19:10; see also Eph. 1:7–10; Col. 1:19–20).
3. Labor is worship, and since all believers are ministers, they are to turn their jobs into places of worship to God and ministry to others (Col. 3:23; see also Gal. 6:9–10; Eph. 2:10).
4. Jesus is the One who builds this church, not us. Our assignment is to use the keys of the kingdom to lock and unlock the gates of hades in order for him to build his church where those gates stand (Matt. 16:18–19).
5. The elimination of systemic poverty in its four dimensions—spiritual, relational, motivational, and material—is the premier social indicator of transformation (Luke 4:18; see also Acts 4:32–34; Gal. 2:10; Rev. 21:24–27).9

The church has also been described as “the living reality of the living God”10 and as “the family of God.”11 Although defining the church based on the New Testament is not easy, because there are different and various views of the church, Gregg Allison has emphasized that the church refers to the people of God, or “the communion of saints,” made up of particular or peculiar people called “sojourners and strangers” (1 Pet. 2:11).12 Gerald Bray recently pointed out that the apostles did not have a clear and systematic view of what the church should be, but they knew deep inside what it was and expressed it when appropriate. Their thinking about church can be best summarized by the words of the apostle Peter: “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. . . . You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9–10 ESV). 13

John MacArthur has asserted that the most honorable and serious responsibility as well as the highest privilege one can have with the greatest eternal significance is to serve in church ministry. Such service requires a correct understanding of the church and its ministries, with ten fundamental truths:

1. The church is the only institution that our Lord promised to build and to bless (Matt. 16:18).
2. The church is the gathering place of true worshipers (Phil. 3:3).
3. The church is the most precious assembly on earth since Christ purchased it with his own blood (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 5:25; Col. 1:20; 1 Pet. 1:18; Rev. 1:5).
4. The church is the earthly expression of the heavenly reality (Matt. 6:10; 18:18).
5. The church will ultimately triumph both universally and locally (Matt. 16:18; Phil. 1:6).
6. The church is the realm of spiritual fellowship (Heb. 10:22–25; 1 John 1:3, 6–7).
7. The church is the proclaimer and protector of divine truth (1 Tim. 3:15; Titus 2:1, 15).
8. The church is the chief place for spiritual edification and growth (Acts 20:32; Eph. 4:11–16; 2 Tim. 3:16–17; 1 Pet. 2:1–2; 2 Pet. 3:18).
9. The church is the launching pad for world evangelization (Mark 16:15; Titus 2:11).
10. The church is the environment where strong spiritual leadership develops and matures (2 Tim. 2:2).14

The New Testament, as Ed Hayes has pointed out, contains various images or descriptions of the church, such as the church militant (on earth) and triumphant (in heaven) (1 Thess. 4:15–5:10); a fellowship or community (Acts 2:42, 43–47); the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 1:22–23; 4:15–16); God’s household or family (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:14, 15; 2 Tim. 2:20–21); the building of God (1 Cor. 3:9; Eph. 2:20–22; 1 Pet. 2:4–6); the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:32; Rev. 19:7); and the flock of God (John 10:11, 14; 21:15–19; Acts 20:28–29; 1 Pet. 5:2). Other images or metaphors for the church include the temple of the Holy Spirit, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a mystery, a vineyard, the heavenly Jerusalem or the city of God, and the pillar and ground of truth.15

A Biblical Perspective on Pastoral Ministry: Shepherding God’s People as God’s Servant

Having a correct biblical perspective on what it means to serve as a pastor (or church leader) is just as crucial as having the multifaceted but biblical perspective on the church that we just reviewed. Pastoral theology is as important as ecclesiology. There are various models of ministry in the New Testament, and therefore there are multiple New Testament patterns for pastoral leadership and ministry in the church, depending on the needs of a particular church, as Derek Tidball has pointed out.16

Yet it is still important to emphasize that a pastor or church leader is primarily a shepherd (or undershepherd) of God’s people, or the church. The pastor is a faithful and fruitful servant of Jesus Christ and his church, before any leadership models or roles are assumed. Biblical servanthood is central and foundational in the Christian life and ministry, including church ministry and pastoring.17 Leadership does not come firs...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part 1: Biblical and Theological Foundations of Pastoral Ministry
• Part 2: Areas of Pastoral Ministry
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Scripture Index
• Subject Index
• About the Author
• Back Cover