The Shepherd Leader (Timothy Witmer)

Timothy Witmer argues that "the fundamental responsibility of church leaders is to shepherd God's flock," and so he wrote The Shepherd Leader "to prove to you from the Bible that church leaders, specifically elders, are fundamentally undershepherds. Having proven that point, the book will then help you to implement an effective shepherding ministry in your church."

Summary

Part one is background. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the shepherding metaphor is clear. The Lord is our shepherd, and leaders in the church (not just pastors, but elders and deacons) are accordingly called to be 'undershepherds' for the church. We never outgrow our need to be shepherded. After looking at these Biblical principles through several examples, Witmer covers the historical aspects of shepherding in the church, concluding that we've always had a problem understanding and practicing shepherding, to include a discussion on authority (i.e. the church's willingness to receive shepherding) and how/why it should be exercised. The bottom line: church leaders should be lovingly shepherding their people, and the people should be receiving and submitting to that authority. So how is that to be done?

In part two, Witmer argues that a shepherd's job is fourfold: to know, feed, lead, and protect his people, on both 'macro' and 'micro' levels. "Macro-shepherding refers to those important leadership functions that relate to the entire church . . . its concern is to address the corporate concerns of the congregation." On the other hand, "micro-shepherding . . . refers to the personal ministry of the elders among the sheep. It has in view the oversight of particular sheep for whom they have been given responsibility." He then expounds upon each category on both macro- and micro- levels. I feel most of these are intuitive, but at a high level:

- to know is to both know the demographics and members of your church at large (the macro level) but, more importantly, have genuine relationships with the members in the church under your care (the micro level). To know more than their names but their personalities, habits, strengths, weaknesses, and so on.

- to feed is to preach the Word of God on both macro- and micro- levels. From the pulpit on Sunday to small group Bible studies to individual discipling, this can look like many things, but the point is to instill deep knowledge of the Scriptures.

- to lead is what most think of when we talk of elders, and is "making decisions [and plans] for matters that concern the congregation as a whole" (the macro level) and leading an exemplary lifestyle (micro level).

- to protect is to warn the congregation as a whole on (for example) dangerous cultural trends (the macro level) and personally watch over members to help them "not stray from purity of doctrine or purity of life" (the micro level).

In part three, Witmer puts it all together by presenting "seven elements of an effective shepherding ministry." In short, such a ministry must be Biblical, systematic, comprehensive, relational, include the four shepherding functions, include accountability, and include prayer. 

Review

The content is fine- I completely agree with the author that shepherding is necessary yet neglected. This is a sobering reminder and warning. And his principles for shepherding are also fine. No problems there. My 'challenge' in reading this book was the length- 250 pages to present content that could have been condensed to 20-30. This book could have been an article or blog post. This is a good reminder to me: it's not just what you say, it's how you say it- and part of that is how long you take to say it.

Rating: B-