“Shepherds cannot personally remain involved with each one.� Especially the pastor of a mega-church! As Americans, the lie of “bigger is better� is deeply ingrained in us. What if all churches had a rule that once they reached an attendance of 150 members (the number that most church planting experts cite as the maximum number of people a typical pastor can shepherd well), that they would divide in two? I’m sort of joking here, but I am wondering out loud how a pastor of a church of 20,000 (or even 2,000 or 600, for that matter) can rightly be called a shepherd as it is logistically impossible for him to keep tabs on every single sheep. I have nothing against mega-churches (I worked for one) and I am all for the hiring of under-shepherds, but I have witnessed that on large church staffs, it is difficult for the lead pastor to even keep tabs on all of his under-shepherds! Of course it is crucial that these designated “under-shepherds� be screened and trained well.
To me, this meditation really captures the essence of what pastoring is all about.
ShepherdLeader.com
A safe place for shepherds to reflect together.