The word pastor<\/i> is problematic.\u00a0 It appears to have been imported from the French directly, and given a meaning drawn from its Latin roots, although there is some indication that it once meant shepherd<\/i> in English (as it originally did in Latin and French).\u00a0 We use the word because we have imbued the office with theological significance which is not captured by the literal translation:\u00a0 the Greek word for which it stands is the ordinary word for a shepherd, and any theological meaning it has comes from its metaphoric attachment to this ministry.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there are reasons why we cannot easily replace pastor<\/i> with the literal word shepherd<\/i>.\u00a0 First, it has become in some sense the<\/i> title for a particular category of ministry (although it is abused, covering some persons who are not and not covering some who are spiritual shepherds).\u00a0 Second, the concept of “shepherding” fell into disrepute in the last third of the previous century from its use in some rather authoritarian hierarchical church structures.\u00a0 Third, the Middle Eastern method of shepherding is very different from the European approach which dominates our understanding.\u00a0 We thus have to understand the image to understand the metaphor.<\/p>\n
Shepherds in Europe, the Americas, and Australia tend to drive sheep.\u00a0 This is relatively easy, and you can hire anyone to do it.\u00a0 The trick is to get behind the sheep and frighten them into fleeing in the direction you want them to go.\u00a0 Dogs are easily trained to assist this, because sheep are terrified of dogs, and while the dogs can be trained to protect the sheep, the job of herding sheep involves making them frightened enough to move away from the dogs.\u00a0 The Bible, however, speaks of shepherds leading<\/i> sheep, and explains that the shepherd has a relationship with his sheep:\u00a0 he calls, and they follow him.\u00a0 This is not some fantasy Jesus created; this is the way shepherds manage their sheep in the Middle East.\u00a0 I am told that they will gather around watering holes such that hundreds or even thousands of sheep are mingling, trying to get water, and then one of the shepherds will start to walk away and will give his call, and all of his sheep will separate themselves from the mass and follow him.\u00a0 It is his job to lead them to food and water, and to the shelter which protects against predators.\u00a0 He does this by making them feel safe and secure, and because they know that he will care for them, they follow him.<\/p>\n Peter, as we mentioned, is the only person in the New Testament connected by name to the office of shepherd or pastor.\u00a0 He uses it of himself in his first letter.\u00a0 More significantly, in John 21, Jesus charges him with commands that are very much those given to a shepherd:\u00a0 “Tend my lambs….Shepherd my sheep….Tend my sheep.” (Updated New American Standard Bible).\u00a0 This is what a shepherd–a pastor–does.<\/p>\n Peter is unfortunately not a very clear example, because he is also an apostle, and much of what we see him do is based on that ministry.\u00a0 Yet what we see in his letters and in the directives Jesus gave him seems reasonably clear:\u00a0 pastors care for people; this means they care about people.\u00a0 People matter to them, and they are nurturers.<\/p>\n I use to have a lot of trouble listening to pastors preach, because their exegesis was often shoddy and their statements often questionable.\u00a0 It wasn’t until I came to understand that pastors are not teachers that I recognized why the standards I applied to teaching the Word were not appropriate for pastors.\u00a0 When a pastor preaches, it is not his primary job to convey understanding or information, to deliver doctrine or explain mysteries.\u00a0 Peter does none of that in his letters.\u00a0 The pastor is there to make sure that the sheep are safe and growing.\u00a0 It is about their lives, the love they have for each other, the way they live and interact, the choices they make.\u00a0 Pastors are there to lead believers closer to God.\u00a0 We make the mistake of thinking that feeding the sheep is about teaching truths, but that is a very small part of it.\u00a0 It is truth, not truths, that sheep most need.\u00a0 They need direction, someone to show them how to get closer to God and to each other.<\/p>\n With this understanding of the pastoral ministry, it becomes obvious that those musicians we call “worship leaders” are actually exercising pastoral ministry:\u00a0 in leading people in worship, they are drawing us closer to God.\u00a0 Again, as with the evangelist, part of the value of music in this is that aspect that we easily learn and often repeat songs that are simple enough for us to handle.\u00a0 Thus in teaching us worship songs and leading us in worship, these pastors are also teaching us to worship, and how to worship, when we are away from the group.<\/p>\n Pastoral ministry also involves bringing us together in love, getting us to embrace each other and live and work together and build each other in faith and love; and it involves encouraging us to reach beyond ourselves, both individually and collectively, that is, that I would reach out to those around me but also that we would reach out to those outside the faith.\u00a0 These are the ministry objectives of pastors, to show us how to live Christian lives and enable us to do this.\u00a0 For the pastor, people are the most important thing, and pastors are driven to work with people individually and collectively to profit and edify through relationships with God, each other, and those beyond.<\/p>\n That leaves us with the teacher.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n Next in the series: The Teacher Music Ministry<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is mark Joseph “young” blog entry #103, on the subject of Music Ministry of the Pastor. This continues our miniseries on what it is to be “called” to “music ministry”.\u00a0 Our first installment was #95:\u00a0 Music Ministry Disconnect, making the point that most Christians are not what we call “ministers” and most musicians are … Continue reading #103: Music Ministry of the Pastor<\/span> ![\"img0103Shepherd\"](\"http:\/\/www.mjyoung.net\/weblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/img0103Shepherd-300x215.jpg\")
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