Why the Church and the Community need Shepherds

What do you see when you walk around your city? What do you feel? How will you respond? In Matthew 9:35–38, we get a glimpse of what Jesus saw and felt, and how he responded.

Jesus saw the harassed and helpless crowds of people wandering aimlessly like a sheep without a shepherd. They were harassed and they were helpless.

Jesus felt Compassion

Jesus felt compassion. Compassion is a distinguishing characteristic of Christianity. Other religious systems demand perfection and or alignment with their steps of absolution. The Pharisee in the temple in Luke 18 thanked God that he was not like other sinners and God condemned him. The despicable sinner in the temple in Luke 18 begged for mercy and God forgave him. Christianity looks for the imperfect, the despised, and the corrupt. God is not recruiting the righteous for his kingdom; he is redeeming the rotten.

"The church and our community need shepherds to care for them."

Matthew’s Gospel reveals the very human and very divine compassion of a merciful God. In Matthew 14:13–14, Jesus saw a great multitude and he felt compassion. In Matthew 15:32, Jesus had compassion for the multitude and for their need to eat. In Matthew 18:21, the parabolic king had compassion for the man who was deeply indebted to him and he released him from his debt. In Matthew 20:30, 34, Jesus met two blind men on the road to Jericho and had compassion on them. In Matthew 23:37, Jesus felt deep concern for Jerusalem and desired to gather them near his breast like a hen would her baby chicks.

Jesus Responded

Jesus responded by praying for a gathering of the harvest before utter lostness and irreversible judgment. The solution was more workers, and more shepherds who will lead their flocks to the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

The central theme of Gospel Coach is to shepherd leaders to glorify God. In Acts 20:28, the word “care” (for the church of God) is a word that is translated “shepherd.” Jesus is “the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant” (Heb. 13:20). The point of all church leadership is to lead others to the chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. He is the “Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:25).
 
4 Characteristics of a Gospel Coach

1. A Gospel Coach is a leader who reflects the nature and characteristics of a shepherd.
2. A Gospel Coach recognizes their personal identity as a sheep in need of shepherding care. “As a fellow elder and a witness of the suffering of Christ . . .” (1 Pet. 5:1). Shepherd leaders and coaches are not people who have no problems; they are people who are leading others as they too follow the chief Shepherd.
3. A Gospel Coach initiates care with the people immediately around them (1 Pet. 5:2). We are mandated to care for the flock of God among us. This may be a church or a small group or a ministry department or fellow employees or neighbors or family.
4. A Gospel Coach responds to needs voluntarily, not under compulsion (1 Pet. 5:2b–3a). Peter describes this sacrificial leading as willingly, eagerly and as an example to others. A Gospel Coach is not shepherding because he is paid to care for others (see the hireling in John 10:12), but one that is called to care for others.

A Gospel Coach provides a reproducible example to those they are leading (1 Pet. 5:3). It doesn’t require that a person be without faults, sins, or inadequacies. We don’t need to be perfect and we cannot be perfect. Sometimes we think an example is someone with a perfect marriage, a perfect family, a perfect record, and a perfect credit score. Jesus is the only “perfect” in our life. We are only exemplary leaders when we acknowledge and confess our need for a Savior every day of our life in every area of our life.

By Scott Thomas
 
Excerpted from his and Tom Wood's book:
"Gospel Coach: Shepherding Leaders to glorify God"