Encouragement and Challenge

[gsmith3]

As a young leader preparing to enter into a new and challenging leadership role on the mission field I was both encouraged and challenged by Shepherds after My own Heart. I was encouraged because in this text I found a metaphor that resonated as a good and proper way for a Christian to go about the leadership task. I was challenged because even my leadership training at West Point has not sufficiently prepared me for the role of shepherd. The reading of this book was timely for me personally and has left me with much to consider about the practical ways I will begin my new task.
Laniak describes the role of shepherds and the place of the pastoral metaphor in Ancient Near Eastern societies including Israel. He unpacks the role of shepherd as the caretaker and provider of the flocks of animals which these societies depended upon for survival. One point of particular interest is the way in which Laniak discusses the flexibility and variety of skills needed by a shepherd. He says “All of these elements - the movement, the isolation, the variety, the adjustments, the demands - contributed to a knowledge base and ‘skill set’ that distinguished shepherds as remarkably and broadly capable persons. They were known for independence, resourcefulness, adaptability, courage and vigilance. Their profession cultivated a capacity for attentiveness, self-sacrifice and compassion.” (Laniak, 57)
Laniak moves from the description of the literal shepherd to the use of shepherd as metaphor in the ancient world. He cites examples of deities and rulers described as shepherds. Apparently, even the Egyptian Pharaoh’s often painted pictures of themselves as pastoral rulers. This is not the metaphor elucidated by the pyramid and self-aggrandizing statues left behind by Egypt’s shepherds, which makes their use of the shepherd metaphor all the more interesting.
Laniak goes on to show that the shepherd ruler is the most persistent leadership metaphor in both the Old and New Testaments. He says “the persistence of the metaphor in a broad variety of biblical texts from different periods suggests that the image of a shepherd ruler had special significance. This persistence is due, in part, to Israel’s foundational story, which took place in a real wilderness.” (Laniak, 75) Laniak substantiates this thesis by highlighting shepherd imagery in the descriptions of Moses, David, Ezekiel, and finally Jesus. In the Gospel descriptions of Jesus as “the good shepherd”, Laniak shows how Jesus fulfills the multiple facets of the shepherd role characterized by “independence, resourcefulness, adaptability, courage and vigilance” (Laniak, 57).
Shepherds after My own Heart provides a broad and thorough analysis of the shepherd leadership metaphor as described in Scripture. It is familiar language but really the idea of the Lord of Heaven and Earth describing his own leadership in the shepherd metaphor is quite shocking. It is also quite challenging as I think about my own call to pastoral ministry. What metaphor would describe my own behavior as leader? What is the predominant leadership metaphor in our culture? Suffice it to say that it is not that of the shepherd. How have the structures of the church and programs for identifying and training leaders been informed by our culture rather than biblical metaphors? I don’t know the answers to these questions but I’m certain that I’m not asking them enough. All too often I’m afraid that I fall short, as we all do, of the shepherd standard.
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Gabe Smith