Shepherds as Preachers

[wrseibert]

Yesterday, I participated in an interview of a minister who was seeking to become a pastor for a vacant church in my denomination. During our conversations, he stated that he primarily has "a pastor's heart" and that he is "first a pastor, then a preacher." He followed up this statement by insisting that he would rather spend quality time with the people in his church than to preach to them. "I just love people," he declared, in explanation. This struck me as way off the mark.

I have always believed that being a pastor included being a preacher; in other words, one of the ways we shepherd our congregations is through the ministry of preaching. I agree with Laniack, in Shepherds After My Own Heart, that protection, provision and guidance are essential aspects of a shepherd's task. Preaching, I believe, is a necessary and primary way in which we carry out this needed pastoral care. Whenever we are teaching, or exhorting, or correcting, or encouraging, or challenging, or commending, or convicting our congregations while preaching, we are protecting them, providing for them, and guiding them with a pastor's heart. We love our congregations by preaching, just as much as we do by spending time with them, praying with them or visiting them in the hospital. As Laniack insists regarding the shepherding of Moses, "Central to Moses' many roles was the word of God" (88). This is what helped to feed and nurture and care for God's people through the difficult wilderness. Likewise, a good shepherd of God's people will have a central place for the word of God in the pastoral care of their church. [/i]