Wolf Watch and Wallace

[Bill H]

In the chapter for Day 15 there is a clear reminder that shepherd is not simply a metaphor that undergirds church-based pastoral ministry. Shepherding is a metaphor for every kind of leadership: marketplace and ecclesial and military. “In ancient Greece shepherd leadership was associated with military leadership more than any other role.�(p.111) “Shepherd generals were tender toward their own flocks and fierce protectors of their homelands.� The shepherd is called not only to feed, care and nurture the flocks but also to exercise oversight and protection. The shepherd in the local church must feed the flock of God the pure Word and guard the people of God from heresy, just as fiercely as a shepherd general would protect his homeland or shepherd would guard the sheep from a predator .This was the Apostle Paul’s concern as he left Ephesus
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 29I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. 31So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.� (Acts 20; 28-31)