Early in my ministry, while serving as a youth pastor in Orlando, Florida, I learned a lesson that has stayed with me throughout my years in pastoral ministry: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Working with teenagers in Orlando meant competing with countless activities and distractions for their attention. I quickly discovered that one of the most effective ways to minister to students was simply showing up.
My wife and I regularly attended sporting events, concerts, and other activities involving the teenagers in our ministry. I still remember the excitement on their faces when they spotted us in the crowd. Those experiences taught me that relationships aren’t built exclusively through church services and scheduled activities. They’re built through intentional investment in people’s lives.
I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but I was learning one of the most fundamental responsibilities of a pastor: shepherding.
Shepherd the Flock of God
Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:2–3: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
Peter’s instruction is simple: Shepherd the flock.
Peter is not simply describing what pastors do. He is also addressing the heart behind their ministry. Shepherding is to be done willingly, eagerly, and with humility. It is possible to fulfill the outward responsibilities of ministry while gradually losing the heart of a shepherd. Peter reminds us that how we care for people matters just as much as what we accomplish. He doesn’t begin by telling pastors to build an organization, develop programs, or increase attendance. Those may be necessary aspects of ministry, but the responsibility begins with people.
Throughout Scripture, God uses the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep to describe spiritual leadership. David called the Lord his Shepherd in Psalm 23. Jesus identified Himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10. And Peter reminds us that pastors serve under the authority of the Chief Shepherd.
My friends at Presence Point Ministries describe three primary responsibilities of a shepherd: provide, protect, and be present. I appreciate that framework because it captures so much of pastoral ministry.
Providing spiritual nourishment and protecting the flock are responsibilities we’ll explore later. For now, I want to focus on the importance of being present, knowing people, and caring for them.
Knowing the Sheep
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own” (John 10:14.
Knowing people requires more than recognizing faces or remembering names. It involves understanding their struggles, celebrating their victories, and developing relationships built on trust.
While serving as a youth pastor, the church where I worked also operated a Christian school. It wasn’t unusual for students in our youth ministry to stop by my office during the school day. They were supposedly going to the restroom, but somehow their journey frequently included a detour to the youth pastor’s office.
I enjoyed those visits, but I also remember occasionally thinking, “I’ve got a lot to accomplish today. I’m trying to prepare to minister to you later. Can you please leave so I can get back to planning how to minister to you?”
Looking back, I realize how easily I could become so focused on preparing for ministry that I overlooked the ministry opportunity sitting right in front of me. I’m naturally a task-oriented person. I enjoy planning, accomplishing goals, and checking things off my to-do list. But shepherding requires more than completing tasks. It requires being intentional about investing in people. Sometimes the most important ministry opportunity of the day isn’t the one on our calendar.
Years later, I read in a John Maxwell book that great leaders walk slowly through a crowd. I’ve come to appreciate how important that is in pastoral ministry, and I’m still challenged by it. We can become so focused on getting to the next meeting or preparing for the next service that we overlook the person standing right in front of us.
Shepherding requires us to slow down long enough to notice. That might mean lingering after a service, making an unexpected phone call, attending an event that has nothing to do with church programming, or simply listening without feeling the need to immediately offer a solution.
Caring Through Every Season
Some of the most significant moments in pastoral ministry happen during life’s most difficult seasons. Hospital rooms, funeral homes, and counseling conversations provide opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ in deeply personal ways.
While pastoring a church in the Houston area, I walked alongside a young couple through one of the most heartbreaking experiences of my ministry. Just days before their baby was due, they learned their daughter had died. The mother still had to deliver her baby, knowing she would never bring her home. We held a small funeral for their daughter.
There are moments in ministry when words seem completely inadequate. No carefully crafted explanation can remove the pain of such a loss. Sometimes the most meaningful thing a pastor can do is simply be present.
That experience happened twelve years ago. I haven’t been their pastor for eleven years, but every year, on what would have been their daughter’s birthday, I still reach out. I want them to know their daughter hasn’t been forgotten, and neither has their grief.
Shepherding isn’t limited to life’s difficult moments. Some of the greatest joys of pastoral ministry come from celebrating what God is doing in people’s lives. There is tremendous satisfaction in watching someone come to faith in Christ, baptizing a new believer, celebrating a wedding, seeing a marriage restored, or watching someone you’ve invested in spiritually begin investing in others.
John expressed this joy when he wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” (3 John 4).
Shepherding means walking alongside people through both the valleys and the mountaintops. It also involves providing biblical counsel and spiritual guidance. Whether helping someone navigate a difficult marriage, process grief, or overcome a spiritual struggle, pastors have the responsibility to lovingly apply Scripture to life’s circumstances. Effective pastoral care brings together biblical truth and genuine love. Neither should be sacrificed for the other.
Shepherding in a Growing Church
Shepherding looks different depending on the size of the congregation. A pastor serving a church of fifty may personally know nearly every family. A pastor serving five hundred or five thousand cannot realistically provide that same level of personal attention to everyone. But the responsibility to shepherd doesn’t disappear as the church grows. It simply requires greater intentionality.
As a church grows, shepherding must become more than the personal ministry of one pastor. It must become part of the culture of the congregation. The pastor remains responsible for ensuring that people are cared for, but he must also develop and trust other qualified leaders to share in that responsibility. Staff pastors, deacons, small-group leaders, and mature believers can all contribute to a culture where people are known and loved. This is why equipping others for ministry is such an important pastoral responsibility, something we’ll explore later in this series.
The goal isn’t for every church member to have unlimited access to the senior pastor. The goal is for every church member to experience meaningful spiritual care. We can know a great deal about how the church is doing without knowing how the people in the church are doing. Attendance, giving, ministry participation, and organizational progress are important measurements, but they don’t tell us everything about the spiritual health of a congregation. Behind every number is a person with a story, a family, and spiritual needs.
Following the Chief Shepherd
Peter concludes with this reminder: “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.” (1 Peter 5:4)
Pastors are not the owners of the flock. We are undershepherds entrusted with the care of people who belong to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who knows His sheep, lays down His life for them, and faithfully cares for those who belong to Him. He is our ultimate example.
We won’t shepherd perfectly. There will be people we overlook, opportunities we miss, and situations we wish we’d handled differently. But we must continue growing in our love for God and our care for His people.
Perhaps one of the most important questions a pastor can regularly ask isn’t simply, “How is our church doing?” but “How are the people in our church doing?”
The church isn’t primarily a building, a budget, or a collection of programs. It is a congregation of people whom Jesus loves and for whom He gave His life. And those people deserve shepherds who know them, love them, and faithfully care for them.
Shepherds must care for the flock, but they must also faithfully feed God’s people through the preaching of His Word. In the next article, we’ll examine the second job of a pastor: Preacher.
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