Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. | 1 Peter 5:2–3
The above is written to pastors, who are called to shepherd the flock. This is a metaphor that is used repeatedly in the Bible for leadership. In the OT it is used to describe the leaders of Israel:
For the shepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the LORD;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered. | Jeremiah 10:21
The metaphor of a shepherd to the sheep is also the leadership description we are given of God in: Psalm 23 and John 10. While this is clearly a command to those who lead the church, this is the model for all who are given authority by God in His world.
Unfortunately, due to the elevation of ends over means, the church has adopted a pragmatic view of leadership from the world. Instead of being a model of God’s leadership to follow, shepherding has been replaced by a more mechanic view of leadership. In the process, human beings are dehumanized as cogs in a machine. In the church, people complain about this as ‘taking on the business model,’ which people feel, even if they can’t define it. In the business world, this is simply: the model.
The problem is not thinking in terms of parts towards a whole, but in how we value the parts. The difference between shepherding people or merely managing them is in how you see their humanness. People do not exist to simply get a job done, they were created to bear the image of their creative/cultivating God. This means that they are not just task-doers to be driven, but they need meaning, purpose, and guidance. Additionally, they are limited. They need encouragement, love, and care. In a sense, this is exactly why businesses want to automate: robots just take commands, they don’t bring their baggage to work. The way we have set up many of our systems see the quirks and uniqueness of individuals as a hindrance to the goal. A true leader sees something else: potential. I don’t just mean that everyone has potential, but that everyone brings something to the table that can create a new possibility. People are not interchangeable parts to be plugged in to an established end, they have the ability to make something new. I have always liked the way that Dietrich Bonhoeffer described this in his book, Life Together:
The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.
This is the way that the shepherding model changes the perspective of a leader: the main priority of a leader is not to produce a vision in order to others to serve that vision, it is to create a healthy community. That community will produce a vision by what it does.
The work of cultivating a healthy community is difficult, because every person needs something different. Some need to be taught to not run over others, some need to be encouraged to speak up. There are people who need to be moved into a different position, and some who need to be told to stick it out where they are. To know what they need, a leader needs to know them, and to care for them enough to do what is best for them.
A while back I read a leadership book that took the principles of shepherding and applied them to leading people. It was called, The Way of the Shepherd, and it laid out 7 principles for truly caring for the people you lead (these are the chapter titles):
1. Know the condition of the flock
2. Discover the shape of your sheep
3. Help your sheep identify with you
4. Make your pasture a safe place
5. The staff of direction
6. The rod of correction
7. The Heart of the shepherd
As you can see from this list, caring for people requires many different tools and a lot of work. Caring for a person doesn’t mean that you will never have to discipline them or fire them, but that this will be done in such a way that encourages their growth, not seeks retribution (much like the discipline of our Father outlined in Hebrews 12). It isn’t going to be flawless, because leaders are humans too. If you have cared about the people you lead, and have shown them love in how you have directed them, there is a good chance that they will show you grace when you fail. Isn’t that that kind of community we all want to be a part of?