This is the third post in a series on responding to the cultural moment. The first post oulined the issue and looked at what we are doing when we gather on Sundays. The second post was looking at the role of preaching in this. Today we will look at the work of shepherding.
What is the role of a shepherd?
There are really two issues here: what does it mean to shepherd people and how should we go about doing that.
The act of shepherding is about leading a group of people as they navigate the world.
It requires knowing the people you lead. It requires protecting them from danger.
It requires pursuing them when they are lost.
It means helping them to get through the difficulties of the day.
To shepherd people means that you are considering all of the needs your people have.
The interesting thing with a group of people is that you all have different needs. In this instance: Charlie Kirk’s murder was very personal for some people who have been watching him for a long time, while many in our church had no idea who he was until after he died. For some, it felt very close to home, to others this felt like another random shooting, like the one that occurred at a HS in Colorado on the same day Kirk was shot. These two different experiences require a different posture.
The job of your pastors is to figure out how to best comfort, encourage, and challenge and rebuke you all so that we are all getting closer to who God calls us to be.
We do that in a number of ways. We do it through preaching. Through blogs and other writing. Through things like our EQUIP classes and Bible Studies. A lot of it through personal conversations. The principle is: The pulpit is for declaring the Word of God, not getting too far into secondary issues. The more relaxed settings, like this, give space for a bit of speculation and secondary application. Personal conversations are where you can apply it to the individual. We get more specific as the group gets smaller, because you can aim the message more directly at the people you are talking to.
Another way to think of this approach is: Preach the Word, Let the Spirit convict, and follow with the specific concerns people have (either from the sermon or that they are bringing in from their lives). By shepherding in this way, we are working with the Holy Spirit rather than imposing our will on the church.
Again, we take a long term approach on this. Rather than getting everyone to agree or taking a stand on secondary and tertiary issues, we want people to have the space to grow in the way that God created them. God uses people like Charlie Kirk and people like Tim Keller to build His Kingdom. While I want you to stay away from internet controversies, I used those two names because one of the online brouhahas right now is demanding that you take sides with one or the other in terms of how to engage culture. DON’T. Because God doesn’t. He used both of them in different ways. Instead of picking a side, learn to love the gospel of Jesus Christ so that God can use you in whatever way that He has gifted and equipped you.
We have people in this church who are involved in politics. We have some that are skilled evangelists and won’t shut up about the gospel. We have people who have interests like art, music, climbing mountains, that invite them into spaces and give them a chance to reach people who otherwise wouldn’t interact with a Christian living out their faith. We have teachers, nurses, and first responders – in difficult places with people. I could keep going, sorry if I left you out, but God is using all of these people in all of these places, for His glory. For them to do this well, it requires different applications of the same gospel truths. We don’t want to limit how God works by pushing you all in the same direction (on secondary issues).
There is on additional questiuong that the elders ask when we are deciding how to respond to issues:
Is this the time to speak?
In Ecclesiastes 3, we are reminded that there is a time for everything, including: a time to keep silent, and a time to speak. What this implies is that just because there is something to respond to doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do. I just want to acknowledge that there is a time to keep silent. It begs the question: what may be a reason to keep silent? Let me offer three.
- When the noise is deafening
There are times when everyone is talking and that makes it seem like it is the time to speak. The fact that there is so much noise means that no one is hearing one another. In the aftermath of major events like this is one of those times. Everyone is making their point, but no one was listening. While the pressure was to say something, it seemed like this was only adding more voices, not adding clarity. When everyone is shouting may be the right time to be silent.
- When the temperature is too hot
This is a tough one to measure, because when a situation is intense may be the very time you need to speak. There is a culture that exists when emotions run high that is not fruitful for dialogue. All that is allowed in these moments is taking a side and defending it. A lot of damage can be done in this process of making your point.
In marriage counseling, we often encourage couples who get escalated when in conflict to take some time and cool down before trying to address the issue they are fighting about. Often times, they find that they way that they argue created more problems than whatever the original issue was. In that moment of emotional escalation, a bit of silence is helpful.
When cultural conversations are escalated, there is no room for nuance. There is no space to address the specks in everyone’s eyes. Everyone is asking for prophetic voices, but they all want it aimed at their enemies, and are unwilling to hear any critiques coming back at them. This is not an environment that is necessarily beneficial to speak into and it may be the time for some silence.
- Have nothing to add
The sheer amount of content around the issue of Charlie Kirk meant that everything that needed to be said, was said by someone. When I feel like there is an angle that is missing, that someone should be saying, I tend to speak. In this case, I couldn’t find a perspective that someone was not already pushing. While, as a pastor, it can be helpful to point people to the better and more helpful resources (which I did on a personal level), I spent a lot of time in prayer asking God: what needs to be said? I kept getting silence. Not the word silence, but God was silent in His response to me.
Maybe I misread it, but it seemed to me that we have a God who does not feel the need to react and speak to everything that happens in His creation, even though we want Him too. The best way to follow His lead is to sometimes lead in silence. Not ambivalence, or a lack of concern. But to use this time to quietly reflect and to press into God.
Everyone is concerned with being the people who didn’t speak out when it was the time to speak. In our culture, we are far more prone to the boy who cried wolf syndrome, making a big deal out of everything to the point that when the true crisis comes it gets missed because it is just the next thing that everyone is reacting to. We are aware of this and doing our best to speak when it is the time to speak and to be silent when it is the time to be silent.
My prayer is that you don’t allow the culture to draw lines that you bring into the church. Instead, let the lines that are drawn here (by God’s Word) be brought out into the culture.