A few years back, an Australian sheep named Baarack wandered away from his flock and disappeared into the wild for nearly five years. When he was finally found, he had grown almost 80 pounds of matted wool, tangled with dirt, sticks, and bugs. He could barely see, he was in pain, and he was terrified. Baarack had simply not done well on his own. He needed someone to care for him, guide him, and watch over him. That image says something true about people too. We were never meant to walk through life without spiritual care, and the Bible is full of language that describes God’s people as sheep who need shepherds.
More Than Managers
It is easy to picture church leaders as a kind of board of directors, a group of men who decide budgets, schedules, and programs. Those decisions are real, but according to Scripture they are only a small part of the calling. In John 10, Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, the model every other shepherd is meant to reflect. He says a shepherd knows his sheep by name, leads them out, and lays down his life for them (). That is a picture of relationship, not paperwork. When the Apostle Paul instructs a young preacher named Titus to help churches get properly organized, he specifically tells him to appoint shepherds in every city, because a congregation without them is missing something vital ().
Shepherds Who Know the Sheep
The first mark of a true shepherd is that he knows the people in his care personally. Not just their names, but their struggles, their families, and their spiritual condition. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me” (). That knowing runs in both directions. It is a relationship that takes effort from everyone involved, not a title someone holds from a distance.
Shepherds Who Lead and Guard
Shepherds are also called to lead from the front. In , the shepherd goes ahead of the sheep, and they follow because they recognize his voice. That kind of leadership is different from a boss barking orders. It looks like example, patience, and steady influence rooted in the word of God. Alongside leading, shepherds guard the flock. When Paul met with the elders from the church in Ephesus, he warned them plainly that after he left, “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (). Peter gives the same charge to elders scattered across the region, telling them to “shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for shameful gain, but eagerly” (). Guarding means standing against false teaching and protecting people from anything that would pull them away from Christ.
Shepherds Who Search
Shepherds also go looking for the ones who drift. Jesus told a story about a man with a hundred sheep who lost just one, yet left the ninety-nine to search diligently until he found it (). That is the heart behind a phone call or a visit from a church leader when someone has been absent for a while. It is not intrusion. It is love in action, the same love Jesus modeled when he said the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep ().
What This Asks of Us
None of this is one-sided. Scripture gives sheep real responsibilities too. says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will give an account.” That does not mean shepherds are always right or beyond question. It means most of what they decide involves judgment calls made in love, and constant resistance to that judgment makes their work heavier than it needs to be. The same verse adds a striking warning, that leaders should be able to do this work “with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” In other words, how a church treats its shepherds affects the whole congregation, not just the men carrying the responsibility.
Paul adds another piece in , urging believers to “esteem them very highly in love because of their work.” Honor here is not flattery. It is genuine appreciation for people who often carry stress, health struggles, and long hours of unseen labor on behalf of others. And since shepherding runs both ways, relationship has to be pursued from both sides. Sharing a meal, showing up to a family event, or simply asking how someone is doing spiritually builds the kind of trust that matters when hard seasons come.
Finally, Paul asked believers to pray for him as he preached the gospel, even while in prison, asking for boldness and open doors (). Shepherds need that same support. Praying regularly for their wisdom, their families, and their walk with God is one of the simplest and most overlooked ways to strengthen a church from the inside out.
Baarack eventually found his way back to safety, received proper care, and lived the rest of his life well cared for by people who knew what he needed. That is the picture worth holding onto. Spiritual life was never designed to be walked alone, and a flock that knows its shepherds, and is known by them, is a flock that tends to flourish.
