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‘Non-Shepherding’ Pastors: Option or Oxymoron?

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Are “non-shepherding” pastors ever legitimate? You know, ministers who, due to other commitments (such as preaching) abstain from counseling and visitation and other life-on-life ministry during the week. Apart from perhaps a brief window on Sundays, they’re essentially inaccessible.

“It’s never okay to have a non-shepherding pastor,” J. D. Greear insists, since you “can’t separate those roles [shepherd and pastor] God has joined together.” Nevertheless, the pastor of North Carolina’s 4,000-plus-member The Summit Church admits, this principle will look different according to context.

“These duties are wed in Scripture,” notes Bryan Chapell, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois, and former president of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. He points to Paul’s instructive words: “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thess. 2:8). Like Greear, though, Chapell admits there will be different “gifts” and “degrees of calling” when it comes to shepherding and proclamation.

“It’s good to know your own personality so that you’ll be able to work against your weaknesses,” adds Mike McKinley, pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church in northern Virginia. As an introvert, he’s acutely aware that “books are easier to love than people.”

Just because you can’t pastor everyone doesn’t exempt you from pastoring anyone. Indeed, despite the priority of preaching, you won’t be “half the preacher you ought to be if you’re not individually involved in people’s lives.”

Watch the full seven-minute video to hear these pastors discuss generational shifts in expectation, the place of preaching, multiplying leaders, and more.

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