Who Is Shepherding the People Around You?

By Pastor John Erickson

When you hear the word pastor, what picture comes to mind?

Maybe someone preaching on a Sunday morning. Someone running a church meeting, performing a wedding, visiting people in the hospital or trying to make a budget work.

Those responsibilities matter. I have learned how to do many of them over the years.

But when Paul talks about shepherds in Ephesians 4, I think we miss something if we reduce the word to a job title on a church website.

Shepherding is about people.

And the church needs a whole lot more of it than any one pastor can provide.

What does a shepherd actually do?

The Bible uses the shepherd picture again and again. Psalm 23 describes the Lord leading, restoring and protecting his people. In John 10, Jesus presents himself as the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and lays down his life for them.

And in Ezekiel 34, God confronts leaders who have used the flock for themselves rather than caring for the weak, the injured and the scattered.

That last passage should make anyone in spiritual leadership sit up a little straighter.

God's concern isn't whether someone carries an impressive title. It's whether people are being cared for.

Are the wounded being tended? Are the lost being sought? Are the weak being protected? Are people being guided toward life?

Those are shepherding questions.

I had to learn the difference

When I became a senior pastor, I knew how to do quite a few things associated with pastoring. I knew how to prepare a sermon, run a council meeting, organize ministries, officiate weddings and handle practical responsibilities.

Those skills matter. Churches need organization. There are bills to pay and schedules to keep.

But I had to learn something different: how to be a shepherd.

I had to grow in noticing people rather than only noticing what needed to get done. In being present rather than trying to fix every situation. In remembering that a church isn't primarily an organization to manage; it's a family of people to love.

And I'm still learning.

When I first came to our church, I could recognize a full schedule and a budget that needed work. Those responsibilities are visible. The quieter work of noticing a person who is slipping toward the margins takes a different kind of attention. Knowing how to run an organization did not automatically give me all of that.

I need people around me who carry this gift well. They remind me that a church can accomplish a great deal and still fail to notice someone who needs care. I do not want efficiency to become an excuse for missing a person.

That's part of why I love this gift in Ephesians 4. Shepherding isn't only for the person with "Pastor" before their name.

A ministry of presence

Have you ever had someone notice you were missing?

You hadn't been around for a while, and they reached out. Not because you were on a volunteer schedule. Not because they needed something from you. They simply cared about you.

Or maybe someone sat with you in grief without offering a single clever solution. Maybe they checked on you after an appointment, invited you for coffee, or listened without watching the clock.

That's shepherding.

A shepherd has a particular attentiveness to people. They sense when someone is struggling. They make room for the person on the margins. They walk with others through seasons when faith feels difficult.

And much of that work happens outside church services-in kitchens, around dinner tables, on walks, or in ordinary conversations.

There may not be applause. Most of the time there isn't even an announcement.

But people encounter the care of Jesus through it.

Shepherds need healthy boundaries too

Like every gift, shepherding has strengths and weaknesses.

Compassion can become overextension. A person who sees every need may say yes to everyone until there's nothing left to give. The desire to protect someone can turn into trying to control them. Avoiding hard conversations can feel loving in the moment while leaving someone stuck in harmful patterns.

Healthy shepherding doesn't mean becoming everyone's savior. We already have one of those.

It means loving people wisely, telling the truth gently, keeping appropriate boundaries and sharing burdens with the whole body of Christ.

Remember, Ephesians 4 gives us several gifts working together. The shepherd doesn't carry everything alone. We grow by learning to receive care as well as offer it.

And if caring for people doesn't come naturally to you, don't hear this as a verdict that you're somehow a lesser Christian. Paul doesn't say every believer will look identical. He says Christ gives different gifts to equip one body. We can appreciate the instincts that come naturally to others and learn from them. People gifted in shepherding can help the rest of us slow down and notice. And they can learn from people who are especially gifted at teaching, leading, evangelizing or speaking truth. That's the beauty of belonging to a body rather than trying to be the whole thing yourself.

You may already be a shepherd

Maybe you don't consider yourself a leader. You don't preach, lead meetings or have a title.

But do you notice when someone is lonely? Do you make space for people who feel left out? Does your heart move toward the person who's hurting? Do you enjoy walking with someone one-on-one as they grow in faith?

Don't dismiss that.

The church needs people who will protect, care, guide and help others heal. It needs people who learn names and remember stories. People who look beyond attendance numbers and see the person.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. And he gives shepherding people to his church so that his care becomes visible in everyday life.

So here's a question worth carrying with you: Who around me might need to know they're not forgotten?

You don't need a title to answer it.