Sheep or Shepherds?

Are we raising sheep? Or are we raising shepherds?

Sheep are known for not being very smart. If a sheep walks off a cliff, the others will just follow him off without thinking about it. That’s what sheep do. They follow. They don’t think for themselves. They don’t use their critical thinking to weigh out a decision. They merely follow. They do what they are told without question. Without the guidance of a shepherd, sheep are fairly helpless.

Shepherds, on the other hand, are leaders. Shepherds are the ones who watch out for dangers and guide sheep to safe places. They steer around hazards and stumbling blocks. Shepherds make sure no one gets lost along the way. They correct the sheep if they start to go the wrong direction. They show the sheep the true path. 

It seems to me that most churches today are raising sheep.

It’s not entirely their fault. Our whole culture is about raising sheep. Our school system (and this is not a dig at public schools, because private and charter schools are the same) tends to embrace the traditional lecture model of education where the teacher imparts knowledge and then the students repeat it back. We don’t teach students to have critical thinking skills. We don’t teach students to think and decide things for themselves. In fact, free thinking or disagreeing with the teacher is often discouraged, even punished.

We live in an information and technological age where we are constantly bombarded with facts and opinions and loads of information on everything, yet very few people have ever been taught how to decipher and understand it all. People are shaped and influenced by the information they receive in ways they often don't even realize. People don't know how to sort through all the incoming information and determine what is true and what is lies. Nowadays, it's even hard to determine what's real from what's AI!

All of this is happening so quickly, we haven't adjusted. We haven't helped people understand how to critically analyze it all and decide things for themselves. Instead, we expect people to believe what they see and follow it. Algorithms cleverly detect what a person is drawn to and gives them more of the same, creating a bias in the information presented. Unless someone investigates on their own, they will always receive just one side of the story.

We see this reflected in our churches. Sheep in a church follow the leader. They don't question the leader. Whatever the leader says, goes. They don't think for themselves or study it on their own. They merely believe what they are told. Perhaps they don't even know how to question it. Or maybe, they think it would be a sin to question their leader.

They just follow, because that's what sheep do.

Problem is, Jesus didn’t tell us to raise sheep. He told us to make disciples, teaching them everything He taught. Disciples learn, yes. But they also go out and do. They take in and they live out. Disciples may start as sheep, but they are in training to be shepherds. Disciples are change-makers. Mercy-dealers. Guides for the lost. Disciples go out and make more disciples.

Perhaps the problem is the way we talk about the "call" to ministry. We think some people are specially called to be pastors and teachers and evangelists, but others are not. We miss the fact that the Bible says we are all called. Not to vocational ministry, perhaps, but to serve in the Kingdom. We are all called to do our part.

Listen to Paul in Ephesians 4:14-16:

"We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love."

The Bible warns multiple times of false gospels and false teachings that will lead people astray. Christians must know their Scripture for themselves, not just what they've been spoon-fed at church, in order to be able to discern truth from fiction. Churches should be encouraging Christians to hold the pastor accountable by comparing their Bible to what the pastor preaches. Churches should be teaching Christians how to filter the information coming in from news and social media and all these other sources the same way.

We should teach people not to accept things on face value but to look into things themselves. Pray and discern, is this Biblical? Is this the Gospel? Is this loving God and loving others? Don't take one person's word on it. Cross-reference. Look at the sources. Weigh the evidence. This takes more effort, but it'll make it a lot harder to someone to deceive people if they've done this.

When I worked as a therapist, I would tell my clients in our very first session that my job was to work myself out of a job. My job was to get them to a point where they no longer needed therapy. Where they had enough supports and enough coping tools, and were enough steps along their healing journey, that they could now continue onward without me.

I think leading churches should be like that, too. We shouldn’t be focused on how do I keep people here forever in my church. Our church is one piece of the greater, global church. The Church, capital "c", is the people, not a specific building or institution. We are to build up the Church, not necessarily our church. Our focus therefore should be, how do I train up new shepherds? In other words, how do I help these sheep become disciples who can go out and make more disciples? How do I raise mature Christians who are ready for the real work of the Kingdom? 

That is the point of the gospel.

Everyone has a part to play. Everyone is called.

We are called to be shepherds, not sheep.

WANT TO READ MORE...  subscribe to my blog through Substack. No membership required and free! Check it out, here: https://substack.com/@jadedevangelical. OR pick up my newly released book, "Letters to the Jaded Evangelical: Finding Jesus in the Shards of Religion." Available in e-book and paperback format; free to read for Amazon KU subscribers.