Book Review
The Minister As Shepherd
by Charles Edward Jefferson

CEO. Therapist. Life Coach. Fundraiser. Manager. Social worker. Community shaper. Visionary.

If we canvassed recent books on pastoral ministry, these images would dominate much of the literature. Pastors are taught to run the church like a business, relying upon marketing techniques and mission statements. We are told that pastors should preach in a way that builds up a person’s identity, and helps him feel satisfied with the way he is. A multitude of books call the pastor to a multitude of different things. Which one is right?

Of course, not all of the functions in the list above are bad. We must manage God’s house well, give guidance to the people of God, and communicate relevant messages. Yet, none of the above titles captures the essence of pastoral ministry. Thankfully, we can be given some guidance on the issue by looking to a book published nearly one hundred years ago by Charles Edward Jefferson, The Minister As Shepherd, in which he calls us to consider the biblical portrait of the pastor. Jefferson finds this task described most poignantly in the image of the shepherd. Over five chapters he reveals to us the breadth and depth of the shepherd imagery in Scripture, and thus argues quite strongly that this defines our true work as pastors.

Originally published in 1912, this book comes from a series of lectures Jefferson gave at Bangor Theological Seminary. As a result, the book has a conversational style. One can hear Jefferson, to his presumably young audience, lecturing on the dangers, temptations, and tendencies of the pastoral ministry. The book, though, is not the writing of someone who has spent his life in the university. Jefferson was a pastor, and he writes as someone who understands the responsibility of leading God’s flock. He knows what it is to suffer as a minister, and the demands ministers face. This makes the book eminently practical. It is real world advice from a seasoned veteran of ministry. The book is light on theory, heavy on practical wisdom.

Readers will enjoy Jefferson’s witty style. His humor, bordering on sarcasm, makes his points even more profoundly. For example, he chides young men who are “pulpit Pharaohs . . . interested in building pyramids out of eloquent words,” but who have no real love for their sheep. He is not afraid to show that many pastors suffer from a lack of pastoral skills. Elsewhere, he challenges the pastor content to only look after the sheep in his own fold with little desire to look for lost sheep in the world. He then reprimands the shepherd who goes after the unchurched but neglects the difficult work of restoring the wayward sheep within the covenant community. His critiques, however, are never intended to injure the role of the pastor, but to help him understand his great calling. Each critique is backed up with biblical insight. Hence, the reader is left convicted, but hopeful.

Jefferson takes the role of the pastor as shepherd to heights unattained in most contemporary writing. We are shown the reasons most pastors view pastoral work as a series of menial tasks. Then he unlocks for us the richness of pastoral ministry in the watching, guarding, feeding, healing, guiding, saving, and, most of all, loving of the sheep. In an age when the community is emphasized over the individual, Jefferson reminds us that God has given the church shepherds as ministers to each member of the body. Each believer needs a shepherd who will guide and teach them as they go through life.

The book offers us a number of pithy quotes from Jefferson that deserve reflection. For example, he confronts preachers who put flowery language and “rhetorical ruffles” in their sermons. They have lost sight of the fact that the pastor is to feed his sheep with the word, not wow them with artful oration. Jefferson seeks to adjust our focus in sermon preparation when he says, “The curse of the pulpit is the superstition that a sermon is a work of art and not a piece of bread or meat.” Sermons should not elevate the preacher in the mind of the listener; rather, they should open up the message of Scripture to the hearer.

In another place Jefferson says, “. . . a shepherd he (the pastor) can become only slowly, and by patiently traveling the way of the cross.” Most seminarians think that after three years they will be trained as a pastor. Jefferson reminds us that becoming a pastor takes a lifetime of learning to follow Christ. In this vein, Jefferson has no time for celebrity pastors: “His work must be done in obscurity.” As pastors we should be like the Son of Man who was despised, rejected, and had no place to lay His head. This type of ministry is not for the faint of heart.

The church needs leaders who are committed to the long-term care of people. Jefferson makes the startling observation, “Ministers do not stay with their churches as they used to stay.” If ministers did not stay with their churches very long in 1912, I can only imagine what Jefferson would say about today’s church climate. As Jefferson shows us, it takes time to become a shepherd. People do not give themselves to a shepherd in a matter of months. How can we expect people to understand the role of the pastor when we are only around for a few years?

If the book has any faults, it is mainly due to its age. The language will make the book a bit harder to read. Some of the illustrations are dated and, of course, the world has changed a great deal in one hundred years. At times, Jefferson goes too far with the shepherd imagery. He presses it into categories that are not explicit in Scripture. However, this mistake occurs relatively infrequently. Some readers may be put off by Jefferson’s direct style. He offers his critiques without apology. Fortunately, he writes with an irenic spirit, and his purpose is to edify, not condemn. As much as its message is built upon Scripture, the book remains relevant.

The Minister as Shepherd should cause all ministers to pause and consider their calling. “Why have we embarked in pastoral ministry? Is it because we like to preach? Is it because we feel that we can do a better job of running the church than the last person?” Jefferson would warn us to continue in pastoral ministry only if we are willing to die. As he says, “The shepherd’s work is a humble work; such it has been from the beginning and such it must be to the end.” The shepherd has no promise of riches or grandeur in this life. The pastor is called to follow the pattern of Jesus. Jesus humbled Himself to the point of death. Jesus loved people to the point of suffering for them. This is the appropriate work of the pastor.

Several recent books by evangelicals have questioned whether it is time to drop the title “pastor.” After all, they suggest, how many of us have spent time on a farm, or know anything about sheep? We should be reticent, however, about abandoning so rich a term. Jesus often used the shepherd metaphor in His teaching. Moreover, it prevents us from falling into professionalism. The concept of shepherd reminds us that we must love our people if we are to lead them. Jefferson does us a service by restoring the imagery of the shepherd. He reminds us of the importance of our calling. As he says, “God is going to separate the good shepherds from the shepherds who are bad. The question which every pastor must meet and answer are three: ‘Did you feed my lambs? Did you tend my sheep? Did you feed my sheep?’”

Scott Creps, M.Div., is an alumnus of Western Seminary
in Portland, Oregon and serves as a Pastoral Intern at
Alpine Community Church in Ogden, Utah.