Duty of Church Shepherds – Ephesians 4: 8-14

By W.F Kumuyi

And he gave some Apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some pastors and teachers.  Ephesians 4:11

The telegraph, a British newspaper, reported that a flock of over 1,300 sheep “had to be rounded up by police in the Spanish city of Huesca after their shepherd fell asleep. According to city authorities, the police were alerted to the huge flock attempting to negotiate the streets in the center of Huesca at around 4.30 am on a Tuesday when a resident dialed Spain’s 112 emergency number. The police eventually found the herder, who was still peacefully slumbering. Together, the embarrassed shepherd and police officers finally extracted the sheep from the city and returned them to their pastures.

The duties of church shepherds are fully outlined in the scriptures. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are responsible for maturing the flock of Christ. They are to guide them, away from the danger of false teachers and their false doctrines, increase the congregation through evangelism and teach them the way of God.

The duties of church leaders require a lot of sacrifice. Shepherds do not give birth to sheep but provide the best pasture and nourishment, encouraging them to give birth, multiply and increase. Jesus’ command is ‘feed my sheep’, not ‘feed on my sheep’, as some ministers do today. The job of pastoring is not for the one with the best credentials but the one with the best character.

A lot must be done to keep the flock of Christ clean, pure and becoming more and more hostile to the flock. Thus, those who are charged with this sacred duty of caring for the flock must wake up from their slumber to serve the Master with utmost zeal and commitment.

Lazy men cannot do the work of shepherds.

So, we go to the story of David to see a shepherd who did not leave his sheep: 2 Samuel 24

God’s anger burned against Israel, we do not know why, so he incited King David to do a census count of the fighting men and enroll more from Dan to Beersheba. So, JOAB decides to ask David, why he is doing this but relents by praying that the lord their God multiply their troops a hundred times over, and that the eyes of the king would see it.

Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.” verse 17

So, David made an altar at Araunah the Jebusites threshing floor to stop the plagues. The key thing to note is David did not desert his sheep even though they were being punished by God. Why because from 2 Samuel 24: 1- 3 God was clearly angry with Israel, so he incited David, so Israel would be punished. Every shepherd God chooses never deserts the sheep; more like Jesus who says:

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So, when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.  John 10:11-13

David did not leave his sheep, Jesus did not leave his ship, Moses did not leave his sheep; they all came back for them. All Shepherd including Jesus who is specifically a good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep did not leave his sheep. David did not lay his life down for his sheep; he just did not desert them. So, he is a shepherd but not a good shepherd like Jesus. No shepherd leaves his sheep, and Jesus is the model example of a good shepherd we can all emulate.

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