Apologetics
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 60, No. 2 – Spring 2018
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Edited by Deron J. Biles. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2017. 224 pages. Paperback, $29.99.
In Pastoral Ministry: The Ministry of a Shepherd, Deron Biles defines and defends the primary role of a pastor being that of a shepherd. Biles uses Ezekiel 34 as a framework to explain the role of a pastor as shepherd. This follows in the tradition of the reformer Martin Bucer, whose work, Concerning the True Care of Souls, originally included five pastoral expectations from Ezekiel 34:16. From this verse, Bucer asserted that pastors, as shepherds of God’s flock, should be seeking after the lost, restoring stray sheep, binding up the hurt and wounded sheep, strengthening the weak, and guarding and feeding the healthy sheep.
Biles seeks to “examine the areas for which God holds His shepherds accountable and to understand the expectations He has for His leaders today” (14). In the introduction, he provides an exegetical analysis of Ezekiel 34 along with brief introductions to each of the expectations of a shepherd. To understand and explain the expectations for faithful shepherds, he looks beyond Ezekiel 34:16 to the whole chapter and identifies nine expectations of the pastor. Six of these expectations mirror Bucer, though Biles separates guarding and feeding the sheep into separate chapters. Healing the sheep, leading the flock, and trusting the shepherd are expectations that Biles adds to Bucer’s original discussion. These nine expectations form the outline of the rest of the text. In each of these chapters, the authors work to extricate the meaning of the shepherding metaphor in order to apply it clearly to the work of the pastor.
In chapter two, David Allen argues that feeding the flock is best done in the preaching ministry of the pastor. Allen argues in this chapter that the best way to feed the sheep is through expositional, text-driven preaching. In chapter three, Biles argues for personal pastoral care as the pastor seeks to strengthen the weak sheep. Referring to the importance of pastoral care and its difference from preaching, Biles writes, “One can feed en masse from a distance, but one only strengthens up close and one at a time”(50). Chapter four, authored by Paige Patterson, points to prayer as the primary prescription for the pastor to use in ministering to the sheep in need of healing. In the fifth chapter, Dale Johnson “aims to demonstrate that the task of shepherding includes active personal participation in leading the broken to Christ, the only balm that restores the soul” (82). From the imagery of a shepherd binding a broken sheep, Johnson makes clear that a shepherd should be actively involved in the counseling and care of his congregants. Malcolm Yarnell argues in chapter six that the shepherd should protect the sheep in the primary ways. Yarnell writes, “The Christian shepherd’s role may be summarized as that of caring for the congregation, seeking the little ones who have become lost, and combatting heretical teachings in the flock” (115). The sixth chapter, authored by Tommy Kiker, reminds the shepherd to be prepared to sacrifice in order to retrieve lost sheep. In chapter seven, Matt Queen contrasts the evil shepherd who seeks not the lost sheep with that of the good shepherd who is actively involved in the seeking of lost sheep. Queen admonishes his readers to plan and participate in personal evangelism as the means of seeking lost sheep. Chapter nine, authored by Fred Luter, instructs the shepherd as leader of the sheep to remain faithful to God, His word, and His church. In the final chapter, Stephen Rummage encourages shepherds to seek the true shepherd as they pursue their course of ministry.
Though this text is written by various authors, each chapter is connected, coherent, and convinced of the necessity of assuming the posture of a shepherd in the work of a pastor. In chapter five, Dale Johnson writes, “professionalism and secular psychology, like a two-horned bull, threaten the call of the shepherd to bind the broken. Shepherds embracing the CEO model of pastoral ministry are often more concerned about the business of ministry rather than tending to the lame or wounded sheep” (85). These threats mentioned by Johnson are dismantled in each chapter, and each author points pastors to shepherding over psychology or business-based professionalism. Biles, as the editor, has done an exemplary job in keeping each of these chapters focused on the text and principles of a shepherd in Ezekiel 34, while also arguing against the influences of professionalism and psychology on pastoral ministry.
It should also be noted that the greatest weakness of this text is Luter’s chapter on leading the flock of God. Though Biles provides a helpful introduction to pastoral leadership in the introduction when he writes, “Good shepherds do not lead by proxy, dictate demands, or achieve goals by good intentions. Shepherds live among the sheep and carefully and consistently lead the sheep from where they are to where they should be” (23), his explanation of this imagery is not picked up in chapter nine. Instead, Luter differs from the other authors and provides more of a pastoral testimony than an exposition and application of the text in Ezekiel. Luter’s chapter is certainly profitable, as it offers practical examples and plenty of encouragement to pastors, yet it seems to lack continuity with the rest of the work. An opportunity was missed in this chapter to expand upon the definition of pastoral leadership provided by Biles in the introduction.
This volume is the first of a new series edited by Paige Patterson and Jason Duesing entitled A Treasury of Baptist Theology. This series aims to “reflect the understanding of holy Scripture as Baptists have grasped it” (xvii). Yet, this work has a much broader application than to Baptist pastors or leaders. Though this work may implicitly suggest a primary elder church government, there is nothing in the work that limits its utility to only Baptist pastors or shepherds. The expectations of shepherds as presented here by the contributors have broad application to all who serve in pastoral work. Whether it is the seminarian on the path to future ministry or the veteran pastor in the midst of his present ministry who reads this volume, both will be reminded of the high calling and lofty expectations of a faithful shepherd of the flock of God.
