What is the most undervalued aspect of faithful shepherding? What is that key essential to rightly leading the flock that it seems we are so prone to miss?

Take the helpful shepherding matrix from Tim Witmer’s masterpiece The Shepherd Leader: Shepherds know, feed, lead, and protect. Which of those four elements are you most likely to neglect?

I think it is no stretch to say if the average elder body is weak anywhere it’s on the issue of knowing the flock. Few elders need to be convinced of the necessity of teaching and overseeing the congregation, but I wonder how many actually labor to increasingly know their sheep.

JUST LIKE THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Every elder of a local church is an under-shepherd of the True Shepherd. Our shepherding is supposed to be a  humble reflection of His perfect pattern, which includes a deep, intimate knowledge of the sheep. In John 10:14-15 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.”

Do you know your sheep?

Everything depends on a growing knowledge of our sheep. It’s why Witmer says, “The most basic responsibility of a shepherd is to know his sheep.” Shepherds who know their sheep well are the ones best equipped to wisely lead their congregation on all kinds of matters: What book of the Bible should we study next? What applications does our church need to hear from this text? What issue of discipleship do we need to address? How are we doing in evangelism? Is there a sense of disunity that is growing unchecked? Are we unified on our stewardship of God’s resources?

We can’t lead ’em if we don’t know ’em.

PICK UP THE PHONE

Let me offer one simple suggestion for elder bodies who want to better know their sheep: give ’em a call.

Witmer wisely says, “While grand plans of ‘every member visitation’ should not be jettisoned without due consideration, it is crucial that an approach [for knowing the sheep] be embraced that is practical both for the elder and the member. One such approach is the use of the telephone. . . . Before shrugging off phone contact as the realm of telemarketers and political appeals, don’t underestimate the impact of a personal call from someone who has concern for your well-being at the forefront.”

I can absolutely affirm that final sentence. Whenever I call a church member to check in they almost invariably say, “I so thankful you took the time to call.” A few minutes on the phone go a long way to not only knowing your sheep, but building and perpetuating church unity.

A VERY GOOD PLACE TO START

Recognize that if you haven’t built a culture of “knowing” into your shepherding it might be a bit awkward for elder and church member at the beginning. But shepherding with knowledge is great gain.

If you don’t have one, create an up-to-date membership directory. It could be one that’s never printed off and resides in the ubiquitous Cloud, or maybe it’s one you print off and put in your Bible. It just needs to be current and contain pertinent contact information.

Then, in conjunction with your other elders, take some sub-section of the covenant body whom you will contact in a given month. Our elders normally take two pages per month, which means each man has about five household to contact. The ideal is to always have a face-to-face meeting. When scheduling doesn’t let a meeting happen I usually shoot the husband of the home and email that says something like, “Give me a call when you get a chance today or tomorrow. I just want to hear how you guys are doing and how we can serve you and pray for you.” Most people will usually respond quite quickly and let me know when they’ll give me a call. You could of course go about it differently. The point is to have consistent communication with all your sheep.