What is the gift of pastoring or shepherding?

Question 4085.

When people ask me about the gift of pastoring, I always start with the picture buried right inside the word itself, because the word pastor simply means shepherd. The gift of pastoring is a Spirit-given heart and ability to shepherd the people of God, to feed them, to lead them, to guard them and to care for them, exactly as a shepherd does with his flock out on the hills.

It is a homely, earthy, unglamorous image, and I am glad that it is, because there is genuinely nothing glamorous about real shepherding. Let me show you what this gift actually involves, where it comes from, how it shows itself, and why a church that lacks it will suffer badly, however richly gifted it may happen to be in every other area. This is a gift the church cannot do without.

A shepherd-heart given by the Spirit

Paul names pastors and teachers among the gifts that the ascended Lord Jesus gave to His church (Ephesians 4:11). So the gift of pastoring is not a personality type you are born with, nor a career path you choose for yourself; it is a grace handed down from the Lord through His Spirit. At the very core of it lies a particular kind of love, the kind that can look at a struggling, wandering, thoroughly ordinary group of believers and genuinely, deeply long for their good and their growth.

You can usually spot it without much difficulty. Some people, when they look at the flock, see a problem to be managed or a crowd to be organised. The one who truly has the gift of pastoring looks at the very same people and sees sheep to be cared for. That heart is not manufactured by training, though good training certainly shapes and sharpens it; it is given by God. And the supreme pattern and source of it all is the Lord Jesus Himself, the good Shepherd who lays down His own life for the sheep (John 10:11).

The gift of pastoring feeds the flock

A shepherd’s very first task is food, and the food of God’s people is His Word. This is precisely why pastoring and teaching are tied so closely together in Scripture; the one who shepherds the flock must also be able to feed it. When the risen Jesus restored Peter on the shore, He pressed it on him three times over: feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep (John 21:15-17). The gift of pastoring without faithful feeding is mere sentiment without substance, warmth with no nourishment in it.

So a true pastor is forever bringing the people back to the Word of God, not to his own clever opinions, nor to the latest fashion or technique, but to the green and settled pastures of Scripture where the sheep can actually be nourished and grow strong. A shepherd who entertains the sheep but never feeds them is failing them, however much they enjoy the show. If you want to see how this feeding ties in with the teaching gift, I have written separately on the gift of teaching.

Leading and guarding the flock

Shepherding is a good deal more than feeding, vital as feeding is. A shepherd also leads the sheep on to where they need to go, and guards them carefully from whatever would harm them. Peter tells the elders to shepherd the flock of God that is among them, exercising oversight, not domineering over those in their charge but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:2-3). So the gift of pastoring includes a settled, gentle leadership, going on ahead of the sheep and drawing them after, rather than driving and harrying them from behind.

And it most certainly includes guarding. Paul solemnly warned the Ephesian elders that fierce wolves would come in among them, not sparing the flock, and that even from among their own number men would arise speaking twisted things (Acts 20:29-30). A shepherd who only ever comforts and never protects is quietly failing the very sheep he loves. The gift of pastoring therefore carries a real watchfulness in it, a readiness to stand bodily between the flock and false teaching or moral danger, even when doing so is costly and unpopular.

Caring for the wounded and the wandering

There is a deep tenderness at the very centre of this gift that I do not want you to miss for a moment. The prophet says the shepherd will tend his flock, gather the lambs in his arms, carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young (Isaiah 40:11). The one who has the gift of pastoring goes out after the straggler, binds up the injured, sits patiently with the dying, and weeps with the grieving. It is unglamorous, often entirely hidden, and frequently exhausting work that no one applauds.

This is exactly why the gift is so precious and yet so easily overlooked and undervalued. The watching world counts the crowd-gatherer and the platform-filler a great success. But heaven counts the faithful shepherd who knew his few sheep by name, went after the weak ones in the dark, and never let a single straggler quietly drop away unnoticed. If you have this gift, much of your very best work will be seen and rewarded by God alone, and that is no small thing at all.

Not every shepherd holds an office

I should add one clarifying word here so that no one excuses themselves too quickly. While the elders of a church are specifically called to shepherd the flock, the gift of pastoring itself is wider than the formal office. Many believers who hold no official title at all have a genuine shepherd-heart and exercise it beautifully, caring for a small group, mentoring a younger believer, faithfully visiting the lonely and the housebound, holding a whole household together in the faith through thick and thin. You do not need a title to feed and guard the sheep that are already within your reach.

So if you sense this gift stirring in yourself but hold no office, do not sit waiting for someone to give you permission before you start caring for people. And if you do hold office, never forget that the title itself is worth nothing without the heart behind it. A shepherd is finally measured by his love for the sheep and his faithfulness to them, not by his standing, his salary or his reputation. The Chief Shepherd judges by a very different measure than the one we are tempted to use.

The gift of pastoring and the Chief Shepherd

Everything I have said about the gift of pastoring finally rests on one glorious fact: there is a Chief Shepherd, and every under-shepherd serves at His pleasure and in His strength. Peter calls Him exactly that, and promises that when the Chief Shepherd appears, the faithful under-shepherd will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). So no shepherd carries the flock alone, and no shepherd answers finally to the sheep, or to a committee, but to the Lord Jesus Himself.

That truth keeps the gift of pastoring both humble and hopeful at once. Humble, because the sheep are His and not mine; I am only a steward of a flock He bought with His own blood. Hopeful, because when I am weary and the sheep are difficult and the fruit is slow, the Chief Shepherd is still at work, and He never loses one of His own. So shepherd in His strength, lean on His grace, and leave the final reckoning gladly in His faithful hands.

And let no one with this gift imagine the work is wasted because it is slow. Sheep are not changed in a day, and the gift of pastoring is a long obedience in the same direction, year after patient year. The shepherd who stays, who is still there when the crisis comes and still there long after it has passed, does a work that the brilliant passing visitor never can. Faithfulness stretched out over time is the shepherd’s truest gift of all.

So, now what?

If God has given you a shepherd-heart, then give it away freely. Find the sheep nearest to you, the wobbly believer, the lonely widow, the new convert who keeps slipping back, and feed, lead, guard and care for them just as Jesus would. Do not sit waiting to be noticed or thanked; the Chief Shepherd sees every hidden act, and when He finally appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). That is reward enough for any faithful shepherd.

And if you sit under faithful shepherds yourself, then thank God for them often, and make their work a joy to them rather than a heavy burden. A well-shepherded flock is a very great mercy, and sadly a rather rare one in our day. So who are the sheep that God has deliberately placed within your own reach, and what will you do to care for even one of them this week?

“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you.” 1 Peter 5:2