A Shepherd, Not a CEO...

"Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise." (Sam Pascoe)

The Good Shepherd

In John Chapter, 10 Jesus tells his disciples that “11 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” By making this statement, along with the use of the word Pastor (or shepherd) in the New Testament, Jesus established a lasting metaphorical example that church leaders have sought to imitate throughout church history.

As a result, for many Christians, the ideal church leader is a mature, kindly person who preaches the Bible, visits sick members, performs marriages and funerals and oversees the administrative functions of the church. Above all though, the shepherd is a person who lays down his life for the sheep. Where Jesus literally allowed himself to be crucified to pay for our sins, the good shepherd puts providing spiritual care for his members above his own needs and desires. The good shepherd (pastor) does not a minister out of self-seeking motives; he ministers out of love and obedience to Christ and devotion to His Church. While no one fulfills this ideal perfectly, it still serves as a lasting emblem of Christlike service.

In the 21st century North American Church, however, the role that church leaders more commonly aspire to is that of a corporate CEO. In a Leadership Journal Article, Kevin Miller (executive vice president for Leadership magazine) asked: “Are we Christians in North America overemphasizing the need for leadership in the church? …By overemphasizing skills, we may underemphasize character. We shouldn’t be surprised, then, when we find giant leaders with midget souls…Our near obsession with leadership, I suspect, stems as much from our culture as from Scripture.”

Out of the Overflow of the Heart, the Mouth Speaks

The CEO Model leader places little emphasis on caring for the needs of the sheep and living a sacrificial life; he is more focused on organizing and mobilizing his followers (and their finances) to pursue the vision of an institutional mega-church, complete with book deals, a media empire, an executive salary and all the perks that a corporate CEO would expect. Many of these CEO’s are masters of positioning themselves to appear as though they are down-to-earth pastors whose churches just happen to be attended by thousands of members.  Occasionally though, the true attitudes of some of the most influential pastors in America are revealed. Consider the following:

1. When Harvest Bible Chapel’s Pastor James McDonald was asked by his board members to reveal his salary, he responded to them that he “would lose 1,000 people before I would disclose that.” 
2. New Life pastor Perry Noble made the following comment about church members who want to have personal attention from a pastor: “We have people come to this church going, ‘I want a church where I can know the pastor. I could never go to a church where I can’t know the pastor.’ You need to leave. I don’t have the time…I won’t sacrifice my family on the ministry altar so I can come eat food that I don’t like and I can hang out with people that make me uncomfortable.” He made some additional comments along the same lines and then stated to those who offered criticism of his approach: “Here’s the problem: you think I care… You don’t understand how little I care.” 
3. During a leadership training session, disgraced Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll (in)famously described how he deals with members of his church that don’t agree with his decisions by explaining that: “‘There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus, and by God’s grace, it’ll be a mountain by the time we’re done. You either get on the bus or you get run over by the bus. Those are the options. But the bus ain’t going to stop!’” 

These kind of statements stand in stark contrast to the words of Jesus as he described the qualities of the Good Shepherd. Jesus said that the Good Shepherd cares for the sheep because he owns the sheep, but the hired hand cares nothing for the sheep. Perry Noble made it clear to the members of his church that they “don’t understand how little I care”. Jesus said that a shepherd who owns 100 sheep would leave 99 to go and seek for a single lost sheep. James McDonald said he would rather lose 1,000 members than reveal his salary. David describes the care that a shepherd provides for a sheep in the 23rd Psalm when he stated that the shepherds rod and staff protected him. Mark Driscoll bragged about the pile of bodies run over by the Mars Hill bus. It is not possible to reconcile the attitude behind those kinds of comments with the self-sacrificing care and love of Jesus for his church.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Some have explicitly made the case that the comparison between a pastor and a shepherd is not valid for the 21st century church. Mega-church pastor Andy Stanley was asked if “we should stop talking about pastors as “shepherds”. His answer? “Absolutely. That word needs to go away. Jesus talked about shepherds because there was one over there in a pasture he could point to. But to bring in that imagery today and say, “Pastor, you’re the shepherd of the flock,” no. I’ve never seen a flock. I’ve never spent five minutes with a shepherd. It was culturally relevant in the time of Jesus, but it’s not culturally relevant anymore.”

While the word shepherd may not be as culturally significant in 21st century North America as when Jesus used it, Stanley’s seems to be missing Christ's point. He and many contemporary church leaders don’t just want to stop using the metaphor: they want to reject altogether their obligation to fulfill the Biblical qualities of a shepherd. If Jesus were to offer us a parable today in place of the good shepherd, he might use a different word, but it is difficult to believe it would be CEO.

For instance, in 2 Timothy 2:24-25 and in Titus 1:7-8, Paul describe the qualities of spiritual leaders, including that leaders be humble, patient and gentle with opponents, hospitable and not greedy for gain(money). How does the image of a CEO fit with those qualities? Do the comments made by Driscoll, Noble and McDonald reflect the attitude that Paul described? Does McDonald sound greedy when he refuses to disclose his salary? Does Noble sound hospitable when he complains he doesn’t want to eat his members’ food and spend time with them because it would make him feel uncomfortable? Does Driscoll sound gentle and patient with those who oppose him when he brags about running a bus over a pile of people?

Would you want to be one of those people that McDonald would rather lose?  That Driscoll wants to run over with the church bus?  That Noble doesn't want to spend time with?

We need to start asking ourselves: do we want a shepherd, or a CEO?