Sheep Without a Shepherd
Pastoring is a lot of things but more than anything else, its people work. Yet, too often, pastoral care is reduced to crisis management—hospital visits, prayers for the sick, and home visits. While these are important, they form just a fragment of a much broader, richer tapestry of care that pastors are called to weave.
It was only after a number of years as a pastor that I realized I lacked the framework I needed to provide the care my church required. They needed more from me than great sermons, inspiring bible discussions and spiritual crises responses. They needed me to disciple them in personal, intentional ways. So, I got my list of members and non-members together (everyone who called my church their home church) and began categorizing them based on their level of engagement. I then systematically began reaching out to them with personal messages, simply asking if there was anyway I could be praying for them that week. The response was overwhelming. It showed me that people felt truly seen and cared for, establishing in my mind the importance of a proactive approach to pastoral care. This simple, intentional act communicated something essential: they were not just numbers or faces in the pews—they were known, valued, and they felt genuinely shepherded.
This revelation led me to create a tool I call now the Proactive Pastoral Care System, a holistic approach to pastoral care that emphasizes the role of the pastor as the chief discipler. At the heart of pastoring is the formation of souls, an endeavor that cannot be outsourced or minimized.
A pastor who doesn’t pastor?
This might get me in trouble but just hear me out. The intentional discipleship of people is such an indispensable component of pastoring that if someone is not personally engaged in it, I question their use of the title “pastor.” Let me be more clear. I am a student of the church growth movement. I have found so much of it to be incredibly helpful. One of the things, however, that has all always struck me as odd, is a piece of advice that is found throughout practically all the literature. This advice is that when a church grows to a certain point (usually between 100-120 people) the first task that the pastor should offload is pastoral care. That is exactly what makes the ministry pastoral – the care of people! A pastor can perhaps offload certain tasks to others as they provide care (hospital visits, home visits, card writing, etc). But that pastor can never abdicate their responsibility to be personally involved in the lives of people. They might not be able to do it for their whole church, but it ought to be a main component of their ministry, no matter what. You aren’t a pastor if you don’t pastor.
I’m a little bullish on this because I was truly convicted of this myself.
I remember the night I read Galatians 4:19.
…my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Here’s Paul, with all his influence and missionary success, talking about the thing that got him up in the morning. But he wasn’t focused on building an impressive ministry. His aim, the passion he felt down deep in his gut, was to see Christ formed in people. I had worked hard in ministry, though I wouldn’t claim it was like “the anguish of childbirth,” (That’s a pretty bold claim, Paul!) but I knew the anguish that comes from working hard to accomplish something. What bothered me was what Paul was laboring for. It wasn’t to build a ministry. It was to see Christ formed in people.
The question hit me hard: “Are you trying to grow a church or are you trying to form a people?”
Now, to be fair, I think I was already doing a lot of the right things. But I wasn’t doing it in the right spirit or with the right goals. This began a deep rethinking of what I wanted my ministry to be about and a thorough redefining of what success in ministry was going to look like for me.
Like it did for me, this journey may require a mindset shift, but it’s a rewarding path. By anchoring our vocation in a personal, proactive approach, we can cultivate a thriving congregation where pastoral care is not just about meeting needs but about nurturing the formation of souls and cultivating an environment of transformative growth. Our calling is not just to lead but to shepherd, to be deeply involved in the sacred work of forming Christ within the hearts of our people.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you’re feeling inspired to shift your approach to pastoral care or want to dive deeper into practical, proactive shepherding, I’d love to walk with you on that journey. Reach out to explore how the Proactive Pastor Program can be a framework for faithfulness in your ministry—helping you nurture your congregation, one personal connection at a time. Let’s start a conversation about what true pastoral care could look like for you. [Contact me here].