M.O.M. Good Habit 2: Caring for the Flock
This week we are looking at the habits of Growing Congregations.Here's the second one...
| Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts20:28-31) |
In Acts 20:28-31, Paul speaks to the elders of the church at Ephesus as he prepares to leave them. His words reveal the serious responsibility entrusted to those who care for God's people. He reminds them that the church does not belong to pastors, bishops, elders, councils, or organisations. The flock belongs to God. Christ purchased the Church at the greatest possible cost - His own blood.
Paul begins with an important instruction: "Keep watch over yourselves." Before we can care properly for others, we must pay attention to our own spiritual lives. Christian leaders must continually examine their relationship with God, their conduct, motives, prayer life, and teaching. A shepherd who is spiritually weak may struggle to protect and guide the flock.
Paul then says, "Keep watch...over all the flock." Caring for the flock means caring for everyone entrusted to us - not only those who agree with us, support us, or are easy to lead. The strong and the weak, young and old, faithful and struggling, all need pastoral care.
A good shepherd knows when members are hurting. Some people come to worship smiling while carrying deep pain at home. Others struggle with unemployment, family conflict, sickness, bereavement, loneliness, financial difficulties, or spiritual discouragement. Caring for the flock therefore requires more than preaching on Sunday. It includes listening, visiting, praying, counselling, encouraging, and sometimes correcting with love.
Paul also warns that "savage wolves" will come among the flock. The Church must therefore be protected from false teaching, division, manipulation, and anything that draws people away from Christ. Christian leadership requires both compassion and vigilance.
This responsibility does not belong only to ordained ministers. Every Christian can participate in caring for God's flock. We care when we notice someone absent, visit the sick, encourage the discouraged, support the bereaved, guide the young, and pray for one another.
Prayer:
Gracious God, thank You for making us part of Your flock. Give our pastors and leaders wisdom, humility, and compassion to care faithfully for Your people. Help each of us to notice those who are hurting and to serve them with the love of Christ. Protect Your Church from everything that seeks to divide or destroy it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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Rev Awedzani Nemaukhwe is the Minister at William Samson Memorial in the Presbytery of Limpopo
