God in His infinite Wisdom has created a diversity of offices in which many are called to serve. Each office comes with its own set of requirements but all are designed to edify the body as a whole. The office that applies to the majority at UCFM is that of Pastor. What does it mean to be a pastor? It is in a sense the same thing as being a Shepard, the one who is responsible for caring for and protecting the flocks.
A Pastor/Shepard has a great responsibility. He/she is responsible for the direct health and wellbeing of the church. He is responsible for seeing that the flock is fed and has adequate shelter or covering during stormy weather. The Pastor is also responsible to ensure that the sheep of his/her fold is protected from the plagues of the day. A real Shepard would vaccinate his sheep. The Pastor must protect his sheep through his teaching and by being an example of godliness.
The Pastor/Shepard must see to it that his/her flock is well fed and fattened on the Word of God. In order for the pastor to do this he himself must be well fed and nourished with the word of God. He must be able to hear from God. He must be grounded in faith in God’s Word and its ability to instruct, teach and bring about changes in the lives of those who live by it. To properly feed his sheep the Shepard must constantly search out and prepare the best food or teachings to give to his sheep. He must have the patience to continue to feed his sheep the same diet day after day week after week to know that they have received all of the nutrition that it has for them or to know that they have learned fully the message being taught. They must understand the phrase quality not quantity.
In modern day terms the shelter or covering of the flock would be prayer and emotional support. In order to do this a Shepard must be compassionate, eager to listen, able to understand the needs that people have in their daily lives, and the way the enemy exploits these things to deceive the sheep and keep them of balanced and afraid. It is important for a Shepard to be able to relate to the sheep on a variety of different levels. Like Jesus Himself, God became human so that He could relate to us on our level. Heb 2:17-18 “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”
The Shepard must insure health for his sheep. He must first educate himself to the diseases that are dangerous to his flock. He must know how to identify what the ailments are before he can combat them. This takes discernment and lots of prayer. He must first be willing to pray through a situation to recognize the problem. He must then know how to search the Word of God for the answers. He must know how to and have the faith to lay hands on his flock for deliverance. He must know how to counsel the man or woman addicted to pornography. He must know how to instruct the wife who is rebellious to her husband.
The Shepard must know how to recognize the sin in his congregation as the sickness that it is, just a little sin being able to infect the whole flock. He must weed the briars and thorns of gossip and know how to lead his flock to pure and living waters and not the bitter waters of strife and envy. Most importantly, the Shepard must love his sheep and have a sincere desire to ensure there well-being. He must always put the needs of the sheep first. He should always be searching for new ways to teach the sheep, to love the sheep, to nurture and help the sheep to mature. And then he must be willing to let the sheep when they have matured go off and begin flocks of there own, not hindering them for fear of losing there tithe or support. The good Shepard loves the sheep!