When I am looking for new pastors, one of the qualities and capabilities I look for is the ability to gather. When someone is a true pastor, people gather around them. It’s a part of the gifting on their life. That’s one of the reasons why I love starting potential pastors off as small-group leaders, it is easy to watch how people gather around them.
A big part of being a shepherd is stopping the church from scattering. Scattering is satan’s will for every church. That the sheep stop gathering. And satan doesn’t care if the people stop going to church for a party, out of offense, out of business, even if they stop gathering for Bible College, satan knows that when a church does not gather, the sheep are weak and they are then no match for him.
Zech. 13.7 says that if you strike the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered. Most attacks on pastors are not so much about the pastor, but as satan’s pretext to scatter the sheep and make them vulnerable. When the sheep are scattered, they are vulnerable, they get arrogant, they get foolish ideas, they go off the rails. That’s the issue. Satan is trying his hardest to get sheep separated from the flock. to stop people going to church.
Ezekiel 34.5 says that “they were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered”. Think about it – they stopped going to church, they became wolf-food. This is the satanic plan that is going into play all over the world. Sheep stop going to church!
Now when the sheep stop going due to offense, due to distractions, sometimes there is nothing you can do. Some sheep will not let you pick them up and bring them back. That’s on them.
But as pastors, we have to make sure we do not act in ways that scatter the flock or allow the flock to be scattered. We need to teach clearly on the importance of regular, consistent church attendance. We need to not compromise on the need for gathering. Jeremiah 23.1 says “woe to the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture”. We have to make sure we are not the ones scattering!
One of the main ways we scatter is ironically by being too controlling. In the 1970s, a group of pastors of networks of churches got together and started something called the shepherding movement. I believe they did it for the best possible reasons, but they moved into a place where they became super-controlling. People could not go on holiday without the pastor’s permission, pastor’s would tell people what to wear and where to live and what jobs to take, they told people who to marry as well. This left the church very immature and it caused a great many people to quit going to church and never come back. I was part of a church in this movement and was told what colour socks to wear! It hurt my wife and I a lot, and I know some other people involved who do not go to church right now. That scattering was caused by the pastor!
The other way we can scatter is by not controlling anything. If you let anyone get up and speak there will be problems. If you never correct anyone, your church will not be a safe place. Recently one of our pastors had to correct a man who was making some women in the church uncomfortable. If he did not do that, trust me, women would start leaving the church, and some would never go to another church again. You have to be the pastor, you have to be the leader.
The key is to control what is in the church, and turn over the things outside of the church over to Jesus. You are in charge of what you are in charge of, and not in charge of what you are not in charge of.
You need to pray for wisdom to know what to control and what not to control. If someone is at home watching someone you know is a false prophet, you can try and persuade them not to, but you really have no control over that. But if they start sharing videos of that around the church, if they start putting them on the church WhatsApp group, you should control that. Your motivation should always be to hold the flock together and lead them forward.
If correcting a person in an issue involves treating them like they are four, if you are telling them what colour socks to wear and when to go on holiday, then that is infantilizing people and stopping them from growing.
Now, if I got up and said everyone in the church must wear red today, that’s controlling. That will scatter people. However, if I say everyone in the worship band must wear red today, that is about the service, you are promoting and platforming those people, and they should be compliant with dressing in a way to maximise what the service looks like. Most people should be able to appreciate the difference. If I tell someone who they can marry, I don’t have that authority. If I tell someone, if you marry an unbeliever, that’s a bad idea, and if you make that choice, you cannot preach in the church going forward or lead worship – I have that authority. Again, both of these actions are from a heart of not being the one to scatter the flock. Selah!
I have been to preach at several gatherings of scattered Christians. Conferences where most people there are Christians that do not go to church, even Bible Colleges where many people do not go to church. When I do, there is always a weakness and a lack of strength in those meetings. There is a victim mentality, a lack of strength, a lack of power, a lack of glory. The reason is they are scattered Christians as the only God sanctioned way to gather is local church. Go to a conference, of course. Go to Bible College, of course. Watch Christian TV, of course. But do any of those things at the expense of local church, and you are scattered. Pastors, remind your people of these things and teach them well.
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 