Now, I know that you all as pastors know that as sheep we all know the voice of the good shepherd, and that is absolutely true. But the truth is also that the sheep in your church should know your voice.
Now that starts with you knowing the voice of the Lord. You need to be spending time in the Word, listening to sermons, reading good Christian books, praying in tongues, and being in services and conferences on a regular basis. If you are not doing that, then why on earth would you expect others in your church would even be close to doing anything like that!
Now once you are doing that, your sheep should know your voice. You see an actual shepherd of literal sheep is the number one feeder of his sheep. Because he is the feeder, they learn to trust him so they tune into his voice. That’s how a shepherd becomes the leader of the flock, by being the feeder of the flock. Your job as a pastor is not to control your sheep, it is to feed them. As you feed them over and over, they will tune into your voice and start to follow you. That’s the process of pastoral leader, you feed people until they trust you to take care of them.
Then when someone teaches some strange doctrine, or gives them a strange prophetic word, they will come to you and say, shepherd, is this good food to eat, because they know that you look after them.
Now there are two problems to this idyllic situation. Firstly, some in your church, as we have said previously, are goats. They will not just eat your food, they will eat as much as they can – they will listen to anyone and everyone. They are the people in your church sharing CDs and links to random preachers that are preaching weird things that do not bring life, conspiracy theories, Bible Codes and normally extreme and dangerous teachings such as universalism and inclusionism. They will often be more linked to a Bible College or a ministry than another church, as they find these things more exciting than the mundane consistency of being in a church. They will become little whisperers of other voices in the church, destabilising your ability to lead the flock.
Secondly, there will be those who are offended. They will not trust your voice and they will depending on their personality will either overtly or covertly assault the authority of your voice. The overt assault will be telling people that you are a cult leader, all brain and no heart, more of a teacher than a pastor. The covert and sneaky assault will be “I really love listening to this guy on the radio, here is a link to his website”, “I feel that the church needs to do more in the community” – and much more.
The covert assault will sneak past many people’s radar as an insult or assault because it will often start with “I really like/ love our pastor, but you know he works so hard, why does he travel so much, if I was the pastor I would do more for you” – it’s what has often been called a spirit of Absalom, David’s son who promised everyone a better life if he was made king. Often, because these people are cowards, they will also preface their comments with “I have heard from some people”, “other people are saying” so they do not have to own their negative, critical voices. Another covert assault against your voice is “what the church needs is to catch fire with the Holy Spirit”, and what is meant is we all need a chance to get up and say something, we want more time in worship, but less time hearing the Word, and we want less order. That’s not always the heart behind that kind of comment, but often it comes from an attitude of superiority. Or, one more assault goes like this: “this church was better in the old days, it was more like family, more spiritual or whatever, let’s pray we get back to that”. It could be translated I don’t like growth, structure or new people.
Something I have heard recently and it has happened to others and myself too, is that people will loudly praise others who I know have been rude, immature, and ungodly around me.
Often these people who they are praising are so offended they do not even go to church, and someone will come to me and go “This person (the person who raised his fists to you, the person who tried to divide your family, the person who doesn’t go to church, the person who has lied over and over, the person who stole money from the church, the person who has never given a penny to the church) is such a great Christian, they love this church so much, it’s such a shame they are no longer here”.
That is a powerful assault against the voice of the pastor, making it out as if he is the reason the other people is no longer in the church, it is a misguided idea that when someone leaves a church in rebellion and spite, there are two sides to every story. It means that person is listening to multiple voices and therefore is not being fed as well and will not grow well! And they are undermining your voice by what they are saying.
Now as a pastor these kind of assaults on your voice are not personal, but I know it is sometimes difficult not to take them personally. But that is the first step to victory. What you have to do is not respond or react, but keep feeding the sheep. That’s the way to win. Keep preparing great messages that inspire and challenge your sheep, do not get caught up in endless discussions about this and that. Do not let someone else set the agenda – you go before God and ask the Lord what to preach and preach that. That is the way you get through this. You keep speaking truth and life and keep leading your sheep to green pastures and still waters.
When people realize that you love them, that listening to you leads to growth and victory, they will come your way. Without patronizing people in church, sometimes they are like little children. When your children are immature and silly when they were growing up, you didn’t become a tyrant, you patiently kept feeding them and they grow up and they eventually matured. It’s the same in church, you don’t disown a little child for being childish, you feed them.
Now if you see a wolf, you chase them away, you protect the sheep. But a baby lamb who is a little foolish, feed them. Keep feeding them, keep a sweet heart, don’t get caught up in foolishness yourself, and you will get to the place where you are ministering to people who love you, and more importantly they love the Word, the kingdom, and love serving and helping and walking in victory.
Amen!
Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers 