Tuesday, June 05, 2007

No gurus, only pastors

“There are to be no gurus in the Christian community – only pastors (shepherds). But shepherds do not feed their sheep. Instead they lead them to good, green pasture where the sheep feed themselves. Thus all preaching should lead people into the Scriptures and encourage them to browse there for themselves.”

“It is not easy to combine prophetic witness and pastoral care, firmness and gentleness, discipline and compassion. I think it was Chad Walsh, an American Episcopal layman, who first defined preaching as ‘disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed’.”

John Stott in his latest book 'The Living Church'

3 comments:

Art said...

Very true, Paul. But I think part of the problem is that so many of us are looking for Gurus instead of shepherds...

John said...

Ahhh, Paul, you continue to refresh my heart. I am a shepherd and Stott's words ring true. I agree with Paul that many are seeking guru's...until they find a shepherd! Here's to faithfully carrying on the work of the chief shepherd.

Paul said...

Thanks for your comments, guys!
Today I finished reading Stott's 50th book THE LIVING CHURCH. I highly recommend this book to you. I have the feeling that this is some sort of a testament that Stott wants to leave behind. He quotes Paul, who is passing on wise instructions to Timothy. We need a new generation of faithful shepherds like John Stott. I don't want to put people on a pedestal, but this man deserves my respect. He is a bright shining light for Messiah Jesus and I do hope that he will receive strength, energy and wisdom to write some more books (the man is 86 years old now!). Read this book, brothers! (I am looking forward to publishing the Dutch edition soon. By the way, if you have good suggestions for books that I need to read, please let me know!!) Blessings