Counsel Your Flock
Fulfilling Your Role as a Teaching Shepherd
by Paul Tautges
GoodBookStall Review:
The aim of this short book is to help pastors to see what it means to care for their flocks.
Dr Tautges’s contention is that many church leaders have become “business professionals who farm out wounded sheep to psychological counsellors, falling short of meeting the real needs of real people within the church.”
The author convincingly shows that the church will only be built up if there is a return to a detailed expounding of God’s word from the pulpit and in one to one counselling.
Each of the four chapters is a careful exposition of key Bible passages – Jeremiah 3:15, Colossians 1: 28-29, Ephesians 4:12 and 1 Peter 5:4. The meaning of important words is explained and illustrated. Numerous quotes are made from other writers to support each argument. Key teaching is drawn out and applied to the pastor’s role.
Dr Tautges writes with passion and conviction. I like the way that he emphasises the total commitment needed to lead God’s people, showing that this involves great personal sacrifice. No-one should enter the ministry unless they know they are called of God. He also brings out well that the goal of the pastor is that his flock should be like Christ in character, willing to serve the Lord who saved them. I warmly commend this book to all those currently in the ministry and those contemplating such a calling.
Reviewer: Alan Hill (06/05/10)
The aim of this short book is to help pastors to see what it means to care for their flocks.
Dr Tautges’s contention is that many church leaders have become “business professionals who farm out wounded sheep to psychological counsellors, falling short of meeting the real needs of real people within the church.”
The author convincingly shows that the church will only be built up if there is a return to a detailed expounding of God’s word from the pulpit and in one to one counselling.
Each of the four chapters is a careful exposition of key Bible passages – Jeremiah 3:15, Colossians 1: 28-29, Ephesians 4:12 and 1 Peter 5:4. The meaning of important words is explained and illustrated. Numerous quotes are made from other writers to support each argument. Key teaching is drawn out and applied to the pastor’s role.
Dr Tautges writes with passion and conviction. I like the way that he emphasises the total commitment needed to lead God’s people, showing that this involves great personal sacrifice. No-one should enter the ministry unless they know they are called of God. He also brings out well that the goal of the pastor is that his flock should be like Christ in character, willing to serve the Lord who saved them. I warmly commend this book to all those currently in the ministry and those contemplating such a calling.
Reviewer: Alan Hill (06/05/10)
