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What does it actually mean to shepherd a church?

In this Bible Study episode of The Dad Show, we're discussing Church Elders: How to Shepherd God's People Like Jesus by Jeramie Rinne from the 9Marks Building Healthy Churches series.

The conversation explores what Scripture teaches about elders and why biblical church leadership is about much more than a title, a board meeting, or one pastor trying to carry everything.

We talk about elders knowing and living among the people they shepherd, protecting sound doctrine, teaching God's Word, pursuing people who drift away, developing future leaders, confronting false teaching, sharing the weight of ministry, and knowing the limits of pastoral authority.

We also get into some harder questions: What happens when churches become more focused on programs than people? Who shepherds the pastor? Should churches have multiple elders? What separates biblical authority from abusive leadership? And when someone quietly walks out the back door of a church, whose responsibility is it to notice?

One of the strongest themes from the conversation is that you can't shepherd people you don't know.

Healthy church leadership requires men willing to get involved in people's lives, carry burdens together, guard God's Word, and shepherd God's people like Jesus.

Book: Church Elders: How to Shepherd God's People Like Jesus
Author: Jeramie Rinne
Series: 9Marks — Building Healthy Churches

This episode also concludes our journey through the 9Marks series before we move into A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God.

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