He said that it was the pastor's role to lead and guide a church from one place to the next place to grow a church. He then told this group of pastors that if the church members were not going with the pastor then the pastor was doing a poor job.
A pastor needs to understand his people well enough to know how to shepherd them. And not all groups will be shepherded the same way. A pastor should be intimate with his people to understand the different levels of shepherding that he must utilize. There is a concept that I have heard of before and it is a theory that some sociologists call "The Revolution of Rising Expectations. The term comes from political science studies of developing countries. People in many of these countries have lived in poverty for years without complaint. However, when these people are exposed (through the media or otherwise) to people with a significantly higher standard of living, their expectations for their own standard of living rise as well. Often these rising expectations precipitate political unrest which leads to revolution. Hence the name "the revolution of rising expectations.".
The same thing can happen in churches. People who have been exposed to different levels of shepherding in the church tend to experience the revolution of rising expectations. One group may receive a different level of pastoral care and leadership than another and there could be rivalries for the affection of a Shepherd. It would be wise for a pastor to understand the different levels and incorporate the model into the life of the church. Each model has a varying degree of strengths and each one can be used in different aspects of the church.
Palmer Becker, in his book Called to Equip says that "Visions for pastoral care often rotate around three basic patterns."3 The three patterns are: the staff model, the shepherd model, and the group model. My own reflection has convinced me that all of the different shepherding models I have encountered can be classified according to one of these three patterns.
