Discipleship-Part II

In the natural, a sheep knows it's shepherds voice. The shepherding movement kind of missed that when they began to assign people to under-shepherds. The congregation at Northfold was very understanding for the most part. They trusted the leadership and were willing to give it a go. At first, there was little anxiety. I really think that the majority of our folks were willing to embrace the concept but there still seemed to be some doubt in every ones mind. Pastor Ron was the pastor. They knew his voice. I can't imagine how some of the folks felt about being pastored by someone else. We really tried to manage this transition the right way. I was assigned a lot of young people. It made sense since I was in my late 20's. At first it seemed awkward because the grouping of the people was unnatural and so it was difficult for folks to embrace the new guy as their pastor.

The upper level leadership in the shepherding movement was trying to do the same thing. Prominent Pastors in the Pittsburgh area were submitting themselves to one another in an effort to maintain accountability just like the flocks that they pastored. A great deal of teaching began to arise that supported the whole concept of shepherding. It seemed to take preeminence over other teaching. I saw the imbalance begin when the leadership began to teach about honoring those that were over you in authority. This is when little things began to happen like carrying your pastors bag for him. Dishonoring your pastor was not a good thing. What happened? The same thing that always happens. We began to take ourselves too seriously. The intentions were good but we somehow drifted from the Lord and fell into the trap of building an authoritarian empire.

It weakened relationships at Northfold because the natural flow of life was interrupted by the implementation of this concept. There was a stirring and a number of prophecies that began to surface. There was a small but powerful group of women in the church that began to question everything that we were doing. All of the sudden, a once very strong and secure family of believers became very fragmented and fragile. I couldn't believe what was happening. I began to question my move to Pittsburgh.

Next up.....

It's Over...