Tom approaches the doors with caution this week. It has been a discouraging past few days for him. He was not expecting the doctor to call with that diagnosis. The weariness has spread from the physical to the emotional. He doesn’t want to answer the question so often asked in passing: “How are you?” The thought of standing up to sing songs of praise isn’t exactly thrilling. And yet, here he comes, walking in.

Beth is beaming as she anxiously hangs around the entryway. She is waiting for a friend that has finally taken Beth up on her offer to come visit one week. Many times, her name has been spoken at the altar. Beth can’t wait for the conversation she will get to share with her pastor when she gets to introduce her to him. Here she comes, walking in.

Cindy is only here because she is, quite literally, living on a prayer. Her world has fallen apart, her hope has vanished, and she does not know where else to go. She knows, deep down, that there is no where else to go. She doesn’t know, however, what to expect. What are Christians like? What is God like? It’s been years since she was in a church. She’s a little afraid, but she is holding out hope that someone in this building will know how to help her. She walks in.

Every person who walks in every local church on every Sunday morning has a reason for doing so. No two Sundays look the same for the sheep as a whole. There is a mosaic of motivations that compels men and women like Tom, Beth, and Cindy through the doors. But there are two certainties each can cling to as they prepare to enter: through the door they will find pasture, and they will find shepherds.

The Good Shepherd and His Servants

What makes a local church so powerful, so revitalizing to people from all walks and seasons of life? Most certainly, it is because every local church, together as one flock, is presided over by the one Good Shepherd (John 10:11–16). As Psalm 23 famously reminds us, our Lord, as our Shepherd, is the one leading us, comforting us, restoring us, feeding us, and protecting us.

1 Peter 5 recognizes that there is a “chief Shepherd” who oversees the flock as a whole (1 Pet. 5:4). But in the preceding verses, Peter expands the role of “shepherd” to include the elders of the church (1 Pet. 5:1–3). Upon the resurrection and ascension of Christ, his disciples are commissioned and sent to operate as if they are “under-shepherds” who lead the flock in his name.

Only Christ can prove to be our everlasting and perfect Shepherd. But in his wise providence and tender care, Christ has entrusted this work of shepherding to leaders in the church, leaders like Peter himself (John 21:15–17). The weary, the stray, and the hungry sheep alike find all they need in the house of God, thanks to the chief Shepherd who has placed local shepherds among them.

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