This article is for elders. But it is for the rest of us, too, since every Christian is meant to be someone’s spiritual leader—and all spiritual leadership calls for the same basic skills.

A man we’ll call Tom, who is one of the finest Christian men I know and the CEO of a multi-national company, resigned as an elder of his church. He had given up hope of doing the real work of the church in the way Jesus wants it done. Tom confided that one hour of “eldering” took more out of him than ten hours of “CEO-ing.” Plus, he felt he was making little positive difference.

Tom had discovered that leading a church is extremely tough in these days: values are vanishing, social norms are shifting, and families are falling apart. Elders see litigation lurking at the church doors, and tensions between interest groups. They hear time-honored assumptions challenged, see inconsistent giving patterns, and conflict between traditional and progressive elements in the church. Families live fast-paced lifestyles. Shepherds have to scoot even just to keep pace with the flock—let alone lead. And consumer-minded church members tend to “grade” church leaders by a patchwork of competing and unrealistic standards.

Besides, of course, elders’ marketplace jobs often require 50+ hours a week. And, of course, their families often fret under life in a “fishbowl.” Then, as if this were not enough, those weekly elders meetings must be squeezed into calendars already bulging with church events, counseling, troubleshooting, refereeing, and teaching, and . . .

Understandably, some elders throw in the towel. Others plod on, but with little hope.

However, there is good news! After decades talking face-to-face with hundreds of church leaders across the continent, I am convinced that things do not need to remain this way. I fully expect better things ahead—in fact, we are already well on the way. I see some unfolding positive developments that far outstrip current negatives. Here are just two of those developments.

First, armies of excellent, godly elders, who sense both the urgency of God’s mission and the rapidly changing terrain of the playing field, are seeking and finding both heart and skills to lead their churches into the 21st Century in the way Jesus would want them led.

Second, not only elders, but the Christian community at large, are rediscovering a Biblical model for spiritual leadership—a powerful principle which, at the same time, is surprisingly simple. This often overlooked simple model not only offers the promise of increased effectiveness, but it can lighten the burdens of today’s elders, by spreading the burden of spiritual nurturing across many more shoulders than those who are officially called elders and ministers.

It is a biblical idea, and its time is returning.

Throughout the Bible, the dominant metaphor for spiritual leadership is shepherd and flock. Good shepherds “smell like sheep”!

Watch this space for a series of brief articles that can help you unpack the biblical shepherd-flock model and offer practical ways to implement it in your congregation.

Next month we’ll explore the question, “What is a shepherd?”