Caring Enough to Stay: What Pastors Can Learn from the Good Shepherd
April 13, 2026
April 13, 2026
Abstract: Marc Sims encourages pastors to follow the example of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, based on John 10:10–11. Christ remains faithful to his sheep in the face of danger because of his care for them. Likewise, pastors who care for their people will be motivated to remain faithful rather than simply leaving when they face the trials and challenges of ministry.
Being a pastor is a tremendous privilege, but it’s also hard. It always has been. Pastoring requires a strange mixture of skill sets and a high standard of holiness. And the internet age has only added new challenges, as pastors are expected to weigh in on any and every topic. Add to all that the burden of the “weight of souls”11 .This phrase is taken from Charles Spurgeon, Encouragement for the Depressed. that lies on pastors, and it’s easy to see why pastoring presents a unique temptation—the temptation to leave.
In light of these challenges and heavy responsibilities, what compels a pastor to stay and remain faithful to his flock? To answer that, we need to hear the words of the Good Shepherd.
In Jesus’s famous teaching on “The Good Shepherd,” he identifies a difference between good pastors and bad pastors. (The Greek word for “shepherd” can also be translated as “pastor.”)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. (John 10:11–12)
Jesus is the Good Pastor, the Pastor that you and I cannot be. You and I are limited, sinful, and expendable, while Jesus is a bottomless fountain, perfect and irreplaceable. Yet Jesus’s model of shepherding serves as a good picture of what we should be like as pastors.
We can distinguish between good pastors and pseudo-pastors by what they do when danger and difficulty arise. The pseudo-pastor uploads his resume to job boards and hits the road. The good pastor stays, exhibiting courage, grit, and love. He lays down his life to fight off a wolf, even when the wolf arises from within the flock (Acts 20:29–30).
But why would he do that? Once again, contrast him with a shepherd who: “flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep” (John 10:13). The good pastor stays because he cares for those whom he leads. This doesn’t mean that there are never good reasons for a pastor to leave his flock. It may even be a loving thing to step aside and let another shepherd provide the care and leadership a church needs during a particular season. But the ordinary posture of a pastor toward his church should not be to run just because things get difficult. We preach, pray, love, and stay.
In short, being a good pastor means you must care about your flock, but caring will cost you.
While I am still relatively young when it comes to pastoral ministry, I have done this long enough to see that many men who are put into the pressures and disappointments of ministry adopt the attitude of the hired hand—not because they are mercenary or cruel, but as a survival tactic. They start out with warmth and enthusiasm, but in time a calloused cynicism settles in. And, in a way, it makes sense. If you open up your heart to a congregation only to have them take a shot at you, maybe for something trivial and unfair, it can be easier emotionally to simply back away, to slide a piece of armor between you and them, and to stop caring so much. If you don’t care about me, fine, I won’t care about you.
But that isn’t what a good shepherd, or pastor, does. Think, for example, about the apostle Paul and the Corinthian church. He set aside his right to be paid by them and instead worked the double-shift of bi-vocational ministry so as not to put any hindrances on this fledgling church. Yet some in the church used that very act of service as a point of attack in an attempt to delegitimize Paul’s entire ministry and accuse him of not being a true apostle (2 Cor. 11:7–11). And though Paul was clearly hurt, notice the one thing he does not do. Close his heart to them. No, he says, “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open” (2 Cor. 6:13).
The Power of Caring
I still have much to learn as a pastor, but one thing that has surprised me is how powerful it is to genuinely care about people. People are incredibly lonely, suspicious, and often deprived of encouragement. To be clear, caring about your members will not solve all their problems. Showing up at the hospital in the middle of the night to be with a crying wife will not bring her husband back to life. But it will show that you care.
While meeting with a man recently, he mentioned how years ago when his family was first visiting our church, I spoke a word of encouragement, telling the church how proud I was of them. He said that alone compelled him to stay at our church, because he had never heard a pastor praise his congregation for something before.
You may be just an “okay” preacher. You may not be a visionary leader; you may not know how the social-media game works; and you may not know the next program your church needs to reach the next generation. But if you care about the sheep, that will go a long way. It was said of John Newton that his “preaching was often not well prepared, nor careful or ‘graceful’ in delivery.” However, he had “so much affection for his people and so much zeal for their interests, that the defect of his manner was little consideration with his constant hearers.”22 .Taken from John Piper, “John Newton: The Tough Roots of His Habitual Tenderness,” Desiring God, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/john-newton-the-tough-roots-of-his-habitual-tenderness.
Pastor, you will continue to make mistakes and fall short, and you’ll even be a bonehead from time to time (I certainly have). But when your words come out sideways or you drop the ball, hopefully your members will be able to say, “We know he cares about us.” And if they don’t, if they turn around and try to take a bite out of you, you have two choices: take your ball and go home or choose to be a good pastor who stays. In those moments, you must rely on the Great Shepherd, who is watching over you and all his other wounded sheep.
But remember, your jet fuel in ministry isn’t that everyone appreciates you and sees all the hard work you are doing. It is that Jesus cares about you. He sees not only your hard work but also all of your sin. And, wonder of wonders, he still cares about you. Even though this care cost him dearly.
So, pastor, while it’s right for you to care about your congregation, you and I should always care more about Jesus. I am reminded of Ray Ortlund Sr.’s last words to his son, Ray Ortlund Jr.: “Tell Bud, ministry isn’t everything. Jesus is.”