The main idea of this book is simple: "The main responsibility of church leaders is to shepherd God's flock." After all, the very word "pastor" comes from the Latin word meaning "shepherd". But, as you will see, shepherding is the responsibility not only of those who are called to be pastors, but also of those who are called to be presbyters or carry other similar services in our churches. You will make sure that pastoralism constitutes the very essence of the biblical concept of leadership. Unfortunately, in many churches this is not given due importance.

Church leaders are called to be pastors, not governing councils. The main vocation of every church leader is to be the shepherd of the community. Pastoral service includes four tasks - to know, to ask, to guide and protect church members at the macro level (at the level of the entire community) and at the micro level (in personal care). To cope with these tasks, Timothy Z. Whitmer offers a plan of ministry from seven essential elements. It is the totality of all components that will help church leaders achieve success in pastoral service to their communities.

The book is intended, firstly, to convince you that the concept of pastoring includes everything that a church leader should do, and secondly, to help those who want to start (or improve) pastoral ministry among their parishioners. And although I am a professor of theology and teach in a seminary, this book is not a scientific work. However, I hope that it will be useful to everyone who studies (and teaches) in seminaries. I teach practical theology , and I was prompted to write this book by concern for pastoral care. I hope that my humble work will help you apply the principles of biblical shepherding in your ministry.

Moving from chapter to chapter, we will first consider the biblical and historical foundations, and then the practice of shepherding. I hope that in the first section I will be able to convince you that shepherding should be your constant concern, and in the following sections we will talk about how to plan and organize pastoral ministry. The main place in the section devoted to pastoral practice is occupied by seven principles of successful pastoral ministry. You must apply them all, you cannot choose only those that you like, otherwise you will not be able to successfully carry out your plan of pastoral ministry. And, finally, in the final chapters, we will talk about the important consequences that can be expected where pastoral ministry is consistently performed, and about some practical aspects of this ministry.

I pray to God that your flock will not be like "sheep without a shepherd." Let it be said about you, as about the shepherd king David: "And he shepherded them in the purity of his heart and led them with wise hands" (Ps. 77:72).