September 19, 2025
What does it mean to lead God’s people in today’s world? For many pastors and ministry leaders, leadership can feel like a tug-of-war between spiritual faithfulness and cultural expectations. We’re often pulled toward frameworks borrowed from business or sports—leading like CEOs who drive results or coaches who push for performance—yet these approaches fall short of God’s design.
Scripture gives us a different picture. God calls leaders in His kingdom undershepherds—entrusted with His flock but always under the authority of the Great Shepherd. This identity reframes leadership as stewardship, not ownership; faithfulness, not success; service, not self-preservation.
Over the next several weeks, I’ll share a series of posts exploring what it means to lead as undershepherds. Each one will highlight a different dimension of this calling, offering biblical insight, reflection, and encouragement for pastors and ministry leaders who long to lead from God’s design rather than the world’s framework.
Together, these posts will dig deeply into scripture and theology, creating space for you to reflect on your own leadership—and ultimately pointing everything back to the heart of the Good Shepherd, who is both our model and our source.
An Invitation
This series is just a glimpse of the fuller training I provide for church staff and leadership teams. If your team is ready to rediscover what it means to lead as undershepherds—living first as followers of Christ and then as shepherds of His people—I’d love to come alongside you.
This post draws on themes from my book, Kingdom over Culture: Restoring Biblical Leadership in a Secularized Church. If you’d like to go deeper, you can order the book here http://drmeredithjames.com//shop. I also offer workshops, staff trainings, and speaking engagements on shepherd leadership and other frameworks for kingdom leadership. To learn more or invite me to work with your team, connect with me here http://drmeredithjames.com.
