While I was growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, Zion Lutheran Church of International Falls, MN, was served by a man we knew as Reverend Evans. A battlefield call to ministry in the trenches of France in 1918 led him to seminary. From the lumber camps of the 1920s, through the Great Depression, and on into the baby boom following the Second World War, three generations came to call him “Reverend.” Some have even suggested his bride called him Reverend when they got up in the morning. But when Zion called Reverend Evans’s successor, our vocabulary began to change. By the early 1970s, Reverend had all but slipped away and we were left with “Pastors.”

For many folks, the shift from Reverend to Pastor was welcomed. It marked a break with old hierarchical understandings of the preacher’s status within the community. The move was from who your are to what you do. The preacher being Reverend is like a judge being “Your Honor”; about respect rather than function. “Pastor” is simply the Latin for shepherd and speaks to the job of caring for a flock. During the 1960s and 1970s, the wider use of the title Pastor meshed very well with the emergence of the therapeutic model of ministry. A pastor is, among other things, one of the helping professionals engaged in the counseling and the care of souls.

Through the twenty years of my ministry I’ve been Pastor Bob, and I suppose, maybe—just maybe—it’s better than being Reverend Dahlen. But not much! Slowly I’ve become convinced the time is coming—and maybe it’s here—when we should drop Pastor and use other words for the clergy.

Granted, the metaphor of the people of God as a flock of sheep living under the watchful eye of a good shepherd runs deep in the Bible. And there is some support for referring to those in leadership roles as shepherds or pastors for God’s people. In John 21:16, Jesus’ second charge to Simon Peter is to “tend (shepherd, pastor) my sheep.” In the same way, I Peter 5:4 urges the elder within the church to “tend (shepherd, pastor) the flock of God that is your charge.” Ephesians 4:11 speaks of how it is a gift that some are appointed “apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.”

However, it must be noted that positive references to church leaders as shepherds are few and far between. In fact, when the Bible speaks of the human shepherds and pastors of God’s people, it is most often with the language of condemnation and woe. Over and over again, the leadership of the faithful fail to be decent shepherds. David, the shepherd king, ends up as a sheep thief (II Samuel 11 and 12). Jesus speaks of how he—and he alone—is the Good Shepherd, and all others are either “thieves and robbers” or “hirelings who care nothing for the sheep” (John 10). “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says the LORD—thus begins Jeremiah’s shepherd-sheep metaphor (23:1), and with it he tears at kings, priests, prophets, and all the other human shepherds of Israel as bullies and thieves. Ezekiel 34 is equally vicious in its condemnation of any who has claimed to be shepherd or pastor to God’s people. Even the little epistle of Jude takes a shot at would-be shepherds as it criticizes those who are “blemishes on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after (=shepherding) themselves” (v. 12).

The good news within all the hard words against those who claim to be shepherds and pastors is the ongoing proclamation that, even though so many have failed, there is one who remains a good shepherd. As the familiar words of Psalm 23 say, “The LORD is my shepherd.” Jesus’ words in John 10, “I am the Good Shepherd,” are not an isolated instance. Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s rejection of human shepherds and pastors is grounded in the promise of God’s intention to be what humanity cannot be. “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down,” says the LORD God. “I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34:15-16).

In so much of the Bible, the pastor-shepherd-sheep metaphor works not as an exhortation for leaders to think of themselves or act like good little sheep-keepers. And the Bible certainly doesn’t do much to encourage the faithful in thinking of the clergy as their shepherds and pastors. Instead, this pastoral poetry serves to expose the very human failures of would-be shepherds and, at the same, offers the sure and certain hope of a God who will care for and comfort us like no other shepherd.

For more than a generation we have been painting the clergy as pastors or shepherds, and the image has taken on a life of its own. Seminaries have built reputations on their ability to “prepare pastors,” rather than simply being theological schools. Bookshelves are filled with volumes on “pastoral care,” as a biblical metaphor has become the measure of the clergy.

Isn’t there a danger in applying an image whose primary focus is on God to some very human figures? I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard the refrain, “But he (or she) is such a good pastor.” The trouble is, this line is often used in support of a person who has proved why the Bible’s use of pastoral images works so well; namely, someone who has failed to be a good shepherd. The faithful have been betrayed so many times that they must rest not on the actions of the clergy but in the arms of the one who says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Bad students, poor preaching, temper tantrums, felonious acts great and small, addictive behaviors… the list of of very human deeds covered over by “such a good pastor” can get quite long. Sometimes I’m just embarrassed to be called Pastor, and I wonder if we have shattered the commandment not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

It is helpful to remember how today’s use of “Pastor” is a relatively new development in the church. There are alternative titles for the clergy. There may be no going back to “Reverend,” but the Bible and church history do provide plenty of options. For those attracted to English romanticism, there’s “parson,” somewhat related to the word “parish.” “Overseer,” “elder,” or even “bishop” could be lifted from their present usage and returned to the New Testament’s understanding of a person preaching and teaching in a local congregation. St. Paul makes wide use of terms like coworker, ambassador, and servant or slave in reference to himself and others who lead in service, proclamation, and prayer. If the clergy took to calling themselves preachers, they could avoid the pitfalls of Pastor and wouldn’t have to change the abbreviation (Pr.).

For my part, I’m most comfortable with “minister.” I hope that I might have the strength and clarity of purpose to point beyond myself to the one who really is our Good Shepherd.

R. W. Dahlen serves Goodridge Lutheran Parish in northwestern Minnesota.