They Smell Like Sheep by Lynn Anderson

They Smell Like Sheep: Spiritual Leadership for the 21st Century by Lynn Anderson (1997) is a guide to effective and authentic spiritual leadership in the local church. The emphasis is shepherding God’s people with a servant’s heart. I found the book to be pretty comprehensive about the position of elders in the local church. The metaphor of shepherding is often used in the Bible to communicate about leadership and Anderson unpacks this metaphor.

Anderson underscores the importance of personal relationships, humility, and servant leadership by way of leadership as shepherds, mentors, and equippers. Then, broad strokes of the character of shepherds is discussed very well in terms of experience, character, and vision. Anderson suggests that spiritual leaders must be approachable, involved, and invested in their people’s lives. The core idea means that by “smelling like sheep,” leaders demonstrate they are among their flock, sharing life and struggles rather than leading from a distance. There are options when it comes to leading the Church.

Key Highlights

I found the whole book helpful, but a few paragraphs stood out to me.

“God has provided a guide for spiritual leadership through His Word, and we must not allow our thinking to be shaped by traditional religious polity, prevailing management fads, nor by any other humanly conceived model.” (page 36)

“Paul believes a man’s ability to build and maintain healthy relationships in his home provides evidence that he can do so in the church. He sees a strong connection between the spiritual leadership qualities of parents and the way their adult children live their lives.” (page 149)

The above section on “Experience with Successful Family Relationships” (pages 144-157) is worth the whole book in my opinion. In a church in which I served, rarely did any of the elders (and staff) have adult children who were faithful to Christ much less church-goers. Tis a problem he discusses well in this book. Often, people who continually show up or have a long track record in a church are voted in as elders even though they have not the gifting or the personal track record of faithfulness to Christ. He addresses this well in this book.

Other Key Thoughts

A shepherd knows their sheep intimately, guiding, protecting, and nurturing them. Similarly, spiritual leaders must prioritize connection and care with the people in their church family.

Leaders must model what is preached and teached.

I know the above sentence is wrong… but I like how it rhymes. As a side note, if the tense is teach and taught… why isn’t it preached and praught? Reach and raught? Ain’t English grand?

Leaders must develop the ability to discern God’s direction while also empathizing with their people.

Anderson provides actionable advice for nurturing spiritual growth, handling conflict (these parts are well done), and staying spiritually grounded as a leader.

Recommendation

I found this book quite helpful. I believe that this book was already on the bookshelf in the office of the church I currently serve. I inherited this book and have not read it before now. It has now been read and is worth the read for ministers, current elders, and anyone who has been asked to be an elder in a local church. I would recommend it.

TMB