Know Your Flock, Pastor!

Genevan minister Theodore Beza (1519-1605) describes beautifully the responsibilities of the Christian pastor:

“It is not only necessary that [a pastor] have a general knowledge of his flock, but he must also know and call each of his sheep by name, both in public  and in their homes, both night and day. Pastors must run after lost sheep, bandaging up the one with a broken leg, strengthening the one that is sick. . . . . In sum, the pastor must consider his sheep more dear to him than his own life, following the example of the Good Shepherd.”

– from Scott M. Manetsch, Calvin’s Company of Pastors: Pastoral Care and the Emerging Reformed Church, 1536-1609 (Oxford: 2013), 281.