Shepherd: Creating Caring Community

by David Francis, Ken Braddy, Ken Coley

Creating Caring Community is a 64-page book designed to help church leaders train volunteers who lead a Sunday School class or small Bible study group.

The concept of shepherding is popping up everywhere. Today’s educators (especially online educators), retailers, parents, managers, and mentors all draw from the concept of the shepherd. They are not the first. The Bible has a great deal to say about shepherds and sheep. We are called the sheep of His pasture (Psa. 100:3), sheep in need of a shepherd (Matt. 9:36), sheep for whom the Shepherd laid down His life (John 10:11), sheep knowing the voice of our Shepherd (John 10:14), and lost sheep being sought (Matt. 18:10-13). As leaders of a Bible study group, we carry the responsibility of being a shepherd.

To be a good shepherd, we will need a system for creating a caring community. David Francis identifies some key concepts that are foundational to a system that shepherds people well. Shepherds also assume different positions with their flock depending on the guiding the group from the front, being among the flock, and walking behind the flock. Ken Braddy addresses the role of shepherd in terms of its weekly before, during, and after the group gathers. There are new developments in the science of teaching and learning that impact how we shepherd as well. Ken Coley offers some practical ways shepherding-teachers can be more effective disciple-makers by embracing and employing some of these discoveries.
    
This book is for everyone involved in a Bible study group and is the fourth of four books in the 3 Roles series. This series of books encourages groups and group leaders to create conversational communities (Teacher), create caring communities (Shepherd), and create commissioned communities (Leader).

Free PDF downloads are available at

 
• Jesus’ model for teaching
• The Before, During, and After sequence of a teaching shepherd
• Biblical (and research-validated) teaching strategies and techniques


• Develop a system for shepherding in your church or group.
• Understand the differences between a shepherd and a teacher.
• Learn the roles and responsibilities of a shepherd.
• See what to do before, during, and after the group meeting.
• Discover how to be a better teaching shepherd.

 

64 pages, Staple Bound

Published December 1, 2017

About the author

David Francis, based in Los Angeles where he works for the Norton Rose Fulbright law firm, spends part of each year back on his family’s farm in Australia. He is the author of The Great Inland Sea, published to acclaim in seven countries, and Stray Dog Winter, Book of the Year in The Advocate, winner of the American Library Association Barbara Gittings Prize for Literature, and a LAMBDA Literary Award Finalist. He has taught creative writing at UCLA, Occidental College, and in the Masters of Professional Writing program at USC. His short fiction and articles have appeared in publications including Harvard Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Southern California Review, Best Australian Stories, Australian Love Stories, and The Rattling Wall. He is Vice President of PEN Center USA.