Keeping Watch: Lessons on Shepherd Leadership from Maasai Shepherd-pastors in Tanzani

The author suggests that a key metaphor in Scripture for leadership (shepherding) may, in significant ways, not be fully understood or appreciated by ministry practitioners in the increasingly urban and technologically-driven West, thus limiting its didactic and transformative potential. This study focused on the Maasai people group in Tanzania for their largely still-primitive shepherding culture. Twenty-one Maasai pastors consented to semi-structured interviews. Questions centered on their shepherd role, pastor role, and the relationship, if any, between the two, with the goal of exploring the ways in which the shepherd-pastors might illuminate the shepherd metaphor. Findings were organized primarily according to shepherd-pastor tasks and traits, and corresponding ministry recommendations were offered.