The Ministry of the Shepherd and the Church in Africa: A Cognitive Insight into the Pastoral Priorities of the Priest

By iUniverse

With over two million church leaders working in the more than ten million parishes, congregations, seminaries, and houses of religious formation around the world, it is important that all the people of God of every church have selfless church leaders who reflect the mind of Christ. But how can church leaders learn to be true shepherds like Jesus, whose selfless sacrifice of his life
for his people set the standard for the pastoral ministry?

The Ministry of the Shepherd and the Church in Africa draws on a wide range of Old and New Testament texts to develop the biblical theology of the shepherd Ministry which encourages right shepherding and evangelization in the world of self-serving leadership styles. Focusing especially on the example of pastoral ministry in Africa, author and priest, Cletus Chukwudi Imo explores some of the underlying attitudes of the pastor and the laity, and challenges church leaders to adopt a role as shepherds and servantsnot as self-serving mastersso that they can lead, guide, and teach their congregations as Christ would.

Because it can be easy for church leaders to get wrapped up in the sociocultural, political, and economic concerns of their parishes, it is important for these church leaders to shed an undue focus on these concerns instead of shepherd
their flocks. By modeling their lives and leadership on the ideals of Jesus, church leadersincluding priests, religious, lecturers, seminarians, and even lay-Christian parents alikecan become true servants and shepherds, honoring the example of Jesus, the Good Shepherd

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jan 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781532012471

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Copyright © 2017 Cletus Imo.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-1246-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1247-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016919989

iUniverse rev. date: 01/24/2017

Contents

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Statement of the Problem

Purpose of the Study

Scope of the Study

Research Methodology

Division of the Work

CHAPTER ONE THE SHEPHERD IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

1.1   Shepherds in the Ancient Near East

1.2   Gods and Kings as Shepherds in the Ancient Near East

1.3   Old Testament Account of the Shepherd in Israel

1.4   God as the Ultimate Shepherd of Israel in the Old Testament

1.5   Prophesies About the Promised Davidic Shepherd-Appointee

1.5.1   The Davidic Shepherd in Micah 5:1-4 [2:12-13]

1.5.2   The Davidic Shepherd in Ezekiel 34-37

1.5.3   The Davidic Shepherd in Zechariah 9-14

1.6   Summary

1.7   Conclusion

CHAPTER TWO THE SHEPHERD IMAGE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT PERSPECTIVE

2.1   Jesus as the Old Testament Davidic Shepherd in the Synoptic Gospels

2.2   The Presence of the Shepherd Image in the Gospel of John

2.3   The Context of John 10

2.4   The Context of the Shepherd and Mission of Confronting the Bad Shepherds in John

2.5   The Good Shepherd in John 10:11, 14

2.5.1   The Good Shepherd is the Door and the Gate of the Flock

2.5.2   The Good Shepherd Knows His Sheep and His Sheep Hear His Voice

2.5.3   The Good Shepherd is willing to lay down His Life for the Sheep

2.6   Summary

2.7   Conclusion

CHAPTER THREE THE CONTINUITY OF THE SHEPHERD MINISTTRY OF JESUS THROUGH THE APOSTLES

3.1   How Johannine Community Sees Shepherding through Peter’s Ministry (Jn. 21:15-19)

3.2   The Commissioning of Peter by Jesus to Shepherd His Flock (Jn. 21:15-17)

3.3   Tending and Feeding of the Sheep by Peter.

3.4   The Application of the Shepherd Imagery to the Ministers of the Ecclesial Communities

3.4.1   The Historical Continuity of the Shepherd Imagery in the Pastoral Address of Paul (Acts 20:28-31)

3.4.2   The Presence of the Shepherd Imagery in Peter’s Exhortations to Pastors: Historical Context

3.4.2.1   The Extension of the Shepherd Imagery in Peter’s Pastoral Ministry

3.5   Summary

3.6   Conclusion

CHAPTER FOUR AFRICAN PASTORAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE SHEPHERD MINISTRY

4.1   The Ethnography of the Igbo of Africa

4.1.1   Demography and Economy

4.1.2   Religion and Socio-cultural System of the Igbo

4.1.3   African Corporate Existence

4.2   The Igbo Elder as Shepherd in the Igbo Traditional Society

4.3   The Early Missionary Evangelization and Shepherding of Africa

4.4   The Current State of Shepherding the People of God in the Igbo Church

4.5   Summary

4.6   Conclusion

CHAPTER FIVE THE SHEPHERD’S COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE ON THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

5.1   The Shepherd’s Cognitive Processes of Information

5.2   The Influence of Earlier Experiences on the Shepherd

5.3 The Effects of Culture on the Shepherd’s Mind

5.4   The Influence of Heuristics on the Mind of the Shepherd

5.5   The Shepherd’s Motivational Processes

5.6   The Implications of these Processes on the Shepherd Ministry

5.7   Summary

5.8   Conclusion

CHAPTER SIX THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT BESET THE REALIZATION OF THE MIND OF CHRIST IN THE SHEPHERD MINISTRY TODAY

6.1   Self-driven Shepherd Ministry

6.2   Performance Identity

6.3   Psychic Default or Default Position

6.4   Bequeathed Leadership, Power Politics and Clerical Culture

6.4.1   Worldview of Leadership, Power and Authority

6.4.2   Bequeathed Leadership Power Structures

6.4.3   Clerical Culture

6.4.4   Ministry Monopoly and Imposition of Pastors’ Personal Ideologies on the Laity

6.5   Summary

6.6   Conclusion

CHAPTER SEVEN FROM WHAT THE SHEPHERD SHOULD BE TO WHAT HE SHOULD DO

7.1   What the Pastor Should be in order to shepherd the Flock of God

7.1.1   The Pastor Should Put on the Mind of Jesus for the Shepherd Ministry

7.1.2   The Pastor Should Live Out His Identity as One Who Mirrors Christ

7.1.3   The Pastor Should Be Transformed Through the Renewal of his Mind

7.1.4   The Pastor Should Accept his Humanity

7.1.4.1   The Pastor Should Express his Humanity in his Liturgical Preaching

7.1.4.2   The Pastor Should Express his Humanity in his Liturgical Celebration

7.1.5   The Pastor Should Break with Selfishness Through Self-emptying

7.1.6   The Pastor Should Exercise his Leadership Power as Service in Action

7.2   What the Pastor Should Do in Shepherding the Flock of God

7.2.1   Empowerment for Ministries

7.2.2   Calling the Laity to Responsibility in the Church

7.2.3   Implementation of Needs Assessment and Pastoral Planning

7.2.4   Consideration of Parish Context in Pastoring the People

7.2.4.1   Enforce Parish Context Awareness

7.2.4.2   Pastoral Feeding of the People of God as a Contextual Necessity

7.3   Summary

7.4   Conclusion

GENERAL CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DEDICATION

To my parents, Anthony and Beatrice Imo

And

My Bishop, Rt. Rev. Dr. Victor Adibe Chikwe

In Memoriam

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To the eternal Father, through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory for the inspiration, guidance and special grace that led to the realization of this work. Words are hardly enough to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Professor J. H. Morgan, the Karl Mannheim Professor of the History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences, GTF, who painstakingly moderated this work. I thank him for his critical insights, suggestions and exhortations. My thanks go to Adolphus Amadi-Azuogu, Professor of New Testament Studies, who after reading and critiquing an early draft, provided insight into particular aspects of the drama and strongly encouraged me to pursue the project. Thanks to Paul De Sena, Professor School Counseling Programs and Educational Support Services, LMU, who aided my studies with words and deeds, and to Fr. Charles Ufomadu who secured my admission to study in the US.

I am most grateful to my Bishop; Rt. Rev. Dr. V.A. Chikwe of the blessed memory, who sent me to the US for studies but did not live to see me finish it. He was both my father and model, who inspired me by his selfless and dedicated pastoring and provided me a model of priestly dedication to exploring a shepherd ministry that is motivated by love and compassion.

At various stages along the way I have been helped by Frs. Val Ibe, Augustine Obasi and Peter Ugwu who read some chapters, and Phil Margala who read the whole drafts, raising issues and questions that compelled me to take a different and more productive path. I am grateful for their willingness to draw on their experiences in sharing supportive reflections with me.

To Bishop Gerald Barnes of the Diocese of San Bernardino, his auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego, and Vicar Msgr. G. Lopez, who are the embodiment of all that is good and hopeful about selfless and dedicated shepherding as lived out in the diocesan mission of filling the lives of God’s people with hope, I will always be admiringly grateful for your caring pastoral presence to God’s people, and your love and hospitality to me.

Families are a legion in my life. I owe a lot of my academic success to these families: High chief Cosmas and Lolo Kate Onyejiji, Celeste Rodriquez, Regina Bolan, Richard Richte, Ryan Beck, Steve and Mary Adams, Keith and Mellisa Morlock, George and Angela Walker, Mageds, Felicia and Richard Simonis, Susan and Jeff Sabahi, Margaret and Tom Smits, Aurora Soliguen, Tim and Marisol Wyant, Nanette and Phillip Lawrence, Edith Chuke and late Theresa Aduba. In these families and at each crucial moment in my studies, I found hope, encouragement and promise of things to come. I am filled with gratitude for their willingness to share their times and treasures as I struggled to understand the American dream as a scholar.

To my parents, Anthony and Beatrice Imo of blessed memory, my siblings - Anthonia, Anna, John, Luke and Ignatius and their families; Fr. Kenneth Keke, Sr. Chinenye Keke, Fr. Kenneth Uzor, Sr. Chinenye Imo, Ebere Madu and family and Chukwuemeka Ihenacho from whom I daily draw strength, love, hope and promise, I thank you all.

I reserve sincere gratitude to all my friends and diocesan priests in Southern California, who are true shepherds after the example of Jesus, the Chief shepherd: Frs. Inno Emechete, H. Ibe, S. Onwuegbule, P. Mbazuigwe, E. Ukaegbu-Onuoha, B. Nwachukwu-Udaku, J. Okoroanyanwu, M. Chileke, and A. Nwaturuocha, Pius Adiele, Augustine Onwuzurike, Pat. Kirsch, Erik Esperza and Julius Bancifra for their support and friendship. To all whose support and wisdom substantially improved both the form and content of this work, I say thanks. Your collective assistance is such a selfless service which this work strives to achieve among pastors.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The shepherd ministry, the central focus of this work, is concerned with the pastor, what he does, and where he does it. Africa, the locale of this work, and particularly the Igbo of Nigeria, is known for her flourishing vocation to the priesthood and the religious life, and active and enthusiastic laity teeming with joy. Behind the façade of teeming population and miracle of grace lies one of the most important and most difficult tasks facing the shepherd ministry in the 21st century Church, namely, the challenge of serving the people of God selflessly without lording it over them. The motivation of giving a selfless service and seeing the ministry as people-centered is often times lacking. I came to this realization from concrete life experiences as one who has worked in some parishes as a pastor, studied and interacted with priests in Catholic Institute of West Africa as a student, and a seminary formator in Igbo of Nigeria. The evidence from my experiences in these pastoral fields shows that what used to be the sought after ideals of Jesus for the shepherd ministry are undergoing some challenges. What Morgan (2001) noted concerning the major leap in consciousness about pastoral ministry and socio-cultural and professional expectations and demands from the 19th century to the 21st century (p. 1) is true of the pastors in the Church in Africa. There is a real change in the way the priest perceives the shepherd ministry. The priests used to be concerned about the mind of Christ and his Church in executing their pastoral activities, and for this reason attention was concentrated on the needs of the people of God: how to feed and how to develop them. But nowadays, some self-serving priests who are entrusted with the care of God’s flock, look for their own wellbeing more than the wellbeing of the people of God.

My experiences have motivated me to carry out some research on some pastoral needs that have emphasis on priestly attitudes to pastoral ministry with some glaring findings that confirm the existence of a paradigm shift in the shepherd ministry. In 1996, my observations led me to carry out a study on The Assessment of the Effects of Proclaiming the Word of God in Ahiara Diocese of Nigeria to explore the reasons for the gap between faith and practice among Christians. The results of my study disclosed that priests’ monopoly of pastoral ministry, and the desire for self-gain are responsible for superficial conversion in the Church today (Imo, 1996, Unpublished master’s thesis, CIWA, P.H.). This research further sketches out in vivid terms how today’s church leadership in some parishes has failed to emphasize significant follower empowerment.

Apart from these pastoral administrative realities, there is a relational disharmony. The pastors monopolize pastoral ministry and leave the laity impoverished, powerless and voiceless in the mission of the Church in spite of the teachings of the Church on the involvement of the laity in the pastoral ministry. The Church is not truly established and does not fully live, nor is a perfect sign of Christ unless there is a genuine laity existing and working alongside the hierarchy (A.G. 21). Against this this pastoral letter, in the Igbo Church, the priest is everything. He wields a hierarchical power that keeps the laity at the receiving end. He imposes his ideologies on the people unmindful of their context and the sensitivity for which the shepherd is known is missing. The Bishops, to whom the term shepherd belongs in a special way, hold very tenaciously to their powers even when they undermine the needs of the people. These experiences have challenged me personally, especially when I consider the Bishops I have observed in the United States, who in spite of their elevated status, treat both priests and lay people as fellow Christians on the journey of faith without any status discrimination. These experiences have left me wondering why the pastoral ministry in Igbo Church is motivated by power and ego-advancement than by love and compassion exemplified by Christ, the Chief Shepherd.

It may interest the reader to note that I am not alone in these observations. These challenges have captured the attention of both priests and laity. Decrying the prevailing ministry, Clutton-Brock (1989) exclaimed: Shepherding has its characteristics wherever it is adopted. But the way ministry is done nowadays does not reflect the origin of the shepherd image (p. 16). Clutton-Brock is well aware of the disappearance of the holistic nature of the shepherd ministry. Describing what holistic shepherding involves, Okure (1994) enunciates: To evangelize means to engage in an activity which aims at total and integral development of the human person in all his/her dimensions: body/soul, socially, economically, spiritually, politically and so forth (p. 128). This integral development is lacking if not completely absent in the shepherd ministry of many pastors in Africa. This is why the researcher deems the ongoing pastoral ministry, which leaves the Flock underdeveloped, disengaged, powerless and ignorant, as a project that needs attention if we wish to shepherd the 21st century Christians effectively.

Christianity has a history of being taken to uncharted areas, places and people whose need for conversion and evangelization defies fear and cost involved. The salvation of the human person and development are the key motivations that have driven many men and women to give their all to serve God and humanity. When this is not present in pastoral ministry, ministry becomes a profession to be done for its gains. It is a widely held view today that the priests’ pastoral priority is not the need of the people but money: how to get it and how to better their personal lives. Some who are torn apart by the cares of their families or motivated by the desire for profit, take advantage of the flock through levies, unmindful of their plight and the demands and expectations of the ministry. These attitudes are opposed to the teachings of Jesus, who warned his disciples to eschew divided loyalty, namely, either serve Mammon (money) or serve God (Mt. 6:24). These are the hard facts starring every Bishop on the face in Africa. This self-serving motivation calls for concern especially when we consider some parishioners who have accused their priests of misappropriation of parish funds. As Amadi-Azuogu (2007) rightly observes:

In our own day, this is also the charge against many of our present day pastors, who have relinquished the shepherd’s role in pursuit of quick and easy money through donations, tithes and offerings. They care for their own welfare more than the flock. (p. 142)

Today, as shepherding the flock in the Church in Africa continues to be a field imbued with self-enhancement and self-advancement, new problems are bound to develop.

There is also a clamoring discontent among the people regarding pastoral ministry. When the missionaries came in 1885 to Africa, they made tremendous efforts by concentrating attention on the needs of the people, namely, spiritual and temporal. They were not only concerned about the salvation of the human soul but the general wellbeing of the human person. They were very selfless and built schools and hospitals for the people, using what they had to enrich and develop the people. "The one special attraction of Christianity during missionary era was the wide-spread network of schools developed in each area to instruct believers in the Bible and the tradition of the Church (Imo, 1996, p. 21). These pastoral gestures and life style of the pastor entered the psych and vision of the people who came out en masse to embrace the new faith. At this point one is compelled to wonder what has changed this missionary spirit.

Today, the daily, weekly and monthly church papers are enough to provide one with the knowledge about the paradigm shift. This change is obvious. Because every change affects everything" to quote a mathematical truism, bishops, seminary deans, convent nuns, parish council, and directors of religious education are aware of the exponential shifts. The seminary curriculum, retreat, conferences, and the formation program design are indicative of this awareness of paradigm shifts (Morgan, 2001, p. 5). The reason for the shift is the motivation for this study. The people are not ignorant of what is happening. Some who feel that their expectations are not met have changed parishes or changed pastors or all together left the Church. They want to see the pastor who takes their interest and needs to heart and not lord it over them. With this expected role of the pastor, and in view of the fact that Jesus came to serve and not be served, the main trust of this work would be on how to serve the pastoral needs of the people of God according to the mind of Jesus. We are very hopeful that with a thorough exploration of the shepherd image, we will arrive at a reliable discovery that will sensitize our pastors as Ezekiel and other prophets did in their own time, to be more accepting of their humanity with a view to reaching opportune consciousness and transformation that will usher in the ideals of Jesus for the shepherd ministry. So, this study is born out of observation, empathy and study.

Statement of the Problem

The paradigm shift from selfless ministry to self-serving ministry is a common place. As shepherding the flock in the Church in Africa continues to be a field imbued with self-enhancement and self-advancement, new problems are bound to develop. The pastoral picture we have today is enough proof that the pastor has lost sight of the people and their context. As a result, the ongoing pastoral ministry has sustained some wears and tears and have fallen short of what the Lord intends to accomplish with the imagery of the shepherd as a selfless and people-centered ministry. Speaking about pastoral ministry without the vision of Jesus, Owusu (2005) said: When leadership begins to feed on the weak and vulnerable and neglects the wellbeing of the needy, it has failed to provide leadership in the true sense of the word (p. 163). It is a fact that when a pastoral ministry loses sight of its vision, and expectations are not met, there is then a problem to be addressed if the goals are to be realized. What this means for our present concern in describing the distinctive Christian role of the pastor, is that our pastors have either forgotten their true role, or abdicated it in favor of roles which are totally secular. In this way, various false dichotomies have been created and have led to the disappearance of the distinctly Christian way of ministering to the people within the Body of Christ.

It may not be true if we say that the Church does not notice the cracks in the prevailing shepherd ministry. As a matter of fact, two African Synods have been convened in 1994 and 2009 aimed at making the Church in Africa pastorally viable and effective. What they do not know is that the problems intended by these Synods to solve are not in the symptoms that motivated the synods but the foundation of the shepherd ministry and the mental attitudes of pastors who enjoy what they do but fail to discern the outcomes. We know that it never rains but pours! Today, the pastoral priority of the pastor is misdirected, and the negative effects are everywhere.

The problem of this work is neither to underscore that there is a paradigm shift in the shepherd ministry nor do we intend to prove that such a shift has caused some pastoral problems. All of such observations are a common place and do not need any proof. Instead, the question now is: what factors are responsible for self-serving pastoral ministry? The answer to this question is the problem of this dissertation. While some authors see this problem as coming from the socio-economic environment of the shepherd ministry, some blame it on lack of inculturation by the early Christian missionaries, and others see it as caused by the socio-cultural leadership of the colonial masters. Though opinions differ, yet the authors in favor of socio-economic environment as a major cause abound It is true that the socio-economic environment is influential but the pastor, as a human being, is not a robot to be swayed by the wind of every socio-economic change. To attribute the shift to the social environment is to mistake the darts for the devil. Comedian Flip Wilson popularized the phrase: The devil made me do it to justify over-shopping, impoliteness, and other bad behaviors. Taking responsibility for one’s choices is not always easy. By virtue of our humanity, we are pulled in many different directions. Evolutionists claim that much of who we are and what we do is predetermined by our genes, Freudians believe that we have an innate desire for pleasure and for the easy life, and cognitivists claim that behavior is impacted by the mind. Is it any wonder that we find it difficult to make tough choices about the challenges that we encounter?

This work, however, seeks to differ from proposals that push away the responsibilities for the shift from pastors. Our findings underscore that the way the pastor perceives and interprets the social environment is responsible for the paradigm shift in the shepherd ministry. The way the pastor perceives pastoral ministry, is the way he chooses to respond. Behavior is never in response to the metaphysical truth but is in response to the truth as perceived by the observer. In sociology we call this "perceived reality’ (Morgan, 2002, p. 4-5), and that constitutes the basis for the discussion which follows here.

The problem of this study therefore is circumscribed within the role cognition plays in behavior change and human response to pastoral and social problems. It is a matter of the mind and how it responds to pastoral changes and challenges. This has made it impossible to realize what Jesus, the chief shepherd, intends to accomplish with the shepherd image as a selfless ministry. Today these problems increase as pastors lose sight of the intention and goal of the shepherd ministry ushered by Jesus. It has come to a point that if nothing is done to redefine the root of shepherd ministry with renewed mental attitudes, the mission of the Church may lose its foundation to persistent changes and pastors’ mundane responses to them.

Today what the pastor wants to do has taken over who he is called to be. He is first and foremost a shepherd called to shepherd the people of God. The idea of what the pastor is called to be, presents him with the challenge of what motivates him, his intention and the goal of his action. It is on this note that the problem associated with the shift and what the pastor does, should not be seen as caused by the social environment but by who the pastor is and how he thinks. As a result, this work employs the framework of inductive model and not deductive model. It is not abstract ideology but calls for concrete situation of the pastoral ministry.

Since there is no smoke without fire, the questions that further agitate the mind are: Why do pastors fail to realize that the ideals of Jesus for the shepherd ministry have been compromised? How can these ideals be restored? What should the pastor become in order to be able to shepherd the Flock according to the mind of the Chief Shepherd? The answers to these questions and other factors that might flow from them will enable us to propose a shepherd ministry that will mirror what Jesus intends to accomplish with the ‘shepherd imagery’ as a selfless ministry that is motivated by love and compassion.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to restore the shepherding ideals of Christ through a good knowledge of the shift. To achieve this, we shall investigate the root of the shepherd ministry and the reasons why the ideals of Christ for the shepherd ministry is more in words than in practice. We will begin with the notion that the shift in shepherd ministry is not necessitated by socio-economic problem as some have proposed but cognitive problem. Because it is not enough to complain about what the pastor does not do well but the reason behind it, we will use the lens of cognition to examine the pastor’s cognitive limitations and biases that lead him to poor responses and interpretation of the social environment of his pastoral ministry, and then teach him how to recognize and understand his cognitive processes and control his cognitive deficiencies.

We have already noted that while some pastors no longer meet their pastoral expectations, others do not maintain personal relationship with Jesus, the Chief Shepherd. This work does not intend to proffer solutions by providing pastors with lists of responsibilities to be done, instead it recommends what pastors should become to be able to meet the needs of their flock according to the mind of Christ. It will provide some transformational tools to raise the awareness of their unconscious dynamics (mindset) in which some are trapped, and which make it impossible to realize the mind of Jesus for pastoral ministry. It is hoped that the way of thinking of the pastor will be changed by the transformation of his intention, motives and goals for pastoral ministry. This will lead us to discover that the hallmark of shepherding is service, not rule, directed by worthwhile intentions and selfless motives that are geared towards the will and glory of God.

The destructive phenomenon of clericalism in the Church is another manifestation of the human disorder that infects the pastoral life of the Church. It has made the clergy to view the laity as mere passive members in the Church without rights and obligations. On the contrary, the laity need to be encouraged and empowered irrespective of odds to assume certain ecclesiastical offices especially in those areas in which they are experts and thus equip them to join hands build the Church in love and unity. This work will create an awareness that will empower the laity to identify and assume their rightful position in the Church and believe that working alongside the clergy they would sanctify the world. To achieve this, we will investigate the plight of the voiceless flock and suggest ways and means they can attain their preferences, and in so doing create a whole new set of attitudes and mutual relationships between the ordained and the laity. From our discoveries, we shall propose how the shepherd ministry priority is to serve the needs of the people of God in a manner motivated by love and compassion.

As such, this research will seek to introduce the use of Parish Needs Assessment Program to the Church in Africa with the view of providing the shepherd with a pastoral compass to navigate the needs of the parishioners and provide systematic faith formation based on their context. Jesus gives, as one of the characteristics of good shepherding, the ability of the shepherd and the flock to hear each other’s voice and recognize it (Jn 10:4). The provision of this program will enable the people to say what they need and have them documented and attended to in order of priority. In so doing, the Church will achieve continuity from one pastor to another in the same parish. This will solve the problem of pastors who demolish the structure erected by former pastors and in its place build their own choice of structure; all at the expense of the poor parishioners. This pastoral plan will not only highlight some of the pastoral needs of the flock that call for attention, it will inform and educate the shepherd concerning the nature and complexities of the pastoral needs of the parish and how to address them. In this way, our study will provide a standard on pastoral priorities that will help check future excesses and derailing of some pastors from the teaching of the Chief Shepherd.

In the context of the above, we wish to provide information to enable the Church discern anew the central vision of divine purpose that is its sole legitimate source of identity and ministry. Our study will propose the opinion that cognitive change by both pastor and laity, not paradigm change, is what is needed to restore the root of shepherding and promote effective pastoral ministry. As such, it will seek to restore the root of the shepherd ministry and present it as a leadership model for effective ministry in the face of the current socio-cultural challenges in the African Church. So, this work is expected to deepen our understanding and provide information to the Church in Africa, upon which to act. This is what our study intends to accomplish, namely, to equip the 21st century pastor with renewed insight into his personal transformation and effective pastoral ministry. It is first affirmative: defining what already takes place in and is brought about by the shepherd ministry. It is also theoretical: it will suggest what can still be, or rather, how that which is can be realized still more perfectly.

Scope of the Study

This work will be focused on the shepherd ministry with emphasis on its characteristics as inspired by Jesus’ selfless dedication to the needs of the people of God in the Church in Africa and Igboland in particular. Igbo designates a tribe in Nigeria that speaks one language, marked by one culture and occupies a land mass of about 59,941.86 square kilometers covered by eight States and fifteen Roman Catholic dioceses. According to the "New World Encyclopedia, the Igbo are one of the largest single ethnicities in Africa, and constitutes about 20 percent (approximately 37 million people) of the population of Nigeria, which on the other hand is 186,053,386 people according to the The World Factbook" of 2016.

Given the scope of our work, our study will examine what is involved in the shepherding of the Flock of God in Africa in relation to the problems raised. Attention will be focused on how the shepherd ministry serves the spiritual and temporal needs of the people of God in the present socio-cultural context of Igboland and Africa as a whole. It will recognize as it were, the pastoral mission of the laity in the Church, and the identity and role of the pastor as they relate to the shepherd ministry after the manner of Christ. Our research will be limited to the people of God in the Roman Catholic Church in Africa and the Igbo of Nigeria in particular.

One may consider this work too practical since pastoral ministry should not be reduced to a quest for the satisfaction of temporal needs. For such a thought, it is necessary to call attention to the mind of the Church today: Out of regard for Christ and in view of the mystery that constitutes the Church’s own life, the Church cannot remain insensible to whatever serves man’s true welfare, any more than she can remain indifferent to what threatens it (1975, G.S. No. 11). Even at that, it is to be noted that as a psychosomatic being, whatever serves the needs of the human person touches both the body and spirit and mind. In this way, our research has a place for both the temporal and spiritual needs of the believer.

Finally, we will acknowledge the limitation of our work for not extending its research fully to the other community of faith in Africa. While there is a strong ecumenical relationship between the Catholic Church and other Christian Churches, trying to get all the systematically established and non-established will make the work very cumbersome. At the same time, these other Christian community readers will easily recognize that the issues addressed here apply to their religious world as well. Given the fact that our work is more about the pastoral ministry of the male priests of the Roman Catholic Church, we use non inclusive language. Though the term ‘priest’ refers to all the ordained in the Church while the term ‘pastor’ refers to a priest installed to minister to a Christian community or parish, we shall use the terms ‘pastor’ and ‘priest’ interchangeably as we describe the nature, characteristics and priorities of the shepherd and his ministry to the people of God.

Research Methodology

The method of study shall be through library and internet research. The approach will be both theoretical and affirmative and as such will apply deductive and analytic methods. It will use deductive method because it will take the shepherd ministry, weigh it against the prevailing pastoral ministry and then reach its conclusion; and analytic method, because it will prove a known truth by reasoning from that which is to be proved. Given its focus then, this work will employ among other things the disciplines of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Psychology. It will also use the discipline of Social Anthropology to investigate the Igbo traditional idea of shepherding and its cultural values to draw the rich African heritage which is potential for good but at the same time replete with contradictions (Obiefuna & Obinna, 1999, p. 16) to show its contributions to the shepherd ministry in the African Church. The socio-cultural, economic and political situations of the Africans will also be referred to because they contribute both positively and negatively to the work of pastors in the African Church. Since the idea of shepherding in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible is indispensable for any genuine write up on our theme, our research will then employ the discipline of Biblical Theology. Substantial use will be made of the Gospel of John in particular, the Vatican II documents and other related papal encyclicals for better interpretation and understanding of the Church’s teachings on the true identity of the priest as a shepherd and the priorities of his vocational roles to the people of God.

Division of the Work

This work shall consist of seven chapters in addition to the general introduction and general conclusion. The General Introduction will take care of the statement of the problem, purpose of the study, scope of the study, research methodology, division of the work, and review of literature.

Chapter one will explore the different shades of the shepherd imagery in its historical perspectives from the ancient Near East to the Old Testament times aimed at bringing out the theological foundation of the shepherd ministry. It will also reflect on the Old Testament prophesies about the promised Davidic shepherd-appointee. Chapter two will dwell more on the theological foundation of shepherding while unfolding the ideals of the shepherd ministry initiated and taught by Jesus. It will pay detailed attention to how Jesus is the Old Testament Davidic-appointee shepherd fulfilled in the Gospels.

Chapter three will focus on the continuity of the shepherd ministry of Jesus through the Apostles. It will trace how Peter and Paul carried out the shepherd ministry in some of their writings. Chapter four will undertake to explore the African pastoral perspective of the shepherd and his flock in Igbo society, expounding the Igbo socio-cultural milieu to address its influences on the pastor and his ministry to the people of God.

In Chapter five we will use cognitive approach to examine and measure the paradigm shift of the shepherd ministry ushered in by Jesus and confirm how it is not a socio-economic problem but cognitive. We will also state how these cognitive problems have led to a way of living that has constituted obstacles to pastoral efficiency. It is intended that this chapter will provide us with the information about the specific areas affected by the paradigm shift and how it affects the behavior and subsequently the pastoral ministry of the pastor.

Chapter six will be aimed at digging deep into the mental attitudes of the pastor that make impossible the realization of the true shepherd ministry in the Church today. The knowledge of which is believed to help the pastor undergo a transformation that will be the focus of next chapter. Chapter seven shall use the findings of our theological research information to discuss and make recommendations that will bother on what the shepherd should become to be able to selflessly shepherd the people of God according to the mind of Jesus, the chief shepherd through new ways of thinking and shepherding.

The general conclusion will state how selfless shepherd ministry, motivated by love and passion, is the pastoral priority of the priest.

ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER ONE

THE SHEPHERD IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

The word shepherd finds its roots in the Old Testament Hebrew word "ro’eh." In some contexts ro’eh referred to religious officials of the Jews. In this sense, it is almost always used in the plural form ro’im. The history of its use dates back to the ancient Near East, where it was used to designate shepherds who cared for sheep, or kings who cared for humans and their affairs or gods who cared for their people. As a metaphor, the shepherd image is used to describe pastoral leadership. It illumines the way pastors see and practice their pastoral work. In this chapter, we will study the historical and biblical basis of the shepherd image to establish how it has evolved over the years from its original meaning as the care of animals to the care of human beings. Our purpose is to establish the basis for the theological foundation of the shepherd image.

1.1 Shepherds in the Ancient Near East

The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East. As the cradle of civilization, it was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture, to invent the potter’s wheel, mill wheel and the first writing system. In the ancient Near East, the word shepherd was applied to animals and later to gods and kings before Israel emerged on the scene. According to Clutton-Brock (1989),

One of the occupations practiced by the people who lived in both the fertile and desert areas of the Near East is shepherding. It is one of the earliest of human occupations, and was the economic foundation for most early societies. (p. 115)

In this context kings and gods alike were described repeatedly as shepherds because of their ruling position; thus kingship was rooted deeply in the portrayal of rulership as typified in the figure of a shepherd (Chae, 2009, p. 100). Among this people, the primary duties of a shepherd were to guide, provide food and water, protect and deliver, gather back to the herd those that were lost, and to nurture and provide security (Golding, 2006, p. 22). Summarily, shepherding entailed a big commitment including feeding, protecting and guiding.

However, many a time, those shepherding the flock were not themselves owners of the flock. Most of them were hired to take care of sheep that belonged to another. According to Borowski (2003),

Large herds often required multiple herders who would be hired by the herd owner under a contract which provided a salary, some clothing, food, and sometimes a grant of livestock from the herd’s increase each year. (p. 49)

It was common place that shepherds hired to care for sheep did not always care for them as the owner would, a situation which earned some shepherds in the ancient Near East a negative reputation. In spite of the remuneration given to hired shepherds, some would cull from the herd without authorization and secretly sell the meat, skins, bones, milk, fiber, and sometimes young stock. This was a significant problem, so pervasive that the dishonesty of hired shepherds was accepted as established fact. To arrest this, Laws were created forbidding people from buying wool, milk, lambs or kids, from a hired shepherd (Aberbach, 1994, p. 226). This marks the genesis of the bad shepherds who would use their ministry for their own personal advantage.

As a matter of fact, the shepherding of animals entailed a lot of labor. The art of taking care of grazing sheep was hazardous and strenuous. The primary means of sustenance for sheep was found in low-lying ground vegetation. In his description of this aspect of sheep rearing, Laniak (2007) noted how a grazing herd of sheep can quickly become quite dispersed, each sheep with its nose to the ground moving from one plant to another, and before they could raise their heads to know how far they had gone, they have missed their way. This is