Who exactly are the shepherds to watch over and tend?

1. Who exactly are the shepherds to watch over and tend? 

There needs to be some way to define the flock so they know who they are accountable for. Shepherds are primarily responsible for those who are their sheep, and their sheep have agreed and partnered together in accountability and mutual submission with a particular flock (the local church). By church membership you are joining yourself to a particular flock and agreeing to serve and submit to God’s Word to stir up one another to living out our salvation through good works and the message of the Gospel under the care and shepherding of the shepherds. They will give an account for you at the Judgment Seat as those that must watch for your souls.

Church membership recognizes disciples of Jesus. It doesn’t make them Christians but for those who come into membership it hears the testimony of God’s gospel grace in the individual’s life and the pledge through water baptism to follow Christ and says we discern you as Jesus’ sheep who are coming under shepherding and accountable to this local flock and we have a special responsibility for you. Of course this doesn’t mean shepherds are indifferent to those who aren’t believers yet or are believers who have not yet committed to membership and attend services and events, but it does mean there is a difference in responsibility and accountability for those that have put themselves under the accountability and mutual submission of the flock. Otherwise, how is an unrepentant member revoked in church discipline as the church binds and looses (Mt. 18:15-20)?