Great post, Gav, thanks for bringing out the evangelistic edge to Baxter’s ministry.

Man that guy had people powers. Can every pastor match him in that?

Do other people out there do something similar to Baxter’s model?

I have a few questions.  Is Luke 15:3-7 meant to teach us about the Christian pastor’s role?  How does the context, especially Luke 15:1-2, affect our understanding of the 99, for example?  Aren’t the 99 really symbolic of the grumbling Pharisees, who are not at all analogous to a Christian congregation? 

I would be interested to know how Gavin and others might answer these questions.

Thanks very much for the comments and questions.
I don’t mean to deny the importance of ‘pastoral’ ministry in the classically conceived sense of caring for believers.
However, I believe we are in a far greater danger of losing the evangelistic aspect of that task.

While Jesus’ own context does need to shape the way we read his statements, the point still stands that when Jesus referred to himself here using pastor language he was talking about preaching repentance and faith to unbelievers.

Also, as I mentioned in the post, if we really believe in hell then that puts the genuine needs of Christians for care and counsel in the perspective of the eternal needs of those who don’t believe.