To Catch A Sheep Theif

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What exactly is sheep stealing? Aside from stealing someone's livestock, sheep stealing is a term used in ministry to describe a church's growth based on people either leaving another church or someone in leadership purposely working to take members away of a church.

Sadly, sheep stealing accusations come out rather quickly when they should not. Church growth happens in many ways. One way is transfer growth. This is when families may move to a new area or decide they want to join another church. Now some would declare transfer growth as sheep stealing. People leaving one flock to another on their own accord or because they feel they are not being fed is in no way stealing. This is the balance of it all. People will move around, and individuals can make decisions on where or where not they will fellowship. This is why it is not wrong for a church to accept new attendees who once belonged to other churches. There are checks and balances, such as ensuring the individual coming to the new church did not burn bridges or leave a trail of carnage in their departure. Still, again the motive in this is love. As people join new communities, new opportunities come into play for serving. There may be a need for forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation for an individual to grow. At the church I pastor, I still believe in the old phone call to the previous church. This is to ensure there is no unforgiveness or bitterness and to have open communication so that Christian unity is still in operation. This is to protect the new attendees and the church as a whole. In short, when things are done in the open, visible and communicated, there is no theft taking place.

Over the last two years, I have met many who have left their former church. Some reasons were concerning leadership, doctrine, positions taken regarding LGBTQ, egalitarianism, CRT, and most recently, COVID. With consistent prayer time, counsel and reflection – many families have uprooted to new congregations where they feel safe and fed. This in no way is stealing, but a church is still receiving. Through various blogs, vlogs and sermons, I have challenged Christians to hold their leadership accountable to Scripture standards. I have even suggested that if the church is woke or liberal, find a new church. Not necessarily the church I pastor, but any church with sound doctrine and proper biblical oversight. Is this stealing? Also no. So what exactly is sheep stealing? Let me share two stories.

In 2017-2018, an older man attended the service. He often sat at the back of the sanctuary. He never said much but always took time to talk to one person at the end of the service. Each week, he would find a new person. Finally, it was brought to the elder's attention that this man was a pastor. He had a small church and would show up on Sundays, selecting one person to share his business card with, and invite them to his church. This, by all standards, is sheep stealing.

Another incident was when I was involved with a church partnership. Two congregations were coming together to see if a potential merger could occur. At this time, both senior pastors agreed to a memorandum of understanding. Also, both elder boards and the denomination were part of the dialogue. The agreement stated that if the partnership failed, each man would walk with integrity and not allow church members to leave one church for another. Long story short, the partnership did not work out - mainly over the philosophy of ministry. However, in the background, week after week, the one pastor worked tirelessly to call, visit and attempt to convince members of the church I pastor to leave. The pastor was seeding doubt, overstepping his boundaries, and lacking in ethics and integrity to the original agreement. He was asked to stop, but he continued. He even convinced an elder to leave – who now sits on his board.

This is another perfect example of sheep stealing. The one pastor's desire to see his congregation grow by siphoning other church members to join his church is precisely what sheep stealing is. Sadly, this situation is not unique to my personal ministry experience. Many others have experienced this. The charge of sheep stealing is serious. Anytime a pastor, elder or leader of any church purposely attempts to lure Christians to leave one flock to theirs for the sole purpose of growing their flock shows a lack of Christian character in the context of leadership. Such a move causes division in the church, and the Bible clearly warns us to avoid such people (Rom 16:17-18, Titus 3:10.

Again, over the last two to three years, the Canadian church has seen a catastrophic failure in Christian leaders. This article does not need to rehash all failures, but many Christians since 2020 have been looking to the church and its leaders for guidance and did not find it. Instead, they got locked doors, wish-washy convictions and shifting doctrinal positions. Sadly many believers found themselves homeless concerning a church family. This caused many to look for new churches. Many ended up in churches that stood on doctrine, who practiced what they preached and leaders who led with conviction and protected the flock from the wolves. Individuals not only attended these churches, but they are also now members. Though some pastors of dying churches may accuse or insinuate that their sheep were stolen - this in no way is sheep stealing; if anything, it is sheep relocation.

Many churches struggle to maintain attendance or get people back in the pews. Let's not be too quick to shout sheep stealing as the cause when we see other churches flurishing. It is time for many church leaders to own their sins, to repent privately and publicly of how they responded since 2020 and get back to work. Then, instead of watching sheep leave on their own judgement, they can dialogue with people and, if required, make significant changes to their structure and operations.

In His Grace,

Pastor Steve