The following is nothing new but is an excellent understanding of the pastoral care to be performed by overseers/elders in the local church.
But like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock, search out, and keep an account of your flock. Seek that which is wanting (Matt 18:12), as the Lord God our gracious Father has sent His own Son, the good Shepherd and Savior, our master Jesus, and has commanded Him to “leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and to go in search after that which was lost, and when He had found it, to take it upon His shoulders, and to carry it into the flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was lost” (Luke 15:4-6). In like manner, be obedient, O overseer, and seek that which was lost, guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring back that which is gone astray: for you have authority to bring them back, and to deliver those who are brokenhearted by remission. For by you does our Savior say to him who is discouraged under the sense of his sins, “Your sins are forgiven you: your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 5:20; Matt 9:2; Mark 5:34). But this peace and haven of tranquility is the church of Christ, into which you, when you have loosed them from their sins, restore them, as being now sound and unblamable, of good hope, diligent, laborious in good works. As a skillful and compassionate physician, heal all such as have wandered in the ways of sin; for “they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For the Son of Man came to save and to seek that which was lost” (Matt. 9:12; Luke 19:10). Since you are therefore a physician of the Lord’s church, provide remedies suitable to every patient’s case. Cure them, heal them by all means possible; restore them sound to the church. Feed the flock, “not with force and harshness, as lording it over them” (Ezek 34:4), but as a gentle shepherd, “gathering the lambs into your bosom, and gently leading those which are with young” (Matt 20:25; Isa 40:11).
But like a compassionate shepherd, and a diligent feeder of the flock, search out, and keep an account of your flock. Seek that which is wanting (Matt 18:12), as the Lord God our gracious Father has sent His own Son, the good Shepherd and Savior, our master Jesus, and has commanded Him to “leave the ninety-nine upon the mountains, and to go in search after that which was lost, and when He had found it, to take it upon His shoulders, and to carry it into the flock, rejoicing that He had found that which was lost” (Luke 15:4-6). In like manner, be obedient, O overseer, and seek that which was lost, guide that which has wandered out of the right way, bring back that which is gone astray: for you have authority to bring them back, and to deliver those who are brokenhearted by remission. For by you does our Savior say to him who is discouraged under the sense of his sins, “Your sins are forgiven you: your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 5:20; Matt 9:2; Mark 5:34). But this peace and haven of tranquility is the church of Christ, into which you, when you have loosed them from their sins, restore them, as being now sound and unblamable, of good hope, diligent, laborious in good works. As a skillful and compassionate physician, heal all such as have wandered in the ways of sin; for “they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For the Son of Man came to save and to seek that which was lost” (Matt. 9:12; Luke 19:10). Since you are therefore a physician of the Lord’s church, provide remedies suitable to every patient’s case. Cure them, heal them by all means possible; restore them sound to the church. Feed the flock, “not with force and harshness, as lording it over them” (Ezek 34:4), but as a gentle shepherd, “gathering the lambs into your bosom, and gently leading those which are with young” (Matt 20:25; Isa 40:11).
Apostolic Constitutions, II.20
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