The other day I was listening to Craig Groeschel’s Leadership Podcast which featured an interview with Tim Elmore. He made a statement that set my mind in motion and has been running around in my head ever since. He talked about the difference between guard dogs and guide dogs.
Many dogs are trained to be guard dogs—to identify threats … to protect … to respond to dangerous or hazardous situations and try to defuse or eliminate them. My mechanic has a fenced-in yard behind his shop where he keeps a variety of automobiles he’s working on. In the evenings, he locks the gate and has a couple of dogs that patrol the yard to keep vandals or potential thieves at bay. Law enforcement agencies have dogs that are trained to sniff out explosives or illegal drugs—again, an arrangement that helps to mitigate dangerous situations and keep people safe. Our dog, when the doorbell rings or she even sees a shadow on the porch, will bark fiercely and run toward the door and carry on like she can’t wait to tear into the individual on the other side. Now, at the end of the day, she’s pretty much a softie. But she has taken on the role of pretending to be a guard dog. She tries to sound fierce in an effort to protect Angie and me—to shield us from any perceived or imagined threat.
But there are other dogs who are guide dogs—their role is to come alongside and assist their owner in helpful and practical ways … to serve them in ways that enhance their quality of life and enable them to do what they wouldn’t be able to do on their own. Guide dogs are trained to serve as a calming influence to children with autism or be of service to wounded veterans who were tragically injured in combat. They are coached to serve as eyes for the sight impaired—to see what they can’t see and help them navigate life. The relationship one has with a guide dog far exceeds the bond one has with a family pet. There’s a connection and reliance that transcends the norm. Guide dogs serve as trusted companions that increase the confidence of those they serve and augments their ability to maneuver through life. The support and benefit they provide greatly enhances one’s quality of life.
Guard dogs and guide dogs serve very valuable, but very different, purposes. One’s role is to protect; the other’s is to partner. One is by nature suspicious and distrustful; the other is trusting and committed to being an instrument of safety. One snarls and barks and sounds fierce; the other is calm and serene and finds tremendous satisfaction in being of practical help to their master. While each serves a useful and helpful purpose, their mission is different. A guide dog is directed by a sense of duty and a call to serve that is unfamiliar and foreign to a guard dog.
As I was thinking about the comparison and contrast between these two kinds of canines, my mind drifted to the various church boards I’ve been a part of over the years. I asked myself, “What’s the role of a church board member—to be a guard dog or a guide dog?” Certainly, there’s a sense in which you need people to serve to be guard dogs—to help identify potential threats and do what they can to minimize and/or eliminate them. A pastor needs people around him/her that can suppress dissension that has the potential to harm the church. Many congregations have been gravely harmed because board members lacked the courage to confront people who were doing things that jeopardized the health of the church … who were behaving in ways that compromised her witness and communicating in ways that threatened her unity. There is a sense in which a church board member needs to be a guard dog.
But I think the higher and more honorable calling of the church board member is to be a guide dog—to partner with the pastor in helping shape the vision and direction of the church … to come alongside the pastor and practically assist him or her in sensing God’s calling for that body of believers … to be a calming influence who doesn’t get rattled when others get agitated and who doesn’t get anxious when others get uptight. The soothing, quieting presence of the guide dog helps bring the temperature down when many of those around them are getting up in arms and jittery. It helps to diminish and tamp down some of those things that can be the source of dissension and division in the body.
Over the years, I’ve had guard dog and guide dog church board members. I’ve had some who acted like they were looking for something to attack, and I’ve had some whose calm, gentle demeanor was a tremendous source of assistance and encouragement. And what’s really dangerous—what’s exceptionally destructive—is when a guard dog becomes misguided and believes it’s his or her responsibility to protect the church from the pastor—that in the process of determining and identifying threats, they believe the pastor is Public Enemy #1. While there are a few “bad apple” pastors who need to be dismissed and let go, I believe there are many more faithful shepherds who have been deeply hurt by guard dog types who became confused and forgot their role. For every pastor that is either morally suspect or lacking in skill and needs assistance in moving on, I believe there are numerous guard dog board members or laypeople who have forgotten that the pastor is not a threat to be attacked but a colleague they are called to assist. And the result is many pastors, who have gifts and graces God can use to help the local church flourish, are sitting on the sidelines not because their heart has grown hard or callous and not because they have any less affection or devotion to God, but because they were severely torn up when they were attacked by a guard dog. In fact, the longer you are in the local church ministry arena, the more likely it is you’ll be beat up on by a misguided and self-important guard dog … who sees you not as a colleague to give assistance to, but as a threat to neutralize. Been there, done that!
As I think back upon three-plus decades of pastoral service to the local church, I’m thankful for the many guide dog types that came around me and encouraged me and helped me become a better and more effective pastor. And … I’m also grateful for the healing grace of a loving Heavenly Father to where, even though the scar is still there from where I was bitten by a guard dog or two along the way, it doesn’t hurt to touch the wound near like it once did.