Fellowship of Lone Shepherds is…
An offer of friendship.
The life of a pastor is filled with great joys. It can also, however, come with challenges such as loneliness, discouragement, and a sense of feeling overwhelmed by ever-growing responsibilities. This is especially true for pastors of small churches. Small church pastors, who are usually solo pastors, often struggle with low personal incomes (and often work non-pastoral jobs too), difficulties making and keeping friendships, and a lack of resources for doing effective ministry.
Fellowship of Lone Shepherds is first and foremost a way for pastors who are having this experience to connect with one another for encouragement, prayer, and the sharing of ideas and resources. In other words, it is an instrument for creating lasting friendships between pastors from all over the world. While all pastors are welcome and invited and we hope to expand to be truly global, current FLS participation comes mainly from several African countries, especially Kenya and Uganda, as well as (on a smaller scale) from India and the United States. Most of our fellowship takes place within WhatsApp, but participating pastors who live close enough to one another have begun to visit each other in person.
A helping hand.
Fellowship of Lone Shepherds has learned that small church pastors in developing countries face challenges that pastors in the United States and many other western countries cannot even imagine. They serve congregations filled with impoverished widows, abandoned mothers, orphaned children, and unemployed or underemployed men. They often receive little-to-no income from their pastoral work, have difficulty finding other ways to support their families, sometimes adopt and run schools for orphans, and have very few resources for doing ministry.
Fellowship of Lone Shepherds listens to our pastors, hears their wisdom and experience regarding proposed solutions to the obstacles they and their congregations face, and attempts to come alongside them to help them find the resources they need to solve their own problems. They mainly seek to change their circumstances through starting small businesses to earn to support their families, helping their congregation members to improve their own social and economic situations through education and small business ownership, and finding ways to creatively procure the resources they need to do effective ministry.
For pastors: Begin this journey of friendship and support by filling out the Connect form.
For prayer partners and donors: Learn more about how to join FLS in offering a helping hand to FLS pastors by visiting: Initiatives