“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” In this passage, the church is not one leader’s church or even the church of a group of leaders, rather it is “the church of God.” Further confirming this, Peter writes to a group of elders among whom he counts himself. First Peter 5:2–3, Peter notes, “Shepherd the flock of God among you.… Not yet as lording it over those allotted