Lesson 1

The Vision of Shepherding
and the Need for Shepherding

Scripture Reading: John 21:15-17; 8:2-11; 10:10, 16; Psa. 23:1-6; Luke 15:3-24; Eph. 4:11-12

I. The meaning of shepherding is to take all-inclusive tender care of the flock, taking care of all the needs of the sheep and to take care of the children of God by feeding them—John 21:15-17; Acts 20:28; cf. Psa. 23:1-2.

II. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament reveal Christ as the Shepherd according to God’s heart—Isa. 40:11; Ezek. 34:11-31; John 10:11; Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4; Rev. 7:16-17:

A. As the mighty One, the ruling and judging One, Christ comes to be a Shepherd; He cares for His flock by ruling and correcting His sheep and by feeding His flock, gathering the lambs in His arm, carrying them in His bosom, and leading those who are nursing the young—Isa. 40:10-11; Matt. 2:6; 9:36.

B. Ezekiel 34:11-31 prophesies that the Lord Himself will come as the Shepherd to search for His sheep and seek them out—cf. Luke 15:1-7.

C. Christ is the Good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, the Shepherd of our souls, and the eternal Shepherd—John 10:9-17; Heb. 13:20-21; 1 Pet. 5:4; 2:25; Rev. 7:16-17:

1. As the good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus came that we may have life and may have it abundantly—John 10:10-11.

2. God raised up from the dead “our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, in the blood of an eternal covenant”—Heb. 13:20.

3. As the Chief Shepherd, Christ shepherds His flock through the elders of the churches—1 Pet. 5:4.

4. As the Shepherd of our souls, the pneumatic Christ oversees our inward condition, caring for the situation of our inner being—2:25.

5. In eternity future Christ will be our eternal Shepherd guiding us to springs of waters of life—Rev. 7:16-17.

III. Christ has been constituted into us; this is what gives us the burden to take care of others; this is shepherding—cf. John 10:11:

A. The part of our being that has been constituted of Christ is the part that shepherds others; we cannot shepherd anyone, but Christ constituted into us is the Shepherd—1 Pet. 5:2-3.

B. We can have the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God and the seeking and shepherding spirit of our Savior Christ—Luke 15.

IV. In His heavenly ministry the Lord Jesus continues the shepherding that He began in His earthly ministry—Heb. 13:20-21:

A. In John 21:15-17 the Lord commissioned Peter to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep in His absence, while He is in the heavens; this was to incorporate the apostolic ministry with Christ’s heavenly ministry to shepherd God’s flock:

1. What He was doing in the heavens, the apostles did on earth to carry out His heavenly ministry—Heb. 13:20-21; John 21:15-17.

2. Regarding shepherding, the apostolic ministry cooperates with Christ’s heavenly ministry—vv. 15-17.

B. The main purpose and goal of the apostolic ministry incorporated with Christ’s heavenly ministry are to build up the Body of Christ, which will consummate the New Jerusalem for the accomplishment of the eternal economy of God—cf. Eph. 3:2, 8-9; 1 Pet. 5:10.

V. The shepherding that builds up the Body of Christ is a mutual shepherding—1 Cor. 12:23-26:

A. All believers, regardless of their stage of spiritual growth, need shepherding—vv. 23-27.

B. All of us need to be under the organic shepherding of Christ and be one with Him to shepherd others—1 Pet. 2:25; John 21:16.

C. We are both sheep and shepherds, shepherding and being shepherded in mutuality; through this mutual shepherding, the Body builds itself up in life—Eph. 4:16, 1 Cor. 12:27.

VI. To shepherd the believers is very crucial for their growth in life; we need to take the shepherding way to preach the gospel and revive the church—Acts20:20,31; 1 Cor. 8:1:

A. The large gospel campaigns in Christianity accomplish very little; many people may be apparently saved, but there is no way for them to be cared for in order to grow and be brought on in the Christian life and church life; we need to learn how to shepherd people rather than merely attracting them to hear a gifted speaker—cf. Acts 20:20, 31.

B. “The way that can save people effectively must be by small vital groups, and everyone in this small vital group must be a shepherd. After a short time the church will be revived. No other way is more prevailing than this shepherding way”—The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, p. 451.

C. “I hope that we would pray, ‘Lord, I want to be revived. From today I want to be a shepherd. I want to feed people, to shepherd people, and flock people together’”—p. 452:

1. In John 10 and 21 the Lord used three words concerning shepherding: feed, shepherd, and flock; we should learn to feed shepherd and flock together; all the churches have to learn how to flock together so that they can be blent together.

2. In the atmosphere of flocking, people are subdued, convinced, nourished, and stirred up by the Lord; all the nearby churches should be flocked together for the saints to be shepherded and stirred up.

D. If all the churches with all the saints will turn to the shepherding way, we will have a big revival—Hab. 3:2a:

1. “I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving this burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery”—The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, p. 92.

2. “For many years in the Lord’s recovery our defect has been the shortage of shepherding…We are short of fruit because we do not have the adequate shepherding, and we have troubles because of the shortage of shepherding…We need to go in order to shepherd others. This will revolutionize our being, our logic, and our way of thinking. It will change us”—The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, p. 205.

3. “At the end of 1942 the church in Chefoo had a great revival. The revival was not brought in by holding conferences or because of human incitement; rather, it was brought in through visiting and shepherding the saints house to house…On the one hand, I went to visit the saints in their homes; on the other hand, I invited them to come for a meal in order to talk and fellowship with them. This visitation and shepherding were very effective”—The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, p. 524.

4. “If this kind of fellowship is received by us, I believe there will be a big revival on the earth, not by spiritual giants but by the many members of Christ’s Body being shepherds who follow the steps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining fallen man”—The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, pp. 91-92.

Excerpts from the Ministry:

Shepherding refers to caring for all of the needs of the sheep, whether the need is grass, water, or shelter. All the sheep are to be well provided for and well tended to. Of all the needs, the most important one is the feeding, that is, the mouth-to-mouth feeding. This is the duty of the elders. If all the elders in the various localities would do this, the saints would receive the suitable care. In the past we baptized many but brought in few. The reason for this was the lack of feeding and care. Our messages were high and deep, but after the messages there was not much care. In the end the flock was without shepherds. There was preaching without shepherding and teaching without feeding. This was our shortcoming in the past. Among us there is the begetting and the teaching, but there is a lack of feeding. As soon as a baby is born, what he needs most is feeding. A baby will not grow just by teaching him.

Our problem today is that we talk too much yet feed too little. The feeding and the education are not well coordinated. I hope that from now on the co-workers in the various places would talk less and feed more. They should do their best to shepherd and care for the saints. As soon as we hear of anyone sick or of anyone encountering problems, we must be concerned for him, pray for him, and go to visit him. The impact that this little bit of concern, prayer, and visiting affords is far more powerful than ten messages. Although the long messages are nice to listen to, they are far inferior to the care we can give to others in their daily lives. Care can touch people’s feeling in a far deeper way than messages can. All parents spend their all for their children. In the end the children spontaneously love their parents and are full of gratitude. I hope that all the elders would be such people, who give up everything for the saints. Although the brothers and sisters are not your children in the flesh, they are the flock entrusted to you by God as far as their spiritual life is concerned. The elders must have the compassion of a caring mother. They must be desperate to care for the Lord’s lambs. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 4, “A Timely Trumpeting and the Present Need,” ch. 4, p. 42)

COMMISSIONING PETER TO FEED HIS LAMBS

AND SHEPHERD HIS SHEEP

When the Lord stayed with His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension, in one of His appearings, He commissioned Peter to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep in His absence, while He is in the heavens (John 21:15-17). Shepherding implies feeding, but it includes much more than feeding. To shepherd is to take all-inclusive tender care of the flock…

TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY

TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

Most people want to have genuine, proper visitors. When we visit people, we should be genuine in our care for them. They will sense that we are not vain people. This shepherding way of preaching the gospel by visiting people warms them up. The church life in Taiwan began with about three or four hundred believers, but after four years we had forty thousand. Most of the people were not saved directly by my ministry; they were saved by the proper shepherding, the proper care. We all have to learn this.

Before I went to Taiwan in 1949, I was in Chefoo. I spoke each Lord’s Day, and during the week I and an older brother went to visit the new ones. We were warmly welcomed by every family. They would gather their household together when we came. Within a short time there was a real revival in Chefoo. The gospel was preached everywhere, not just by myself but by all the saints.

I also made the decision to set up a kitchen in the meeting hall, and I invited groups of twenty or thirty saints to eat together for fellowship. Within a little over half a year, I had invited all the members of the church. At that time there were at least five to six hundred saints in the church in Chefoo. This kind of shepherding stirred up the entire church. I hope that the elders would use the hall as a dining room and invite the saints to come for fellowship. An elder should contact at least one person every day for the purpose of shepherding. We should also invite people to our homes for a meal, not inviting the familiar ones but the new ones. The revival in Chefoo occurred because of this kind of shepherding.

Shepherding works. We should not desire to be giant speakers to make a name for ourselves. People may be attracted to come to listen to us, but who will take care of them afterward? The way of having large gospel campaigns does not work. In some places this has been tested out. We may have big gospel meetings with many people, but eventually not many of them are added to the church. Also, we should not use famous or well-known people to testify in our meetings. This will not save people to be added to the church. Even if someone is the president of the country, he should be in the meeting just as anyone else. The way that can save people effectively must be by small vital groups, and everyone in this small vital group must be a shepherd. After a short time the church will be revived. No other way is more prevailing than this shepherding way.

For the shepherding of the saints, there must be the healthy teaching in the vital groups. In 1 Timothy 3:2 Paul says that an elder should be apt to teach. Teaching here is similar to parents’ teaching their children. An elder must be apt to render this kind of home teaching to the members of a local church. Then in 5:17 Paul says, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” Double honor refers to material supply for the support of the faithful elders, especially those who labor to teach others.

In the vital groups we must have something to teach others. We are the prophethood, the prophets speaking for God, and the sonship, the sons of God. Every son must be a speaker. Today God speaks in the Son (Heb. 1:2), not only the individual Son but the corporate son. As a son of God, we must learn to be a speaker. We can speak of the five great historical events in John 1: creation, incarnation, the Lamb, the Spirit, and the ladder. This will stir up people’s interest. When we explain these things, they will be edified…

I hope that we would pray, “Lord, I want to be revived. From today I want to be a shepherd. I want to go to feed people, to shepherd people, and to flock people together.” In John 10 and 21 the Lord used three words concerning shepherding: feed, shepherd, and flock. He said, “Feed My lambs,” and, “Shepherd My sheep” (21:15-16). He also said, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must lead them also, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one flock, one Shepherd” (10:16). The other sheep are the Gentile believers who would be joined together with the Jewish believers to be one flock. The Lord used the word flock here as a noun. I also like to use it as a verb. We should learn to feed, to shepherd, and to flock together. All the churches have to learn how to flock together so that they can be blent together. In the atmosphere of flocking, people are subdued, convinced, nourished, and stirred up by the Lord. All the nearby churches should be flocked together for the saints to be shepherded and stirred up. The elders and coworkers should take the lead to practice this. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” ch. 13, p. 447, 450-452)

THE IMPORTANCE OF FEEDING,

SHEPHERDING, AND FLOCKING

The co-workers and elders need to fully enter into the up-to-date revelation in the Lord’s recovery, learn to speak the new language, and speak the same thing. We need the new language to speak concerning the high truths.

The saints need to see the matter of shepherding. Instead of speaking simply of visitation, we should speak of shepherding. Our thought needs to be adjusted. To visit others is actually to shepherd them. Concerning this matter, the Lord used three important words—feed, shepherd, and flock. The Lord said to Peter, “Feed My lambs” (John 21:15). Then He said, “Shepherd My sheep” (v. 16). In John 10:16 He used the word flock as a noun, but we may use it as a verb. We need to flock the saints together. Blending is flocking.

The large gospel campaigns in Christianity accomplish very little. Many people may be apparently saved, but there is no way for them to be cared for in order to grow and be brought on in the Christian life and church life. Gifted evangelists may become famous and attract others to come see them speak, but there is no lasting result from this kind of work. Even the Christian leaders and groups that have promoted small group meetings in homes have not been able to work it out. They do not know what to do. We need to learn how to shepherd people rather than merely attracting them to hear a gifted speaker, and they need to be cared for after they receive the Lord.

The leading brothers should stir up all the saints to gain their relatives and friends for the Lord and to have small, living, and vital home meetings. If we do not take this way, our time and labor in the gospel will be for nothing. There have been large gospel campaigns by gifted speakers throughout the United States for many years, but they have not produced a lasting effect and have not released or spread the truth. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Pre-meeting Fellowship on the Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John,” ch. 8, p. 483)

OUR NEED FOR GENUINE SHEPHERDING

For many years in the Lord’s recovery our defect has been the shortage of shepherding. Strictly speaking, according to what the Lord has shown us, we have had no real shepherding. We are short of fruit because we do not have the adequate shepherding, and have troubles because of the shortage of shepherding. Now we realize why the Gospel of John has chapter 21. After giving a full record of Christ, John added an appendix to stress nothing other than shepherding (vv. 15-17). We need to go in order to shepherd others. This will revolutionize our being, our logic, and our way of thinking. It will change us. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “Fellowship Before the Meetings of the Full-time Training in the Fall of 1996,” ch. 5, p. 205)

THROUGH CONTACTING PEOPLE

BY SHEPHERDING THEM

We bear fruit through contacting people by shepherding them. We should be those who are always shepherding and teaching by speaking forth Christ to others. All the apostles are top speakers of the word of God. While they are speaking the word of God, they also shepherd the saints, the churches, and their co-workers. Paul especially was a pattern of one who taught and shepherded people. In 1 Timothy 3:2 Paul says that the elders should be “apt to teach.” Then in 1 Timothy 5:17 he says that the elders who labor in word and teaching are worthy of double honor. All of us should follow this pattern of speaking for God and shepherding others.

According to God’s Love

Our shepherding should be according to God’s love toward the fallen human race. The fallen human race is joined with Satan to be his world in his system, but God has a heart of love toward these people.

Following the Steps of the Processed Triune God

in Seeking and Gaining the Fallen People

My burden in this chapter is that we have to learn of the apostles, the elders, and even the Triune God. We have to follow the steps of the processed Triune God in His seeking and gaining fallen people. Luke 15 records that the Pharisees and scribes criticized the Lord by saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v. 2). Then the Lord told three wonderful parables, which unveil the saving love of the Triune God toward sinners.

The Son as the Shepherd

Seeking the One Lost Sheep

The Son as the shepherd would leave the ninety-nine to seek the one lost sheep (vv. 3-7).

The Spirit as the Woman Seeking the Lost Coin

The second parable is that of a woman seeking a lost coin (vv. 8-10). This signifies the Spirit seeking a lost sinner. The Son’s finding took place outside the sinner and was completed at the cross through His redemptive death. The Spirit’s seeking is inward and is carried out by His working within the repenting sinner.

The Father as the Father of the Prodigal Son

Because of the Son’s step of seeking the sinner by dying on the cross and the Spirit’s step of sanctifying by searching and cleansing the sinner’s inward parts, the sinner comes to his senses. This is shown by the prodigal son’s coming to himself and desiring to return to his father (vv. 17-18). First Peter 1:2 reveals that before we received the sprinkling of Christ’s blood, the Holy Spirit sanctified us. This is His seeking sanctification. The sinner is awakened by the Spirit’s seeking to cause him to return to the Father. When the prodigal son returned, his father saw him while he was still a long way off. This indicates that the father was expectantly waiting and watching day by day for his son to return. When his father saw him, he ran to receive his returning son (Luke 15:20). This shows that God the Father runs to receive the returning sinners.

I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving this burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery. In the past we did much speaking and teaching with very little shepherding. Shepherding and teaching should be like two feet for our move with the Lord. Our shepherding should always be with teaching, and our teaching should always be with shepherding.

We have seen from our crystallization-study of the Gospel of John that its last chapter, John 21, reveals the apostolic ministry in cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry. In His heavenly ministry Christ is shepherding people, and we need to cooperate with Him by shepherding people. Without shepherding, our work for the Lord cannot be effective. We must learn all the truths so that we may have something to speak and go to contact people to shepherd them.

Shepherding is something divine. In order to be a shepherd, we must be a witness of Christ, a member of Christ, and a brother of Christ, sharing His sonship. Then we will participate in the oracle of the sonship to become a prophet. As a prophet for God’s oracle, we will speak for the Lord. Meanwhile, we need to shepherd people. This is the way to be fruitful, to have the multiplication and the increase. If this kind of fellowship is received by us, I believe there will be a big revival on the earth, not by a few spiritual giants but by the many members of Christ’s Body being shepherds who follow the steps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining fallen people. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 4, pp. 88-93)

After we go forth to produce believers in the Lord, we need to care for them. The best way is to set up meetings in their homes to cover and protect them that they may be cared for by being nourished and taught, and may become the remaining fruit, living in the branches of the true vine, that is, in the Body of Christ, to be Christ’s increase. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, John 15:16, note 3)

References and Further Reading:

1. The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” ch. 3.

2. The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 4, “Various Meetings in Anaheim,” chs. 14, 17; “Crystallization-Study of the Gospel of John,” chs. 7, 13; “My Autobiography—an Oral Presentation to My Children,” ch. 3.

3. The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 3; “The Vital Groups,” ch. 4; “Fellowship Before the Meetings of the Full-time Training in the Fall of 1996,” chs. 3-5.