NOURISHING NEW ONES
I. The importance of nourishing:
The second step is the feeding, the nourishing, of the new ones. This is much harder than gaining the sinners. To bring forth a child is hard but not as hard as raising a child. Day and night the mother and father would sacrifice everything for that child. However, among the Christians, very few would do this work. Sometimes we brought someone to the Lord, but after two months they died prematurely because they received no care. The New Testament is full of this matter of feeding.
We must learn to feed, to nourish, the new ones whom we have brought to the Lord. They are just like newborn babes that need the feeding, the nourishing. In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus talked to Peter about the feeding of the small lambs (21:15). Most students and teachers of this Gospel concentrate their teaching and fellowship directly on the matter of life. However, after John seemed to conclude his Gospel in chapter twenty, he added one more chapter. In this additional chapter, the Lord checked with Peter: “Peter, do you love Me? If you say you love Me, you have to do one thing—feed My lambs.” All the mothers know that to feed or to nourish a little child is not a simple thing. When we look at the situation today, among the believers who are not pastors and preachers, who is doing this kind of feeding work? You cannot feed the lambs occasionally. You have to do it regularly, just like nourishing a little baby. You have to do it, not only daily, but many times a day and at certain times. Then the babe will be nourished; otherwise, it may die.
Therefore, we are not serving the Lord according to the Scriptures. Do you believe that the word of the Lord, “Feed My lambs,” is spoken only to Peter but not to you? I do not believe so. Peter stood there before the Lord representing all of us. Whatever the Lord spoke to him is the same to us. Therefore, we must learn and endeavor to get into the practice of feeding the lambs. Regardless of who we are, as long as we are a believer, we are charged by the Lord to feed His lambs. One day, we will all stand before the Lord at His judgment seat to give account of ourselves in this matter (Rom. 14:10, 12). (The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way, msg. 1)
II. The suggestions for shepherding materials:
A. Materials for Shepherding New Believers (96 Lessons):
1. This set of shepherding material is aimed to help the saints to preach the gospel and practice the organic shepherding. Its content are taken from all publications published by Taiwan Gospel Bookroom, mainly the messages of brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. There are six series, including high gospel, after salvation, trust and obey, spirit and life, knowing the truth, and the church life. Every series includes 16 lessons with the crucial Bible verses and the related hymns. It is convenient for users to use flexibly, achieving the goal of dispensing Christ and supplying life.
2. Use the shepherding material to read one lesson with news ones every week, and finish 96 lessons in two years.
B. Home perfecting for feeding the new believers:
1. The list of the messages for the shepherding of the new ones.
2. 12 lessons for feeding the new believers—the new version of projection every week.
3. Establish the model of God’s ordained way—home perfecting.
4. The instruction of the practice of the home perfecting.
5. The fellowship in the beginning of classes for home perfecting.
6. The key point for the training of hosts and helpers.
7. How to “deeprn”, “strengthen”, and “realize” home perfecting.
C. The New Testament Reading Companion.
D. New Believers 365 Topics.
E. Leading new believers to know the church
1. The great mystery—Christ and the church
2. God’s economy
3. The seven aspects of the church
4. The seven stages of the church
5. The ground of the church (and denominations)
6. What are we
F. Presenting truth to seeking Christian groups; please refer to the overview of the whole Bible (from Genesis to Revelation)
1. Life
2. Building
3. Christ
4. Eating
5. Kennel of the Bible
6. Tree of life
G. Life Lessons
H. Holy Word for Morning revival. (see Appendix 2: Accompanying others to have morning revival)
I. The four lines of growth in spiritual life:
1. The line of life: Life Lessons, How to enjoy Spiritual food, The Knowledge of Life, The Experience of Life, The Experience and Growth in Life, Dealing with Our Inward Parts for the Growth in Life, Christ and His Crucifixion, Perfecting Training 1-3, The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit, The Path of Our Growth in Life , The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life, The Mature Life, etc.
2. The line of truth education: New Believer’s Lessons, Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, A Pattern of Healthy Words, Truth Lessons, God’s New Testament Economy, Conclusion of the New Testament, High Peak Books, etc.
3. The line of exercise: How to Enjoy God and How to Practice the Enjoyment of God, A Living of Mutual Abiding with the Lord in Spirit, Living with the Lord, Lessons on Prayer, Living in the Spirit, Unceasing Praying, etc.
4. The line of service: The Basic Knowledge of Service, Basic Lessons on Service, Ministering to the House or to God, The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way, The Exercise and Practice of Vital Group, The Vital Groups, etc.
III. The approaches for feeding:
A. Face to face:
1. The unique need for practicing the God-ordained way—visiting people regularly。
2. Have a face-to-face morning revival with the chatting app. (take Wechat as the example: after adding a new friend, click +, choose the video chat, then the voice chat, after getting through, change to public subscription new believer’s nourishment, then enjoy the message.)
3. How to organically shepherd the lambs.
B. Social media:
1. Wechat subscription accounts: feeding the new believers.
a. The feeding column is for the morning enjoyment including audio file;
b. The video column is for the noon enjoyment.
c. Life testimony column is for the enjoyment before sleeping at night, including audio file
2. Wechat feeding coodinated with face-to-face shepherding；
a. weekly face-to-face home perfecting.
b. Daily feeding in life through the Wechat subscription account feeding new believers.
c. Key words for auto-reply.
(1) Enter “0100”: the Lord’s day of the first week；
(2) Enter “0101”: Day 1 of the first week；
(3) Enter “0102”: Day 2 of the first week；
(4) And so on.
d. The demonstration of Feeding the new believers with Wehat by phone.
C. Using phone—have morning revival with the two verses for pray-reading and the best way is through the telephone. We should not do this with the same person throughout the week. Instead, we may have morning revival with six different people on six days of the week. This will truly help others
IV. The successful cases and testimonies of feeding:
A. The pattern of preaching the gospel and feeding at home in the Body at set time every week (Brother Lin Horning’s fellowship).
B. The testimony of the new believers’ training in the church of God in Hong Kong: since the end of 2004, they start the new believers’ training for college students. The content is the twelve lessons for the feeding of new believers. The content of the lessons contains the crucial points of the truth and the spiritual exercise. New ones have one class every week. During the week, the mentors have the spiritual exercise with the new ones. Because the training has restraint, most of the new believers can participate the complete training content. After twelve weeks solid participation, the rate of remaining is about 50%. According to the actual situation in Hong Kong:
1. In order to improve trainees’ enthusiasm, the church uses the following procedure: registration, charging, signature. So the new believers has a promise to the training that they promise to accomplish all the content of the training, and will have a reward for encouragement after the accomplishment.
2. During the week, the mentors have the spiritual exercise with the new ones; this is also a part of the lessons. This can increase the relationship between the mentor and the new believers as vital companions, not only giving the new believers proper care, but also letting the saints as the mentors to actively function.
3. In order to blend all the new ones in campuses of Hong Kong, the church also arrange “New Believers Camp” to go out to blend. During the blending for two days and one night, they pursue three important messages in Feeding New Believers, pursuing the truth and practicing the God-man living, that the new believers may be rooted in the church life gradually.
C. The testimony concerning the begetting and the nourishing in the college of GaoPingPeng.
D. The testimony of the home training.
V. How to shepherd the different people:
A. Use The Economy of God, The All-Inclusive Christ, The Normal Christian Life and the other books from brother Watchman Nee to shepherd the Christians.
VI. The points needing to be paid attention to:
A. The attitude for nourishing:
1. Never give up the lambs—forgive people not seven times but seventy times
2. Be a gentle nursing mother:
a. We are neither gymnastics coach, nor the school teacher, even nor the hired servant of the flock, but a nursing mother.
b. The characters of the nourishing mother.
(1) A tender heart—do not oppose to the ones who are against us.
(2) Long for the spiritual children—take care of the new ones keenly.
(3) Not only willing to share the gospel but also willing to share your life to others.
(4) Consider the new ones as babes in Christ. The primary point, the prerequisite, is that you consider a newly baptized one as a babe in Christ. A new one may ask, “What is the Bible?” This may not sound like a babyish question, but you must answer as you would answer a baby; you must have this kind of concept. You must say the right words, and your attitude and tone must also be right. A new one may ask many questions, yet you must always have the concept that you are dealing with a babe in Christ. If you can learn this secret, you will be welcomed by every new one. They would like to hear your talk. In this way you can open the way to feed them. If you have learned this secret, after only two or three sentences, you will be warmly welcomed by him. He will open himself up to you, listen to you, and take your word. He will become very interested in whatever you say.
B. Not stumbling the newborn babies—concerning idols, concerning the clearance of the past, concerning marriage—not like a professor convincing a student; that kind of attitude can never work out anything. You must hold the attitude that you are talking to a babe.
C. Proper care—the work of taking care of the new ones must be a work of raising up children. We should not bring forth children and send them to others to be raised. The little ones should be directly under their mother’s care.
D. How to talk with the new one concerning the Christmas.
E. Shepherding in the vital group:
1. After the new ones are established, we should bring them together with other saved ones in small groups of fifteen to twenty or twenty-five. For only one or two to be saved is not adequate to form a small group. Therefore, we need to help more new ones to be saved. Two or three brothers or sisters can join together to bring several newly saved ones to form a group. These brothers and sisters can then work together. We have to teach them, and we have to feed them, not just with milk, but with solid food.
2. After they baptize people, they should right away go back to their homes in the way we did for them the previous year. They should have home meetings with them to nourish, cherish, and take care of them. Then after three months, they should bring them together to have small group meetings. We should tell the young believers to do for others what we have done for them. They have learned and experienced many things. We are the first generation, and they are the second generation. Now they have to work on the third generation. After another one and a half years, the third generation will produce a fourth. Generation after generation the church will increase.
F. How to take care of people (see Appendix 3).
