TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES THREE
TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

Message Nine
Learning to Care for the Home Meetings in a Flexible Way

Scripture Reading:

Matt. 24:45    Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time?

17:27               But that we do not stumble them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a stater; take that and give it to them for Me and you.

PREPARING FOR THE HOME MEETINGS

Before visiting the new ones in the home meetings, some time should be given for preparation. In that time of preparation, there should be some fellowship among the members of the visiting team concerning the goal of the home meeting. You should not go to the home meetings without a definite purpose. Of course, you should not make your purpose a legality, without any flexibility. However, regardless of how flexible you are, you must have a purpose with a goal.

The main purpose of the home meetings is to nourish the new believers, but each mother who nourishes her new baby does so with a definite goal. The kind of nourishment a mother uses depends upon the situation of the baby. To nourish the new believers without any purpose is to run the risk of damaging their spiritual health in the long run.

FEEDING WITH BABY FOOD

When we share any subject with the new believers, we must keep in mind that they are newborn babes (1 Pet. 2:2a; 1 Cor. 3:1b); therefore, we should feed them with baby food. In order to make our work effective, we must learn how to feed others and what portions to give them.…Our contact with new believers as babes involves two different aspects. The first aspect deals with their human education or learning. If one is a professor, we should not talk to him in a babyish way, otherwise, he may think that we despise him. We should treat him as a learned person, a scholar. The second aspect deals with their spiritual condition and age. According to human learning, they may know science, philosophy, or psychology, but according to spiritual understanding, they are babes, not knowing the spiritual things. Therefore, we have to help them as ones who know nothing spiritually.…We should stress these two things again and again, treating them as babes, feeding them with these deeper things in the form of baby food. Baby food is very rich in nutrition, but its quantity and form make it easy for babes to digest.

CARING FOR THE HOME MEETING
ACCORDING TO ITS ATMOSPHERE

The way we care for a home meeting-the hymns we sing and the verses we read-should be according to the particular atmosphere of that home meeting. To begin a home meeting by singing a hymn without raising up a proper atmosphere is to practice a religious way. To just sing a hymn is something of religion. To our general understanding, to open a meeting with a song is not wrong. But according to our recent learning and practice over the last few years, this kind of practice is wrong. This religious practice may only confirm the new one’s past understanding of Christianity.

CARING FOR THE HOME MEETINGS
IN A LIVING, INSPIRING, AND UNVEILING WAY

The way we open a meeting must be living and spontaneous, free from any kind of religion. Whether we pray, call a hymn, open the Scriptures, or ask the new one to speak something, we must do it in a living way, having prepared the atmosphere. It may be that before a certain hymn is sung, one of the brothers or sisters may first read something from the Word. The other attendants may feel to reread this portion of the Word. Then someone may expound this portion of the Word with one or two sentences. Following this, there may be some pray-reading of this portion. To finish this kind of reading may take ten minutes. Such reading will impress the new one with something living and prepare him for getting into the hymn. In this way, his participation is something more than merely singing a hymn.

Whatever we do in all kinds of meetings must be living, stirring, and something the Spirit can use to inspire and unveil something to people concerning the mystery of God. We should do nothing merely as a religious activity. To help people to be revived or to love the Bible can also be a religious activity which is common in Christianity. This kind of work is very general. But to read and sing a hymn such as #537 in Hymns concerning Christ being so subjective would impress a new believer in a particular way. To stress that Christ is subjective is something really new to Christians in Christianity. Christ is not only a historical person who is merely objective; rather, the Christ who is our Savior is so subjective. To help a new one with such a particular subject is to care for the home meetings in a living, stirring, and unveiling way, free from any religion.

LEARNING TO USE THE WORDS OF THE NEW BELIEVERS
IN A POSITIVE WAY

In a recent campus meeting, though a new brother had received some help from the practice of calling on the name of the Lord, he asked how calling on the name of the Lord is different from the feeling one receives when repeating a motto such as, “Don’t quit” or “Never give up.”

Perhaps the best way to help this new brother is simply to encourage him never to quit calling on the name of the Lord, to encourage him to contact the Lord all day long.…Just to take their words and speak something definite and particular to them according to their need. In this case, you may say, “Brother, don’t quit contacting the Lord. Don’t quit remaining in the spirit. Don’t quit calling on the Lord. Don’t refrain from all of these positive things.” When we use their words and leave them with something positive, this can inspire them, impress them, and keep them in the atmosphere, the spirit, of the fellowship in that meeting.

DEALING WITH PROBLEMS IN THE HOME MEETINGS

Some saints were meeting with a new believer who had recently quit his job. In caring for this new one, one of the brothers offered to help him write a resume in order to find a new job. The brother also felt that the new one needed some help concerning the matter of authority, but was unsure how to share this matter and remain in the realm of feeding a babe in Christ.

In this case, it would be better not to touch the problem of his employment. To help him do something about his employment would simply immerse him further in that problem. The brother caring for this new believer should stress the matter of contacting the Lord and turning to the spirit. Our work among people is in the spiritual realm. This brother should try to bring the new believer into the spiritual realm, into the experience of the Lord’s presence, and into His rich anointing.

GRASPING EVERY OPPORTUNITY
TO FEED THE NEW BELIEVERS

We must grasp every minute to inject, to minister, something of life and truth into the new believers in taking care of them.…Sometimes the new believers may ask you to engage in their sports activities. In principle, you should first determine whether or not you have the time. Then you should decide whether or not your intention is to be with that new believer or to participate in the sports activity. If you simply want to engage in the sports activity, you have fallen into another realm. Your burden should be to seize the opportunity to spend time with the new believer in order to talk with him, perhaps to and from the sporting activity. If you do not have the time to do this, but want to spend some time with the new believer, you may suggest another time to get together with him. He may want to spend time with you, but you should not spend yourself or your time in a vain manner. Whenever you spend time with the new believers, you should take the opportunity to render some help to them spiritually. (The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way, msg. 20)