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

SERIES One
Practicing the Church Life
according to the Framework of the God-ordained Way

Message Nine
The Blending in Daily Living Needed for Contacting People

Scripture Reading:

Acts 2:46-47    And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they partook of their food with exultation and simplicity of heart, praising God and having grace with all the people. And the Lord added together day by day those who were being saved.

John 13:34       A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

MAKING THE CHURCH LIFE
A PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE

In the past our church life has been too dead, and not many people have functioned. Even when some did function, they functioned in a formal, religious, and organizational way. The church life has not been a part of our daily life. For example, in the past when a person wanted to be baptized, we arranged for a baptismal meeting, set up a formal façade, prepared the baptistery, and baptized the person in a formal way. All of our meetings were conducted in a proper order. There were definite ones assigned to call a hymn, sing, pray, or preach. Everything was in order, yet when such meetings were dismissed and the saints returned to their daily life, there was no change in their behavior. There seemed to be no connection between the church life and their daily life. However, everything is changed now. If there are two hundred people meeting in a hall, all two hundred people need to function. One can be baptized anywhere and at any time. The church life has become a common “everyday affair” and is easily within everyone’s reach. Such a practice vitalizes the church life and increases its impact.

Recently Sister Lee said to me, “After dinner tonight I will go and watch my old classmate be baptized. She was saved, and tonight she will be baptized at hall six.” I asked, “Is there a baptismal meeting?” She answered, “No.” This is very different from what we used to have. However, this is still not sufficient. We need to be more spontaneous and normal so that our church life is a part of our daily life. I hope that every day the saints will see people baptized into the Lord in their own bathtubs. This will bring a great revival into the church. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, msg. 9)

CARING FOR ONE ANOTHER
AND CONSIDERING ONE ANOTHER

Verses 24 and 25 of Hebrews 10 are the basis for our practice of the group meetings.…This implies that we have a genuine care for all the members of our vital group. To care for one another means to consider one another. Today we may not care for others. We do not really care whether or not a certain brother comes to the meeting or whether or not a certain sister is sick. The genuine care for one another needs to be recovered among us.

To consider one another in a practical way is to love one another. We say that we love one another, but in what way do we love? We may not care for anyone in a practical way. Love means practical care and consideration. When we consider one another, we incite one another to love and good works. We stir up one another. If someone cares for me, that spontaneously stirs me up, incites me, to love and good works. We incite one another to love and good works by caring for one another, considering one another.

OUR NEEDING THE INTIMATE FELLOWSHIP
WITH ONE ANOTHER WITH THE PRACTICAL CARE AND SHEPHERDING

Considering One Another in a Practical Way

We need the intimate fellowship with one another with the practical care and shepherding. One sister may point out that another sister in the group is absent because she is having some particular trouble. After sharing with the other group members the nature of the problem, the group can pray for her and fellowship about how to give her the practical care and help.

If a brother has lost his job, we should pray for him. We should also consider his material situation. This is real love. James in his Epistle said, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food, and any one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, yet you do not give them the necessities of the body, what is the profit?” (2:15-16). In his first Epistle, John said, “But whoever has the livelihood of the world and sees that his brother has need and shuts up his affections from him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and truthfulness” (3:17-18). If we see brothers who are in need and merely tell them that the Lord will take care of them, that is not love. That is vain talk. We should care for one another, consider one another, in a practical way.

Such Caring Inciting Us to Love and Good Works

These good works may refer to small things or big things which are related to God’s economy. A saint in your group may not think about God’s economy. God’s economy seems too abstract and unattainable to him. He thinks that we talk much about God’s economy, but that this has nothing to do with our present need in our daily life. Through our loving care for this brother, he will be incited to consider God’s economy.…Once a brother is loved in some practical care, that impresses him and incites him to think about the Christian life and about God’s economy. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, msg. 17)

We should also try to invite people to our home and be invited by others to their home. The Lord’s blessing will follow us if we practice this in a loving and intimate way. If a brother received a number of invitations every week, he might not be able to go, but these invitations would encourage him and make him buoyant.

When we invite others to our home, we do not have to prepare a rich feast. We should just prepare a simple meal. We are not getting together for eating. We are coming together for blending. When we come together, we talk about the Lord Jesus, about His holy Word, and about our spiritual experiences. This kind of contact will revolutionize the church. We will convert the church into a new one. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, msg. 6)

OUR BASIC NEED BEING LOVE, INTEREST, BURDEN, AND PRAYER

No shepherding can be prevailing if we do not have a love for people, an interest in them, a burden for them, and adequate prayer. Love, interest, burden, and prayer are the essential, basic elements of proper shepherding. Most of us were born with no interest in people. We do not like people, and we do not wish to be bothered by them, invited by them, or visited by them. We would rather live on top of a mountain. This is our natural tendency. However, if we keep this kind of disposition, we will be finished with the building. We need to love the new ones as the Lord loves them, be interested them, and take care of them. Then we must have a burden for them and adequate prayer. In addition, the fifteen practical points concerning shepherding in the previous chapter are very useful. We need to be patient, know how to deal with people, and know what to say and what not to say. We should know how to be positive yet not too quick, not for our sake but for the ones who are under our care. Our basic need, however, is love, interest, burden, and prayer. If we would practice all these things, the church will grow in a proper way and be built up under the hands of all the saints, not only the elders or those with a special ministry. Everyone in the service groups in the church life must build up the church. There is no need to depend wholly upon the elders. Sometimes the elders cannot do the job adequately; therefore, we must all take up some part of the work of shepherding. Then the church will receive the benefit. Although it would be better to have a training on these matters all year round, what we have shared here should still give an impression of what we need to practice for the normal way of fruit-bearing and shepherding for the building up of the church. (The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church, ch. 9)