THE PRACTICE HANDBOOK FOR THE DISTRICT SERVING ONES
SERIES TWO
THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY AND VARIOUS KINDS OF MEETINGS
Message Three
The Organic Shepherding according to God in the Vital Groups
1 Pet. 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly.
1 Thes. 2:7 But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.
11 Just as you know how we were to each one of you, as a father to his own children, exhorting you and consoling you and testifying.
SHEPHERDING MEANNING EVERYTHING
FOR THE VITAL GROUPS, FOR THE CHURCH, AND FOR THE ELDERS
Shepherding means everything for the brothers’ and sisters’ homes, for the vital groups, for the church, and for the elders. In Christian teaching, nearly no one stresses this matter, but it is a great matter. The Lord is not only our Shepherd and Overseer outwardly; He is also the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls (1 Pet. 2:25).
John 10 and 21 are chapters on shepherding. Chapter 10 speaks of the Lord’s coming as the Shepherd. He is the Shepherd, and He is the door in and the door out to the pasture. In 10:10 the Lord said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly,” and in verse 11 He said, “I am the good Shepherd.” He also said that He laid down His human life for the sake of shepherding. To give life requires shepherding. Without shepherding, it is hard for the divine life to work within us. Chapter 21 is a very important appendix on shepherding. John is a book on the divine life, but the divine life depends upon shepherding. Even in our human life, family life, and marriage life there is the need of shepherding, and shepherding requires cherishing. Husbands and wives need to cherish each other all the time. If a couple does not know how to cherish each other, they will have trouble. Parents also need to shepherd their children. If shepherding could be practiced everywhere, the whole of society would become a utopia. Misunderstandings and oppositions mainly come from the shortage of shepherding. We the co-workers must learn to cherish people. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord,” ch. 1)
SHEPHERDING ACCORDING TO GOD
In his first Epistle, Peter speaks of Christ being the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul, our inner being and real person (2:25). Then in 5:1-2 he tells the elders that their obligation is to shepherd God’s flock according to God. According to God means that we must live God. We must have God on hand. We have God in our understanding, in our theology, and in our teaching, but we may not live God when we are shepherding people. When we are one with God, we become God. Then we have God and are God in our shepherding of others. To shepherd according to God is to shepherd according to what God is in His attributes. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. “According to God” is at least according to these four attributes of God. We must shepherd the young ones, the weak ones, and the backsliding ones according to these four attributes. Then we will be good shepherds.
THE PATTERN OF THE APOSTLE PAUL IN SHEPHERDING
We need to contact and take care of others, sinners and believers, as the apostle Paul, the top apostle, did in contacting people and taking care of people’s need (2 Cor. 1:23—2:14). In 2 Corinthians 11:28-29 Paul says, “Apart from the things which have not been mentioned, there is this: the crowd of cares pressing upon me daily, the anxious concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I myself do not burn?” This unveils the care of a proper shepherd.
Acts 20 says that while Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he sent word to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. He told them that they should shepherd God’s flock, which God purchased with His own blood (v. 28). The shepherding of God’s flock was on Paul’s heart. Many think that Paul was a great apostle doing a great work as a great career. But Paul considered what he did as shepherding the flock of God. We have to be revolutionized in our logic and consideration. We should not think that we are going to do a great work for Christ like certain spiritual giants. These so-called giants actually did not accomplish much for God’s interest. Instead, they only made a name for themselves with little result for the building up of the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 7)
LEARNING HOW TO SHEPHERD
Shepherding Needing the Lord’s Word
Shepherding first involves feeding and then guiding, or leading. In the churches we need to feed the saints with the Lord’s word. We should encourage the saints to be strong, released, and fresh in their spirit when they meet so that everyone is living, and we should also watch to see that they are being properly supplied and fed. Being living and released is one matter, and receiving the life supply and feeding is another matter.
Giving Messages Not Being Shepherding
In Acts 20:32 Paul says, “I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified.” This verse says that we must use the Lord’s word when we feed the saints. According to our Christian concept, believers can be fed only by listening to sermons. This concept must be dropped. It is often said in Christianity that believers need to be taught, cultivated, and edified through sermons. However, feeding is a better and more practical way. The general atmosphere in Christianity, of believers needing to be taught and nurtured through messages, has produced professional speakers, such as preachers and ministers. A congregation that does not have a pastor or a preacher has to hire someone. We have been affected by this atmosphere. Although we feel that it is not proper to hire preachers or pastors, we have so-called co-workers among us. The saints think that the co-workers are capable of and specialized in giving messages; hence, giving messages is the responsibility of the co-workers. This attitude is inappropriate; it is not the thought in the Bible. A full-time co-worker who is specialized in giving messages is, in principle, the same as a pastor or preacher in Christianity. The only difference is in name.
Laboring in Word and Teaching
The Bible says that the elders should shepherd the flock of God. First Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” This verse says that the elders who lead well are those who labor in word and teaching. Hence, to shepherd with feeding is to teach with the Lord’s word. The elders in a local church should bear the responsibility of shepherding and feeding. This can be compared to parents bearing responsibility in a family. The elders should not excuse themselves and say that they do not have the gift of preaching the word. Such a thought is the influence of traditional Christianity. When we first began meeting as the Lord’s testimony, we were greatly helped by the Brethren. They were the first group of believers to recover the church life, but they paid too much attention to the gift of preaching the word. In their consideration a person could not give a message unless he had the gift of preaching. However, we have clearly seen 1 Corinthians 14:31, which says, “You can all prophesy one by one.” Hence, we should uproot the concept of not having the gift of preaching the word. We need to learn how to use God’s word to feed others. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 1, “Shepherding the Church and Perfecting the Young People,” msg. 2)
CHERISHING AND NOURISHING IN THE VITAL GROUPS
The members of the vital groups have to learn how to nourish people to continue their cherishing of people. Cherishing without nourishing is in vain. When a mother wants to feed a naughty child, she will first make him happy by cherishing him. But without nourishing him, her cherishing is meaningless. After cherishing the child, the mother nourishes him with food. This is the way that Christ as the Head takes care of His Body, the church. He nourishes us after cherishing us.
Revelation 1 shows how Christ cares for the churches. Revelation is a book of signs. A sign is a symbol with spiritual significance. The first sign in Revelation shows Christ in His humanity as the High Priest, and the last sign is the New Jerusalem. As the Son of Man, Christ as the High Priest is taking care of all the churches as lampstands (1:12-13). On the one hand, He is cherishing the churches in His humanity; on the other hand, He is nourishing the churches in His divinity. The members of the vital groups have to learn these two things. When we visit people, invite them to our home, or contact them before and after the meetings, we must be one with Christ to cherish and nourish them.
The Meaning of Cherishing and Nourishing People
To cherish people is to make them happy and to make them feel pleasant and comfortable. We must have a pleasant countenance when we contact people. We should be happy and rejoicing. We should not contact anyone with a cheerless countenance. We must give people the impression that we are genuinely happy and pleasant. Otherwise, we will not be able to cherish them, to make them happy.
Nourishing People with Christ
Then we should go on to nourish them. We do not nourish people when we speak to them about marriage, courtship, politics, the world situation, or education. To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in three stages. When we speak to people about Christ, we should not speak to them in an incomprehensible way, in a kind of language that they do not understand. We have to find a way to present the all-inclusive Christ to everyone. If a person wants people to eat beef, he must find a way to cook it to make them desire to eat it. Similarly, we have to “cook” the all-inclusive Christ. There are many different ways to cook the same thing. I have been cooking Christ in this country for over thirty-three years with about three thousand messages.
In order to nourish people with Christ, we first have to seek Christ, experience Christ, gain Christ, enjoy Christ, and participate in Christ. In Philippians, especially in chapters 2 and 3, Paul uses different expressions and utterances to portray how he was seeking and pursuing Christ in order to gain Christ. He says that we should do all things without murmurings and reasonings. The sisters who are seeking Christ should learn not to murmur, and the brothers should learn not to reason. If you murmur and reason, you will offend the indwelling Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God, because this God is working in you so that you may work out your salvation (2:12-14). Our salvation is our gaining and experiencing Christ. To gain Christ is to work out our own daily organic salvation.
Nourishing People by the Divine and Mystical Life in Resurrection
Both cherishing people and nourishing people should be by the divine and mystical life in resurrection, not by the natural life in the old creation. We must realize that the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit only honors things in resurrection. If you do any work that is not in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit will never honor it. Thus, your labor will be in vain, with no result. Most of the work in today’s Christianity is not in resurrection. Most Christians work in their natural life, not by the divine and mystical life in resurrection. Anything that is natural belongs to the old creation. Our contact with people should not be in the old creation but in resurrection. It is only in this way that we can cherish and nourish people with Christ, the all-inclusive One. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 11)
FIFTEEN PRACTICAL POINTS CONCERNING SHEPHERDING
Not Being Quick, but Spending
an Adequate Amount of Time to Shepherd People
In order to adequately shepherd people, we must not be too quick. Our quick disposition needs to go. We cannot shepherd someone by speaking to them for only a few minutes. Therefore, we must be prepared to spend enough time with people.
Being Positive and Not Sloppy
Although we should not be too quick, we must be very positive. Very often, positive persons are quick ones, and slow persons are passive, even sloppy and uncaring. If a brother says, “Let us go to visit someone,” a passive one may say, “We should not be so quick. Let us wait for another two weeks.” However, if mothers care for their little ones in this passive way, their children will not survive. We should not be too quick, but we must be positive and on time. The secret of a good surgeon is not to be quick but to be positive and not lose any time. We all need to learn the best way. To this end, we need much work of the cross on our disposition. Anyone can do some amount of shepherding, but to have shepherding that is up to a proper standard, we should be very positive, though not too quick.
Listening to Others in Order to Realize
Their True Need and Real Situation
We must learn how to listen to others in order to realize their true need and real situation. This requires us to stop our own thought, concept, feeling, and speaking while we are shepherding them. We should be open to others and allow their situation to speak to us. This is not easy; it means that we must be positive but not quick. We should not say too much or make a decision too quickly. Rather, we should stop ourselves and listen to the person under our care, allowing him to say something, trying our best to understand him, and putting ourselves in his place to understand his situation in the same way that he does.
Many times our visiting damages people rather than helps them. It tears down rather than builds up. This is because we are too raw; we have never been “cooked.” Since we have never been dealt with adequately, we are still too wild. As long as we are raw and wild, we are able only to offend people, not to nourish them. Even if we nourish them to a certain extent, we may offend them to a greater extent, resulting in a net debit. We may feel that we have helped a brother, yet we do not realize that we tore him down even more. Eventually, this kind of shepherding produces a loss. Therefore, we all need to be dealt with. Some may say, “In this case, to be a brother or a sister in the local church is too hard. We simply want to go to the meeting on the Lord’s Day and enjoy ourselves for an hour by listening to the good singing and speaking. To shepherd people according to a high standard is too great a burden.” Yes, this is a burden, but we have no choice. In saying these things, it seems that I am a troublemaker, troubling myself first and then troubling others. However, according to Paul’s writings, he was a “troublemaker.” He gave himself no peace or rest in his care for the churches (2 Cor. 11:23b-28). He troubled himself, he troubled all the saints, and even today he troubles us. If we read his Epistles, we will all be troubled. The church life is a troubling life, but what other way can we take? We are destined to take this way. As human beings, we must believe in the Lord Jesus, and as believers, we have no choice but to take the way of the proper church life.
Visiting Others without Saying Much
We must also learn not to say too much when we visit people. This is the hardest lesson to learn in shepherding. The longer we wait to say something, the better it is. Someone may ask, “If we should not say anything, why should we contact anyone?” The secret is simply to contact them without saying much. If we speak too much, we will be like the friends of Job. This will waste our time and cause more problems. The best way to shepherd a person is to visit him without saying much. If he asks if we have anything to say, we can simply say, “Praise the Lord. Amen.” Over forty years ago some of us would go to Brother Nee and say, “Brother Nee, I have been invited by the church in a certain place. Please tell me what I should do?” He told us, “Do not do anything except this: Whenever they ask you something, you should say, ‘I don’t know.’” This answer truly bothered us. We said, “If this is the case, we do not need to go. If we do this, they will simply ask us to leave.” However, we eventually found that this fellowship rendered us the greatest help.
Because we all assume that we know so much, it is hard to say, “I don’t know.” Brother Nee taught us to say, “I don’t know” because, strictly speaking, we do not know much, and what we do know, we do not know thoroughly. We should not contact people in order to teach them. We ourselves have a greater need of teaching. We should go to the saints and to the churches to learn of them. We must not consider that we know more than they do. It is likely that they know more than we do. Those who went out to the churches without practicing Brother Nee’s principle eventually created many problems. The secret to contacting people is not to say much but to let them say something.
Not Making Decisions for Others
We should never make decisions for others. This is to consider that we are superior to them. We should not play politics. We need to be honest with the ones who are under our care, but we must still be restricted by the Lord to not make their decisions.
Never Arguing with People
We also should never argue with people, regardless of whether they are right or wrong. Every conversation is a temptation to adjust others, convince them, or “sell” our good opinions and concepts. We must avoid all these things. There is no need to do this. If we do, it will not help them.
Not Passing On Vain Knowledge
We must never pass on vain knowledge to people. People may ask us about many matters, but we must learn to exercise our spirit to discern the purpose of the questions. If we discern properly, we may realize that the questions are in vain. People often like to gain knowledge, asking about the elders, the brothers and sisters, and many other matters. We must learn to be wise, not be involved with questionings, and not pass on vain knowledge. This also is a difficult lesson for us all.
Not Being Involved in Any Negative Talk
We should not be involved in any negative talk. In other words, we should not be a “trash can.” Flies like to find a dirty place, but we must be clean and sterilized. If we do not visit people in a clean way, but rather take germs to them, they may be incited to open up in a wrong way. They will open their “tombs,” and death will come out. We should not get into any negative talk or answer any questions about negative matters. We must be in another realm, another kingdom.
Being Honest and Not Political
We must learn to be honest, never pretending and never playing politics. We should not be political in order to make the situation easier. We must be honest persons, answering honestly yes or no. If the situation does not allow us to answer yes or no, then we should not say anything. If we learn all these lessons, we will be able to care for others.
Ministering Life to Others
Most importantly, we must learn to minister life to others. In order to do this, we ourselves must have life. We may illustrate this with money. If we desire to give money to someone, we must first have some ourselves. If our pocket is empty, we have nothing to give. We must have something before we can minister it to others. Therefore, we must learn the lessons of life. Then we will know how to minister to others. In fact, if we have life, there is no need to purposely minister life to others. Life will already be ministered to them. When visiting others to take care of them, the proper principle is to minister life to them. All the foregoing points are a preparation for ministering life. If we do not have this preparation, whatever we do will only diminish our ministry and supply. If we are careless about any of these matters, our ministry of life will be annulled and swallowed up. If we are careful about all these items, we will remain in a pure condition to minister to others.
Taking the Lead to Bring Others into a Prayer Life
We need to pray with others and help them to pray. We should not try to wrongly impress people that we have the way to do things, that we are smart, or that we know everything. Rather, we should simply help people to put their trust in the Lord and depend on Him for everything. To this end, we should bring with us a spirit and atmosphere of prayer to help others to come into a prayer life. We need to create an atmosphere so that whatever happens to people, they will pray, look to the Lord, and rely on Him for His presence and clear leading. We need to build up those under our care with a prayer life. If we ourselves are not persons with a prayer life, we will not be able to build up others as this kind of person. We ourselves need to take the lead.
Contacting People with Patience
In order to care for others, we need patience. We should not expect that someone who is newly saved or recovered will immediately be in a proper condition. We need patience to care for the weaker ones. A weaker one may require our patience to contact him again and again. This kind of continual, patient contact will shepherd people. This takes time, but there is nothing else we can do. The church grows through shepherding. If we have gospel preaching without shepherding to take care of the new ones, many of the newly saved ones will fall away. This will spoil and damage our appetite for gospel preaching. Many will say, “We brought so many to the Lord, but most of them are not here anymore.” We will be like a family that has lost its children. Therefore, we need the proper shepherding for the proper child raising. It is impossible for only the leading brothers in a church to take care of the shepherding. Everyone must pick up the burden to take care of others. This requires our patience.
Trusting Those Who Are under Our Care
We must learn to trust and rely upon the ones who are under our care. This is to have a proper fellowship. In one sense, we are the parents nourishing our children, but in another sense, we are all brothers and sisters. Therefore, we should show others that not only do they rely on us, but we also rely on them. This mutual reliance creates much profit. It causes others to be open to us, trust us, and have confidence in us. This is to “open our veins for the blood to circulate.” All the members must be open to one another. Then the circulation will do its proper work. We have seen that some of the ones who are under our care do not open to us, regardless of how much time we spend with them. This means that they have no confidence in us. We need to behave in a way to build up a mutual confidence; this will cause them to open to us. This requires us to depend on them, rely on them, and show them that we need their help.
Never Forcing Anyone to Do Anything
We should never give anyone under our care the sense that we are forcing them to do anything. We must all learn the attributes of God. From the beginning, God never forced people. Rather, He gave them a free choice. We should not even try to overly influence people. Not to force or coerce people is contrary to our natural concept. In shepherding, however, we should stay away from every kind of forcing, coercing, and convincing. We should allow people to have a free choice.
Fellowshipping with Others
according to Our Own Experience
Whatever we fellowship with the dear ones must be according to our own experience. Paul told the Thessalonians, “Just as you know how we were to each one of you, as a father to his own children, exhorting you and consoling you and testifying” (1 Thes. 2:11). No doubt, Paul testified many things to the saints, but a great part of his testimony must have been his own experiences. We need personal experiences to be able to testify to the younger ones. In the proper sense, whatever we render to them as a help should be from our own testimony. How much we can testify in this way depends on how much we have experienced. We must have a certain amount of experience of all of the foregoing detailed items. The more we pick up the burden to shepherd others, the more things we will need to learn. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” msg. 8)
THERE BEING A GENUINE REVIVAL AMONG US
BY OUR RECEIVING THIS BURDEN OF SHEPHERDING
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.
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. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” msg. 4)
Discussion:
1. How to shepherd the newly saved ones?
2. How to recover the dormant saints?
3. How to care for those with a seeking heart?
4. How to cherish people in the humanity of Jesus that they may be open to us?
5. How to prepare the proper word to feed people according to their condition?
6. What are the materials for shepherding and how to use them?
7. How to lead the new ones to have spiritual exercises (calling on the name of the Lord, praying, and reading the Bible)?
8. How to lead the new ones to attend the church meeting?
