«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　John 21:15 …Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

　　17…And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

　　Some may argue that shepherding is a gift that not every brother or sister has. However,…every parent, regardless of how smart or foolish he is, has a talent for raising children. Child raising is not a special talent; it is a talent given by birth. In the same way, by our spiritual birth every member in the church has the gift of shepherding…Some think that because they are too young and are not pastors, elders, or experienced Christians, they cannot shepherd others. This is a wrong understanding and concept…Someone may not know how to raise children, but when the children come, they are forced to learn…Even someone who has been saved for only a few days can learn to shepherd. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” p. 609)

　　We need to build up a daily life of the gospel, and we need to go to the Lord for Him to show us who should be under the care of our shepherding. If these two matters are built up in the church, we will have a normal, proper church. A normal church is not merely one in which the members stand to speak something in the meetings. This is only a small part of our service. The main part of the service in the church is a daily gospel life and shepherding…We should realize that it is a great lack and a shame not to bear fruit each year and have someone under our care. All the members in the churches should bear fruit and shepherd people all the time. If we build up these items, the church will be wonderful. The Lord’s way is always the best and wisest way. His way is to depend not on spiritual giants but on every member, on those who have a daily gospel life with shepherding. We all need a change of concept in this regard.

　　More than thirty years ago, I came together every Monday morning with a group of serving ones from 8:0 A.M. until the afternoon to mutually learn how to shepherd people. After meeting for three years in this way, there was a great revival in that locality. This was not due to a movement. It came out spontaneously because of the building up among us. The gospel preaching and the shepherding were adequate and prevailing. This is what the churches need today.

　　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.

　　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.

　　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. (CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 609-611)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 8

Outline