弗四11~12 祂所赐的，有些是使徒，有些是申言者，有些是传福音者，有些是牧人和教师，为要成全圣徒，目的是为着职事的工作，为着建造基督的身体。

　　今天人所需要的，乃是我们里面的人，就是我们的灵能够出来，这样，人才能得着供应。……我们外面的人和里面的人如何能分开呢？……约翰福音说，一粒麦子若不落在地里，就仍是一粒，若是落在地里死了，就要结出许多子粒〔十二24〕。我们跟随主的人，失去魂生命，就要得着生命。……如果一个人在神面前受过试炼，外面的人被打破了，他里面的生命就能出去，他就能结出许多子粒来（倪柝声文集第三辑第十三册，六至七页）。

　　Eph. 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

　　Today man’s need is the release of our inner man, that is, the release of our spirit. This is the only way men will receive supply from us…How can we separate the outer man from the inner man?…The Gospel of John says that except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit (12:24). If those who follow the Lord would lose their soul-life, they would gain life…Those who are tried before the Lord and whose outer man is broken will be able to release their inner life; they will bear much fruit. (CWWN, vol. 59, pp. 5-6)

　　长老职分负责照料全召会。按照新约，所有的长老都该是牧人，照顾作主群羊的召会（徒二十28，彼前五1~2）。提前三章二节说，长老必须善于教导。在新约里，教导就是牧养。在以弗所四章十一节，牧人和教师是一类。我们要牧养别人，就必须知道如何教导。

　　教导人不在于教导道理，乃在于将生命供应给人。牧人照料羊群时，主要不是教导羊群。事实上，羊群不需要多少教导。羊群所需要的乃是喂养，好得滋养。在召会里，长老主要的职责乃是喂养圣徒，将生命的供应服事给圣徒（约二一15~17）。

　　许多圣徒以为牧养就是给圣徒某种帮助。按照他们的观念，那些牧养人的要比那些受他们牧养的高。事实上，这是错误的观念。正确的牧养不是辖管别人（彼前五3），乃是将生命供应给他们。关于长老，他们主要的职责就是供应生命。长老们必须花许多时间与主在一起，为召会祷告，为圣徒祷告，并寻求喂养他们、滋养他们、供应生命给他们的路。这事如果作成了，每一处地方召会都将是健康的。在有些地方，有些长老善于治理召会；但他们在牧养上，就是在喂养圣徒上却很弱。在这种情形下，召会就不能健康、活泼、丰富并刚强，因为圣徒们缺乏滋养。

　　长老主要的需要，是操练学习属灵的事，好使他们能以牧养的方式教导圣徒，不是仅仅给圣徒指导，乃是喂养他们。长老要用滋养人的话教导圣徒，好使他们在生命里长大（提前四6）。这绝对是生命的事。……长老必须专注于一件事，就是喂养圣徒。

　　今天最大的需要就是牧养。在这事上，我们非常弱。因此，我们需要受鼓励，操练自己成为有经历、有装备、有充足供应的，使我们知道如何牧养全召会。

　　主对长老唯一的期望是要他们牧养群羊。……在行传二十章，保罗要以弗所的长老到他那里，他嘱咐他们要牧养群羊（28）。彼得也有同样的观念。他劝勉长老务要牧养他们中间神的群羊（彼前五1~2）。……牧养群羊主要的事，乃是喂养群羊。我们在这点上都很弱；我们当中能喂养别人的长老不多。今天众召会中的长老主要是顾到行政的事务。缺少牧养，是众召会没有长进到该有情形的主因。所有的长老都必须严肃地看待牧养这事。他们需要操练、受装备并有充足的供应，好能喂养人，将生命的供应服事给人（李文集一九七七年第二册，六四六至六四八页）。

　　参读：李文集一九七七年第二册，关于地方召会中长老职分的交通，第一章。

　　The eldership is responsible to take care of the whole church. According to the New Testament, all the elders should be shepherds who care for the church as the Lord’s flock (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-2). First Timothy 3:2 says that the elders should be apt to teach. In the New Testament to teach is to shepherd. In Ephesians 4:11 the shepherds and teachers are one class. In order to shepherd others, we need to know how to teach.

　　Teaching people is not a matter of teaching doctrine but of ministering the life supply to them. When a shepherd takes care of a flock, he does not mainly teach the flock. Actually, the flock does not need much teaching. What the flock needs is feeding for nourishment. In the church the elders’ main responsibility is to feed the saints, to minister the life supply to the saints (John 21:15-17).

　　Many saints consider shepherding a rendering of some kind of help to the saints. According to their concept, those who shepherd are higher than those who are under their shepherding. Actually, this is a wrong concept. The proper shepherding is not to rule over others but to minister life to them (1 Pet. 5:3). Concerning the elders, their main responsibility is to minister life.

　　The elders must spend much time with the Lord to pray for the church, to pray for the saints, and to find a way to feed them, to nourish them, to minister life to them. If this can be done, every local church will be healthy. In some places certain elders are very capable in administrating the church, but they are weak in shepherding, that is, in feeding the saints. In such a situation the church cannot be healthy, living, rich, and strong, because the saints are lacking in nourishment.

　　Primarily, the elders need to exercise to learn the spiritual things so that they will be able to teach the saints in the way of shepherding, not merely to give the saints instructions but to feed them. The elders need to teach the saints with the nourishing word so that the saints may grow in life (1 Tim. 4:6). This is absolutely a matter of life…The elders must pay their full attention to one thing, that is, to feeding the saints.

　　Today the greatest need is shepherding. In this matter we are very weak. Therefore, we need to be encouraged to exercise ourselves to become experienced, equipped, and furnished so that we may know how to shepherd the whole church.

　　The Lord’s only expectation of the elders is that they would shepherd the flock…In Acts 20, when Paul called the elders in Ephesus to come to him, he charged them to shepherd the flock (v. 28). Peter held the same concept. He exhorted the elders to shepherd the flock of God among them (1 Pet. 5:1-2)… The main thing in shepherding a flock is to feed the flock. We are weak in this point; among us not many elders are able to feed others. Today the elders in the churches mainly take care of administrative affairs. The lack of shepherding is the main reason that the churches are not growing as they should. All the elders must take the matter of shepherding seriously. They need to be exercised, equipped, and furnished so that they may be able to feed others by ministering the life supply to them. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 481-483)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, pp. 481-491