Saturday

Related Verses
1 Cor. 12:24, 25-27
24 But our comely members have no need. But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked,
25 That there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same care for one another.
26 And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.

Eph. 4:16
16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

Col. 3:12-15
12 Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering;
13 Bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive.
14 And over all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful.

Related Reading
“We must learn to minister life to others. In order to do this, we ourselves must have life…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. 

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…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.  (CWWL, 1973–1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” pp. 613-614) 

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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…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…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…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. 

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…Some of the ones who are under our care do not open to 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. 

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. 

Whatever we fellowship with the dear ones must be according to our own experience…We need personal experiences to be able to testify to the younger ones…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,” pp. 614-616) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1985, vol. 4, pp. 315-321; CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1, “The Practical Points concerning Blending,” chs. 2—3 

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

Hymn: #1221
1 Jesus, our wonderful Shepherd
Brought us right out of the fold
Into His pasture so plenteous,
Into His riches untold.
 
Glorious church life,
Feasting from such a rich store!
Here where we’re dwelling in oneness
God commands life evermore.

2 In the divisions He sought us,
Weary and famished for food;
Into the good land He brought us,
Oh, to our spirit how good!

3 Jesus Himself is our pasture,
He is the food that we eat;
We as His sheep are fed richly
Each time, whenever we meet.

4 Dwell we here on a high mountain,
Wet with the morning-fresh dew,
Slaking our thirst at the fountain,
Water so living and new.

5 Christ is our rest and enjoyment,
Here we have nothing to fear;
Here all the sheep dwell securely,
Kept by His presence so dear.