Begin Small and Shepherd One by One

Today’s Key Verses for Pray-reading

Luke 16:10

He who is faithful in the least is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in the least is unrighteous also in much.

Ephesians 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.

Acts 20:31

Therefore watch, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease admonishing each one with tears.

1 Peter 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 Corinthians 1:8

Who will also confirm you until the end unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

Romans 15:16

That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Prayer Burden

Lord Jesus, we praise You and bless You for the churches in every place. Your church is altogether beautiful, yet we often see varying degrees of negativity in people’s condition. Lord, we want to cooperate with You and become a grain of wheat there, falling into the earth and dying. Build from small beginnings; start with small things and with one person. Pray there. Be constituted with the truth there, practice the God-man living, shepherd people, and preach the gospel. Lord Jesus, may the new way begin with me and with the companions You have given me! May revival begin with vital groups of two or three!

Lord, show us that You are shepherding the church in Corinth and that You will also confirm them until the end, unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we are willing to be dealt with and broken by You, so that You may have a way in us. Make us people who help the saints practice the new way. May the new way have a way in us. May we produce people one by one, bring forth new ones one by one, and shepherd them, until a pattern is established!

Ministry Fellowship

1. Work for the Lord by building from small beginnings; do not aim beyond your reach

In doing the Lord’s work, we need to be solid. We should not aim beyond our reach but build from small beginnings toward something greater. I hope the young people will see two things. First, if you are truly willing to accept a burden for the Lord’s gospel, truth, life, and church, the Lord will surely bless and use you. Second, remember carefully not to do work that aims beyond its reach or makes a show. Instead, do solid work that grows from small beginnings. (The Epoch-making Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 5: The Establishing of the Church’s Various Services, ch. 3)

To lead a church, we need to build it day by day, beginning with small things. Add a little here and a little there to build everyone up. Only then can a pattern be established and an example set before people. This is what leading means. If the elders do not lead in small matters, there is no need to mention leading in great matters. Even the hymnbooks used in meetings should be handled as an example: they should not be left about carelessly, but put away properly. Wastepaper should not be discarded anywhere; it should be handled properly. This is leading.

The new way is open to all of us today, and all of us are charged with the responsibility for it. If you are not responsible, I am not responsible, and none of us takes responsibility, the new way will become an empty way and cannot go forward. Since all of us share this responsibility, each person should fulfill his or her part: learn what needs to be learned and practice what needs to be practiced. In this way we will surely succeed. (The Epoch-making Leadings in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 2, Message 10)

Practice blending with others

Since we have seen the vision of the Body of Christ, we need to put it into practice. We should begin with small things and practice blending with the brothers and sisters around us. I can testify to you that I love every kind of brother and sister. I love the fast ones and the slow ones; I love those who are compatible with me, and I love even more those who are not. (Messages on Life and Practice, ch. 18)

2. Through shepherding, revive and perfect people one by one

Shepherding is greatly needed. We encourage all the brothers and sisters to do the work of shepherding; this is the Lord’s desire. The building up of the church must begin at the grassroots. It cannot rely only on large meetings; people need to be revived one by one.

During the pandemic, China did well because its grassroots work and organization were strong. The United States now lacks this grassroots work. At most, we can persuade people, but if they do not act, there is little we can do. This is a weakness under democracy. The health of the church depends entirely on the grassroots.

In the past we spoke of two changes: first a change in our concepts, and second a change in our system. The whole church needs to make these changes. If we have not reached that point yet, individuals need to become vital. For the whole church to move in this direction, a system of reminders and follow-up is very important. Suppose a district or a church has one hundred people. We need to build up all one hundred at the grassroots. According to the principle of the vital groups, two or three people form a group. More than one hundred people would form about fifty vital groups. Each group needs someone to remind its members, and these fifty people also need others to follow up with them. Following the principle of two or three, we would need twenty-five people; among the fifty, these twenty-five would be key joints. By the same principle, twenty-five of the fifty should take responsibility for this follow-up service; twelve should follow up with the twenty-five, six with the twelve, and two with the six.

This is only a hypothetical example. You can see that there are joints of supply at every level. With these joints of supply, the grassroots can function well. In the churches today, co-workers, elders, deacons, district leaders, and home leaders all take responsibility. This structure is not wrong, but it is centered on meetings; it does not put organic care and shepherding into practice.

If you raise up a serving team dedicated to shepherding and caring for people and attach it to the existing teams, it will strengthen them rather than disrupt them. It can be like Joseph and Mary: Joseph took the lead, while Mary brought forth Christ—two lines working together. This shepherding system can also overcome a difficulty in the structural system, which is usually led by brothers and generally has no sisters. In a shepherding system, sisters can participate. (Brother Yu, May 2020: The Health of the Church Depends Entirely on the Grassroots)

3. Co-workers need to help the saints one by one to practice the new way

After careful consideration, I feel that nearly every aspect of the situation in the recovery is good. The only need is to practice all the steps of the God-ordained way. This requires us to labor and help the saints one by one. If all the co-workers begin to labor in this way, the practice of the God-ordained way will spread throughout the Lord’s recovery. We need to release messages to “sound the trumpet” and maintain the situation, but messages alone cannot make the Lord’s recovery full of content. We need to work on the saints one by one.

Helping the saints individually may seem like slow work, but it is not. It is like the growth of the human race. God did not use mass production. His way is for a family, a husband and wife, usually to have one child at a time, gradually increasing from generation to generation. Genesis 1:28 says, “And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” This word has been fulfilled today: the human race has filled the earth one person at a time. (Meetings with the Elders and Co-workers in Anaheim, ch. 2)

4. Pray more, contact people, and labor to care fully for the newly saved

All the saints need to preach the gospel continually and care for new believers

The saints seem to have little interest or desire to preach the gospel. If we do not have the living of a gospel priest, we will not be healthy. In the physical realm, older people lose the desire to have children, but this should never happen in the spiritual realm. Although middle-aged saints may have little interest in the gospel, some older saints have a strong interest and burden for it. Losing our interest in preaching the gospel is a sickness. We need to consider this matter and pray much.

Especially in the United States, we are very weak in preaching the gospel. In principle, there is no other way to preach the gospel except to contact people. If we contact people, there will be results. Some saints make the excuse that their contacts have produced no results, but results require persistence. We need to continue. If we gain no one in a year, we should not be disappointed; we should keep preaching the gospel. Expecting quick results is the principle of gambling and the way of the Charismatic movement. It is possible to gain many people quickly through a large gospel campaign with extensive advertising, but most of the results of this kind of work will not remain. Such labor is like pumping water from a well without a reservoir to store it; the water soon seeps back into the ground.

Caring fully for the newly saved requires much labor; without it, many will not remain. In 1986 and 1987, we were in an experimental stage in Taipei. We accelerated our gospel work to gain a greater increase, but we learned that much of this labor was in vain. Only a small percentage of those gained in this way remained in the end. It was like giving birth to many babies in a short time without being able to care for and feed them. We were also rather weak in caring for the younger and weaker saints. The saints seemed to expect the elders to bear the burden of shepherding them. This is wrong. (Meetings with the Elders and Co-workers in Anaheim, ch. 3)

An additional record of a saint’s testimony

1. Shepherding in one church was difficult. Many people were financially well-off and therefore rather proud. For many years, it was hard for the church to increase in number. Later, some brothers and sisters came to support the church and shepherded people one by one, producing sparks one by one. One spark led to another. One sister had been saved for only four months and was already shepherding five groups. Another, saved for one year, was shepherding several groups. Therefore, we should pay any price to shepherd people.
2. We must shepherd people until they become sparks. We should pay any price to shepherd.
3. In shepherding, we must pray much for the people in our care.
4. Brother F. spends three to four hours each day accompanying people.
5. When accompanying people, we use the twelve lessons in the home training, followed by the twelve lessons on the Four Heart Books—Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Galatians.