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Feeding of the Flock -
Part One
One of the two great commissions given to the church was for God's
church to feed the flock. I want to discuss this subject in some
detail. It may take more than one Notebook piece. It is a
rather large subject with many elements and things to think about.
I just recently completed Lesson 27 of the Bible Correspondence Course,
"The
Christian Family" Throughout the lesson we see the analogy
being drawn between the physical, human, Christian family and the church
of God and our relationship with Jesus Christ. On question 25 of
the Lesson test I list a number of possible elements of how parents
manifest love of their children. The answer to this question is
"i", they all apply. All are ways in which parents manifest love
of their children. Meditate for a moment now on each of these
elements.
25] Which items apply? Parents manifest love of
their children by...
a. providing their necessities of life
b. protecting them from harm
c. giving them instruction, encouragement and respect
d. participation in family activities
e. balanced correction
f. spending time with them in both work and play
g. active listening and communication
h. establishing family nights
i. all of the above
Using question 25, let us now continue with the analogy set forth in
that lesson and answer the question, "How does the church of God feed
the flock?"
a. by providing their necessities of spiritual
life...The
Salvation Process
b. protecting them from spiritual harm...see the
Field Church Guidelines, which was devised to protect the flock
c. giving them instruction, encouragement and respect...in the form of
the preaching of the Word in all of its applications.
d. participation in church activities
e. balanced correction
f. spending time with them in both the Work and play
g. active listening and communication...counseling, one-on-one
communication, conferences, open-forum Bible Studies
h. establishing church nights...locally and at the Feast and other
opportunities
Now who is responsible for all of this? Who is ultimately
responsible for all these aspects of the Feeding of the Flock? Is
it Headquarters? Is it the Board? Is it the sole
responsibility of the ministry? Read my piece, "I'm
Just Not Being Fed Over There." What you will discover in that
piece is the fact the individual church member is responsible for
getting fed. Yes, the church has proscribed duties and
responsibilities but the church, Board and ministry working together
around the clock cannot get any member into the Kingdom of God.
Having said that, the church is going to do all it can with the
resources it has to see to elements a-h
above. Clearly sources are limited. Peter and Paul and the
first century church, on the other hand, would think us rich and
increased with goods. We have telecommunications, TV, radio, the
Internet, DVDs, CDs, the printing press and a host of other things that
would have those first church disciples in absolute wonderment and awe.
In the previous notebook piece, "Leadership
in the Church - Questions and Answers" you will see recommendations
about voicing concerns and getting things done.
What is Being Done?
From my position in the Web Site Office I have possibly a unique
position to hear both the concerns and what certain members of the Flock
are doing to aid in the Work. Let us talk about tapes, CDs and
DVDs. Some feel these are not getting out in a consistent manner.
For any number of reasons, certain members in the field churches are
becoming secondary resources for audio tapes, VHS, CDs, DVDs and even
booklets and other printed materials. One member just notified me
the day I am writing this to tell me he is making up a CD with the
entire Bible Correspondence Course. He is making these available
to members.
This secondary source has not been highly networked together, but we are
about to change this fact. The Web Site Office is going to see
about networking all these secondary resources to better serve the
greater flock.
There is a situation we are having with Canada with tapes and booklets
being held up at the border and not finding their way to the intended
recipient. We are going to see about establishing secondary
resources there too. If anyone reading this wants to help or has
additional ideas or suggestions they should get hold of me at
chriscumming@gtatv.org.
Rest assured that everyone at Headquarters and in the ministry will be
looking at those a-h
elements above and seeing about improving all of these areas both
locally and for the greater Work of God.
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