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@icgchurches.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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