Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
Some brothers lacked capacity to shepherd saints outside the concept of the ministry as a "cureall" for every problem and every situation.
|
Brothers in Texas, Seattle, Anaheim and elsewhere depend on the ministry as a cure-all. Getting church members plugged into morning revival and meeting ministry fellowship is what leading brothers do; but this is not adequate.
“Overseers should oversee” (W. Nee,
Church Affairs)
“…they watch for your souls” (Heb. 13:17).
Receiving life-supply and knowledge from the word and the ministry is not enough to meet human needs in the church. Witness Lee addressed this deficiency at an elders’ conference: "
In the last few years, we have appreciated the Lord's showing us the high peak of the divine revelation. My concern is that although we may talk about the truths of the high peak, love is absent among us. If this is the case, we are puffed up, not built up. The Body builds up itself in love". (1996,
A Word of Love)
The Body builds up itself in love not in the high peak fellowship. Brothers in the Local Churches get lost in high places and do not like to condescend to men of low estate - down in the valleys, where the problems prevail. Although Paul wrote Ephesians, a book on the church, he says to "walk in love", even in the same chapter that he mentions the great mystery of Christ and the church (5: 32). In 1 Corinthians 12 he speaks on the members of the Body of Christ having the same love for one another that there be no divisions; then in chapter 13 drops the bomb, “if I...know all mysteries and all knowledge…but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:2)