Shepherding in Shillong

Last month, in fellowship with the brothers who serve the Lord's work in India, I went to visit the saints in the church in Shillong. Every time I visited the church, there was something new the Lord was doing. This time the visit was to fellowship with the brothers and get to know their standing and situation as there was a need to clarify who was standing for what testimony of the church. 

My burden this time was to simply follow the brothers and learn from them. As such, unlike before, I let the brothers take the lead in every matter concerning the items of fellowship and the sequence of meetings.  In fact, this time I functioned more like a host than a guest and I was glad I was graced to be able to do that.

Thank the Lord for the Lord's sovereignty! The Lord gave wisdom to the brothers in all the fellowship. From the very first meeting, the concern and real situation of the saints were manifested. Some of the saints were not clear about the church in the universal aspect and some were not even clear about the aspects of salvation. Therefore, this time, we could render timely help according to the need of the saints.

In all the fellowship I learned how the Spirit was moving and what the Spirit was speaking to the church. Only when I was asked to say something did I share what was in my heart. On Saturday morning I was asked to share first whatever burden I had, but I had only one burden, to follow the Lord's burden released through the brothers. Therefore, I echoed what they had shared the previous night on the apostles' teaching and gave my own testimony of how the Lord led me to partake of the apostles' teachings through the ministry of the word. 

On Saturday night, when the local brothers came together, they were each given time to speak what was their main concerns, and in that way, we could know what the need of the brothers was. Based on the sharing and concerns of the local brothers, on the Lord's day, we addressed their concerns. The portion allotted to me was to minister on the assurance, security, and joy of salvation. Therefore, I prayed and prepared and ministered to the saints the key points with supporting Bible verses. And the other brothers also ministered on the vision concerning the church. Through all the fellowship the Lord accomplished what was in His heart for the church in Shillong this time.

On the last night of my stay in Shillong after the other brothers have left for Aizawl, I could continue to fellowship with the four saints who have seen the vision of the church clearly and are taking the stand on the ground of oneness. We all enjoyed the testimony of the Lord's move in the North East and how the Lord raised up and recovered the local churches in Manipur and Mizoram. Later a brother also joined in. Out of the burden the Lord gave me, I shared from the book, The Vision and Building Up of the Church, which I also gifted 20 copies to the key saints in the church there. As we prayed after the fellowship, the brother who joined us late was so convicted by the Lord that he started weeping and weeping and could not pray at all. When we finished the prayer, he hugged another brother and the two agreed to come together often for pursuing the truth in the book gifted to them.

Thus having released the Lord's burden for Shillong this time, I flew back to Delhi to be on time for two weeks proportion that had just begun in the church in Gurugram.

The Lord was sovereign in arranging this visit to Shillong as He also provided the timely financial supply to fly to and fro from Delhi to Shillong and for all the other expenses. When the Lord leads He also supplies, spiritually and financially to meet His need through us who cooperate with Him for His move.

Lord, bless the church in Shillong!