Family Shepherding Family

Shepherding is the backbone of the church life. In fact, our burden has been to help every family in the church life to take care of another family or more according to their capacity. Though I have been going out a lot for shepherding many families, I hardly bring along my family members to join me. Practically, it is not possible all the time, especially when the meetings at different homes are on a weekly basis. Children have their home works and study assignments daily, and my wife too is busy with the children. But once a while I started bringing my family along.

Two weeks ago I took my whole family to a home meeting at two different homes. The first home is a new family with a much higher standard of living than ours, with their house well maintained, neat and clean. Well, my children love to play. But we taught our children to maintain decorum in other's home. Initially, I was a little recluctant not knowing how the new ones would feel about our children vistiing them. But we took the chance. To my surprise, they were quite comfortable with it and my children too enjoyed visitng new ones' home. Though we could not fully stop them from moving around, still they could behave well. Our meeting too was quite enjoyable. Since the family we visited has two grown-up children, they also had been through with mananging kids before, they had a broad mind and were quite comfortable with the children all around. 

Interestingly, when my son who is seven years old participated in the reading portion of ministry books, the family we visited were very impressed; they could practically see a miniature of a Christian home we are building up and they were very impressed. Their response was very positive and it was a message in itself. Besides, my youngest daughter of four years old prayed after everyone else prayed, and she prayed that the Lord would bring our family to that home again. Then, the whole family responded with resounding amen. They were most touched by my son and daughter's participation in the home meeting. 

Another family we visited was a family in the church life. They have their kids too. So all the children got along very well. They had their own time together, and we grown-up s also enjoyed our meeting too. As much as practicality allows, I look to the Lord for His grace for my whole family to be able to shepherd another family.

By this way of family shepherding families, both families are strengthened. This is a proper pattern we want the church in Gurugram to adopt; family shepherding family. And if all saints' families can shepherd at least another family each, in no time, the whole church will be revived. We don't need special "pastoring" by few selected men, but the Body builds up itself in love by each member functioning. 

May the Lord grace all the saints' families to shepherd another family and gain the building up among all the families.   

Family Time

The Lord has been blessing our family so much. With my wife laboring so hard to help my children in their studies; the result of their labor was very obvious in my children scoring A+ in all the subject except in Hindi where they could manage up to A. On my part I decided to take them for family time and outing at Delhi India Gate. Two weeks ago we all went for a postlunch outing.

Family time with the whole afternoon was indeed a fun time for the children. They were very energetic playing and experimenting one play tool after another. I, on my part, was just a guardian watching over them. I did try out hand hands on a couple of instruments in the park. But for me, the oversight of the children well being, especially their safety was my main burden. If they enjoyed the time out there, that's my enjoyment too. Time has changed when I cared for my enjoyment to my children's enjoyment. If my children were, it was my happiness. After few hours of playing and running around, we enjoyed a family boating time, and finally treated them their desired cuisine, burger and chicken fry at KFC.

Such a family time was overdue as they were busy in their studies and I, in my office works and church responsibilities. Finally, at the opportune time, we all enjoyed an outing.

Time with the family besides occasional outing is a must for a healthy family. Every night and morning, we have the grace to spend time in prayer together. The act of coming together as a family for prayer is a great blessing. We all could pray together every night, and now it's in our blood and family daily schedule to come together for prayer.

May the Lord grace us to continue to spend time together as a family for prayer, for fellowship, and for an occasional family blending and building up.

Satanic Lies

In shepherding, one of the most dangerous deceptions is the deception of the devil, the Satanic lies. Satan hates the believers to grow in life, and much more, he hates the shepherding every believers has to either give or take. I have also been facing a direct mental confrontation from Satan with his deceitful lies. Not once, a couple of times. Only the spirit within and the ministry of the word without convinced me otherwise, against Satanic lies.

Two very practical incidents I faced recently are noteworthy. 

Few weeks ago, I was so much tempted to not go for shepherding a family. But because of the burden within, I fought against the tempation and went for a home meeting. As I drove my car, deceitful thoughts crowded my minds: Why do I have to waste my time, energy and money to visit this family? What have I gained from visitng week after week? Nobody paid for my visit. At least, in the business world, for any visit you are paid for it. This family is playing fool with you. Forget about them and just take rest at home. 

My God, I almost believed in these lies. But I did not back down, but went to visit the family on the Lord's day evening.

My! to my surprise, this family was so open! As I ministered the word of God with practical life testimonies, the hearts of the brother and sister melted. The sister was almost in tears. They were so subdued and confessed how much they need to be visited again and again, and be shephered. They also acknowledged how much they need the fellowship of the church. But somehow, something have been a hindrance in their spiritual pursuit. 

As we all prayed, the presence of the Lord was very rich. They both promised to come regulary for the church meeting. Even as I vistied them again yesterday, the Lord did a deeper work in them. The whole family of father, mother, and son decided in oneness to be faithful and regular for this kind of shepherding, and also to attend the Lord's tanle meeting.

Another family too was of similar case. The Satanic lies were: Why visit a family who are not interested? See they have escaped from coming to the meeting. And when I went there, the father of the family did not come home on time. In fact, late by over two hours. Why do I have to waste my time? 

But when they did come home, and the two families gathered together, the Lord's speaking was very rich. Though the fathers of the two families came back from their works after the whole day's labor, they got revived with the ministry of the word. They were so much shepehrded and each of them even testified of how blessed they were with the Lord's speaking. What if I listened to the Satanic lies and backed down from visiting these families? They would have missed that weekly portion of spiritual food supplies.

Thank God for the Spirit within and the Word without. 

Lord, grace me to be faithful to Your word. Never to listen to the Satanic lies but to the written word of God in the books and the spoken word of God in my spirit. 

Shepherding Via WhatsApp

The burden for people the Lord blessed me with, is growing by the day. Many seekers and lovers of the Lord, the Lord has been introducing to the church. Now, we have more than double of the regular attendants of the Lord's table meeting who are open for shepherding either at their home or via phone or WhatsApp messages.

Beginning this month, as I was praying and considering how to effectively and faithfully shepherd all these new ones, the Lord's speaking was very emphatic: Raise up more brothers and sisters to do the perfecting work of shepherding, and use all available means of shepherding-phone or internet. And this is exactly what I have been doing.

To raise up and increase the number of useful saints, as the church we are carrying it out by various ways. For the personal shepherding of the ones the Lord specifically burdened me with, I am doing my best to physically visit them as much as practicality allows, but for the rest, I just cannot leave them as orphans just because I cannot visit them. Therfore, I made a deal with some of these ones, for a regualr fellowship either by phone call or by WhatsApp messages.

Now, I have a database of some of these ones: maintaining a record of messages I sent to them for their studies, to pray over, and experience the word of God. As and when they respond, I send them another message. This online shepherding will go one as long as the Lord graces all of us. By this way, by all means, no one should be left as an orphan.

So far so good. I have found this way of shepherding very effective, and time saving. The only time I spent is to bring these ones before God in my prayer and discern which message to send to whom and when. By this way, there is no problem with country or distance; I am shepheding saints in China, North East India, and different parts of India. If need be, I can call them for fellowship and prayer, otherwise, I send them message as the Lord leads.

2 Timothy 4:2 Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. 

In the line of the word, proclaim the word; be ready on line or off line, using every means available that the saints will be given food at the proper time.

Matthew 24:45  Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time?

Lord, grace me to be Your faithful and prudent slave as much as You grace me with all the sheep for shepherding.

Ministry of the Word Distribution Visit

In 2016 we carried out a ministry of the word literature journey to different parts of Uttrakhand. One of the cities we visited was, Nainital. There we met with all the Christian groups available for meeting during our visit. One particular group's pastor keep contacting me over social media. Infact, we sent him many free tracts for his distribution. He introcuded his relative who is serving here in Gurgaon, but for some reason I could neve meet with him.

Last week, I received a phone call from a Christian pastor in Gurugram who works with the said pastor in Nainital. He called us with the reference and recommendation from the this pastor. He introduced himself and requested if he could come over to meet me, for fellowhsip and also for recieving more tracts. He did come and we had a time of fellowship for about two hours. As we introduced some crucial ministry books we also ministered some truths of the Bible. For the time being, introducing the ministry through the books was all that we could do. We left the matter to the Lord for his pursuit of the ministry books and get back to us for more fellowship.

One thing is sure, the ministry of the word is the ministry of the word; it is meant for all believers, and in time, the Lord will recover His chosen ones to bear His testimony. Our responsibility and burden as of now is: To the believers, minister the ministry; to the gentiles, preach the hihg gospel. Whoever we meet, we minister the word accordingly.

In the coming days, we wait on the Lord to bring many more fellow believers into the understanding and enjoyment of the ministry of the age, and we will also follow the Lord's leading to go and meet whoever the Lord arranges for us to meet. We are not for ourselves, we are for the Lord's. In a true sense, we are for all men as the ministry of the word is for all. 

Lord, bless the distribution of Your word that all Your children will be fed with healthy spiritual food. Here we are, in the city of Gurugram, as a spiritual warehouse, to supply  spiritual food to all Your children. Make us prudent and faithful stewards. 

Ministry of the Word Distribution in Gurgaon

On the 5th of this month, I received a call from a brother informing me of the Gurgaon Christian Leaders' fellowship in Jharsa, Gurgaon. Though it was so sudden, and I was wondering if I could really make it for the meeting, yet as I considered before the Lord, I felt it was the Lord's opening the door among the beleivers in this city. Therefore, I sent out a prayer request and also prayed for this meeting.

On the 6th of March, with two other serving ones, we all went to the venue for the meeting and arrived the venue thrity mninutes earlier. It was our first meeting as scuh in this city though we have been placed here for over a decade. The attendants were mostly Christian leaders and pastors who have their congregation within and around Gurgaon city. The meeting was pentecostal in style and nature. We simply joined the brothers and sisters in their worship of God. Though in outward practices there may be drastic differences, but inwardly, we all are children of God. It was an opportunity for me to open up to fellow Christians simply because we all are believers in Jesus Christ.

Though it was my first time to attend such a meeting, the host was kind enough to give me time to present and introduce the ministry books. I introduced the ministry books to the crowd of some forty Christian leaders. The response was very obvious.

Two Christian pastors were very interested in the ministry books. They purchased some books for their pursuit and wanted to have more fellowship with us. They even invited me to visit them the following Lord's day. In fact, these two pastors were not new to me. 

Few years ago while distributing tract in Cyber City, a biker saw me and stopped by to meet me. He introduced himself as a Christian pastor and was very glad that I was distributing gosple tracts. We exchanged phone numbers and considered to meet, but that never happened. Many years after, we met in this leaders' meet. 

As for the other pastor, as fas as my memory goes, I met him while preaching the gospel in a park. Since then we have been in touch on WhatsApp but never met. Though I did talk to him over the phone once, but we never could meet. Finally, we met in the leaders' meet.

To me, these two brothers were very unique from the rest. First I already met them before. Second, we have been in touch on social media. And third, they were very open to the ministry books. Our meeting was sovereiognly timed by the Lord. Though there were many other leaders, deep within me, these two brothers have the simplicity and purity, as my spirit witnessed to it. I was glad that the Lord took me there. In His time, we will meet with these two brothers again and perhaps, the Lord would shine on them to see His heart's desire.

Though some rumor and false accusation were spread by some leaders against the ministry, though none of them dared to face me face to face, atlesat to check if their misinformed news could be validated. But one brother did ask me if the doctrine of the ministry books were sound. My emphatic reply was, "Very Sound! You have to read to find out for yourself." To this brother, I gifted God's Eternal Plan as a foretaste of the ministry and requested him to read and get back for more fellowship. Later, I also messaged him of the need to search and find out the truth as the Berean believers in Acts 17:11  Now these people were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

We are in the city of Gurugram becasue the Lord has placed us here. In His time and in His way, we will be one with Him for His testimony in this city. 

Lord, bless Gurugam with Your healthy words.

Church Blending

Last Friday, the 22nd of March, the Lord blessed the church through the visitation of a brother from the United States. Though he came mainly for the full time training classes , he could spent a night with the church in Gurugram for fellowship. His coming enabled us to arrange for a meeting for the church.

Though I was a little reluctanct about having a big meeting when a brother proposed for one, as I considered convinience rather than opportunity. My initial thought was to take this brother to one of the home meetings. But if that be the case, only those who attend that home meeting would benefit it. I thank the Lord for my brother who had the insight for the church's benefit. So, in coordination, we made some arrangment.

The meeting was well attended by mostly young people and some new families. The Lord's speaking through our brother was also very simple yet very apt. The burden was on eating the Lord as the living bread as the Lord presented Himself as such in Mathew 15:21-28. It is by eating the Lord Jesus as the Bread that we can live a normal Christian life. The best way to live a normal Christian life is by eating the Lord Jesus as the living Bread, not by religiously trying to live a Christian life. The saints were strenghtened, and much more we got the opporotunity to be blended together. This simple yet touching message was the Lord's speaking to the church. Then we all enjoyed our lovefeast together.

The meeting also coincides with seven college students visiting the city of Gurgaon, the friends of a brother in the church. It was also an opportunity for these new students to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, perhaps, for the first time in their lives. The way to eat the Lord by calling upon His Name was just the right gospel message. Everyone calling the Name of the Lord is the best way to receive the Lord! All these new ones had the opportunity to call on the Lord's Name, the best gospel message ever, leading people to call on the Lord's Name!

Prasie the Lord for this wonderful time of church blending! More fellowship, more reality of the Body life.