Shepherding in Shillong: Brothers' Fellowship

On the 8th of December, the Lord's day afternoon, the leading brothers of the church in Shillong came together for fellowship. Initially, a brother and I thought of fellowshipping on the truth concerning oneness as desired by the Lord in the Bible as expounded in the book, The Genuine Ground of Oneness. But as we gathered together and started the fellowship, the Lord's leading was to speak on the more urgent need, I believe, as the Lord sees it for the church. The burden on truth constitution was released.

Constitution

For about three hours, we enjoyed the flow of life through the ministry of the word. We ministered from the life of the children of God, how the Lord led them out of Egypt into the wilderness and fed them with just manna and manna only for forty long years with the main goal of reconstituting them. Using this analogy, we fellowshipped at length on the urgency for the saints to be reconstituted with the up-to-date speaking of the Lord in His recovery. For the practical constitution, we introduced the Holy Word for Morning Revival and encouraged the brothers to try it first and then introduce to the saints. To avoid misunderstanding, we also clarified the distinction between the publication work and the local churches.  The publication works are for the feeding and shepherding of the saints in the local churches.

For the constitution of the saints, we also encouraged the brothers to pursue the ministry books, especially the Holy Bible, Recovery Version, and also some crucial ministry books. The ministry books are meant to help enjoy and understand the word of God and not to replace the Bible.

For this, I also encouraged two brothers to take care of the ministry books; one for Hindi for which I gave one entire set of Hindi books, and one for English for which I left two books of the ministry books by brother Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.

Fellowship, Blending, and Building

We also fellowship the need for the saints in the local church to be blended as one though there may be different language speaking meetings. Here in Shillong, they have Khasi speaking and Hindi speaking meetings. The two meetings should just be one church under one administration within the same local church. 

We also encouraged the church to blend with nearby local churches in North East India. If possible, they may also blend with churches in different parts of India and abroad. We released our burden to help the brothers see the vision and need for fellowship, blending, and building up of the Body of Christ in oneness. 

Prayer

After a sweet time of fellowship, we brothers prayed together and committed ourselves, the saints, and the church to the Lord.

The brothers in Shillong also are in fellowship with at least 15 other local churches all over Meghalaya. May the Lord shepherd and recover all of them!

May the Lord bless the church in Shillong! 

Shepherding in Shillong: An Officer's Family

A high ranking officer, an IRS, who also is my distant relative was just posted to Shillong. One Lord's day afternoon we visited them for a short while fellowship. The time spent with the family was very encouraging. 

I have met this family about a decade ago the first time when my own elder sister invited me to attend a Baptist congregation in Imphal where I shared on "Christ as Life" when I was given the time. It was after that message that the wife of this officer invited me to their home for lunch. Since then, our relationship in Christ continued, though not frequent.

As I visited them this time, I was very glad, at the same time very surprised at their countenance and their reaction to our visit as Christian brothers. I could easily sense that they have grown so much in the Lord; their love for the Lord has grown so much. Listening to their testimonies of loving the Lord and their effort to serve the Lord in whatever way they could was such a joy to my ear. In fact, I have so much burden for them and have been praying for them in my family prayer. I could literally see the answer to my prayer.

The brother testified of me that I have been very blessed as I have been serving the Lord and he, just a servant of the government of India, despite being a very reputed high ranking job. He confessed he is just a government servant and I am the servant of God. Though I take no pride in what the Lord blessed me with, I am glad that he could see and realize the value of God and serving Him. Not many high officers have this view. I even questioned him if he would allow his own son to serve God. To my surprise again, he replied that if the Lord so wills, that would be his first choice. In fact, he testified that he left it to the Lord even as his own father gave him the choice of serving the Lord when he was young.

I released my burden on the one new man and the need for all Christians to see the vision of the one new man and be blended and built up as one. He appreciated the truth we have been proclaiming and I hope that one day the Lord would shepherd him fully for His testimony wherever he is. 

I gifted him, The Orthodoxy of the Church, and Shepherding Materials to his daughter.

After enjoying a time of prayer together, we took leave. May the Lord continue to work in my brother's family and fully shepherd them. 

Shepherding in Shillong: A Family

One evening in Shillong a brother and sister invited us for fellowship and for love-feast. It was a surprise to me as this family has been through tough times, as far as I know. The way the Lord shepherded them into the church is also through the shepherding of a brother who shepherded them in times of hardship especially when they lost their daughter prematurely and unexpectedly years ago.

In my previous visits, one time with a couple from the USA, they had a doubt about the teaching of the outer darkness. We did our best to reply to them, hopefully, the answer would satisfy them. The other time, they came with questions which to me were a repetition of some opposers' attack on the Lord's recovery available online. To my knowledge, we did our best to address their questions. Though the fellowship did not end on a satisfactory note, I was not disturbed at all. To me, they are my brother and sister, and they have the right to question any teaching and practice of the church-life. Though they may not be clear of all teachings and practices then, they are still precious members of the Body of Christ and my fellow brother and sister in Christ. I trust the Lord will continue to shepherd them and fully recover them and make them pillars for His testimony.

Later, I was told that this couple was not in good terms with one of the brothers entering politics. Immediately, I texted them to encourage them in the Lord and even, if possible, visit other local churches within India and also abroad to have a better view and experience of the practical church life. I requested them that I would text them ministry messages on a regular basis and continue only if they read and reply back. I did that in a way of shepherding for quite some time until I was requested to join the church WhatsApp group where I could post messages regularly for all the saints including them.

Last month they had been to China for their daughter's medical college when the sister contacted me for the saint's contact detail. Through fellowship, I did my best to contact the saints in China. A sister from the local church visited them at their hotel and invited them for the Lord's Table Meeting and fellowship in the local church there. I believe the Lord had used that as a channel for them to see and taste the church life practically. Perhaps, that too was their first contact with a local church outside their locality.

After passing through all these, I was glad to hear that they have been recovered back to the fellowship of the church there. I was glad to fellowship with them in their home and their invitation came as a surprise to me. May the Lord continue to bless my brother and sister.

With much burden for the family, I gifted them The Vision of the Age and Lessons on Prayer.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in shepherding the saints and the church in Shillong!

Shepherding in Shillong

The Lord in His sovereignty brought us to Shillong on 4th December Wednesday, though this time with the burden for distribution, we stay till 9th December. Still, He arranged important fellowships with a certain group of saints. Soon after we arrived at our hospitality home, a fellowship was arranged with a group of children. Many more fellowships followed thereafter. A brother and I coordinated in all the fellowships. In fact, I simply followed the burden my brother had first released. In that way, we enjoyed sweet coordination and the Lord’s burden was release one after the other.

Fellowship with Children 

We shared our testimony of salvation and encouraged the young ones to exercise calling upon the name of the Lord. Besides, we emphasized the need for reading the Bible and prayer every day. In this age, we also emphasized the need for loving the Lord above all and prayed for all of them. These are the saints' children and then we prayed that they all will turn out to be useful vessels to the Lord.

Fellowship with an Uncle's Family

An Uncle, my guardian when I was studying in Shillong invited us for a time of fellowship to his home. We shared on the need for growth in life by actively pursuing the Lord with life testimonies. The family was so impressed by the fellowship on the Lord's dealing with us through the environmental circumstances, and through such, we must actively turn to the Lord to learn the necessary spiritual lessons and gain Christ that we all may be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God.

Fellowship with the Saints in Nongkharah

After the distribution in Jowai, a brother invited us to visit the saints in this locality. The saints were mostly uneducated and by profession, farmers, and there were many children. They simply loved the Lord. Even their mere presence was a sight to behold, simple and pure in loving the Lord. They offered a very authentic local food which was so cherishing. Our fellowship with them was on how the fallen human life is a life of vanity of vanities. Yet, in Christ, the Lord turned it into Song of Songs. The secret to this turning from vanity to vanities to a song of songs is loving the Lord as our first and best love. We enjoyed the sweet time of singing and prayer.

Fellowship with Nepali Speaking Saints

One night we fellowshipped with the Nepali speaking saints. We were so touched by what they testified to us: "Brothers, we have been praying for you to visit us. Now the Lord has answered our prayers by bringing you here." That was very encouraging and cherishing. We shared them the practical ways to grow in life by daily coming to the Lord. These saints are brought into the church only a few years ago and they mostly are from Gentile backgrounds. Though economically weaker and all are immigrants, they have been growing in the Lord and also in numbers.

Fellowship with the Church on the Lord's Day

The church in Shillong arranged a combined Lord's Table Meeting on the 8th of December. We participated in the hymn singing and break a breaking meeting. After which a brother and I were given time to minister the word. 

The Lord led us to minister on Christ and the Church. We based our ministering on the five basic offerings in Leviticus 1-5; the burnt-offering, the meal-offering, the peace-offering, the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering. These are the types and the reality is Christ. Our portion in the New Testament is to enjoy Christ as the reality of all these offerings. The issue of enjoying Christ as such will be the corporate expression of Christ, the church. The church in life is the Body of Christ and the church in person is Christ the One New Man. The only way to express Christ corporately is by partaking of Christ as all the offerings and also by taking Christ as our person.

May the Lord continue to bless the church in Shillong!

Shepherding: Saints and Serving Ones

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and the fact is, we were all born of the flesh. Though we were also born of the Spirit in our spirits, practically and mostly, we still live in the flesh. This is the source of all the problems in our human life and also in our Christian lives. Growth in life is of utmost importance to not live by the flesh; the stronger our spirit becomes, the easier to live by the Spirit. Otherwise, living by the flesh is natural and normal.

Our serving ones has been facing coordination problems mostly instigated by one particular one who has been overcomed by his temper. Outburst of anger is like a bomb explosion that destroyed the peaceful ambience in the office. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but even more, such volcanic eruptions of temper disturbed the other serving ones in the office. Often, he even dared to attack the office administration. My reaction was just a silent prayer for the culprit and the victims. Whenever such eruption occurred, the matter had to be handled in fellowship. We have had such fellowship thrice. It sounds like a shameful thing for serving ones to stoop this low. The fact is, we all are still too humane. Therefore, the problem.

I cannot shy away nor silently ignore such problems. Officially I had to step in. Yet I must not deal the flesh with the flesh. In fellowship, the flesh must be dealt with by the Spirit. That's exactly what was done. I called for fellowship and let all the serving ones speak what was their real situation. This I did not do it alone. I have a brother who is my coordinator; together we dealt with the problem. This also was a test for me in my service on how to coordinate and deal with situation corporately in oneness and in fellowship. The result of such was a practical perfecting in my Christian life and service life. Though the enemy must have meant it for worse, the Lord meant if for good. I learn, yes I believe we all learn together through circumstances.

Besides, there was also an issue in the proposal of a sister by a brother's relatives in another locality. Even in this, the enemy tried to creep in and dared to destroy our oneness. But immediately we realised that it was the attack of the enemy. Therefore, in fellowship, I and my brother gave up our own opinions and allowed the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts. Thereby, giving no ground for the enemy to attack us in any way.

What a lesson on coordination! What a lesson dealing with the flesh by the Spirit in our spirit! The Lord is blessing His testimony and the enemy is trying hard to tarnish the Lord's testimony. Thank God, Christ has defeated the enemy at the cross already! We simply take Christ as our life, living, thinking, feeling, and decision.

All these precious lessons were learned through shepherding the saints and the serving ones. Despite all these, still many more lessons to learn.

Lord, shepherd me. Lord, train and perfect me. 

Shepherding: A Sister

The youngest sister of one of the sisters in the church life who is of local Haryanvi was contacted a year ago. When we first visited her home, a New Testament Recovery Version Bible was gifted to her, which she treasures and keeps it near her pillow. Though the gospel has been preached to her and even helped her to pray and call upon the Lord, she was still under the bondage of idolatry. Prayer for her and her family salvation has been offered by the saints and also in the church prayer meeting. The Lord is the Saviour and He works in His own way and at His own time.

Last week there was an issue at her home. Her family claimed that they were attacked by her ex-husband with black magic which resulted in her mother suffering from partial facial paralysis. We paid her family a visit and assured them that only the Lord Jesus Christ is the solution to all their problems. We also preached the gospel of Jesus Christ one more time and led them to call upon the name of the Lord, which they all willing did. Then we prayed for them.

Last Lord's day, as she and her mother were on their way to a shopping mall, she felt a very strong attraction to come to the meeting hall of the church in Gurugram. She did not know why such a deep feeling suddenly happened to her. She finally yielded to the inward leading and drove to the meeting hall. In the meeting hall, we prayed for the family, then the sisters attended to her, and her mother was given an acupressure treatment.

The following day we received a message saying that she herself had decided to take water baptism. It was a surprise yet we realised that it was the Holy Spirit operating in her. As she came joyfully to the meeting hall to be baptised, she testified that the moment she made up her mind and decided to take water baptism and follow the Lord Jesus faithfully, she got released from the mysterious oppression that caused her to depend on sleeping pill to be able to sleep. She slept very well and did not take sleeping pill as the joy of the Lord was upon her. She even did not want any distraction from her decision to be baptised, so she had not informed her parent about her decision. We left that matter to her. We fellowshipped to her about the spiritual significances of water baptism and led her to be baptised. 

Praise the Lord! What a joy it was for her, the Church, and her elder sister especially. May the Lord shepherd her to grow in her daily and be a witness to all her relatives and friends. 

Ministry of the Word Literature Journey to North India

Report: The Ministry of the Word Literature Journey 

Rampur, Juori, Kinnaur, and Panchkula

13-18 November 2019

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14

The door was opened for the distribution of the ministry of the word to these parts of North India through a sister who came into the church life a few years ago. The Lord used her to initiate His move and key Christian leaders were contacted. 

Rampur, HP

A well-known Christian leader welcomed us to his house and invited a couple of other pastors to give us an audience. We introduced the ministry books to all of them. They were all so impressed with the riches of the ministry, and to their surprise, the contents of the ministry books were the timely words they needed desperately for themselves and for the believers under their shepherding.

By the way, this brother also happened to be the key Christian leader in town who had been persecuted by religious fanatics. Yet many believers thronged his congregation and he is leading the biggest Christian group in town. Now with his new found truths, the ministry books, he will be ministering what he learned and will distribute the same among the believers with him and his coworkers. He even invited us to visit his congregation on the following Lord’s day and minister the word, but we could not make it this time.

Juori, HP

The home of the sister who invited us for this distribution trip was our base. Every evening while we were there, seeking neighbors would gather together for fellowship and prayer. We ministered some basic truths on The Mystery of human Life, Calling Upon the Lord’s Name, Assurance, Security, and Joy of Salvation, etc., to them. Four seeking men requested for a clarification on baptism; we preached the gospel to them and help them received the Lord and expounded to them the truth concerning baptism. 

A sincere and seeking brother who is the pioneer of the gospel move in Juori and has been shepherding a few hundreds of local believers was very impressed by the truths we presented to him. He wanted to study the ministry books and bought the entire set in Hindi. He appreciated our beliefs and practices concerning the church life. With his vague understanding, he even named his congregation and the ministry he carries out as “the Body of Christ.” He even reckoned the ministry books we brought to him as “divine seeds” and expected that within a span of ten years something solid among Christians who will read the books should be manifested. We fully amen his burden and echoed the same burden back to him.

A brother who has been shepherding a congregation invited us to introduce the ministry books on the Lord’s day, which we gladly did. He was so impressed and felt blessed so much so that he proposed to conduct a few days seminar in Juori for which he invited us to be the “speakers”.  

Bhabanagar-Kinnauri HP

The Lord in His sovereignty had planned a gathering of Bible translators to Kinnauri, the local dialect, along with a group of Christian leaders. It was on that day, at that place, and at that time that we visited and were warmly welcomed. For about an hour, we introduced the ministry books and ministered the word. All of them received the ministry books. Among them, the key Bible translator was so interested in the Recovery Version Bible and requested for a copy. These were the key people in the entire Kinnaur region who are serving the Lord.

Panchkula Haryana

A Christian leader who has been conducting trainings and seminars for various other Christian workers was so impressed by the truths presented in the ministry books. Though he read some books by brother Watchman Nee before and heard about the local churches, it was his first time to come in face-to-face contact and fellowship with us. One thing that impressed him deeply was our emphasis on the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of all the positive things in the Bible. Our vision of Christ and the church attracted him too. He promised to introduce and promote the ministry books in his seminars, and among the believers and coworkers he hasn been serving with.

May the Lord richly bless the sowing of the divine seeds through the ministry of the word and raise up His testimonies in all these localities. 

Prayer Burdens

Pray for the Lord's continual shepherding of all these ones who received the ministry books and for the recovery of His testimony in all these localities. 

The state of Himachal is the land of Gods and Goddesses, thus is known as “Devbhoomi”. It is due to the presence of so many temples Himachal has earned the name of “DEVBHOOMI HIMACHAL”. Pray that through the sowing of the divine seeds through the ministry of the word, this land would indeed be the “the land of the true and living God!”