SHEPHERDING THE FUTURE BRIDE

Hope International churches have devised a one-to-one shepherding system that has nurtured countless members. Yet, there are times when shepherding has placed a toll on our energies and it seemed a drudgery to keep up with our shepherding schedules. Realising what our goal in the Christian journey is all about will motivate us to shepherd diligently. Jesus will be coming back for a perfect bride.

God wants us to grow to maturity and sets the marker as the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Hence, Christian growth is a long-haul process.

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3

We see that God will put the finishing touches to the maturity process but the process involves us “purifying” ourselves through His grace in our walk on this earth. There is both our human part as well as His part to help us mature.

Since we are called to a lofty goal of maturity (or perfection), it means:

1. A high-goal growth process

The end-result of our discipleship process is the highest that we can embark upon as we attempt to become fully Christ-like. Stop for a moment to let this sink inside you. This means that we are trying to move on the path towards maturity ourselves whilst attempting to help our sheep walk towards the same goal.

There must be that desire for maturity in us. Resolve in our hearts that whatever it takes, we will continue to move towards maturity.

Read the Word diligently. It will help us to see what God wants us to become as His sons and daughters.

• Pray over that Word fervently.
  
• Prayer will help to ignite that desire planted inside us.
• Pray first for ourselves
• Pray for our sheep that they will be likewise minded.

3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints. Colossians 1:3-4

We need to revisit this frequently. The devil would like to prevent God’s bride being fully prepared so that his time of judgement will be postponed.

Realising that we are aiming for maturity will propel us to use our time well. As the pathway is long, we will have to constantly keep on growth mode. We will also evaluate constantly whether our disciples are maturing or not. We will see that there are many areas of improvement needed and work at them.

2. A lifelong learning process

When I first became a Christian in university, I was taught and diligently practised daily devotion, fellowship and evangelism. I sought to pass on these practices to other new believers as well. At that time, a simple rendering of those disciplines was the pinnacle of the Christian growth process to me.

But if we understand God’s ultimate, we have a long, long way to go. To be able to help our sheep attain the lofty goals set by Christ, we ourselves need to grow to the level of maturity as well. We can only teach and impart fully based on life lessons we have gone through ourselves.

HIM churches have a core value of being bible-based. We have a lot of teaching resources.

There are opportunities to learn through various international and local conferences, right down to weekly care group meetings. There is an abundance of resources for us to draw upon. We should be able to teach our disciples continually and exhaustively.

16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Brides generally are so enthusiastic about the wedding day that they prepare in various ways to make it their “big day”, a day which will be memorable for them and their spouse. In the book of Esther, Esther went through 12 months of beauty treatments in her quest to become the next queen. We should be willing to wait upon and receive from the Lord, even accepting chastening and correction from Him and improve ourselves in every way and impart that same spirit to our disciples.

In the process of shepherding we help our disciples develop both character and skills.

We need to understand that their skill-set will be different from ours since God created each of us as unique individuals. We may help them develop skills we have learned and developed ourselves but they are likely to have certain skills which we are not our strong points. We should guide them to receive inputs and training from others who are more developed in their skills in those areas, and have greater experience in those skill areas.

3. A continued dynamic relationship with God

One key thing that characterises a future bride is her excitement over the forthcoming wedding day. She will have many plans for that day. She will prepare herself physically, mentally and emotionally.

We need to maintain our fervour for Jesus. That is extremely important for us to be good shepherds over the long haul.

When we are passionate for Jesus, that passion will be transmitted to our sheep. Over time, there will be periods when we may be down or when our sheep gets down. That is why regular shepherding plays a part as shepherds can re-ignite the enthusiasm in their sheep.

10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 1 Thess 2:10-12

But we can only give what we have. Hence as shepherds we need to remind ourselves that continual refreshing is required from Christ so that we can help our disciples aspire to be part of that bride.

James Loke
HIM Education Group 1 (Director)