Monday, July 22 Shepherd the flock of God in your care, not under compulsion, but willingly.—1 Pet. 5:2. The apostle wrote that the older men were to ‘shepherd the flock of God in their care.’ It was most important for them to recognize that the flock belongs to Jehovah and Jesus Christ. The elders had to render an account about how they kept watch over God’s sheep. Suppose that a close friend of yours asked you to look after his children while he was away. Would you not take good care of them and feed them? If one child got sick, would you not make sure that he received any needed medical help? Similarly, the elders in the congregation are “to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own Son.†(Acts 20:28) They keep in mind that each sheep was bought with the precious blood of Christ Jesus. Being accountable, the elders feed, protect, and care for the flock. w11 6/15 3:5
This scripture was featured as the daily text only a month ago - June 22. At least this time, the comments are relevant to the text being featured for the day.
Yesterday, I had a discussion with a very good friend of mine. I told him that the flock may happen to be neglected by the elders because of the latter ones being more busy preaching or working at building kingdom halls elsewhere than taking care of the flock. In fact, his reasoning is as follows : the capable and skilled elders are busy elsewhere and those who remain aren't skilled or capable enough to take properly care of the flock. The solution would thus be for the skilled elders to keep being busy elsewhere and for the "weak" elders to drop their charges so there aren't elders anymore left in the cong and so Bethel sends out an announcement for more skilled elders to go and settle in said congregation. So the problem according to them isn't that skilled elders aren't where they're the most needed but that useless elders don't drop their charges so Bethel may send useful replacements*. My friend told me that the most important task for elders isn't to take care of the flock but to keep preaching... Argh ! I almost passed out when I heard this ! I told him that I disagreed but as he disagreed back again, I rain checked a deeper conversation with him about that issue. My opinion is that it is useless to expect Jehovah to bless our preaching activity if the flock is neglected... Elders are shepherds above all... The problem is that the flock is being neglected and that the unique solution that comes to people's minds is something that will never happen and in the meantime, whilst "bla bla bla" and hot air are going on, Jehovah's sheep are left in the lurch. As said above, I'm gonna have some other discussions with my friend and with Jehovah's help, I hope that he'll change his mind regarding what matters the most. * The point here being that Bethel sends out help calls when the number of elders goes down below a certain number of elders in a given cong, regardless of the number of elders who are really able to fulfill their responsibilities and take properly care of the flock when the others are absent.
Hi Utuna: This is a question of love, as it often is. Do we love the brothers that we hope to have in the future through our preaching activity more than we love the brothers that we already have? In the societies case, if they indeed agree with your friend, the answer is yes. But that should not be the case, and that is why there is a clear need for balance in this expression of love. We must love the brothers that we already have equally with the brothers that we hope to have through the preaching activity. Of course, it is not always easy to do, but what good does it do to bring one in through the front door as 1 or 2 are leaving through the back? No good at all. It is not easy to have such a balance, but love never is easy. frank
I'm not perfect and make mistakes sometimes so I won't outright condemn them (as Paul said : "And now, brothers, I know that YOU acted in ignorance, just as YOUR rulers also did."). I often wonder if I live in the same world as them so to speak, if I witness the same things as them or even if I read the same things as them in the Bible or the publications. My opinion is that no, we don't live in the same world. Like the Jews, they have a veil upon their hearts (2Cor3:15). Effectively, a balanced point of view is important. Regardless of the issue related to whether we preach the Good News or promote a blameworthy organisation through our activity, the preaching work has helped many thousands of people to have a strong relationship with Jehovah and freed them from Satan's clutches. It is all-important, in my opinion,that we keep preaching the Good News but as Jesus demonstrated through his illustration of the gnat and the camel, the other things aren't to be disregarded. Many b/s and/or elders pretend that they don't disregard them but that's wrong. They're lying to themselves and to others. They disregard it indeed ! They're erroneous in both quantitative and qualitative aspects, at that ! They don't do enough and also have a misconception of what the other things may be comprised of...
Yep ! In that case, please use plan B to contact me... It's more reliable and faster as I receive immediate notifications right on my cellphone.