From the Pastor’s Desk (290)
I get the sense that some shepherds believe they are doing a good job as long as their members consistently attend house church meetings on Friday evenings and form a closely knit community. Because of this, they don’t seem overly concerned when their members neglect Sunday corporate worship or weekday Bible studies.
However, the truth is this: unless all three axes—weekly house church, weekday Bible studies, and Sunday corporate worship—are fully embraced and practiced, people will not grow in a holistic way: emotionally, intellectually, and volitionally, as God intended.
Even if a person is fully committed to weekly house church, if they are not also committed to participating in Sunday corporate worship and taking weekday Bible studies in a timely manner, their spiritual growth will be, at best, 15–20%.
You might ask, “Why is that? If someone is fully committed to at least one of the three axes, shouldn’t their spiritual growth be around 33.3%?” What this kind of question fails to consider is the synergistic effect produced when all three axes are practiced wholeheartedly.
Each of the three—weekly house church, weekday Bible studies, and Sunday corporate worship service—may contribute 15–20% to a person’s growth when practiced in isolation. But when they are embraced together, they don’t just add—they multiply—resulting in 90–100% spiritual growth, forming a healthy and vibrant Christian life.
A shepherd may think his house church members are growing simply because they attend house church meetings faithfully. But watch what happens to those members over the course of three to five years if they are not also committed to weekday Bible studies and Sunday corporate worship. They will eventually become spiritually lethargic, give up, and drop out of the race.
Furthermore, many shepherds do not turn in their ministry journals to me regularly, even though they made a covenant with God and with me to do their best to submit them weekly. When a shepherd doesn’t turn in his ministry journal, it communicates to me that he believes he can carry out his house church shepherding ministry on his own—without my advice or prayer support.
If a shepherd thinks he can lead a vibrant and thriving house church without his pastor’s coaching, guidance, and prayers, he is free to try. But I assure you, with that mindset, his ministry will not go far.
Submitting one’s ministry journal regularly is a demonstration of humility before God, as well as respect and trust toward me. I am not divine—even though I do have the gift of discernment. But if a shepherd doesn’t share with me about his house church, I won’t know. And if I don’t know, I can’t help.
Therefore, shepherds, let’s humble ourselves and remember that both you and your members need all three axes. And in order to encourage and challenge your house church members to be fully committed to these three axes, you must be the first to embrace and practice them as non-negotiables.
What you don’t have, you can’t give to others. What you don’t practice, you can’t ask others to do. And where you refuse to go, you can’t tell others to go. Shepherds are servant-leaders. We lead and guide our members by modeling and being an example to them.
Shepherds, please review the Shepherd’s Covenant you signed in the past. Go before the Lord and ask Him whether you have been faithful in keeping that covenant. If you haven’t, then repent, recommit, and become the shepherd your house church members needs you to be.
Your pastor,
Pastor Eric
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