Volume 3 Issue 12December 1998
 http://www.parenthood-divine-stewardship.org/parenthood-divine-stewardship-v3i12p1.asp
Shepherding Means Everything - 11:01 AM 8/9/2006

"In August of 1996, Brother Witness Lee, during a time of intimate fellowship with some of his co-workers, expressed his burden that some of our university students in corporate living arrangements may not be receiving the kind of loving and forgiving care that we find in the heart of our Father God. He cited the parable of the prodigal son to show that our Father's love and forgiveness are clearly depicted by the father in the parable. The father anxiously watched for the return of his son, and when the prodigal returned, the father ran to meet him and kissed him with a joyful embrace. Although the prodigal was ready to live as a hired hand to his father, the father welcomed him home with a robe, a ring, and a feast. We, however, may be very different in our approach toward those who do not live up to our standard of proper behavior. Instead of love and forgiveness, we may exercise a strict code of discipline insisting that every violation must be answered by a just retribution."

"During the course of his fellowship relating to our oversight of students in corporate living arrangements, Brother Lee often referred to parental care. This issue of Parenthood excerpts the portions in which he cited parental care as an example of the care that we should afford to the students in corporate housing..."

"...Secondly, while we remain absolutely dependent on the sovereignty of God for our children's spiritual well-being, we still must exercise the utmost care, shepherding them with much cherishing and nurturing. "To me, shepherding means everything…," he asserts. He urges us, as parents, to exercise tender care for our children: "Even in our human life, family life, and marriage life there is the need of shepherding, and shepherding requires cherishing."
 
from page 3:
"We may do the work of the ministry, but the unfitting manner in which we behave and conduct ourselves kills our ministry."

"...The result, the issue, of our work very much depends on our way of conducting ourselves. We are taking care of the brothers' and sisters' homes, but how do we conduct ourselves, how do we behave, and what way do we take?"

"...Ephesians is a very high book, but it comes down to say, "Be angry, yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your indignation" (4:26). If we had written Ephesians, we may not have added this word. We may only have spoken the high peaks in the first three and a half chapters of this book, but Paul came down from the high peaks in the second half of chapter four and chapters five and six. These portions are very meaningful."

"....John 10 and 21 are chapters on shepherding. Chapter ten speaks of the Lord's coming as the Shepherd. He is the Shepherd, and He is the door in and the door out to the pasture. In 10:10 He says, "I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly," and in verse 11 He says, "I am the good Shepherd." He also says that He lays down His human life for the sake of shepherding. To give life requires shepherding. Without shepherding, it is hard for the divine life to work within us. Chapter twenty-one is a very important appendix on shepherding. John is a book on the divine life, but the divine life depends upon shepherding. Even in our human life, family life, and marriage life there is the need of shepherding, and shepherding requires cherishing. Husbands and wives need to cherish each other all the time. If a couple does not know how to cherish each other, they will have trouble. Parents also need to shepherd their children. If shepherding could be practiced everywhere, the whole of society would become a utopia. Misunderstandings and oppositions mainly come from the shortage of shepherding."

-A message given by Brother Witness Lee in Anaheim, California on August 19, 1996, published in The Ministry Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 9, October 1998, pp. 5-16.