Shepherding urban believers is critical to modern churches. A Chinese preacher named Chen Enzhun of Guangdong Union Church shares six key points of shepherding urban believers: to put the Bible as the core, the workplace as the threshing floor, families as units, fellowships as the model, care as the feature and preaching as the circle.
This passage will talk about the first three key points.
1.The Bible as the core
To shepherd urban believers in the workplace, pastors or preachers should put the Bible as the core and build believers on God's Word.
"Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."(Matthew 28:20)
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."(2 Timothy 3:16)
2.The workplace as the shepherding field
Christians should understand that whether working in churches or in the society, one is doing a sacred occupation. The workplace is more like the threshing floor where we practice our faith and preach the Gospel because it is hard for most people to go to church to listen to the sermon but it is easier for them to see Christians' lives in the workplace.
So churches should teach Christians to regard their workplace as the threshing floor and to live out the beautiful life of Christ as well as to prepare their own hearts. As the Bible says, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." (1 Peter 3:15)
3.Families as units
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--- you and your household."(Acts 16:31) "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."(Joshua 24:15) God values families so much that he set marriage and families himself in the Garden of Eden in order to "seek godly offspring" (Malachi 2:15).
In the age of the Old Testament, God chose Abraham's family, whose descendants made a people then founded a country. He chose Noah's family to build an ark, which is a much-told story.
After the foundation of the early churches, there are good examples of the families who converted to Christianity like the families of Cornelius, Lydia, the jailer and Philip. The couple Aquila and Priscilla became the good co-workers of Paul. Families are so important. However, the famous people like Gideon, Eli, Samuel, King David in the Bible and even many servants God greatly used in modern churches didn't have good offspring for they didn't value their families.
