Small Group Participant’s Cuide

Session 13

The Shepherd and His church

The one thing we know for certain is that Jesus doesn’t see the church as we maybe see it. For Jesus, His church worldwide and throughout history is one entity, drawn together under His kingship.

We don’t have to look far to see what the Shepherd has to say to the church. In the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation, we can see exactly what He has to say.

According to the NIV Study Bible, the general pattern in the letters written to the seven historic churches in Asia Minor is, ‘commendation, complaint and correction’.

Bert Waggoner said this with regards to the local church, ‘In the New Testament, the primary focus is on the local church. That means the full expression of the church, in a real sense, is in the local church. The part is equal to the whole when the New Testament speaks about it. Each local church possesses not a fragment of Christ but the whole of Christ’.

Eugene Peterson, in his book entitled ‘Reversed Thunder’, says this, “the gospel pulls us into community. One of the immediate changes that the gospel makes is grammatical. We instead of I, our instead of my, us instead of me. WE…OUR…US. Churches are supposed to be ‘All Age’, ‘All Skin Colour’, ‘All Ability’, ‘All Social Backgrounds’. The Bride of Christ is called to be inclusive, not exclusive. It has always been its calling to welcome the stranger, the outcast, the rich, the poor, the troubled, the one that doesn’t fit, the free, the prisoner, the widow and the orphan.

The calling from the Shepherd for His church is the complete opposite to what the world would say.

It is good for us to remember the Shepherd’s prayer to His Father, about the unity of the body. Read John 17:11 and discuss.

Questions:

1. Are you in leadership in the local church? If the answer is yes, are you honouring the other fellowships who proclaim Jesus as the saviour of the world? What would you say, and how could you improve on what you currently do?
2. Do you believe in community and doing life with others in the church you call home? Do you think – We instead of I, our instead of my, us instead of me? If not, how could you change?