VIII.　The elders should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body life:

A.　In order for love to prevail in the church, love must prevail among the elders in the eldership; love covers and builds up, so love is the most excellent way for us to be anything and to do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ—1 Cor. 12:31b.

B.　In the practice of the church life according to God's economy, God has ordained that there be a plurality of elders, an eldership, to be a model of the Body life with the distinctive feature of mutuality:

B.　NOTE: "In Scripture we see that there was always more than one elder…in a local church. It is not God's will that one believer should be singled out from all the others to occupy a place of special prominence, while the others passively submit to his will. If the management of the entire church rests upon one man, how easy it is for him to become self-conceited, esteeming himself above measure and suppressing the other brethren (3 John). God has ordained that several elders together share the work of the church, so that no one individual should be able to run things according to his own pleasure, treating the church as his own special property and leaving the impress of his personality upon all its life and work. To place the responsibility in the hands of several brethren, rather than in the hands of one individual, is God's way of safeguarding His church against the evils that result from the domination of a strong personality. God has purposed that several brothers should unitedly bear responsibility in the church, so that even in controlling its affairs they have to depend one upon the other and submit one to the other. Thus, in an experimental way, they will discover the meaning of bearing the cross, and they will have opportunity to give practical expression to the truth of the Body of Christ. As they honor one another and trust one another to the leading of the Spirit, none taking the place of the Head, but each regarding the others as fellow members, the element of mutuality, which is the distinctive feature of the church, will be preserved" (taken from The Normal Christian Church Life—The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set Two, Volume 30, pp. 49-50).

C.　In our coordination in the church life, in the Lord's work, we all have to learn not to do anything without fellowship:

1.　We should not do anything without fellowshipping with the other elders who are coordinating with us.

2.　Fellowship requires us to stop when we are about to do something.

3.　Blending means that we should always stop to fellowship with others.

4.　Fellowship blends us, that is, it tempers us, adjusts us, harmonizes us, and mingles us.

5.　Blending requires us to be crossed out, to be by the Spirit to dispense Christ, and to do everything for the sake of the Body—cf. 2 Chron. 1:10.

6.　A group of elders may meet together often without being blended; to be blended means that you are touched by others and that you are touching others in a blending way.

7.　This will make the eldership a vital group to be a model of the Body life.

IX.　The elders should take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them:

A.　In order to care for the saints according to God, the elders should be vital persons:

1.　Every day we need a renewal, a morning-by-morning revival, and this renewal has to be refreshed day by day for a transformation that is fresh daily—2 Cor. 4:16; Lev. 6:12; 2 Cor. 3:18.

2.　We should live a life of consecration daily, in which we fellowship with the Lord, walk with Him, abide in Him, and thus become one spirit with Him and live Him out; this is an overcoming living.

B.　The elders should care for the flock daily and unceasingly, until the Chief Shepherd is manifested—1 Pet. 5:4:

1.　Shepherding refers to caring for all the needs of the sheep.

2.　As soon as we hear of anyone sick or of anyone encountering problems, we must be concerned for him, pray for him, and go to visit him.

3.　Our contact with the saints of all ages must be "in all purity," which means that our only motive in contacting them is to minister Christ to them that they might grow in the Lord—1 Tim. 5:1-2.

4.　If we do not have a revived living or a labor in shepherding, we will not be overcoming for long; there will be no way for us to maintain our victory.

X.　The elders should contact and visit the saints and invite them to their home for meals:

A.　The elders should have a labor in shepherding, redeeming every bit of their time to contact the saints one by one:

1.　We need to follow the pattern of the apostle Paul in Acts 20, teaching the saints publicly and from house to house (v. 20) and admonishing each one of them with tears (v. 31).

2.　The elders should be apt to teach the high peaks of the truth of God's eternal economy—1 Tim. 3:2b; 5:17b; 1:3-4; 1 Cor. 1:10.

3.　If the elders and co-workers would love the saints like a mother who loves her child and would render a loving, willing service to them, feeding them mouth-to-mouth and teaching them face-to-face, then when the saints are perfected they will be just like the co-workers and elders; every one of them will be able to do the work that the co-workers and elders do—Eph. 4:11-12.

4.　To invite the saints into our home is more effective than ten messages; care can touch people's feeling in a far deeper way than messages can.

B.　If we have a heart for the Lord, from now on, we should have a revival every day to live the overcoming life, to consecrate everything for the Lord, and to strive to redeem every bit of time to contact people.