that sent me.” (John 5:30) Like Jesus, faithful and skillful undershepherds will lead God’s sheep in the ways of righteousness too. They may not lead the sheep away from the truth set forth in God’s Word, for that Word is the divine will. An undershepherd must always be mindful of the divine will, asking himself, what does Jehovah want done? How did Jesus do it? What path did he walk? One must always lead the sheep God’s way. One who leads God’s sheep must have in mind the sanctifying of Jehovah’s name. Jesus put his Father’s name first when he taught all his disciples to pray: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9, 10) He led the sheep in Jehovah’s name.

21. Where does an overseer skillfully and expertly use the Word of God, and why can he not hold back?

²¹ Paul, a shepherd, showed leadership qualities when he said: “I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.” (Acts 20:20) Where did Paul learn these profitable things? From God’s Word. And where did he preach them? Everywhere. An overseer today knows and will expertly and skillfully use the Word of God in going from house to house preaching the good news and engaging in back-call activity and in Bible study work, giving the true lead in training other ministers. Sometimes, however, the overseer in the congregation allotted to him thinks that the circuit servant is coming around soon and that leading is part of his work. So he relaxes in helping the irregular ministers, and the sheep get no leadership. But the whole organization of God must work together, each one doing his share. A good shepherd is anxious to see the sheep grow strong, healthy and hearty, and he does the things profitable so that later on some of the sheep will be able to become overseers themselves and lead sheep too. This work never lets up. There are plenty of new sheep making up new congregations needing new shepherds. Paul “did not hold back.” Do you?

A French Congregation Brings in the Sheep

IN France, where the work of Jehovah’s witnesses is definitely on the increase, the distance between their homes in some areas still remains a major problem in their ministry. For example, last year the group at Chauny in France was composed of thirty Witnesses, spread out over a distance of forty-five to fifty miles. They conducted home Bible studies with twenty-five persons of good will scattered through the villages. The problem was how to get them to the Kingdom Hall. But when time came for the Memorial of Christ’s death a special arrangement was made. A bus was chartered to make a round trip of more than a hundred miles to gather these persons and bring them to the hall.

Thus, on April 3 at 2:30 p.m., not the usual eighteen to twenty persons, but fifty-five were seated in the Kingdom Hall, some of whom were quite surprised to find that worldly acquaintances of theirs were likewise associating with the Witnesses. But the Memorial was not to be held until after sunset. What were these people now going to do? They were all invited to accompany Jehovah’s witnesses in their house-to-house ministry, and the Witnesses took the people with whom they had studied out into this field service.

The result? Ten new persons, including some who had been studying only a few weeks, became publishers of the good news of God’s kingdom, and then and there the congregation exceeded its goal of a 20-percent increase in Kingdom preachers for which it had been striving, and happily overcame the discouragement that its former transportation problem had produced.