The current total population of Taiwan is nineteen million. At present there are six hundred full-timers here. If they go out to knock on doors every week this year, each one will baptize fifty-two people. Even if they cannot do this, they will baptize at least forty. In this way, twenty-four thousand people will be saved.
Previously, there were approximately ten thousand saints meeting regularly in the whole of Taiwan, more than 3,500 of whom are in Taipei. Of the over eight thousand who were baptized last year, about one out of four are stable in the church life. Adding these two thousand stable ones to the original ten thousand, we have a base number of twelve thousand. For one-fourth of these to go out to knock on doors weekly means that three thousand are going. If each of these gains one person every two months, that is, six a year, eighteen thousand people will be saved. Adding these to the original twelve thousand saints and the twenty-four thousand gained by the full-timers, there will be a total of fifty-four thousand saints in all of Taiwan by the end of this year. This is a law that we discovered from the training, a figure that we calculated scientifically; every saint should see this.
After this, in 1988 there will be at least one thousand full-timers. If each gains forty persons, there will be forty thousand people. If one-fourth of the fifty-four thousand calculated above each gains six in a year, there will be eighty-one thousand. Adding this number to the original fifty-four thousand and the forty thousand gained by the full-timers, the total then will be 175,000. With this kind of accumulation through 1989, the result will be 477,500, which we may round up to 480,000. This is a fortyfold increase from the original base number of twelve thousand. Another fortyfold increase in the next round will result in 19,200,000. Therefore, within six years, by 1992, every one of the nineteen million people in Taiwan will have been sought out by us, unless, of course, someone is a son of perdition. By that time Taiwan will be evangelized; the gospel will have saturated Taiwan.
For this, we must practically study our estimates in order to find the reliable, crucial points for our practice. According to our experience, we must practice the following points in order to have each full-timer baptize forty persons in a year. First, the full-timers themselves must be produced. This is not a problem in Taiwan, because there are already one thousandw ho have registered for the training. There will definitely be six hundred full-timers starting next month. Although it sounds very easy to have one thousand people each baptizing forty in a year, it will require their labor from house to house. If these one thousand are merely dreaming day after day, thinking that our estimate is unreal and because of this being at ease, then they may not be able to baptize even twenty persons.
It is practical to expect that the one-fourth in the church who have a heart to go door-knocking once a week can gain six persons in a year. However, we fear that they may “fish only for three days and dry their nets for two days,” eventually becoming unfruitful. To gain people properly requires us to be in one accord and to work seriously. To be sure, working seriously will produce results. This is the first key to success in the new way.
We also need to lead the home meetings in a good way. This is more difficult than the first point, but if the home meetings are unsuccessful, the new way cannot proceed. The one-fourth in the church who have the heart will continue to increase in number; therefore, they will need much perfecting. In John 15:16 the Lord Jesus first said, “You should go forth and bear fruit”; after this He said, “That your fruit should remain.” Whether or not the fruit remains is not on the Lord’s side but on ours. If we work well, this will cause our fruit to remain. The Lord also reveals to us that it is the home meetings that cause our fruit to remain (see footnote 3 of verse 16 in the Recovery Version).
Previously, out of one hundred people whom we baptized, perhaps not even five would remain. This can be compared to a woman who, having given birth to some children, feels that she has finished her duty and does not raise them up. Because of this, one hundred may be delivered, but only five survive; the remaining ninety-five die prematurely. This is because there is no nourishing and supporting through the home meetings. At this time, though, we have the home meetings, which are a safeguard for the newly baptized ones. Once a person is baptized, we should immediately arrange a home meeting for him. As soon as a home meeting is started, this newly baptized one will have a safeguard, covering, and protection. The modern medical technology in America is very advanced. A baby born prematurely can still grow properly after he is delivered. This is because as soon as the baby is born, he is put into an incubator. The incubator becomes his way to survive. Our home meetings are the “incubators” for the new ones.
After bringing a person to be saved, we must nourish and teach him. When a certain young man was born prematurely, he was small and wrinkled. Those who saw him lying in the incubator had to exercise their faith because they did not know how he could grow up. Today, however, he has become tall and strong and is a soccer player in school. This was possible only because he was properly taken care of after he was born. This is what we are saying about our home meetings. We cannot merely baptize people. Of course, we long for more births, yet if we do not nourish and teach those who are baptized, they will die prematurely. The home meetings provide the nourishing and teaching for people after they are saved and baptized. In the spiritual sense, to teach is to nourish. The more we teach people the truth, the more the riches contained in the truth will supply and nourish them. Hence, the home meeting is the second key to success in the new way.