We can summarize the need in the home meetings in four crucial points, which we need to pay close attention to.
First, never bring the old practice into the home meetings; this will kill the function of the believers. When we go to the homes of the newly baptized ones to lead the home meetings, whether in singing, praying, reading the Bible, or fellowshipping, we cannot use the old method. We hope all of our concepts will be changed regarding this point. What is the old way? It is the way in which everything in a meeting is cared for by those who lead the meeting. The selection of hymns, the singing, the praying, the reading of the Bible, the giving of messages, and even the concluding of the meeting are all carried out by those who lead the meeting. Consequently, when a newly baptized person comes to the meeting, he dares not do anything except remain in his seat, because those who lead the meeting do everything. This is the old way, the old method, which nullifies the function of the believers.
It is easy for the old way to produce a clergy. In addition, organization emerges unconsciously from the old way, and once there is organization, there is control. In such a condition, there is no way for the newly baptized ones to function. Originally, a newly saved one may have been very active, but once he comes to the meetings, he can no longer be active, because the practice of the old way immobilizes, even kills, him. Gradually, he loses his spiritual sensation, coming merely to believe that a Christian should love the Lord, pursue Him, and come to the meetings regularly. Eventually, even though he comes to the meetings, he does not have any feeling, like a person who has been drugged. Although he is alive and still breathing, he has no spiritual consciousness.
Second, we need to see that the old way deprives the believers of their organic function. We have to realize that if we remain in this old way of meeting, after half a year we will be “anesthetized” and unable to wake up. As we said earlier, a brother among us admitted to having been an elder for over ten years yet not having brought one person to the Lord nor having had any realization or feeling that this was a very serious matter. In the Gospel of John, the Lord said that He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit (15:2). This is a terrible thing. What does it mean to take away a branch? To take away a branch cannot be a good thing. For a branch in the vine to be taken away means that it has nothing to do with any of the riches of the vine. This is not a question of whether or not you will perish; it simply means that you will certainly not be able to enjoy the Lord’s riches.
Logically speaking, the enjoyment of the Lord should issue in a rich fruit-bearing. How can a brother be an elder for a long time, not bring one person to the Lord, and still not have any sensation about it? This is to be drugged, even to be in a “coma,” alive and breathing but with no feeling at all. This is a grave matter. The old kind of meetings kill and drug the members of the Body of Christ. Therefore, we can no longer take the old way of practice in the meetings. Rather, we must absolutely abandon it.
Third, we must help the new ones to establish proper home meetings. This includes three main items: how to teach people the truth, how to nourish people for growth in life, and how to lead people to know the church. To lead the home meetings properly is the crucial key to the new practice in the new way. At present, there is no problem in bringing in new ones; many babies are being born. Rather, the question is how to nurture the babies after they are born. To begin with, the old method cannot be brought into the new meetings. According to this principle, we have to study how to call the hymns, read the Bible, and pray in the home meetings in order to purge the old practice of having everything taken care of by a few. We should not tolerate that a newly baptized person in the meeting is influenced by those who lead the meeting to the point that he loses the exercise of his normal function.
In addition, we have to make appointments for home meetings after baptizing people. The new ones may not know how to meet the first time we go, so we have to teach them how to have a home meeting. We must tell them that this meeting is a meeting for their family and that we are there only to help. We also have to tell them that Christian meetings are nothing apart from singing hymns, reading the Lord’s Word, testifying, sharing, and preaching the gospel when gospel friends come. We should let them know that a meeting is simply a matter of these things, which should not be carried out by the so-called responsible ones. Almost everyone in a home meeting is a newly saved one. In this sense, there are no elders, deacons, or even any leading ones. Everyone has to function and take care of his own meeting. Initially, when we go to help the new ones in a home meeting, we will at most fellowship with them and demonstrate to them in the meeting how to pray, sing the hymns, and read the Scriptures, but we must allow them to do these on their own as much as possible.
Fourth, do not replace the organic function of the new ones as members. When we begin a home meeting, there is no need of a formal opening. When the parents begin to clean and arrange chairs after dinner, the children know that it is time to meet, so they joyfully sing, “You need Jesus, you need Jesus.” Once the children start singing, the meeting has already begun. When others arrive and hear the children singing, they will spontaneously join them, and the father and mother will also follow in the singing. It is the same with praying. Perhaps when dinner and cleaning are almost finished, the father will begin to pray, “O Lord, we thank You that we all are saved, and today we can come together to enjoy You. We thank You also for sending a brother to help us.” At this point, the meeting has begun. Instead, perhaps, no one sings or prays after the meal, but someone reads Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This also begins the meeting. There is no need for someone else to lead a home meeting; it is those in the home who lead the meeting themselves. This is the way to call hymns, pray, and read the Bible in the new practice.
It is the same with testifying. Perhaps after the meal the mother says to the children, “Children, see how great the Lord’s grace is! We used to worship idols in darkness.” The mother is actually testifying when she speaks in this way, thus beginning the home meeting. It is not necessary to wait until 7:00 to begin, and there is no need to rely on someone else. Those in the family can start the meeting. The father may say, “Children, select a hymn,” or the children may not wait for the father but will start singing, “Since Jesus came into my heart.” We have to teach all the new ones in this way when they begin to meet after being saved, just as a mother helps her child to eat after giving birth to him. All mothers realize that they have to help children to eat and not eat for them.
Moreover, once the new ones have established a home meeting, we have to help them to appreciate the hymns. Each one should have a hymnal. They need to learn how to sing the hymns, but not only in the meetings. Even at home a mother can learn to sing by playing a cassette tape while she washes dishes. We all know that young children learn how to talk and sing by listening. People who are unable to hear are also unable to sing or talk. If circumstances allow, we need to help the new ones to listen more to song tapes at home. Then it will be easy for them to sing. Initially, they can sing short songs, such as “You Need Jesus” and “Since Jesus Came into My Heart.” We should also urge them to own a Bible in order to read the Lord’s Word daily.
How to teach people the truth, how to nourish them, how to help them grow in life, and how to help them know the church in order to enter into the church life are all items for our study. Do not hastily bring the new ones to the church meetings after they are baptized. The most precious of the various church meetings is the Lord’s table meeting. Therefore, we have to lead them to meet to break bread, but we must continue to study how to bring them to the other meetings.
Question: When we go to the home meetings, we are all prepared, having prayed and come into the meeting in the spirit. However, when we stop speaking in the meeting, the new ones also stop. Even though we truly do not want to speak too much, we still have to speak. What shall we do?
Answer: We have to do our best not to replace the function of the new ones. Our speaking too much will not perfect people. After making an appointment with the new ones for their first home meeting, we need to give them an opening word to help them understand that this meeting is their meeting and that the meetings of Christians are nothing more than praying, reading the Bible, singing, testifying, and exhorting one another. We have to lay this foundation the first time we go and show them how to conduct the meetings, encouraging them to start the meeting themselves and not to wait for each other. Each one may have a hymn, a word from the Lord, or a testimony. All these are proper practices for the meetings.
What we have fellowshipped here is the new way of meeting without any formality. We need to make this way clear to people the first time we go to their home to meet. We should not completely carry out the meeting, replacing their function to lead the singing and praying. To do so is to go back to the old way. When a mother teaches her child to speak, she knows that he should speak correctly from the beginning. If a child habitually mispronounces a word, it will be difficult to correct him later. We must pay close attention to all of the above points.
(A message given on January 28, 1987 in Taipei, Taiwan)