If we agree with this way and do not oppose it, then the full-timers should go door-knocking two to three hours every day. In two and a half hours someone can knock on the doors of fifteen homes, and in six days he can knock on ninety homes. Among these ninety homes there should be at least one “son of peace” (Luke 10:5-6). If someone goes out the first week and there is no son of peace, and on the second, third, and even sixth week there still is none, he may go to the Lord desperately and say, “Lord, I give up. Without finding a son of peace there is no meaning to my living. In these six weeks I have not been able to find even one. Lord, have You taken away all the sons of peace, just like You chased away all the fish from Peter for the whole night in John 21? What can I do now?” I believe if someone endeavors in this way and goes out again the seventh week, there will be at least two sons of peace.
In a certain church in the United States, a brother gave the following testimony. One Saturday evening he went out door-knocking with some brothers and sisters. Everyone was doing their best. They went to about twenty homes, but they could not find even one son of peace. Eventually everyone wanted to go home. He said, “All right, you can go home, but I will continue. I must gain one person and baptize him. Otherwise, I will not eat or sleep.” Thank the Lord, at the twenty-first door he knocked on, he gained a son of peace. If we are willing to go door-knocking and are willing to have a serious transaction with the Lord, I believe that the Lord will respond to us.
A brother in North Carolina gave this testimony. He went with some who were knocking on doors for three days, yet he could not gain even one. He was upset to the uttermost and even felt shameful. Then he repented greatly before the Lord, cried, emptied himself, and asked for the filling of the Holy Spirit. The following day, the fourth day of door-knocking, he went again. That day he gained three people. This way is truly workable, and this method is definitely successful. We need only nine years, with ten thousand as our base number and three thousand to go out. Then we can reach twenty-six million people. Is this not extremely workable?
Even though approximately seventy percent of the saints do not go out, they still can pray, give, and supply. Of those Israelites who followed Gideon, eventually only ten thousand remained (Judg. 7:1-3). However, God said to Gideon, “The people are still too many” (v. 4). God wanted Gideon to choose three hundred among them. It is the same principle here. Of the ten thousand enlisted soldiers, we choose three thousand to fight. Of course, when the time for reward comes, they will get the prize first; nevertheless, the seven thousand will be the next to get the prize.
The estimation we have made for the rate of people being saved cannot be any lower. I do not know how many times we need to knock on the doors of the people on the whole of Taiwan before they all will be saved. In Luke 10 when the Lord Jesus was sending out the seventy disciples, He said, “I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves” (v. 3). Even though they were in the midst of wolves, there were sons of peace among the wolves. Today who among society is a son of peace? Who will receive the gospel willingly? When we go out door-knocking, we will find out who the sons of peace are. When someone opens the door, we will know if he is a son of peace. Someone may not be a son of peace today, but he will be one tomorrow. In Taipei, we have gone door-knocking at two hundred thousand homes, which is over one-third of whole of the island. In the future we must knock on their doors again, until 1995 when all the sons of peace are found and become Christians. What a glorious result this will be!
Once a person is saved, we need to help him to have a home meeting. The principles of attending a home meeting are first that we must make a resolution, and second that we must know that our going to the home meetings is not to lead the new ones but to teach them. We go there as “coaches” to open up their hearts and teach them the basic functions of a meeting, just as a basketball coach first teaches his team the basic actions of the game. The basic actions of a home meeting include praying, singing hymns, reading the Bible, expounding the Word, giving testimonies, and encouraging one another. There are at least six or seven basic actions that the new ones need to become familiar with.
In the first few meetings you can use some of the subjects from Life Lessons such as prayer and reading the Bible. Then you can help them exercise to pray and read the Bible. On the third week you can teach them to sing hymns. You can tell them that anyone can sing. If they want to learn to sing more, they can obtain a set of tapes from One Hundred Selected Hymns and listen to them at home. Perhaps some hymns are difficult to understand, but the more someone listens to them, the more he becomes familiar with the tune and the music. You must teach the new ones item by item.
When we go to their home meetings and teach them these six or seven basic actions, we can tell them that this meeting is like a ball game, and we are simply the coaches who coach them how to play. Actually, we ourselves do not play, but they play. Then when they need some improvement, we will spontaneously correct them. Once they have this basic concept, they will exercise to function. In addition, we must also meet some incidental needs, showing them, for example, how we differ from Christianity and why our meetings are different from those in Christianity. We can also show them the example of baptism in Acts 8; once the eunuch was saved and wanted to be baptized, Philip baptized him in the water by the roadside (vv. 35-39). There is also the account of the jailer in Philippi whom Paul baptized in the jailer’s own house (16:30-33). In the Bible we do not find a baptistery. We must let them know this point, so that by giving them some principles, if they have heard something wrong or confusing, we can help them to walk according to the truth. This is the way to take care of their incidental needs.
Question: The full-timers are supposed to gain one person every six days. If three of them go together, does it mean that they should gain three people a week in order to fulfill this count?
Answer: If three go out together and gain one person every two days, in six days they will gain three people. On the average each gains one person.
Question: According to statistics there is no problem with our estimates. However, normally the full-timers have much work and service, and they also have to go to many home meetings. Because of this we do not have the confidence we can attain to this goal.
Answer: We must consider and discuss the assignment of persons in taking care of the home meetings. As an example, if there are twenty-five hundred people who go out once a week, once they bear fruit and home meetings are set up, they must add another time to go out every week. This is not an assignment given to them by others. Rather, once they bear a child, they will spontaneously love him. Even without others urging them, they will go to take care of their child. In the future it is possible to have the one in four who goes door-knocking to go out at least twice a week, one time for door-knocking and another for caring for a home meeting.
There are twelve thousand new ones among us. Since on the average there are at least two new ones in each home, there are about six thousand homes. Besides the manpower of the two thousand five hundred saints, the five hundred full-timers can also help in taking care of these homes. They will go out five days a week and attend home meetings at least three evenings, and if necessary, five evenings. Five hundred full-timers going out for five days is the equivalent of two thousand five hundred more persons to bear this burden. Added to the first two thousand five hundred saints, this will equal the manpower of five thousand people to take care of six thousand homes per week. This should be sufficient to meet the need.
We have the faith that the new way can bring the gospel to the whole inhabited earth. If the Lord has mercy on us so that we work out our estimate, then the people on the whole of Taiwan will be saved. This matter is so great that it shakes the universe. Consider this: Of twenty million Christians, every twenty will produce one full-timer, which makes one million full-timers. These one million should all be university graduates who are fluent in international languages, spreading out to the whole world. Then they will be able to conquer the whole world with the gospel. Not only so, each of the twenty million should offer material support out of their monthly income. If each one has a monthly income of three hundred dollars, he can give thirty dollars per month. Twenty million times thirty dollars is six hundred million dollars. This is very remarkable. At that time, much manpower and material riches will be given for the gospel, and the gospel will be spread throughout the whole world.
We truly look to the Lord to accomplish this. We believe that He is sovereign over all things and will certainly fulfill this matter. If He truly accomplishes this, then first of all the whole population of the island of the Republic of China will become Christians. This will shock the entire world. Second, with one million full-timers sent out, the gospel will be preached to the whole world. Third, the offering of millions of dollars to follow the full-timers will truly be a great feat. We all know that in the past ten or more years, the Lord has richly released the truths among us. When we go out, we do not go empty-handed, but we bring the truths to the whole world. This is the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth (Matt. 24:14). Therefore, we have the assurance that this is a practical way that will take us toward fulfilling our estimate.
(A message given on January 29, 1987 in Taipei, Taiwan)