At this stage when we go to labor on the home meetings, we must pay attention to the situation of the family and understand how many meetings they are able to have. Generally speaking, there should be a meeting once a week in a home, but this is not enough for the long run. However, we should not add more meetings immediately. If we add too many meetings, it will be too much for them. We need to adjust the meetings according to the actual situation, and we should consider which meeting should be added—the Lord’s table meeting, prayer meeting, fellowship meeting, or truth meeting. This requires our observation.
Furthermore, we should not treat all the new ones in the same way. After they are saved, some people grow faster and have a greater capacity, so we should feed them more. We should never be like the schools that offer the same curriculum to all the classes. This does not work. Today the good schools throughout the world take note of the talented students and put them in separate classes. We must observe people’s inward condition of pursuing, fulfill their desire for pursuing, and add suitable meetings for them. This is the first point.
The second point is concerning the need of the new ones to know the church. Some newly baptized ones disappear one or two months after being baptized. We think that they have backslidden, but actually they have not. According to the normal thought and social custom, they suppose that after being baptized they should go to a “church” for a Sunday service. One brother testified recently that when he went to visit a family of new ones on the Lord’s Day, they were about to go out to find a church for this purpose. This is an example of how some newly baptized ones may not have a strong will to pursue, but they still have the thought that as new Christians they should look for a church to settle down in. We must not overlook this situation. We should immediately bring this type of new ones to the meeting hall to join the meetings. Otherwise, once they go to the denominations and join their meetings, they will feel that they have what they were looking for.
It is too extreme to be concerned that the new ones will be contaminated by the old meetings. We need to be balanced. Once we realize that someone wants to participate in the church, we should grasp the opportunity, bring them to the meeting hall, and speak the truth to them concerning the church. In the New Testament Paul tells us that we admonish every man and teach every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ (Col. 1:28). We do not have only one method to lead people. Rather, we should give people the way to move forward based on their condition.
For the general regular meetings, we should meet in the homes as home meetings. Then we should bring the new ones to the meeting hall once every two or three weeks. Before coming to the meeting hall, we need to prepare them and let them know that in the home meeting we all function and speak freely according to the Spirit, and we should do the same when we attend the meeting in the meeting hall. They should not regard the meeting hall as a place for them to be a guest and go merely to visit. This is wrong. When we go to the meeting hall, we also need to follow the Spirit’s leading to release our spirit to praise and pray. We need to gradually let those we lead in the home meetings be connected with the church.
We should not be too rigid when leading the home meetings. On the one hand, when we go to the home meetings, we do not need to say anything new. For the preaching of the gospel we use The Mystery of Human Life, and for establishing the home meetings we use Life Lessons. On the other hand, though, we need to be flexible. We can spend some time before the home meeting, or eight to ten minutes afterward, for answering questions. Some new ones may want us to stay a little longer, and some may want to ask us about various matters. Moreover, they may be persistent about finding the answers. Such times are the best opportunities for us to infuse something into them.
For example, someone may ask what the church really is and where it comes from. Then we should explain in detail. Everyone wants to be clear about his origin, where he comes from; this is normal. Likewise, today when people are saved, they have the thought that they have received a religion, so they will wish to know how this religion originated. If someone asks us this question, he is offering us the opportunity to help him. Whether or not we are able to answer makes a big difference. If we do not explain well, we will misrepresent ourselves, giving the new one a wrong concept. Although he listens to what we speak, he may not understand due to our unclear explanation, and he may not come anymore. Even if he was baptized by us and is actively pursuing the Lord, due to our unclear explanation he may think that he should not join such a group. Therefore, our daily equipping is very important.
I believe at least half of the families are willing to spend time to talk to us. If they are too busy today, there will still be a chance the next time. If they ask about certain practical matters, we should sit down and spend ten or twenty minutes to clearly explain the matters to them. Many times people may not have specific questions, but we should still learn to lead them to the spiritual points. For example, a new one may ask, “Is it sufficient just to believe in the Lord?” This kind of question is a very good opportunity to lead people to know their spirit within. We can explain that after believing in the Lord, we need to follow the Lord and serve Him. Moreover, our following the Lord and serving Him focuses not on the outward things but on following the spirit within us. From this point, we can go on to talk about the spirit. All these things require our observation.
We need to see that learning to lead the home meetings is like learning economics. Economics is ever-changing and all-inclusive. Industry and all things in a society can be affected by the weather, the harvest, and the food supply; the study of economics deals with all these matters. The outbreak of wars, the situation in the world, and the budget for national defense are also included in economics. This illustrates that to labor on the home meetings can be complicated and ever-changing. Therefore, the more we know and the more properly we use the home meetings, the more effective we will be.
We also need to realize that a person’s word exposes him. When we visit a person, what we are most concerned about is if he will not speak. Once he speaks, even if he speaks only one word, we can know his inward condition so as to meet his inward needs. We should learn to discern the different types and natures of people. Some people are outgoing, some are quiet, some are strict, and some are easy-going. We have to know all these things. After knowing people, we should know what to speak to them. Even though we may be teaching the same curriculum, we may use one method to teach one type of person and another method for another person. What we speak to different types of people is different, because everyone’s nature, stature, disposition, conduct, facial expressions, and manner of speaking are different. We cannot treat everyone in the same way.
The results of knocking on doors and laboring on the home meetings are endless. So far, it seems that the home meetings are not as fruitful as door-knocking, but this is a wrong concept. In the near future we will see that the effectiveness of the home meetings far exceeds that of door-knocking. When we labor on a home, we gain a home; this will continue like a link in a chain and be powerful. However, it all depends on how we labor. There is a saying, “A burning fire does not fear being fierce.” When we go out to labor on home meetings, we are fanning the fire into flame, and we do not fear that it will be too fierce. We have to stir up all the new ones. We should know that when we labor on a home, a home will be enlivened and raised up. We only need to fan the flame until all the old and young ones rise up, and at that time we will succeed. May the Lord bless all that we do and the going on of the new way.
(A message given on April 14, 1987 in Taipei, Taiwan)