The new ones often come to the meetings joyfully, but it seems that we all forget our sense of duty. As a result, the new ones are not satisfied, and they leave the meeting disappointed. In simple words, those who attend the meetings regularly are not well prepared, so the meetings do not have the adequate supply and riches. By riches we do not mean merely shouting or singing boldly. Rather, we are referring to a meeting that has weighty prayers, prayers with light, life, truth, experience, and supply. Mere stirring up and singing with shouting in the meetings are not the proper worship to God or remembrance of the Lord. Rather, they may be meaningless actions. This shows that we have not received adequate training concerning the content of the meetings.
A meeting must have content, but the content does not depend on a fixed and rigid program. In a big meeting, such as a meeting with over ten thousand people, the number of people constrains us to have a kind of program and let several brothers lead the meeting. In reality, however, a meeting does not have a set program. Nevertheless, it still has its course and its factors. The factors of a meeting are nothing more than the spirit, the Word, prayer, and reading. The spirit is God’s Spirit with our spirit. The Word is the Word of God, that is, the Bible. Prayer includes praise, and reading the Word of God includes prayer; these four items are the elements of the contents of a meeting. Just as a delicious meal has its main ingredients—rice, noodles, chicken, duck, fish, and meat, together with vegetables and fruit—our meetings must have the spirit, the Word, prayer with praises, and the reading and speaking of the word of God. These are all necessary in a meeting.
There is too much singing in some of our Lord’s table meetings. To speak even more strongly, I would say that sometimes the saints sing hymns to the extent that they are merely playing or being entertained, without any control. This is not right. This will cause the newcomers to be bewildered about such a strange place, wondering whether they are in a sports arena or a hall for worship. It is a hall for worship, yet there may be no worship rendered. Although sacred songs are sung, there is no flavor of sacred singing. What then should we do? We should pray immediately, using a proper prayer to bring everyone before God. The above matters show us that if we all in various places only go knocking on doors, leading people to be baptized and establishing home meetings, yet we do not have the proper spiritual content in the meetings, there will be a great deficiency.
In addition to the elders, every person should share the important responsibilities in the meetings by exercising to pray, so as to fill the content of the meetings with the spirit, the Word, prayers, and the reading and speaking of the word of God. In the matter of prayer, there is no difference between brothers and sisters. When we come before God, there is no distinction. Perhaps a sister’s prayer may not immediately “steer the helm” of the meeting in the right direction. The reason the helm does not turn may simply be that there is only one person turning it. At this point another sister should immediately add a prayer. Then if there is still no turning, a brother should add another prayer, and if necessary, another brother should add more. In this way, everyone is in one accord, and the helm turns. If one, two, or three prayers are not sufficient, a fourth and fifth can be added until the direction turns. This will turn away the playful atmosphere and turn everyone into the spirit of prayer. Moreover, our prayers must have the content of life, light, truth, experience, and supply.
If we spend much effort to bring the new ones to the meeting, but we bring them only to watch an exciting display, this is a complete failure in terms of the proper content. To be sure, the ones we bring are all newly saved and may not have much spiritual feeling. It may seem good to them to visit the meeting hall where so many people are excited and joyful, a situation which can rarely be seen elsewhere. Where else in the world can anyone find such a pleasant gathering? However, those who truly know the Lord realize what we are really doing. We have not given anything to people except some laughter and excitement. Where is our content? In that meeting, other than the singing of some hymns, what content have we actually given to people? It may be nothing. We have only shown them some excitement.
Because this kind of excitement may seem very good, many are willing to come again. It is difficult to find a situation like the church, with several hundred people coming together, talking and enjoying with no fighting or quarreling; this is indeed rare. However, after coming for two more times, some new ones will not come again. This is because there is no content. People want something with content. We should give them a content that is nothing other than truth, light, life, and testimonies. Therefore, when we lead the home meetings from house to house, we need to practice not only teaching them Life Lessons topic by topic, lesson by lesson, but also having more fellowship with them. Through this fellowship, life is sown into them, and with every visit we give them more life supply. This way is limitless; it is altogether comprehensive and manifold.
In the practice of the home meetings, we should have a three-minute speaking before the meeting and a five-minute speaking after the meeting. These three and five minutes are very important. We need to prepare beforehand what we will supply them with so that between the two lines of speaking the riches of the Lord can be sown into them, and the life of the Lord can be supplied to them. This is the lesson that every one of us needs to learn. Moreover, we have to know how to use Life Lessons. When we take this new way, we study while we conduct trainings, putting things into practice, observing the practical needs, and then seeking for improvement. Our biggest shortcoming at present is that the content of our meetings is not rich. Hence, we must do our best to fill up this shortcoming as soon as possible.
To be playful in the meetings is a big mistake. Such playfulness in our meetings should not have occurred in the past and was improper. For example, in singing the hymn “Since Jesus Came into My Heart,” certain ones sang the line “Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll...” prolonging roll in a peculiar and excessive way. This is neither praise nor worship but is altogether playful and not proper. Our spirit should be released, and our voice must be uplifted, but we should not shout aloud for the purpose of having fun. We are not watching a ball game in the meeting; we are gathered around the Lord to worship, praise, and remember Him. We should be rejoicing before the Lord, as David leapt joyfully before the Lord (2 Sam. 6:14-16), but we should never be playful. We have to pay more attention to this matter and should never take it lightly.
Our eyes should be open, and our feeling should be sensitive. It is often easy to lose control when people are gathered together. We should rejoice and even sing joyfully. However, there should not be any flavor of playfulness in this joyful singing, and we should not take it lightly. Whatever makes people laugh and brings in a taste of playfulness should be totally avoided. We are gathered together for the purpose of worshipping God and remembering the Lord. On one hand, we minister the truth and supply life so that people can see a fresh and living situation when they come to the meeting. On the other hand, we should make people feel respectful, sensing that God is here, because we are before God and before the Lord.
Never despise the newly saved ones, because every man created by God has within him a desire, a feeling, to worship God. We can compare this to a thirsty person who wants to be quenched inwardly by drinking a glass of cold water; if we give him a glass of hot water, he cannot drink it. When people come to the meetings, they are not attending a school party or going to a nightclub or a ball game. People come to meetings to seek God. This is man’s basic concept. Hence, we meet not to have fun but to worship God, to remember the Lord, and to supply people with life.