Prior to October of 1984, we practiced the truth, preached the gospel, established churches, and lived the church life. However, that view and that realm were not broad enough, causing us to suffer a great loss. In what matters did we suffer loss? First, we had almost no expanding, increase, and spread. Due to the damage caused by the poison of the practice in Christianity of one man speaking and all others listening, the Lord’s recovery has not propagated and expanded much for many years. Although most of us were not born in Christianity or raised up in Christianity, the religious power of Christianity has permeated the whole earth and greatly affected our living.
Today the whole world takes the Lord’s Day as a holiday. A person does not need to be a Christian, understand the truth, or read the Bible, but he can still keep the so-called Sunday service. In addition, celebrating Christmas, hanging up Christmas lights, giving out Christmas cards, and having Christmas parties are all part of Christianity’s influence. In actuality those who practice this may not be Christians. Before a person comes to know Christ, he is already influenced by Christianity. Then when he is saved and comes into the church, he spontaneously brings in the worldly things from Christianity.
Today there are many new ones among us. After we baptize them, they desire to go to a big chapel to attend a service. If we lead them only to have meetings in their homes, they will not feel that this is what they expect of Christianity. Even if we bring them to the meeting hall, they may look around and wonder where the bell, the cross, the pastor, and the choir are. If they do not find these things, they may feel puzzled. This shows us that the thick atmosphere of Christianity has not only attacked us but also permeated us.
Beginning from Brother Nee, we have felt like security guards on duty, fearing that if we doze off slightly, something improper will come in. In the eighteen years that Brother Nee was with us, we saw his many sufferings and frustrations. He was like a big umbrella covering us, causing us all to be under his protection. The rain could not fall on us, the sun could not scorch us, and the wind could not blow upon us. At that time the Lord’s recovery was greatly troubled from within and without. From time to time someone would open all the doors and windows to the rain, or even tear down the ceiling altogether. It seemed that every negative thing entered into the Lord’s recovery. Sometimes it was an opinion that came in, and at other times it was a certain method. However, we were all under the covering of Brother Nee.
After 1949 we came to Taiwan. The condition there often caused us to grieve. Those who were meeting with us seemed to open the doors from every side, and it was not easy for us as the “security guards” to know what was happening. Because of this, the deadness of Christianity damaged us in a widespread way. The way of Christianity is first to completely nullify the function of the members of Christ. Second, it is to thoroughly abolish the strength of the activity in the Body of Christ, causing every member of the Body to be bound. This way and atmosphere invisibly, unconsciously, and secretly crept into our midst. As a result, this caused us to be almost the same as Christianity in that the members rarely functioned and had no way to function. Thus, there was not much multiplication and increase.
In this kind of atmosphere, not only were many not alerted to the situation, but they even thought that they were being helped. When they came to a big meeting, it seemed that everything necessary was there. Coming to the meetings was their enjoyment. There was no place better than the meeting hall. It was quiet and peaceful, and there were prayers, singing, and preaching. This seemed very good to them. After working for six days, they could finally manage to put away all of their business affairs and take a break. When they came to the meeting hall, they did not need to function but could simply sit there and say amen. Then the more they said amen, the more they enjoyed it and the more they were relieved inwardly. How good this seemed to be! At most, they only needed to take out a portion of their monthly salary and drop it into the offering box. This too was very easy. Now meeting in the new way takes away one man speaking and all others listening. Not only do people need to open their homes for meeting, but the whole family, from young to old, is now forced to function, and they must open their mouths to sing and pray. How hard this now seems! These are two kinds of conditions and two kinds of feelings. Therefore, many people prefer the big meetings.
If we all choose the old way, how can the church propagate? How can our numbers increase? We all may be zealous to preach the gospel to bring people to salvation, but after people are baptized, what should we do? If all that we have are big meetings, how can people remain? This is the reason that when we led people to be saved in the past, after we gave birth to someone, he would die, and those who remained were few. Therefore, according to the actual condition, we studied and discovered this practical need. The results we found are first that there must be a way to allow the gospel to enter into people and to allow the Lord to gain them. The second result is not as easy; it is the way for those who are saved and baptized to remain.
According to these two needs, the Lord has had mercy on us and shown us that the best way to gain people is through preaching the gospel by knocking on doors from house to house and baptizing them in their homes. In addition, after people are baptized, we should immediately establish a meeting in their home. Then in this way they will remain. All Christian preachers, regardless of which denomination they are in, admit that leading people to believe in the Lord is not easy and that bringing them into the church after they believe is more difficult even than climbing a mountain. Therefore, the Lord has shown us these two points: First, we must bring the gospel to people’s homes for their salvation, and second, we must bring the meetings to their homes for their edification.
After two years of experimenting, the practice of visiting people by door-knocking and preaching the gospel to lead them to be saved and baptized has been successful. However, according to our observation, our way to have the home meetings still needs further study.