In August of 1986 we held the first term of the full-time training in Taipei. Now this training is continuing. The main purpose of the training is to perfect the trainees to take the new way, to bring sinners to the Lord that they may repent and be saved, and to continue to take care of them. At this time there are about eight thousand five hundred new ones under our care, and we have meetings in their homes.
Despite the desire of the saints in the various localities, they do not have the capacity to fully take the responsibility of caring for the home meetings. Moreover, these new ones were baptized by the trainees in the full-time training. They were begotten by the trainees and are the fruit of the trainees. If they are handed over to the local saints, I am afraid that some of them will be lost. Therefore, after much consideration, we feel that the trainees should continue to bear this burden.
We need five hundred who have passed through the training to continue to take care of the newly baptized ones in the home meetings. The number of saints in Taiwan who have been trained and can coordinate and continue to bear the burden at this time is only about four hundred. Compared with our expectation of five hundred, we are still one hundred short. Therefore, we need one hundred English-speaking trainees from other countries to remain in Taiwan for at least two years to continue to take care of the home meetings.
There is an urgent need here which requires the coordination of the churches. We have over two hundred fifty English-speaking saints who have been trained. Two-thirds of these, one hundred seventy, are willing to remain. This is very good for the need here. However, all these saints from overseas were sent by the churches in their localities and are supported by their respective localities. Undoubtedly, the local churches sent and support them with the purpose that after they are trained, they will return to their localities to serve. If they are kept here after the training, I am afraid that the churches will think that we have snatched them away. If this is the case, we do not want them to stay; we would rather that they return to their localities.
Whether you are full-timers from Taiwan or from overseas, if you decide to remain and continue to serve in coordination, you must receive a joyful amen from your respective localities. Otherwise, we will not ask any one of you to remain here. All of you are sent by the various churches, and these churches have been supporting you, so you must have not only their consent but their joyful consent if you want to stay here. Only in this way will we have the ground to keep you, and only this is the proper way.
We must always maintain a pleasant relationship with the churches. We are not dealing with the churches in a legal way, merely aiming at obtaining their consent. In spiritual matters, especially in the Body of Christ, a mere legal amen is not what we want. What we want to receive is a joyful amen. Even if you are from other churches within Taiwan, you also must be certain that the churches that sent you here would like you to remain in Taipei and participate in the move of the gospelization in the communities. We want to hear joyful amens. Please bring this matter to the Lord in prayer and have a thorough and joyful fellowship with your respective localities concerning the matter of staying or returning.
It will be good for those who remain to coordinate with the work in the communities to stay for two years in order to adequately meet the need. We are joyful that the saints speaking foreign languages can join this work, but we will ask you to learn Chinese. You need to seriously learn Chinese during the day and attend home meetings in the evenings. Otherwise, if you still need translation while contacting people, you will not be capable of taking care of the home meetings. The most capable ones in taking care of the home meetings are the bilingual ones. Their ability to speak both Chinese and English in the gospel work is appreciated very much by all the gospel friends. If you speak only English but not Chinese, they may still welcome you, but it will not be as good. When the gospel friends see you and realize that even as Americans you can speak Chinese, you will win over their hearts. Therefore, you have to pray much and give yourselves to learn the language.
If the respective localities of the full-time serving ones from overseas joyfully consent to their remaining, we will be very pleased. At the same time, we will assure the churches in the United States that when we send the American saints back, we will send back both “capital and interest.” By “interest” we mean that we will send many Chinese saints to help the overseas churches. This is a sweet fellowship. We will borrow the saints from overseas to help gospelize Taiwan. When this draws to an end, we will not only return the overseas saints but also send more saints with them. We hope that all the churches will hear this news and say amen with joy.
Two and a half years ago we planned to gospelize Taiwan by preaching the gospel in towns and villages, but afterward we realized that people in the big cities are highly educated, and the population of the communities in the cities is highly concentrated. Therefore, we decided to begin from the communities in the cities. Taipei is the first among the big cities, so in order to gospelize Taiwan we first need to gain Taipei, and afterward Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Tainan. This is our strategy. All those who will remain and continue to coordinate will live in different communities. There are at least four hundred newly saved ones in each community, so there is much work to do. We will fellowship about the details at a later time.