In 1965 I went to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Catholic Church there was very cold, and the Protestant churches and denominations were very dead. Only one group, called “The Christian Assembly,” was burning. They had three hundred thousand saints, thirty thousand of whom were in Sao Paulo alone. They did not have people giving sermons in their meetings. In their meetings on Lord’s Day morning someone would call a hymn, and they would all sing together. The more they sang, the stronger their spirits would become. After they sang, they would pray for almost half an hour. Everyone prayed; no one led the meeting. After they prayed, they would testify and share. There were two microphones in the meeting place—the brothers lined up behind one, and the sisters lined up behind the other. They sat separately in the meeting; there was a clear distinction in their seating arrangement. The sisters wore proper clothing and did not wear any makeup. The brothers and sisters gave their testimonies during the entire time, and after their testimonies, they asked for those who wanted to be baptized. There was a large baptistery on the platform, and whoever had brought a new one was responsible to baptize him. They did not require any particular fellowship before the baptisms. Sometimes they would baptize around ten people, and at other times they would baptize over one hundred. They had baptisms every Lord’s Day. After the baptisms, a responsible one would take the lead to read two or three verses, point out the main point of the verses, and end the meeting.
They did not have many big gospel meetings, Bible-study meetings, or prayer meetings. They had a big meeting only on the Lord’s Day. During the week they would meet in the homes, from house to house. In this way they met and brought people to be saved. When there were too many people in a home, they would open another one. Gradually, they baptized many people. This way of preaching the gospel and bringing people to salvation is very effective and makes it easy for people to stay because this kind of gospel preaching brings people in one by one. Eventually many people are brought in and stay.
We must acknowledge that the big meetings we had in the past where one person spoke and everyone else listened made it difficult to bring people to be saved and to cause them to stay. This does not mean that we should not have big, corporate meetings but that it is more important to have home meetings every week. This will cause all of us to be burning together and to bring people to salvation. Furthermore, we must see that door-knocking is a very effective way to preach the gospel. If we do this, it will not be uncommon to have a twofold or fourfold increase in number. I hope the elderly saints would take the lead to be changed in their concepts, be renewed and transformed in their mind, and not focus on the big meetings all the time. For the benefit of God’s house and God’s kingdom, we must change our ways. The elderly saints should take the lead to have a set time of prayer every day and should attend the small group meetings every week. In the small group meetings everyone should speak but not give long speeches. Everyone should function, help others to function, and perfect one another.
Regarding door-knocking, every one of us should go to knock on doors at least once a week. Do not go this week because you are happy and then refuse to go the next week because you are not happy. We have to do this in a consistent way. We have to go door-knocking every week for two hours each time. We should first knock on the doors in the surrounding area, such as the doors of our neighbors and relatives. Then we should go to the people on the streets and in the communities. Week by week we must knock on doors near and far. If we all do this together, we would be able to bring in many saved ones. Once someone is saved, we need to start a home meeting. Then we need to go door-knocking again, and then we will begin another home meeting. This should be our normal service.
In the past the children’s meeting was always held in the meeting hall and was mostly led by the young people. Now the gospel work on the college campuses and at the junior high and high schools is very active, and the young people all have specific services in this work. Thus, they cannot take care of the children anymore. Hence, we need to rely on the elderly saints to spend the time and effort to teach the children. We may divide the children into two or three levels. Some saints will need to work on the lesson materials, and some need to tell the stories. Children ages 4 through 6 may be on the first level. With these ones you only need to sing hymns with them and tell them stories. Children ages 7 through 9 may be on the second level. With these ones you need to teach them something, which may require some lesson materials. Children ages 10 through 12 may be on the third level. With them you need lesson materials to help teach them something deeper. The elderly saints may use their homes. After the children get off from school, the elderly saints may open their homes and prepare some snacks to welcome them. Then they may sing with the children, tell them stories, and lead them to know God.
Every one of us should be able to do these three things—pray every day, join the small group meetings, and go door-knocking and have home meetings every week. The fourth matter is taking care of the children. I hope that more people will receive the burden to open their homes to take care of the children. Twenty years ago I said that we should have ten thousand children in Taipei, and then ten years later we would have ten thousand young brothers and sisters. If the saints had taken this word and practiced it, we would have twenty to thirty thousand young people today. Moreover, gaining people in this way is very safe, because they are taught by us and receive the gospel from us from their youth. Thus, they should be very solid. If this were the case, many young saints would not need to put aside their gospel work at school to do the children’s work. I hope that from now on the elderly saints would pick up the burden and take the lead to do this in their homes. The effect will be very promising in the long run.