We praise the Lord for how He has led us in these past two to three years. We praise the Lord for what He has done. We also would like to fellowship with all the saints about the Lord’s work and leading among us in various aspects during these three years so that the saints will know what the Lord has done in our midst. At the same time, we also want to fellowship with the saints about our future prospects.
Stanza four of Hymns, #149 in the Chinese hymnal says, “Jesus, Thou art the First and the Last... / Praise Thee, Lord, for all the past; / On Thee, Lord, for the future we rely.” We truly praise the Lord for the change of system in the past, and we also rely on Him for the change of system in the future. He is the Author and the Perfecter, the Alpha and the Omega, and the First and the Last.
Changing the system can be likened to changing the direction of a car by turning the car’s steering wheel. During the past three years, although from the very beginning we have loudly proclaimed the new way, urging others to take the new way and to change, the “steering wheel” of this “car” has not only been slow to turn but has at times even returned to its original position. In addition, sometimes while we are trying to take this way, it seems that although the engine is running, the car is not moving. We are so busy, but it seems that although there is loud thunder, there is not a drop of rain. What is the matter? Actually, the reason for this is that we have been studying, experimenting, and preparing this whole time.
In 1984 when we mentioned the change in system, we never thought that it would require so much work and so many people. Although we mentioned the change in system that year, we did not do that much. In the following year, due to the lack of formal training, we also did not do much. About eighty percent of my time was devoted to the Chinese Recovery Version of the New Testament. Hence, I could not do much related to the change in system.
In 1986 we felt that in order to carry out the new way we had to have a training and that this training would serve as a laboratory for us to study and develop the way that we should take in the future. At the beginning when we changed the system, we were very clear that we had never walked on this new way and did not have enough experience, but we still tried to take this way. We were walking as we were trying to take this way, and we were studying this way while we were working it out. Thus, in 1986 we deeply felt that if we wanted to experiment, we had to have a training.
Once the training started, there were all kinds of needs. Therefore, we concentrated all of our serving manpower, material means, and financial power in Taipei. We received the burden from the Lord that from the second half of 1984 the Lord’s recovery had to change its appearance and not continue in its past condition, because our way of meeting and much of our past condition was not according to the Bible. Our leading co-worker, Brother Watchman Nee, once said that our way of meeting on the Lord’s Day followed the custom of the nations. He said that it was a waste and that there was no need to maintain it.
For a very long period of time, we observed that Taiwan was the center of the Lord’s recovery in the eastern hemisphere and that the United States was the center of the Lord’s recovery in the western hemisphere. We also observed that the churches in both places were not moving and that there was no increase in the number of saints. The situation was the same in both Taiwan and the United States. However, there was a reason for choosing Taiwan as the starting point of the change in system. On the positive side, no other place out of more than nine hundred localities in the six continents of the world was more suitable than Taipei to be a model in starting the change in system. So at that time we arranged to have the training center here in Taipei because the church in Taipei was qualified in every aspect to help carry out the training. The church in Taipei is big, the number of saints is great, the saints’ momentum is strong, and there is a practical one accord. For this we are truly full of thanksgiving to the Lord.