Some people have asked why we should preach the gospel through door-knocking and where the Bible mentions door-knocking. Strictly speaking, all the visitations that took place in the Bible are examples of door-knocking. There are several examples of visitation in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, after the fall of Adam, God came to visit man personally. God called Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” (3:8-9). This was God’s personal visitation to fallen Adam. God did not give Adam a command from the throne to tell Adam to repent and confess; rather, He visited Adam personally.
Approximately two thousand years ago God Himself became flesh. In so doing, He came to earth from heaven and not only visited man but also entered into man. God became a man to live together with men. The Bible does not record much of what He did on earth for the first thirty years of His life, but after He came out for His ministry, we see that He was always visiting people. He did not hold big conferences or stay in one place and ask people to come to Him. Instead, He went out, leaving His own dwelling place and visiting people in many places. He personally visited Zaccheus, a chief tax collector and sinner, and it was for this specific reason that He went to the cursed city of Jericho (Luke 19:1-10). He also personally went to Samaria to visit a thirsty woman (John 4:3-26). In addition to visiting people Himself, He also sent forth His twelve disciples to visit people (Matt. 10:5). Later, He also sent out seventy people to visit people’s homes and bring them peace (Luke 10:1, 5). If there were no sons of peace in a house, the peace would return upon them (v. 6). He also told these ones that no matter which house they entered, they should remain in that house (v. 7). From this we can see that the Lord not only visited people but also even remained with them.
When the trainees recently went out to visit people, even though some people rejected them, the majority of people did open their doors to them. When people opened their doors, the trainees were able to discern who the sons of peace would be. The Lord Jesus also said that He sent us out as lambs in the midst of wolves. This indicates that in the midst of wolves, there are sheep that have been chosen by God (v. 3). Our experience of door-knocking also confirms that there are some wonderful wolves—ones who initially appear to be wolves but are actually sons of peace. Some of the sons of peace seemed to have been ready for a long time and did not need for us to speak much. Some of them even had prepared a snack for our visit.
The whole life of Paul was a life of visiting people. When he arrived at Philippi, he went to the riverside because he knew that people would be gathered there. He not only visited the people there, but he also spoke to them (Acts 16:13). Paul always grasped the opportunity to visit and supply people. Almost all of his gospel preaching was carried out by visiting people. He did not ask people to come to him; rather, almost every time he preached the gospel, he went to people.
In 1984 I went back to Taiwan and saw that the situation in Taiwan was the same as that in the United States. The situation was that there were very few newly saved ones. At that time everyone said that they did not have anyone to visit because there were not that many who had been recently saved. However, today we have almost five thousand who meet regularly on the Lord’s Day. Moreover, there are over thirty thousand who were baptized through door-knocking in the communities. From these thirty thousand people, we have gained more than five thousand. This shows us that door-knocking is a very effective way to preach the gospel. Due to an insufficient number of laborers, we cannot visit all these ones, but even though this is the case, we still have to take care of them. We have their addresses and telephone numbers, so we all have to bear this heavy burden to care for these ones together.
Those who meet regularly in the meeting hall plus those who have been brought in through the door-knocking in the communities are exactly 10,000. During the feast, we also revived more than 2,200 saints who had not been meeting for a long time. From this perspective, we can see that there are 5,000 in the communities, 5,000 in the meeting hall, and 2,200 backslidden ones—a total of 12,200 who require our daily care. Furthermore, there are more than 600 high school young people and more than 500 to 600 junior high young people, totaling around 14,000. All these people are here, and we need to care for them.
Among the 2,200 recovered ones, most of them are willing to have small group meetings with those in their neighborhood. They are able to do this, but they are not able to come to other meetings. They like to meet in people’s homes or to pick up the responsibility to meet in their own homes, but they are not willing to come to meet at the meeting hall. Of the 5,000 who were gained from door-knocking, less than 1,000 are willing to meet in the meeting hall. Among these ones, less than 1,000 are presently willing to have small group meetings, but this number is gradually increasing. The trainees have been taught that after they baptize someone, they should immediately establish a home meeting in his home and then blend the new ones together and establish a small group meeting with three to five families. Thus, the need for the care of the home meetings and small group meetings is more and more desperate.