According to our observation, the first function of the elderly saints is that they must follow in their spirit. In addition, they must also follow in their prayers and in their care.
There is also a practical need concerning the trainees that can be met by the elderly saints. Most of the trainees are around twenty-five years of age. Even though they are willing to pay the price to learn, they are still young. Among those whom they have gained through door-knocking, there are some who are successful and famous. Some of the ones whom they have gained are professors or businessmen who are in their middle age. They may be forty, fifty, or even sixty years old. Although the young people surprised them when they knocked on their doors and spoke something to them that convinced them, after the young people baptize these ones, they are not able to lead them on. The young people are unable to handle their problems regarding their family, finances, marriage, and children. If the elderly saints coordinate with the young people and occasionally go out with them, not every day but maybe once a week, accompanying the young people to visit the new ones in their homes, when the new ones raise questions related to human life, the elderly saints will be able to render help to them simply by speaking three to five sentences. At present, this is a desperate need.
According to the report from the training center, the 30,000 baptized ones whom we gained through door-knocking in the communities came from knocking on the doors of over 60,000 households. These families have a very good impression of us. The trainees are taking care of them and have built up a very good relationship with them. Thus, on the one hand, if we send the trainees away, we will miss many people; on the other hand, these young trainees are not able to meet all the needs. Hence, the elderly saints have to accompany them. They need only to speak a few sentences at crucial junctures, and by doing this the young ones will receive the needed help. In the church if the elderly saints coordinate with the younger saints and completely blend with them as one, this will give people a very good impression and will cause them to respect us, envy us, and sense that God is truly in our midst.
The church also has to spend some effort to bring in students. If students are to be brought in, however, they need more care than anyone else. Many college students are from the middle or the southern part of Taiwan. They have left their homes and have come alone to study in Taipei. If we can bring these students in, the elderly saints will be able to contact them in the meetings and invite them to their homes for meals so that the students can enjoy the warmth and taste of the family. This will be more helpful than speaking several messages to them. Moreover, some of these students may be weak physically, may have done something wrong, or may have encountered some frustrations. If the elderly saints take care of them, comfort them like fathers and mothers, and express the warmth of the church to them, these students surely will remain in the church life. All these aspects of caring for them are not easy for the young people to undertake.
Furthermore, in the work with the students, matters related to marriage and making friends require the teaching and protection of the elderly saints. Today Taiwan is the same as America. Young males and females require proper protection and enlightening from parents. Now there are so many of these young students who have been baptized and are coming into the church. These ones really need the elderly saints to enlighten them and care for them like their parents. Most of the young people who come to study or work in factories are like children wandering around, without being properly cared for. It is not enough for them merely to come to a meeting. The elderly saints need to open their homes to receive them and care for them.
Three years ago we felt that it was necessary for the Lord’s recovery to change the system. After much careful consideration and study, we felt that there was no other place more proper and suitable to start to do this than Taipei, Taiwan. The church in Taipei is a stable church and has been here for many years. Many elderly saints are here and have remained stable over the years. This stability is the capital of Taipei. Therefore, in these years we have not labored in other places, but we have labored specifically in Taipei. We hope that we will be able to work out a model here in three to five years, then we will help the churches in other regions.
The saints in Taipei are gradually getting clear that we are being trained to bring us back to the proper way to meet and serve according to the Bible. We are all getting older in years, and the success of this matter is not an effort of two or three days. However, we have already figured out the way, prepared the “car,” and have the “drivers.” Now what we need are an enduring character and a long-term endeavor that are unshakable to the end. By the Lord’s grace, we need to practice before God every day, saying, “O Lord, I love You. I desire to have fellowship with You, to walk according to the spirit, to live in spirit, and to be burning in spirit. O Lord, in any situation, at any time, and in any place I want to be able to speak. I want to enjoy You in Your Word and share You with others.”
If we all practice this every day with endurance, attend every home meeting, small group meeting, and district meeting, and function in every meeting, then the new way will definitely be successful. We may not be able to see the success in our lifetime, but we can have the assurance that the new way will eventually be successful. When we considered buying land to build a big meeting hall, many people said to me, “Brother Lee, why do you have to do this? Look at your age and how flourishing your work is. This is already good enough. You should relax and rest. You should just do what you are able to do and let go of other things. Why should you bother with buying land? You may not even be here by the time the big meeting hall is finished. Then your effort will be in vain.” When people spoke to me in this way, I told them that the big meeting hall is not for my use but for the use of all the saints and all the churches. Since the Lord gave us the burden to change the system, we believe that one day the churches in Taiwan will have such a need.
Today my labor and work on the Recovery Version of the New Testament is the same—I am doing this work because there is truly the need. We need a good translation that contains the supply of life and shining of light so that the saints may freely use it. Hence, the Recovery Version of the New Testament is not for myself but for the Lord’s recovery. It is the same with the Chinese hymnal. Before the hymnal was reorganized in 1965, we had to bring six to seven hymnals to the meetings. Thus, in 1966 I spent the time to reorganize all the hymns and added two hundred new hymns. As a result, we have over seven hundred hymns that we use today. All these things are not merely for our generation but for all the saints in the Lord’s recovery.
Many of the revelations that Brother Nee received were released, but because they were not published in written form, the majority of them were lost when Brother Nee went to be with the Lord. We do not want this to happen again. We want to do all that we can to keep the revelations that we receive while we are here on the earth to become the property of the church. Please pray for this matter and ask for the covering of the Lord’s precious blood because this is merely the beginning. We are just experimenting and learning while we are doing. Hence, we cannot make everything clear at one time. Nevertheless, we must thank the Lord that the biggest part has taken shape. May the Lord continue to bring us on in this burden.