In addition to strengthening our prayers, we all need to have a turn in our concept concerning the gospel meeting. In traditional Christianity every time there is a revival meeting or an evangelical meeting, the success or failure of every activity, including the meeting, depends on the preacher, the one who serves as the mouthpiece. However, we need to see that in our gospel meetings, we do not and should not have only one person who evangelizes or conducts some kind of meeting. Rather, the whole church should take spiritual action before the Lord. The gospel meeting is the move of the Body, not the work of an individual. Therefore, each one of us needs to be dealt with by the Lord and to have a part in the meeting. We should never put all our trust in the brother who speaks at the podium.
In the past, when holding a gospel meeting, we printed the name of the speaker on the gospel tracts, invitations, advertisements, and banners that were prepared for the meeting. I was always troubled within concerning this practice because it is a common, worldly practice of traditional Christianity that regards one person too highly and disregards the position of the Body of Christ. I was troubled also because placing an individual in an obvious position in a purposeful and deliberate way will easily invite the attack of the enemy. Hence, I cautioned the elders to do everything possible to remove from the printed materials the name of the one who was going to speak.
We all need to see that gospel preaching is an action of the whole church and a move in the Body and of the Body. My earnest desire is that we would have a situation where thousands of people would come to hear the gospel at our gospel meetings, and yet no one will notice the one who is speaking in any of the meetings. Such a situation will be a strong testimony to all the people that the whole church is preaching the gospel, and it will allow the Lord to speak words of grace through the church. This is altogether not according to man’s natural concept, which is that the gospel is preached by a particular preacher or evangelist.
Among us there is no renowned evangelist or preacher; there are only members one of another in the move of the Body. We should not put our eyes on one person; rather, we should see the Body of Christ, the church. We must believe that the Lord uses the church today more than He uses individuals.
Finally, we all need to realize that our endeavor and labor before the Lord to preach the gospel is absolutely different from that of the evangelical gatherings and revival meetings in traditional Christianity. Thus, instead of spending our time trying to stir others up, which has no spiritual value, we need to realize that we have received a burden from the Lord to grasp the opportunity that He has given to us to preach the gospel to many sinners through the gospel meetings. If many among us have such a realization, sinners will be saved, and we who preach the gospel and serve will be edified and perfected.
My desire in the Lord during this gospel move is that, whether many or few are saved, the brothers and sisters will be gained in a deeper way and perfected in a more thorough way by the Lord. If the Lord has no way to gain more of our being and we have no real dealings before the Lord, we will have only activities and excitement. The result will be that even if thousands are saved, we will be unable to keep the newly saved ones because our condition will be abnormal. However, if we have the proper dealings before the Lord and allow the Lord to perfect us and to make our condition normal, people will surely be saved, and we will have the capacity to bear and keep the newly saved ones. Such a result will be glorious, and it will cause God to gain the praise among us.