Certain brothers asked: If we appoint some brothers to be the responsible ones of a local church, there is still some question concerning whether or not they are fit to be elders. But if we do not appoint them, the church is paralyzed. What shall we do?
Answer: You can ask the few brothers whom you feel are promising and let them first learn to bear responsibility. You need to guide them to bear responsibility.
I think there is one aspect that we should pay attention to when we guide them to bear responsibility. It is spoken of in the Epistle to Timothy that some become deacons first and then elders. Therefore, you need to speak to them in a careful way. Let them know that you are preparing to ask them to be deacons. Do not tell them immediately that you may be choosing them to be elders. First, see whether or not they can be deacons. In this way you can see who particularly grows in the Lord. After a period of time, perhaps two or three months, you can place them in the office of the eldership or of a deacon. If you first appoint them as elders and change afterwards, it will be very difficult. To make a change with a deacon is still a relatively easy matter, but to make a change with an elder is not easy at all.
Therefore, especially in selecting the elders, your eyes must be wide open. Consider what their spiritual future will be. This does not mean that we cannot make mistakes. We are prone to make mistakes. The issue is spiritual; therefore, you need to be very careful before God, and lead these brothers into this realm. If you see that an elder is unfit and replace him at any time, you cause wounds. It is awkward if you set up the authority and then overthrow it later. Therefore, learn to pay attention before God to the spiritual condition of those brothers and their spiritual future.
Many people are good material. Do not damage them, but guide them properly and cause them to learn to bear responsibility year after year. After some time you can ask them to bear responsibility formally when you go into their midst. We should not be in a hurry to say that we are setting up elders. Whether or not we have the assurance, we should tell them, “Come, and I will help you, the more promising brothers, learn how to take care of the affairs of the church.” Demonstrate to them. To some brothers we may say, “You can be a responsible brother,” and to some others we may say, “You can be a deacon.” But be careful. Do not first ask him to be an elder and later ask him to be a deacon. This would be difficult. If a person is humble, it would not do much damage, but once human feeling comes in, it is a very difficult situation.
In the future you can do a very profitable thing in a local church which is also the center of the work. For example, if you are in Peking and you see that there are three very good brothers in Sui-Yuan and another two very good brothers in T’ai-yuan, you can invite them to come to Peking. The meeting of the responsible brothers in Peking should be open to them.
This meeting is not open to everyone. It should not be open to sisters. We do not allow sisters to attend. Today if a brother comes from T’ai-yuan and attends this meeting, it is a very great privilege we extend to him. We may tell him, “This meeting is not for others, and we do not lightly open the door to anyone. Today we invite you to come and live here for a month or two with the hope that you can learn something.”
At the beginning let him sit in the meeting, without saying anything. He should learn to observe how you manage spiritual things before God, how problems are solved, how questions are raised and discussed, how prayers are offered, how to sense before God whether or not a certain thing should be done, and how to make a decision when peace is obtained. Then show him how to answer the questions the brothers and sisters bring, how you fellowship with brothers from out of town, how you receive those who ask to participate in the breaking of bread, and how you fellowship with those who want to be baptized. Present a pattern to him. After a period of time, you can say to him, “Please speak to this brother on our behalf.” Then you should observe how he speaks.
After some time, perhaps you may send him back. Let him do the work of an overseer in T’ai-yuan without giving him the name. A little later, you might go to T’ai-yuan and hear what the saints there are saying. Not all the criticisms will be correct, but you need to know the things this brother has done. The criticisms of some brothers are not correct because they do not submit to authority. If this brother is actually wrong, you have to see where the problem is. When you go to visit the second time, you should be clear whether or not that brother can bear the responsibility.
For this reason it is necessary to have strong meetings at the center of the work, where the apostles are. You need to help the meetings of the overseers so that you will be able to help the responsible brothers in this district through this church. Otherwise, you have no way to help them because you do not have any pattern to show them. You have no pathway to lead them on.
For a brother who has the qualification before the Lord and who can learn to be a responsible brother, you should let him learn in the center of the work through the meeting. Then his eyes will be opened to realize that he has been reckless in his own locality. Many times brothers have told me that they now realize what they did in the church before was really reckless. Many people have never seen what a spiritual church is and how a spiritual church should be taken care of. Many times they just come together and make decisions in a light way.
In the meeting you should hold the rein and also let the responsible brothers in that locality hold the rein. Show them that this meeting is more serious than the time Moses was on the mountain. He was only given the law, but we are taking care of the church. To take care of the church is more serious than Moses going up to the mountain to receive two tablets of stone. Therefore, you should make your home in the church where the center of the work is. That place must be strong. Only when it is strong do you have the way to make the churches in the surrounding area strong and bring them into the presence of the Lord.