In the meeting of the overseers, you need to bring in all solemnity. There should not be joking and light conversation. When you come into this meeting, you should say, “We are handling things before God and should not have a loose attitude.” This is the time the High Priest enters into the Holiest, and this is the time we come before God to serve Him. Here there is no joking. We come before God to see how the work in this area should be. Unnecessary words should be reduced, for if they abound, two or three hours will slip away and all your time will be gone. Everybody should come together in a serious way and consider things item by item.
If there is any responsible brother who comes to the meeting of the overseers and does not give his opinion in the meeting, but gives it in front of the brothers and sisters, you should rebuke him before the brothers in the next meeting: “You are not qualified to be a responsible brother!” If you have a feeling or something to say, you should bring it up in the meeting of the overseers when all the brothers are together. If someone does not speak in the meeting of the overseers, yet goes out and speaks to others, he is a person with a double tongue. Such a person cannot be in our midst. You must rebuke him sharply, saying, “Brother, this is not the way a Christian behaves, nor is it becoming to a saint. We should not do such a thing. In the meeting of the overseers, if you have some feeling before God, you should open your mouth. If you do not open your mouth here, you should not open your mouth to speak in any other place.”
Please remember that the life of the whole church in the early phase is in the meeting of the overseers. If you cause the meeting of the overseers to become light, loose, or sloppy and if decisions are based merely on some conversation without any prayer, the work in that area is over and useless. In that place there will be no spiritual weight at all. If you have nothing in your storehouse, what resources are you going to spread to other places? This meeting must be strong. There are requirements for the responsible brothers coming to this meeting: If any word is not worth mentioning in this place, it is not worth mentioning in any other place. If they want to open their mouths, they should open their mouths in this place. If they do not open their mouths in this place, they should not open their mouths in any other place.
I hope that the responsible brothers in all the localities know that if any brother goes out of the meeting of the overseers and speaks a word behind the other brothers’ backs, he has to bear full responsibility before God. No human emotion should enter in, and by no means can we be loose in this matter. We must charge strictly: “Brother, this is not Christian behavior.” We must speak to him in front of all: “If you have anything to bring up, you must bring it up in front of the responsible ones among the co-workers; if you bring it up behind their back to any other person, you damage the oneness of the Body.”
There is another matter. No one can go home and tell his wife anything that takes place in the meeting of the overseers. Nor can any brother go out and tell a second brother anything that happens in the meeting of the overseers. This is something divine, and everyone should maintain it. In this meeting the same principles apply in everything; you cannot speak lightly, you cannot leak out information, and you should not have unnecessary words. Therefore, I hope that you will be strict concerning this matter. Do not be loose. Train the brothers, especially the responsible brothers, and let them realize how to handle things before God. Do not let them be careless. Whenever things are handled before God, they must be done seriously. Unless all agree that certain matters can be made public, they should not be told to others. There is no need to be told every time that you cannot tell anyone. Not telling others is the principle. The things in the meeting of the overseers should not be passed on to others.
If there are things which should be made public, the responsible brothers should go out and tell the brothers. But as to how this matter was decided and handled in the meeting of the overseers, it is better that these words be buried in the grave. You need not tell how the decision was made. This is a matter before God, not a matter to be talked about. I hope that the brothers will learn to pay attention to these things.