If the locality of a church is large and also has many saints, district meetings become a necessary arrangement. We do not believe as the Congregationalists do that each congregation is a unit, for that is not the teaching of the Bible. The teaching of the Bible does not allow for taking a congregation as the unit, but a locality as the unit. For example, Corinth was a locality, and Rome was a locality. Therefore, if the number of brothers and sisters in a locality is quite large, as in the case of Jerusalem, which had tens of thousands of believers, you will realize that it is impossible to meet in one place. Moreover, there were already three thousand or five thousand saved in the first few days in Jerusalem; perhaps they were unable to meet in one place within the first few days. Therefore, we see clearly that there must be some kind of arrangement for the meetings.
We are not taking the following section of the Bible as the basis; we are only taking this section of the Bible as our guide; it leads us and guides us. Remember the occasions when the Lord Jesus fed the five thousand and the four thousand. The Lord could not distribute the bread to the people because of the large number. Spontaneously, the Lord made an arrangement either with fifty in a group or with one hundred in a group. Today we accept the principle of this arrangement of the Lord. When the number of saints is quite large in a certain place, we can learn from the way of the Lord to divide people into groups of fifty or one hundred.
I already mentioned some days ago that the Lord did not always divide the people entirely into groups of fifty or one hundred. The Lord divided some of them into groups of fifty and some into groups of one hundred, meaning that these two numbers were convenient numbers. Therefore, when the number of people in the church becomes large, we need to divide them into groups. This does not mean that we must form a separate meeting when we reach a certain fixed, legal number. Rather, we say that based on convenience, geography, and the size of the congregation, there can be a meeting of about fifty people or perhaps a meeting of about one hundred. The number one hundred is twice as much as fifty; therefore, the Lord was only giving us a convenient number.
Based upon this principle, I think that the responsible brothers in all the localities should learn to make arrangements to have the people divided into districts whenever their number becomes large. The number could be fifty, one hundred, or a little more than one hundred. In any case we should begin to have district meetings when those meetings reach these two numbers. This kind of meeting is most convenient because it is easy to take care of the saints and visit them when the number is small. There is also more opportunity for the saints to function in the meeting when the number is small. Numbers between fifty and one hundred are very good for meeting. They are very convenient in every way.
The gospel preaching meeting as well as the prayer meeting and the new believers’ meeting may be carried out in the different districts. If we want to do so, even the edification meeting can be carried out by separate districts. If we wish to combine some meetings together, I think that the edification meeting would be a good one to combine and perhaps the gospel preaching meeting as well. If there are brothers who are workers in this region and if they want to have some message meetings for the brothers and sisters, it is obvious that combining them is more convenient. All the other meetings may be held separately—the prayer meeting, the bread-breaking meeting, and the new believers’ meeting. All these may be held in the districts.
In this way we can care for the saints by districts. If there are meetings by districts in a locality, the responsible brothers should learn to make arrangements so that there will be someone bearing responsibility in every district. The responsible ones in every district should listen to the overseers. The responsible ones need to learn to bear responsibility and to take care of the whole spiritual situation in every district. They should concern themselves with all the work and take care of it. These are their responsibilities.
If the number of people in any church has increased, the area has been well divided into districts, and there has been adequate caring in each district, then you will see that all the saints will be involved in the meetings. This is because many people will be able to have balanced growth, and they will all be able to pray and fellowship before God. As long as the number is small, there is no need to divide into districts. When the number is large, there is such a need.