Once, a brother who was responsible for the co-workers' dormitory spoke to others in my presence, "Whoever manages the dormitory cannot possibly bear Brother Lee. Today he comes and asks for all the bedspreads to be changed and the desks to be moved. The next day he asks for all the mattresses to be turned over. I simply cannot stand it." However, I wish to tell you that this is not a matter of being able or unable to tolerate something. Rather, it is a matter of slothfulness or diligence. If you are slothful, you will not be able to bear even work that is lighter. If you are diligent, even work that is heavier is acceptable.

If you visit a local church, you will know whether the elders there are diligent or slothful. Sometimes, when you go to a local church and observe the condition there, you will find out that the gospel has not been preached as it ought to have been preached, and the saints have not been edified as they ought to have been edified. Visitations have not been made as they ought to have been made, and many backsliders have not been sought out as they ought to have been sought out. In spite of all these things, the elders nevertheless have peace day after day. When meetings are being considered, these elders would wish that an hour-and-a-half meeting would be shortened to one hour. These elders are like hired workers. Everyone who manages his own store or who works in an office has to take his business seriously; he has to work with longsuffering and utmost diligence. When his business requires nine hours, he spends ten hours. When it requires ten hours, he spends twelve hours. When it requires twelve hours, he spends fifteen hours. This was what I saw with the overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. In the morning, before any of the employees arrive, they arrive early at the place of business and take the lead to work. They stay until 11 p.m. or 12 p.m. before returning home. No wonder they make a success in their business.

Brothers, never think that all you have to do in overseeing a church is to pray a little and wait for the Lord a little and expect God to do it all for you. There is no such thing. God will never perform such a miracle. To manage the church is like managing a family. All the sisters who manage their homes know that whether a home is large or small, they can never get their job done, even when they put all their time into it. However, a person may do nothing around the house, and she can still call it her home. But there is a great difference between one home and another. Likewise, a church is a church, whether it is managed by diligent ones or slothful ones, but there can be vast differences between one church and another.

When a church is in the hands of some elders who are slothful, it is impossible for that church to go on. No matter what wonderful truths, principles, and methods are entrusted to them, the church will still have no way to go on, because slothfulness damages everything. Therefore, every elder must exercise to be diligent. When anyone becomes an elder, he is not there merely to mark time, but to do business. In doing business, a person is not concerned with time. Whenever a matter comes to his attention, he must deal with it and manage it diligently.

The result of this diligence is to make the weakest person the most successful one. There is a Chinese saying—"Better to go slowly than to stand still." Even though you may be very timid, as long as you go on diligently to oversee and to manage, you will see the church being led in an orderly way and on the right track. On the other hand, if the elders are lazy, everything will be frustrated. No matter how spiritual an elder is, it will still be of no avail. When a church is placed in the hands of a lazy person, it is doomed to desolation.