The church is the Body of Christ, and all of us have to learn not to lose any blessing from any part of the Body. We must be willing to live in the Body and receive the supply from it. The elders in every locality should have this Body- consciousness. They must learn to fellowship with the churches in all the localities. They must supply others, and they must receive the supply from others. Even when others are lower, weaker, and poorer than you are, when you fellowship with them, you will discover that you can still be helped by the weak and supplied by the poor.
The Lord's children should see that fellowship is a great need here. I must say solemnly that the reason many local churches cannot go on today is that they lack fellowship with the other churches. It is an extremely valuable thing for you to try your best to fellowship with the churches in the other localities. This will not only supply the churches in the other places, but it will supply you yourself and your church. Of course, this requires that our heart be broad and our view be large. We have to see something universal, and we have to take care of the needs in all the places.
Of course, there is much to consider about the fellowship between the churches. You cannot write a letter of recommendation in a loose way. There must be many boundaries. Concerning some things, you can fellowship with one place but not with another place. Concerning some other things, you can fellowship about them now but not later. There is the boundary in time, and there is the boundary in place. There are also some things which you cannot fellowship with another locality at all. You have to learn all these lessons.
The elders should also do their best to have fellowship with the workers whom the Lord uses. Although the churches in the localities are independent before the Lord, they have to maintain continual fellowship with the workers. This is also a very blessed thing to do.
In order to fellowship with God, there are many things to learn. In order to fellowship with each other, there are also many things to learn. For everything, you have to learn. How can the church in a place profit from the workers with whom it has fellowship? How can the workers receive help from the church? All these require much learning. The fellowship between the elders and the workers is a great lesson to learn.
We have to know that someone who has received an elementary school education is better than an illiterate one, and someone who has graduated from junior high school is better than one who has only graduated from the elementary school. Someone who has graduated from high school is better than one who has graduated from junior high school, someone who has gone to college is better than one who has graduated only from high school, and someone who is studying in graduate school is better than one who is in college. Although you can live whether or not you study, the way you live is different. If an elder learns the lessons, he can be an elder. If he does not learn the lessons, he can still be an elder. However, the problem is that the kind of elder he is will determine the kind of church he leads. Those who have learned the lessons lead the church on in one way, and those who have not learned the lessons lead the church in another way. If we want to have real management and building in the church, we have to learn many lessons properly. No carpenter could saw, cut, and chop from the day he was born; he has to practice daily. Those who are natural do things in one way, and those who have been trained do things another way. For this reason, the elders must practice and must learn.