From our past experiences and our knowledge concerning the truth in the Scripture, we have found clearly through our practice that the practical service in the church is in three areas:
The first is the zealous preaching of the gospel. In order for the church on earth to express the Son of God, it cannot neglect the preaching of the gospel. The church must preach the gospel of the Son of God to the sinners in darkness. If the testimony of the church is to be strengthened and built up, there must be the preaching of the gospel to bring in new souls. In the service of the gospel, the church must be zealous, powerful, and effective.
The second thing is to perfect the saints. When people are saved and are brought into the church, they must begin to be perfected right away. Of course, perfecting includes many things. It includes such things as helping them to love the Lord, to deal with their past, to consecrate themselves before the Lord, to learn to study the Bible, to pray, to contact the Lord, and to pursue in life. These are the four levels of spiritual life in which we have been trained in the past.
The third thing is service. Not only do we have to perfect the saved ones; we have to lead these saved and perfected ones into the church and have them serve in a practical way.
When these three items are added together, there is the building up of the church. On the one hand, there is the preaching of the gospel. On the other hand, there is the perfecting of the saints. Then you need to bring the saved and perfected ones together to serve. In this way, the church can be built up in a locality. Through the building up of these three areas of service, God's glorious goal is achieved, and Christ is expressed. This is the testimony of the church. It is God's goal concerning the church.
All the elders' administration and oversight of the church revolve around this one goal and three areas of service. This is the sphere of the elders' administration. Whatever the elders do, and no matter how much they do, in the end all the things are either for the gospel, for the perfecting, or for the service. These three items combined together produce the building, the attainment of which accomplishes God's goal.