It is all right if you have a humble heart, and you want to assume a learning position and to listen to an academic lecture. But the question is: do you have a laboratory to experiment in? Do you have a field in which to practice? The real work is done in the field; it does not come through listening to an academic lecture. For this reason, we the workers have to always hate this kind of academic, lecture-type work. We do not go to any place to hold academic lectures. We are there to take up the proper work of the building up of the church. To have mere meetings and preachings is useless. It is useless to give eight or ten messages. But even if you were to give a hundred or two hundred messages, it would still be useless. This is the way of fallen Christianity; we should not bring this way in. The responsible ones in every locality have to put in the labor. They should not hope to invite this worker or that worker to come and speak to them.

This is like some parents who do not manage their homes properly day in and day out, but expect others to speak for them and teach for them. What use does it have? If you are willing to put in the labor, even if you cannot cook, you will learn in half a month, and even if you do not know how to take care of children, you will learn in a month. As long as you are willing to learn, soon you will be able to do it.

Let me repeat: the management and building up of the church does not depend on inviting speakers. This is not the way among us. I hope that we would all change our concept and our view, and would accept another way. You must put yourselves in the church where you are, give yourself to the work there, and labor there. There is no other way. Even if you were to invite the apostle Paul, the apostle Peter, Apollos, and all the others to come to speak, you would still be you. It would not have much use. The only thing that is useful is for you to be subdued and to see that the church is God's garden, and that there is the need for some to be the farmers, to toil and plow with sweat. They should also see that the church is the house of God, committed to their care. They should be like a housewife, cleaning the windows, mopping the floors, making the dresses, mending the clothes, cooking the meals, eating the leftovers, and laboring in suffering. Only then will the house prosper. If you do not do these things, even if you were to listen to a thousand messages or ten thousand messages, they would still do you no good.

One thing continually bothers me: though I have fellowshipped much about this in the past, the brothers are still unchanged; they still love the way of Christianity. Brothers, why do we have to have so many conferences? What is the use of them all? Consider the chapels in the denominations. Which great doctors in theology have not preached in those places? Which evangelist has not visited these places? Which world-famous evangelist has not spoken there? The doctors, the eloquent ones, the educated ones have all spoken there. But what about the church? It is still in desolation. Since this is the case, are we still going to take this way that does not work? No, we must take a practical way. We have to go back to our own church in a proper way. We have to do everything ourselves. Gradually, you will see that the local church where you are, or the district where you are will have some improvement. Let others have the academic lectures. No matter how high or spiritual their talks are, they are flying in the air. You should just put your feet on solid ground and do some solid work. Here lies the management and the building up of the church.