Perfecting is more troublesome than the preaching of the gospel. No one can say that he has learned or has graduated in this matter. We are all beginners in this school, and there are too many lessons that we have to learn. Just the four stages of the spiritual life alone require much time for training. There are too many points belonging to this direction of perfecting.
Once someone is saved and baptized, the church should give him some beginners' lessons. This will acquaint him with some foundational matters. This must be done by the elders themselves; they cannot wait and depend upon the workers to do it. This is like raising up children at home. The mother has to do the cooking and the washing herself. She cannot expect the restaurant to cook for them and the tailor to make all the clothes for them. In the same way, the elders must take the lead themselves to take care of the beginners' lessons.
The elders must also help the newly-saved ones to pass through the gate of consecration. If many brothers and sisters in your church have never consecrated themselves, this proves that your church has never been managed. Every church that has been helped and perfected will have most of its brothers and sisters consecrated before God. Of course, this is not an easy thing to do. This requires much prayer, and it takes the Holy Spirit to find the opportunity to operate in the hearts of the saints. The consecration of the brothers and sisters must not only be genuine, but must be something living in the Holy Spirit. The elders should consider how much work there is to do in bringing the brothers and sisters genuinely through the gate of consecration!
Let me repeat. The church needs the management of the elders. It does not need the preaching of famous preachers. Suppose you invite one person to come this week, another person to come next week, and a third person to come the third week. One gives an interesting exposition on Genesis. Another gives an interesting exposition on Revelation. Still another one gives an exposition on Daniel, or on Psalms, which are all very interesting. But by doing this, you have absolutely sacrificed the brothers and sisters. These brothers and sisters have been listening to interesting messages year in and year out. Yet they themselves have not changed. No. For the elders to manage the church, they should behave like parents teaching their children. The children need to go to kindergarten now. I cannot invite a college professor to come and teach them. I do not need that profound an education here. I need only a kindergarten teacher to teach them to count with their fingers. Perhaps after two or three years, I will need an elementary school teacher. After they graduate from elementary school, I will need a high school teacher. I cannot invite a renowned professor to come and lecture any time I want. The professors may speak to their hearts' delight, but the children will not understand anything. In the end, such a thing will only damage them. Suppose I invite Dr. Chang to my house for a lecture today, Dr. Wang for another lecture tomorrow, and Dr. Lin the third day. If I keep on inviting people like this, without sending the children to elementary school, junior high school, and high school, what should the children do when they reach eighteen or twenty years of age? All they can do then is to be a street sweeper. The parents cannot be that foolish. They must know what their children's levels are. I know that the brothers and sisters need to consecrate themselves now. What I need to do is to pray and to seek the Lord, so that all the brothers and sisters can pass through the gate of consecration. This is called church management.