After consecration, we have to lead these ones to fellowship with the Lord, to learn to pray, and to study the Word. I really hope that the elders can manage the churches well. Suppose the brothers and sisters here are very poor in the matter of the study of the Word. They do not know how to study, nor do they have the interest to study. The elders here do not know how to help them. You can go to the nearby churches and ask one or two brothers who are especially good at helping others to study the Word to come and help. You can invite them to come for eight or ten days and to speak every day on the way to study the Word. At the same time, you have to take the lead to actually help the brothers and sisters to study the Word. This is something you can do. This is the proper way to manage the church.
Suppose my child is good in English and general science, but he is weak in mathematics. I will have to hire a mathematics teacher to come and tutor him in mathematics. Perhaps he is not good in chemistry. I will have to invite a chemistry teacher to come and tutor him in chemistry. This is the way to manage a home. The management of the church is in the same principle. You cannot merely give a message on Sunday morning. This will not work. For the elders to manage the church, they have to know at what stage the brothers and sisters are and what kind of things they lack.
You may say that this is too artificial. Dear brothers and sisters, look at Genesis 1 and 2. There, on the one hand, it says that God created the different kinds of plants and herbs. On the other hand, it says that "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground" (Gen. 2:5). Here you can see that the sending of the rain is God's work, while the tilling of the ground is man's work. In order to have the produce of life, there is the need for man's work to match God's work.
We know that here in Taiwan there are two harvests each year. However, there must first be those who till the ground before there can be the harvest. If everyone is looking to the heavens for food, and no one tills, sows, or irrigates, there will surely be no harvest at all. For the heaven to rain, it takes God's grace. For example, last year there was too much rain, and we had a flood. This year, there is too little rain, and we almost have a drought. This is God's work. We have to learn to fear God. However, the cooperation on man's side is indispensable. The apostle Paul said: "You are God's farm, God's building" (1 Cor. 3:9). The building needs someone to build it, and the farm needs someone to till it. You may say that this is artificial. The ones who truly know God's grace are the ones who are truly diligent, and only those who are truly diligent before God know truly what God's grace is. Hence, dear brothers and sisters, you should pray more, look to the Lord more, deal with Him more, and be more diligent. Never think that this way of managing the church is artificial or is an exercise of human manipulation.
I fully agree that in today's deformed Christianity there is not much prayer, not much dealing before the Lord and not much trust in God. It depends mostly on outward organizations, outward committees, and outward activities. This is, of course, too artificial. But while we are learning today to live before God, to have dealings with Him, and to look to Him, we cannot neglect the outward things that we have to do. The coming of the rain does not take away the need for the tilling of man. You have to endeavor with perseverance and manage with diligence. You have to bring the brothers' and sisters' condition before the Lord and consider them well. You cannot take the easy way. You must have a goal in perfecting them, and you must help them to consecrate, to learn to fellowship with the Lord, to exercise to pray, and to study the Word. This is the proper management.