If a church has just started and there are no elders appointed yet, the principle is still the same. Among the brothers and sisters, a few who are more elderly, who love the Lord more, and who are more spiritual should come together for fellowship. You should give the opportunity for everyone to speak up concerning their feelings. You as a leading one should listen, on the one hand, and look to the Holy Spirit, on the other hand, to give you the discernment. With one brother's word, there may be the personal view and the fleshly element. With another's word, there is a certain amount of godliness and conformity to the Lord's will. After they have expressed their feelings in this way, you need to make a decision. You should not have everyone cast a vote. You need to cause the brothers and sisters to realize that here is the authority of the Holy Spirit, and that this is not a democracy. It is everyone expressing the feeling of the Holy Spirit before the Lord, and the authority of the Holy Spirit making the decision. If the brothers would hold fast this principle, under such circumstances you will see the evident presence of the Holy Spirit.

Many times you may be foolish under other circumstances; but under such circumstances and in this kind of condition, you become very clear within. As soon as a person opens his mouth, the Holy Spirit will give you a clear sense within. You will know clearly whether there is still the flesh within a certain person, whether there is still the element of emotion in him, and whether his opinion is right and can be taken. You may have never thought about these things before. At such times, you should exercise the authority and should make the decision. This is neither democracy nor autocracy, but the Holy Spirit being in the Church the authority manifested through the more elderly ones who live before the Lord.

In the church there are always a few who have more fear toward the Lord, who live before Him, know Him, and have discernment concerning spiritual things. These should seek the mind of the Holy Spirit concerning the affairs of the church and should make decisions about them. If the meeting in a place is indeed one raised up by the Lord, we should believe that even though the leading brothers may be somewhat immature, there will be the special presence of the Lord.

This is the way we began our meeting in northern China years ago. At that time, I was a leading one. But I had never passed through any training and had never experienced any meeting of such a kind. However, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, I was neither democratic nor autocratic. When matters rose up, I would fellowship with a few brothers and sisters who loved the Lord. We would talk the matter over and over before the Lord. We weighed the pros and the cons, and then made the decision to do things a certain way. Gradually after nearly ten years, we began to see the light in the Bible concerning the administration of the Church, and we realized that this was indeed the right way. It is neither a democracy nor an autocracy.

The record in Acts 15 concerning the decision by James was indeed beautiful. Verse 13 says, "And after they were silent, James answered, saying, Men, brothers, listen to me." This is true authority. He did not say, "Listen to me; I think it should be decided this way." If it had been like this, it would have been an autocracy. Instead, he mentioned how Simeon described this and that; he brought in others' feelings as the basis. Following this, he continued by saying that the words of the prophets also agree with this; he looked for the confirmation of the Scripture. Finally he concluded, "Wherefore I judge..." This is the word of authority. It was here that the matter was decided. It was neither an autocracy nor a democracy; it was altogether a decision of the Holy Spirit.