I believe that the textbook entitled God’s Full Salvation will be useful not only for the summer school with the junior high and high school students but also for a weekly church training. There is no need for us to add another meeting for the truth. We have a sufficient number of meetings. It is preferable to have two meetings on the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day morning is the time for us to come together around the Lord’s Word for the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of the truth, or for the ministry of life. The Lord’s Day evening is always the right time for us to have the Lord’s table. One evening a week should be used for the prayer meeting and another evening to gather together around the Lord’s Word again. For the long run we should keep such a principle. To have less meetings than this would not be adequate and to have more than this would be quite heavy. In addition to these main meetings, there are also small meetings such as the young people’s meeting and children’s meeting.
It is possible for us to reserve thirty minutes in both the prayer meeting and the Lord’s table meeting to train the saints in the truth. For example, we could pray from 7:30 to 8:30 in the evening, and then from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. we could have a lesson in the truth. I believe that one hour of prayer is adequate. It would be good if we could use the last half hour of the prayer meeting for a regular church training, which could be called a church family training. We need approximately one hour and fifteen minutes for the Lord’s table and then about thirty minutes for the saints to share. The last half hour of the Lord’s table should be devoted to another training, which could be called a church family training. We could spend half an hour twice a week using the materials from God’s Full Salvation. We can train our family just like the mothers daily read some books to their children.
If the elders would give these types of lessons twice a week, this would impress the saints and build them up in the knowledge of the truth. We could possibly cover the entire textbook of God’s Full Salvation within one year. Of course, if we are going to carry out this proposal, all the elders need to be “reduced.” The best way for the elders to get reduced is to carry out the Lord’s work in this way. You must labor. Do not think that it is enough to take the summer school textbook and read it to the saints. That does not work. You must get into it.
I believe the issue of this kind of training will be quite promising. Through this kind of training, most of the saints would be filled with the knowledge of the truth. When they need to talk to people about the gospel, they will have the utterance, the expression, and the material. They will not need to prepare anything. When the need comes, they will be able to teach the saved ones the truth. When the time comes they will also be able to minister life to the seeking Christians who do not meet with us. They will also be enabled to preach the gospel to the unsaved. Then it will be easy for the church to encourage all the saints in the offices, in the schools, in the neighborhoods, and among their relatives, to either preach the gospel, teach the truth, or minister life. This will be the living testimony of the Lord Jesus.
We do not need to be concerned about the number of people we bring in. I would say a strong word—do not proselyte. We need to be those preaching the gospel, teaching the truth, and ministering life to people. The way that others would take as far as the church is concerned is according to their own choice. However, we will show to all the people and especially to the Christian community that we are a group of people full of the knowledge of the divine truths. This will be a strong testimony.
I believe that this is what is on the Lord’s heart for His up-to-date recovery. Just for us to meet properly, to stand on the unique ground, and to have a so-called church life without such a prevailing testimony shining out from within us would not make the Lord happy concerning His recovery. We must give the Lord a way to have a recovery full of life and full of the knowledge of the truth so that we can be those preaching the gospel, teaching the truth, and ministering life. If we become constituted with the truth, when we open up our mouth our preaching will be rich. It will not be rich in stories, jokes, or even in so-called biblical doctrines, but rich in Christ, in the Spirit, in life, and in the church. We do have the way to carry this out, because we have the Word. The Word is the conveyer which conveys the gospel, the truth, and life.
Do not be concerned with the spreading of the churches. I do not mean that we should not migrate to other localities. We must migrate, not in the religious, natural way, but by the way of the growth in life and in the truth. We all need to grow in life and in truth gradually. This seems very slow, but actually it will not be slow. This is a propagation, a multiplication, of life. We need something to grow with so we are growing in life and we are growing with the truth. Then we will be the kind of people who live in the way of preaching, teaching, and ministering to others wherever we are. Whether we have one hundred meeting in our locality or one thousand, it is about the same. Whether there are ten churches in your area or just five, we do not need to be bothered. Be assured, however, that if we live such a life there will surely be an increase, not by human doings or by human effort, but by the growth in life and the knowledge of the truth.
In the past ten years what the ministry has done is to produce the groceries for the churches and the saints. We must realize that the quantity of the groceries will always be much greater than the eating capability. If this were not the case, a morning might come when you would have nothing to eat. Years ago we probably went to our “refrigerator” and there was nothing there, and we went to our “shelves” and they were empty. This is not the case today. Today on our church shelves there are many groceries. The only problem is that some of these groceries have been frozen in your refrigerator for five years. We should not be bothered by the quantity of the groceries. We need to measure and weigh what our present need is to decide what particular groceries can meet the need in our locality.
A diligent seeker of the Lord could possibly finish the entire New Testament by studying two hours a day for two and a half years. If the church, however, took seven and a half years to get through the entire New Testament this would still be wonderful. Never forget the race between the hare and the tortoise. The tortoise wins the race. If we keep going slowly, we will win the race. All the “running ones” will be defeated, but the working ones will win the race. We need to eat regularly, continuously, and slowly. I advise you not to go too fast, but to go slowly. You will then reach the goal. If we had started this practice ten years ago, we would have finished the entire New Testament already. Even if you get through half of the New Testament, you will see that you are different. Also, if the entire church could get through half of the New Testament, the church would be different.