In the fall of 1984 as we began to study the Lord’s new way, I began to speak about the group meetings. At that time I did not differentiate between the home meetings and the group meetings, because we considered these two terms as synonyms. Gradually, through our study and practice over the past few years, we have learned that we should differentiate between these two types of meetings. The home meetings are for nourishing and cherishing the newly baptized ones in their homes. This nourishing and cherishing is like that of a nursing mother after the delivery of a child.
The group meetings, on the other hand, are more advanced because they are for the perfecting of the new ones. We were not so clear about the distinctions in these two types of meetings at the beginning of our study in 1984. Now, we are clear. We also anticipate that there will be some improvement in the coming days.
The group meetings are crucial to the church life. Without the group meetings, the church cannot be very strong or increase very quickly. If a local church is to be strong, it must be built upon the group meetings. Without the group meetings, it is difficult to have remaining fruit. The home meetings are for nourishing and cherishing the new believers in their homes. But these home meetings are only good for a short period of time in the initial stage of caring for the new believers. If you were to baptize a few new ones today, the interest of the new ones for the nourishing and cherishing in their homes would only last for about six months. If you continue to have the home meetings without the group meetings, the new ones will begin to lose their interest in meeting with you.
The church should be built upon the group meetings. According to the history in Christianity and also among us, the strength of a congregation is apparently determined by the speaker. If a congregation has a strong speaker, as long as the speaker is alive, the congregation seems to be strong. But when the speaker goes away or dies, the congregation begins to weaken. This is very common in Christianity, and we also have had similar experiences. When a church has a brother who is a good speaker and he remains in the church for awhile, speaking in a regular way, the church seems to ascend to the moon. But when that brother leaves to go to another place, the church quickly descends to the earth again. It seemed that the church was strong. But through many experiences, we have realized that it was not the church itself that was strong; it was the speaking or preaching that was strong. The speaking was not that much related to the actual strength of the church itself.
The actual strength of the church itself depends upon the group meetings, not on the strong speaker. If the group meetings are built up, whether or not you have a strong speaker makes little difference as far as the actual strength of the church is concerned. A good speaker with good speaking only adds another “crown” to the church. If the church is strong, the church will be strong with or without the good speaker as a crown.
When I was in Taipei from 1949 to 1955, I spoke in nearly every meeting. Apparently, the church in Taipei was strong, but eventually, I discovered that my constant speaking weakened the church there. In Shanghai, Brother Nee had a similar experience. Brother Nee was a strong speaker, and the more he spoke in the church in Shanghai, the weaker the church became. The factor for this weakness was the lack of the group meetings being built up. We may think that the more a good speaker speaks, the more a church will be strengthened. This may be the case when a church is first established. But over time this kind of speaking weakens the church. The good speaking of a speaker is like good food prepared in a restaurant. If you eat such rich food three times a day every day for a long period of time, you will not be very healthy. The emphasis must be placed, not on the good speakers, but on the group meetings. This is because the strength of the church rests actually in the group meetings, and the strength of the group meetings depends upon our labor.
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