We need to realize that our present situation is very desperate. We have been speaking concerning the God-ordained way in both Taiwan and the United States for seven and a half years, but we have not seen a definite result. The word that we released has been more than clear, stressing that the group meeting is the crucial matter in the Lord’s ordained way. We said that the group meetings should constitute eighty percent of the church life, and we also said that the gospel preaching, the nourishing, the cherishing, the feeding, and the perfecting should be done in the groups. But where are the groups, and where are the group meetings? We heard and received the word, and we even prayed much concerning this matter, but where is the definite building up of the groups? Among the churches there are some group meetings, but these are not the group meetings we intend to build up that can occupy eighty percent of the church life.
The group meetings are the life line of the God-ordained way. As long as we have not touched the group meetings, we have hardly begun to practice the God-ordained way. Satan has deceived us, just as the serpent deceived Eve, through the practice of Christianity to pay attention to big meetings. However, the New Testament makes it clear that the first stage of the Christian meetings was in the homes. According to Acts 2:46, on the day of Pentecost the believers met from house to house. This means that they met in homes, from home to home. The Greek phrase translated “from house to house” implies that wherever there is a home of a Christian, there should be a meeting. In all the Christians’ homes, there should be meetings. Although I stressed this again and again, today we may still prefer to have big meetings. If we gather together only in big meetings, the proper church life will be hindered. When clumps of grass are scattered about, they grow and spread, but when they are piled together, they die. We may prefer to have the facade of a big meeting, but the Lord is not for that. The Lord is for His spreading, and His spreading is in the homes.
For any work among the saints, we need the group meetings. If it is not brought into the group meetings, even the work on the campuses will not be so adequate. It is good if we can lead many students to believe in the Lord, but they must be grouped together. Without the groups it will be difficult for them to remain, but if we have the groups, everything we do with them will be a success. However, in our work we may trust in many things, but we may not spend any of our strength to take care of the groups.
I fully realize that our barrenness is due mainly to the lack of the group meetings. If we do not have the group meetings, it will be difficult to overcome our barrenness. We may still have some increase, but the rate of increase will probably not be high, and the atmosphere in our meetings also will not be high. A large tree without branches cannot bear fruit. The big meetings are like the trunk of a tree, but a trunk alone cannot bear fruit. The trunk needs tender, fresh branches. It is the branches that can bear fruit. In the church life the branches are the groups. We should not be individualistic but should live in the Body. According to the New Testament, to live in the Body, we need the groups. This does not mean that we should group all the saints into one gathering. According to Acts, it means that we should group the saints together in home meetings.
We need to take Haggai’s word and consider our ways (Hag. 1:5, 7). We—especially the elders and the co-workers— need to reconsider our church life and our work. We need to consider what has been the result of our living day by day. We cannot allow ourselves to continue in our present way.
In the new localities in Southern California, the rate of increase was high initially. However, I found out that when the number attending the meetings in a locality reached one hundred, the rate of increase slowed considerably because the brothers there did not know how to go on. In the beginning they practiced the group meetings spontaneously, because the number was small. But gradually they grew out of the practice of the groups into the practice of having big meetings. The increase in those localities was reduced because they had only the big meetings without the proper group meetings.
I have given a number of messages presenting the principles and the detailed instructions on the practice of the group meetings, but until now I have not given you the steps on how to form the groups. I have been expecting day after day, month after month, and year after year for seven and a half years to see some of you rise up to do something organically to form the groups. However, I have not seen the result that I had hoped to see. Therefore, I feel burdened that I myself need to do something.