According to our history, whenever a church reached an attendance of one hundred, the rate of increase became reduced. The reason for this is that after attaining that number, the principle of meeting in groups was annulled. We began to trust in the big meetings and began to do everything to support, maintain, enrich, and uplift the big meetings. Everything was for the big meetings. This is absolutely against the biblical principle. The increase does not come through the big meetings. When there is a very good, spiritual speaker, the attendance in the big meetings will increase. But any Christian body that depends on such a speaker will suffer quite a loss when that speaker dies. That is not the Lord’s way.
In mainland China, before I went to Taiwan we did not have group meetings. We did call some smaller meetings “home meetings,” but in actuality they were not group meetings. After we began the work in Taiwan, we began to practice the group meetings very much. When we first went to the island of Taiwan from mainland China, the number of saints throughout the island was from three to five hundred. However, in just five years, from 1949 to 1954, the total number of saints on the island reached forty thousand. It was at that juncture that Brother T. Austin-Sparks was invited to visit us. During his visit a few of the young co-workers under my training were negatively influenced by him. This caused a turmoil among us. After the turmoil, in approximately 1958, the practice of group meetings nearly ceased, and the rate of increase was much reduced. The rate of increase that we experienced from 1949 to 1954 has never been regained, even until today.
We all must realize that our destiny depends upon how to have group meetings. If we do not practice the group meetings, our rate of increase will remain very low. We may be busy in many things each day, even with meetings here and there, but it will mostly be in vain because the increase will be less than about ten percent a year. This is the reason that we must endeavor to form the group meetings.
From now on I will practice my work in a way very different from the way I practiced in the past seven and a half years. In those years, I was the coach, giving instructions to the saints and teaching the principles and never practicing myself. But as I have observed the situation, I have realized that if I do not practice, it will be difficult for us to have a definite beginning. I look to the Lord very much that He will give us a new start.
This new practice will not conflict with the present church life or with the present way. The saints do not need to stop going to the prayer meeting or the other meetings. They should still keep going to all the regular meetings. But in addition to the regular meetings of the church, there is the need for some to pick up the burden and form new groups.
To form the new groups, first you should pray, asking the Lord to give you a companion. If you pray, the Lord may lead you to go to the brother sitting next to you. As you go to him and tell him of your intention, the Spirit may confirm your work and inspire him to join you. Then the two of you will become a group. The first thing the two of you must do in your group meeting is to get yourselves closely joined in spirit and in your environment.
In the church life today we often pretend that we know each other. Truthfully speaking, I do not know many of the saints. I do not know the names of many of the saints. In some cases, I know the first name, but I do not know the last name. I may know the names of certain saints, but I do not know how many children they have. This illustrates the fact that we do not have a close, thorough fellowship with one another. We must pick up the burden to form the group meetings in a new way. First, according to the Lord’s leading, you must get a few companions. You and your companions must get to know each other thoroughly. You must know each companion’s age, the name of his wife, the number and ages of his children, the schools the children attend, and so forth. In other messages I pointed out that the first thing in the group meeting is fellowship so that all the members of the group may know each other in an up-to-date way.
The wife of a certain brother may be sick in bed, but not many of the saints may be aware of this because we do not have the fellowship in a group meeting. If we were in a group meeting, the first thing I would ask is how the other members of the group are doing. In the past we concealed our real situation, not letting others know what our situation was. We covered our real situation and pretended to be something else. By such a practice we deceived ourselves, and we also deceived others. As a result, we did not know each other’s situation. We pretended to know each other; actually, we remained separate. In this kind of situation it is impossible to be in one accord with the real impact. This was the reason that when we went out to visit people, they could easily realize that we were not one. To have the one accord and the impact, we must intimately know one another through fellowship.
In forming a group, the first step is to get a companion. The second step is to pray together and fellowship together in order to know each other in a thorough and intimate way. You may pray, “Lord, what is the next step that You want us to take?” When you ask the Lord such a question, I assure you that He will not tell you to go out and visit people. I say this based on my study of the new way in the past seven and a half years. If you met with your companion last night, and you meet together again this morning, the first thing to do is to let your companion know what happened to you between last night and this morning. In this way, you and your companion maintain a thorough knowledge of each other. As a result, you will become one, and a real love and care will come in between you. The Lord may then lead you to get four or five additional companions.
After this, the Lord may lead you to pray for a period of time. At this time do not go out; just pray. After praying for two weeks, you may be ready, and the Lord may lead you to go out to visit people. During the period of prayer, you should pray, asking the Lord to lead you to the ones whom you should visit. The Lord may lead you to study not only your own relatives, cousins, in-laws, neighbors, classmates, friends, and colleagues, but also the close acquaintances of the other members of the group. The Lord will show you the ones who need to be visited. This is to knock on warm doors. In going, do not go by yourself or according to your feeling. You should not go according to your decision; rather, you should go by the group. At most, two or three from your group should go, but in order to find out who should go, you need to study your candidates and pray.