Prayer: Lord, do teach us how to pray concerning Your move in the matter of grouping. We need Your guidance. We do not want to pray in vain words. We desire to touch Your heart and to touch the crucial items. Lord, do cleanse us again with Your precious blood that we may have a clear conscience with a crystal clear spirit in our fellowship. Give us step by step all the things that we need in order to go on in this matter of the groups. We do need Your leading that we may know what we should do in all the churches in Your recovery concerning this matter. When we come to the practical steps, it seems that we do not know anything. Lord, how should we do this? This morning we are desperate, looking to You for Your clear leading. Lord, defeat the enemy. We hide ourselves in You. Amen.
I feel that we should consider taking the way of groups not as something new but merely as an additional part of the work in the recovery. In our speaking concerning the vital groups, we do not need to use terms such as “the old way” or “the new way.” Just as a country forms an army, the Lord’s recovery is forming an army. To form this army, we do not need to stop anything that is presently existing in the church life. We can let everything continue just as it is.
Today to form the vital groups is very practical. We are like a country without an army. Now we feel the need to strengthen our “country.” To build up our country, we need an army. To form the army, in every church we can gather the volunteers together. Then we need to look into how to form the groups. We also need to consider who the leaders should be. Then we need to get into the practical situation step by step. In forming and practicing the groups, the principles should be the same in every church, but the particular steps do not need to be the same. The church in one locality may take a way that is appropriate to their situation, whereas the church in another locality may take a different way. In principle, however, everything should be initiated by the elders.
At first I held the concept that the saints in the churches should form their own groups, but after considering the matter further I feel that that may not be the proper way. I feel that the leading ones in every church should gather the willing ones and give them a word of explanation to cause them to know what we intend to do and how we are going to do it. Then they should pray and fellowship together for some time concerning the formation of the groups. This should be something besides the normal church activities. This means that we do not do things without prayer. We should pray and fellowship and cause everything to be understood by all the concerned saints. Then we should form the groups with seven or eight members in each group, and we should also select leaders for each group.
If we stress the matter of leadership too much, we will fall into a snare. We should simply tell the leaders that they should fulfill the responsibility of a leader without assuming the position of a leader. In the world people everywhere like to assume the leadership. However, in the New Testament, although the Lord did appoint the twelve apostles (Matt. 10:1-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16), eventually, in Matthew 23:8 He said something that seemingly contradicted His appointment: “But you, do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers.” Here the Lord seemed to diminish the apostleship and consider all the apostles merely as brothers. In contrast, at the beginning of nearly all his Epistles, Paul declared that he was an apostle. If one has the capacity, the burden, and the commission from the Lord, there may be the need for him to assume the apostleship. If those who do not have the capacity, the burden, or the commission from the Lord assume the apostleship, the situation will be very disorderly. At Paul’s time there was such a disorderly situation. Because of this, in writing his Epistles Paul had to assert his apostleship. The Corinthians questioned Paul’s apostleship, and the Judaizers claimed to be apostles in order to annul Paul’s apostleship (1 Cor. 9:1-3 and note 3 on verse 1; 2 Cor. 10:12, 18; 11:5, 12-15, 21-23a; 12:11; 13:3, 5-6). Thus, there was a need for Paul to vindicate his apostleship. However, the leaders of the groups do not need to assume the leadership. They simply need to take care of their responsibility and fulfill their duty without having the thought and feeling that they are leaders. To assume the leadership is related to the works of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6).