In order to perfect others, the first thing we must do is minister life to them to help them to grow. Then we must give them the opportunity to serve, that is, to function. It is very easy for the bigger members to take all the opportunities. It is rather hard, on the other hand, for the younger ones, the smaller ones, to get the opportunity. Whether or not they get the opportunity to function depends on the attitude and way of the bigger members. In addition, we need to teach the members some techniques for functioning.
Humanly speaking it is too easy for a bigger member to replace others. Whenever a bigger member functions, there is the danger of replacing others, especially the smaller ones. This is because the bigger ones think that they can do something that the smaller ones cannot do. It is also easy for a member to do something by himself and more difficult to do something with others. Many times in my Christian life of service, some, especially the sisters, have told me, “If I do this, I will do it myself. Do not let anyone come to bother me.” When some sisters cook, they say “Get out of the kitchen. Let me do the cooking. If you do it, do it yourself, but if I do it, I will do it by myself.”
It is truly hard to bring someone in to help us and learn with us. To have an apprentice becomes a problem. However, consider the apostle Paul. He always had a younger, smaller one—such as Timothy or Titus—to help him and learn from him. We have to keep this principle. If we are a member that is bigger than others, we should never replace them. Rather, we must give others the opportunity to practice and to learn.
Even in the matter of attending the meeting, we need to help the younger ones. We may notice that a younger brother has not prayed in the meeting for more than two months. Perhaps by the Lord’s sovereign arrangement he may live close by in the same neighborhood. In this case, we need to do something to help this younger brother by having some fellowship about the meetings. We may say, “Brother, don’t you feel that we should pray in the meeting?” He may say that he does not know how to pray. We may answer, “Simply open to the Lord to express something from your spirit. Brother, may we pray together now? If you do not know how to pray, simply exercise your spirit to touch the Lord and utter something from within. When you contact the Lord, you must have the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. If you feel that you are wrong, then tell that to the Lord. If you feel that you have some failures, confess them to Him and apply His cleansing blood.”
Before the Lord’s table meeting on the next Lord’s Day, we can invite the brother to dinner. Then we can take the opportunity to help him further. We can ask, “Brother, are you ready to offer a prayer in the Lord’s table meeting?” If he says he does not know what to pray, we can explain how the church is are about to come together to remember the Lord, enjoy Him, and partake of Him. Then we may have a time to pray with him: “Lord, help us tonight that we may have something with which to express You.” In this way we can minister something to the younger brother. How much we can teach and minister to such a one depends on how much we learn and experience. We all have to learn how to raise up the younger ones.
Before we come to the meeting, we can talk with the young brother and help him to know how to choose a hymn and do various things. After this, we come to the meeting and sit with him. At a certain point in the meeting, it may be time to announce a particular hymn. We can then ask the brother to announce it. This may be the first time that he calls a hymn. We should open the way for him. We can start something, but he should carry it out. After another half hour, we may feel that the brother should pray or praise in the meeting, and we can help him to do it.
After the meeting we can have a little fellowship with him. We can read that hymn again with him and explain why it needed to be called at that certain time, and we can explain why he needed to pray at a certain time. He will realize something and learn from this. Then he may ask, “Do you think I have prayed in the right way?” In doing this, he will open the way for us to give him some correction, instructions, or ministry. Within a short time of doing this, we will have a “graduate.” Then this brother will know how to help others. If we know this principle, we can apply it to all the services, even in the small matters. This requires that we have a real love for the Lord and a real love and concern for the Body.
The way to bring all the members into function is not merely by teaching. Mothers do not mostly teach their children. Mainly they simply help them. Then the children learn. We have to give the young ones the opportunity to do something. The principle is that in whatever we do, we must never replace others. All year round we may always pray three or four times in every meeting. However, we need to learn how to bring others into this function, not to replace them but to perfect them.
When we perfect others, we have to minister life to them. As I illustrated above, we may share with a brother that he should open himself to the Lord, confess his failures, and contact the Lord. This is not merely a way but a ministry of life. Then to explain why a particular hymn should be announced or why someone should offer a prayer about the Lord’s glory at a certain time may be considered a teaching of ways, or techniques. With everything and in whatever we do, we have to do it with someone to help us so that they may learn from us. In this way we will continually produce and reproduce. Then one brother produces many brothers, and those many brothers reproduce another number of brothers and sisters. We all need to learn this.
Spontaneously, there will be a certain kind of realization among us. The younger ones will submit to the older ones to be perfected, and the smaller ones will submit to the bigger ones. Merely to say that the younger and smaller ones have to submit does not work. We cannot make this claim. Rather, we must have the proper practice. Then spontaneously the younger ones and smaller ones will submit to others to be perfected. This depends not as much on the smaller ones as on the bigger ones. In everything, in every aspect of the service, we must apply the same principle.