The saints in the Philippines have also seen the Lord’s blessing in His up-to-date move among them. The church in Manila was the first church established in the Philippines in 1930 on the northern island of Luzon. By 1984 there were only nine churches on the island. In 1985 the churches began to take the Lord’s new way and there was a breakthrough. In that year there was an increase of five churches. In 1986 twelve more churches were raised up, in 987 twenty-four churches were added, and in 1988 there was an increase of fifty-one churches. Now there are one hundred and one churches on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. After the saints began to practice the new way, the number of churches on the island increased by ninety-two within four years. The work in the Philippines also includes the Visayas Islands and the island of Mindanao. Three years ago there were approximately one hundred and forty churches on these islands. Now the churches have increased to about one hundred and ninety-five. Therefore, the total number of churches in the Philippines is now two hundred and ninety-six. Thank the Lord for the increase and spread of the churches in the Philippines as the brothers there follow the Lord’s up-to-date move.
The churches in Korea also increased when they began to take the new way. By 1984 there were thirty churches in Korea with about fifteen hundred saints. Now in 1988 there are sixty churches with about five thousand saints. There were about four hundred saints in the church in Seoul with three meeting halls by 1984. Today in Seoul there are about fifteen hundred saints with fifteen meeting halls. Brother Lee visited Korea in November of 1988 and thirty-two hundred saints gathered together for meetings with him. Included in this number were about three hundred pastors from the denominations.
In Korea there are about ten million Christians, who make up around one-fourth of the population. In order to have a breakthrough in such a Christian country, the brothers felt that they needed to saturate the country with the literature of the ministry. They completed the translation of many important books of the ministry along with the entire set of Life-study Messages within five years. In Seoul the brothers are dealing with about forty-two major Christian bookstores and about eight other bookstores in the rest of Korea. Many of the bookstores have a separate section for the Korean Gospel Bookroom, and in some bookstores they have a special section for Brother Witness Lee.
About six hundred pastors have ordered the complete set of Life-study Messages. One renowned Methodist pastor who oversees a congregation of about thirty-five hundred was able to acquire three volumes of Life-study Messages. He finished reading them in two months and began to promote them among his colleagues. In one conference with many denominational leaders, he publicly said that the Life-studies were one of the best publications that he had read concerning the Spirit.
In order to supply the word to more people, the brothers in Korea decided to publish a newspaper. They print about one hundred thousand copies a month. These newspapers include two or three messages by Brother Lee, and they are widely distributed. Korea is being saturated with the truth through the distribution of these publications. The churches are spreading, the number of saints is increasing, and the level of life and enjoyment is rising as the saints in Korea follow the Lord’s up-to-date move.
The church in Taipei has also enjoyed the Lord’s blessing by following His up-to-date move to build up the Body of Christ. The brothers have been taking the way of gospel preaching by visiting people in their homes, and they have practiced the home meetings, small group meetings, and district meetings according to the principle of 1 Corinthians 14:26. Before 1984 there were twenty-one halls, and the attendance in the meetings was around three thousand. Today Taipei has twenty-three halls and one hundred and six district meetings with about forty-five hundred saints meeting every Lord’s Day morning. The number of saints meeting has increased by fifty percent. One particular district only had ten saints in 1984. Now this district has increased to two districts with eighty-four saints. The attendance of the meetings in hall sixteen remained at about one hundred saints for fifteen years until November of 1987. Through visiting people in their homes with the gospel, and through home meetings, small group meetings, and district meetings, the meeting attendance has risen to two hundred and sixty. The brothers in Taipei have testified that they are now beginning to reap the Lord’s full blessing after they began to take the new way in 1984.
The brothers have been stressing three points to the saints: to have a daily morning revival by calling on the Lord and pray-reading His Word, to visit the saints in order to nourish and cherish them, and to prepare to prophesy in the church meetings. The saints are encouraged to prepare something to prophesy, to speak for the Lord, of their topmost enjoyment during the week and bring this to share in the district meetings on the Lord’s Day morning. About one-third of the attendants in all of the district meetings combined are now speaking for the Lord by prophesying for three or four minutes each. That means about fifteen hundred saints speak for the Lord every Lord’s Day morning.
Before 1984 there were seventy-four churches on the island of Taiwan. Today there are ninety-four churches. The brothers are burdened to gospelize, truthize, and churchize the entire island. They are looking to the Lord to establish churches in the two hundred and twenty-seven remaining localities in Taiwan within the next three years. This gospelization work for the rest of the island will begin in January of next year, 1989.
The brothers in the Great Lakes region of the United States also testified that the biblical way that the Lord has unveiled to us through His oracle is being worked out there. Two and a half years ago there were about twenty-four churches around the Great Lakes. In the last two years, the Lord has raised up twenty new churches. Now there are forty-four churches in the area of the Great Lakes. Also in the last two years, the Lord has raised up five more churches in Ohio: the church in Cincinnati, the church in Dayton, the church in Toledo, the church in Lorain, and the church in Cleveland Heights. Three couples from Ohio went to Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania four years ago, and now there are five churches in the area of western Pennsylvania. The church in Pittsburgh has about one hundred saints. The Lord’s move in Ohio and Pennsylvania is a testimony of the operation of the Body of Christ.
The brothers in eastern Canada, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, are experiencing the Lord’s blessing by standing with the Lord’s up-to-date speaking in a practical, patient, and exercised way. One brother in the churches there, who was burdened to preach the gospel by visiting people in their homes, was able to baptize about three hundred new ones within one year. Another brother had the burden to contact the Spanish-speaking refugees in his locality in Canada. Although he could not speak Spanish, he contacted them and established home meetings in their homes. Now in his locality, fifty of these Spanish-speaking ones have been added to the church. Three years ago, there were only three churches in eastern Canada with about three hundred saints. Today there are ten churches in eastern Canada with about six hundred and fifty saints. The number of churches has tripled and the number of saints has doubled by the brothers taking the new way. The brothers are very much encouraged to stand one with the Lord’s up-to-date speaking and to continue in the Lord’s new way.
A leading brother from the church in Chicago testified of the importance of the training in the Lord’s new way. He felt very privileged to participate in the Full-time Training in Taipei. He said that he considered his forty days in the training as a top experience in his Christian life. He reported that twenty-four other saints from Chicago were able to participate in this training and that this was a very beneficial contribution to the church life in Chicago. He felt that the experience the saints gained in Taipei added tremendously to the burden for the gospel, for the care of others, and for the building up of the Lord’s testimony. He praised the Lord for what He had accomplished and worked out through this training.
A concluding word from Brother Lee: To follow the Lord’s up-to-date move, there is the need for a revived and overcoming life, for learning, for laboring, and for endeavoring.