Finally, we absolutely must not cherish any thought of having a system. We should not think for any reason that the truth and gospel of God only issue forth from our midst. Our intention is only to meet the people that God uses in every locality. We do not necessarily go to many places to lead others, because God has His own leading in every place. We just go to seek fellowship. We should never take the attitude that we are going to a certain locality to be a pastor. We should not form ourselves into a system. When I go to many places, I am going to seek fellowship. In addition to Elijah, there were also many prophets. There could be several thousand Elijahs in the same place standing on the same ground. They are our brothers, and they also see that we are their brothers.
Suppose a group of brothers has been communicating with each other in a certain locality and we begin in the same place and do not communicate with them. This clearly proves that we do not know the church. Suppose fifty brothers are standing on the ground of the church in a certain locality, and later, another fifty brothers in the same place become enlightened and clearly see the ground of the church. It is certain that these brothers will be together with the first group of brothers. By keeping the ground of locality, the problem of forming a system will not arise. When we are in a locality, we are not there for the establishment of a church of “our” system. Rather, we are for the establishment of the church in that locality. When we are in Chungking, we are the church in Chungking; when we are in Tsingtao, we are the church in Tsingtao. We are not the church of a certain system. We make a great mistake once we become the church of a certain system. Once we have the thought of forming a system, we immediately become a sect.
I would like to use Sian as an example. This is not a matter of name or of an organization. When the two meetings in Sian were combined, there was difficulty over who would become the leading ones, who would take the responsibility. In group A there were three leading brothers, and in group B there were also three leading brothers. Who would be the leading brothers? Leading ones are not determined by the length of time in the work of God, but by the measure of spiritual experience. The meeting of group A had a history of twenty years, and the meeting of group B had a history of only five months. But the experience of the leading brothers in group A was limited before the Lord, while the experience of the leading brothers in group B was of many years before the Lord. According to the world, when two groups blend together with one having met for twenty years and the other having met for only five months, the ones who take the lead should be those in the more established group. But God’s Word does not say this. The leading ones must be those who have a longer history before the Lord, not those who have a longer history of meetings. Therefore, when the two meetings were combined, the leading brothers in group A should have let the leading brothers in group B take the lead. Being a leading brother is not determined by the qualification of a longer history of meetings. The position of the church is based upon time, but the standing of the leading brothers is not determined by the church in which they have been taking the lead. It all depends upon the amount of spiritual experience they have before the Lord.
Today in Shanghai we must pay considerable attention to this matter. Certain brothers and sisters want to leave the denominations. If they have really seen that locality is the ground fixed by the Bible, they should not establish another meeting under any circumstances. For example, when I left the denominations, I did not think of myself as being the first who left the denominations. In my heart I hoped to meet others who had similarly left the denominations. If I were to leave the denominations in Shanghai, I definitely would go around to seek and inquire whether or not other brothers had also left the denominations. When I was about to leave the denominations thirty years ago in Foochow, I went around Foochow looking for brothers who had already left the denominations. Leaving the denominations did not make me the most wonderful Christian in the whole world. My first thought when I left was to seek brothers. Loving the brothers is part of our nature, and seeking the brothers is also part of our nature. We should be very happy to be together with those who seek the Lord with a pure heart.
Some brothers say that they have left the denominations, but they have more of an intention to set up a church than to leave the denominations. Therefore, they do not seek those who have already left the denominations. The aim of many is to establish their own church. Therefore, they do not feel the preciousness of other brothers who have also left the denominations. Those who truly have left will consider all the brothers who have also left as being lovable and precious. Thus, there are two kinds of people leaving the denominations: The first are those who truly leave the denominations; they seek to be with those who serve the Lord with a pure heart. The others are those who leave the denominations because they want to set up their own church. We can say this about those in Shanghai and also in Tsingtao, Peking, and even in the Northwest. In Shanghai it seems that we have been earlier than others. Today they do not seek us, but we have to seek them. They may have the problem of being in a system, but we should not have this problem. If we go today to Pingliang, Tiensui, or Dihua, we must be careful. The first thing we should do is not to set up a church but to seek the brothers.
If the first thing we do when we arrive at a new place is set up a church, we are committing the same mistake as some of the brothers whom we just mentioned in Shanghai. There is probably a group of brothers whose ground is not wrong and who are going in the right direction. We should not say that they are unfamiliar with the Bible. They are brothers whose ground is not wrong. At any rate, we have to seek the brothers until we are certain there is no one before we may have a new start. Often we can only join others; we cannot have a new start. Under no circumstances should we feel that joining others is shameful, but that setting up a church is glorious. If this is our thought, we can only blame ourselves that we were not born before the apostles. Many people like to set up churches. This is not a sign that they are spiritual but that they are fleshly.
Some young brothers who have just come out of the denominations may be able to lead others. Perhaps a brother was received last Saturday. He may have experienced much discipline in the Lord’s hand. Once we have received him, we may have to listen to him on many matters because his personal maturity is not related to his denomination. Anyone who has real spiritual experience must be put in the right place. I hope that the Lord will set His way more and more clearly before the brothers and sisters so that all who truly love the Lord may walk therein.
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