Today Taiwan is prosperous, advanced, and educated. All of these aspects are commendable and can be considered quite outstanding in the world. This provides us with a good situation and an excellent opportunity to gospelize and truthize Taiwan. We need to teach the saints the truth and to go and teach others the truth. We can teach our relatives, friends, classmates, and neighbors. We all have relatives and friends who need us to teach them the truth. In addition, when we take any kind of public transportation, we can speak the truth to those around us. Whether we are taking a short trip or a long trip on the road, even in the train, we can speak with those around us concerning the truth.
The function of the church as a golden lampstand is to shine on people. We should consider whether our church as a golden lampstand is shining. If we are not shining brightly, it may be that the gospel and the truth are not going forth. In the meetings in Taipei, the singing is strong and the atmosphere is uplifted. With such an atmosphere, one thousand saints should be willing to go out to preach the gospel and speak the truth.
The strength displayed in our singing needs to be brought into our daily living. We should be strong in the meetings as well as at home. We can sing a hymn to our relatives and speak the truth to them based on the hymn. If we are unable to speak the truth, we will need to take the way of Christianity and invite our relatives to listen to a message on the Lord’s Day. However, regardless of how wonderful the message is, it may not apply to them. Therefore, we should avoid this way and instead speak the truth.
Before visiting Taiwan this time, I received a letter from you, which said that many saints have a burden to go to different places in the world for the propagation of the Lord’s testimony. This is very good. However, we first need to truthize Taiwan. This can be compared to an apprentice who is learning to be a barber. A person learning to be a barber should first cut simple hairstyles. We should learn and practice to speak the truth in Taiwan.
When I began to serve the Lord full time in 1933, I knew that I would take this way my whole life. Before this I was an accountant; I never attended a seminary. However, I knew that in order to serve the Lord full time, I had to be able to preach, so I practiced aggressively. I learned as an apprentice and practiced by speaking to the sea. This kind of exercise truly helped, but the effectiveness was not evident, because the object of my preaching, the sea, could not respond. However, our situation is different. There are people for us to practice with everywhere. We can speak in the meetings and in our homes. We can speak to our parents, our relatives, and our friends. No matter where we are, we can practice and learn to speak. We need to speak all the time. If we will receive this word and practice for two months, we will make progress.
In order to teach, we must first learn; without learning we cannot teach. I am burdened for us to see that we must learn the truth. The word of the truth saves us and releases us. It also sanctifies us and builds us up. After we learn the truth, we will be able to speak the truth. Then the truth, the Lord’s word, will grow. The more the truth grows, the more it multiplies. If we preach the gospel and teach the truth, our speaking will cause the Lord’s word to spread on the island of Taiwan. Eventually, everyone will know the truth. This will be a beautiful situation.
The island of Taiwan is approximately three hundred and ninety kilometers from north to south, and the east and west coasts are divided by the Central Range mountains. It has a population of over nineteen million who reside in concentrated regions. This is a good environment. We should not consider that when we speak to someone, we are speaking only to that person. If the person we are speaking to thinks that our words are reasonable, he will repeat what we say to other people. In this way, our speaking will spread from one person to ten persons, and from ten persons to a hundred persons. We surely need to rise up and speak.
When we first came to Taiwan, we preached the gospel in one accord, and our whole heart was to preach the gospel. Hence, there was some success. At that time, we printed thousands of gospel tracts for the entire population of Taipei. Then the brothers and sisters distributed the gospel tracts to every house. We divided the city of Taipei into several districts, and the saints went to every street and put gospel tracts in every mailbox. In this way, every household in the city of Taipei received a gospel tract.
We also printed gospel banners, such as, “God so loved the world,” “Jesus is Lord,” and “Jesus came to the world to save sinners.” We posted these banners in train stations, bus stops, and at major intersections. The brothers and sisters also hung banners on their doors. When we saw a house with a big banner hanging on the door, we knew that one of the saints lived there.
In addition, we sent out gospel teams on gospel marches. They went out during the day, and sometimes in the evening. Every Lord’s Day afternoon the gospel teams marched from the meeting hall on Renai Road to New Park. They would beat big drums, shout the banners, and sing “You need Jesus.” There was an amphitheater in the park that could seat three thousand people, and people would come out and fill the amphitheater almost every Lord’s Day. We collected at least five hundred names at every gathering. On Monday evening we distributed the names to the saints, and they visited the people on their list. Many elders and deacons in the churches in Taiwan were saved during those gospel gatherings.
Many people were saved in those days. One Saturday evening we baptized about four hundred people in three halls in Taipei and then baptized another three hundred the next morning. We baptized over seven hundred people. By preaching the gospel in this way, our number reached fifty thousand in six to seven years; this was a hundredfold increase. We need to be aggressive in preaching the gospel.
We have been in Taiwan for thirty-five years. In the first seven years our number increased from five hundred to fifty thousand, but since then our number has not increased. If our rate of increase had continued at a hundredfold, we would now have five million saints. If there are fifteen thousand saints in Taiwan who endeavor in the gospel, what would be our rate of increase? If it were only thirty-fivefold, there would be 500,000 saints in Taiwan. Therefore, our goal for the next seven years should be to increase to 500,000. If we think that this is too many, we should at least aim for half of that number, which is 250,000. If we are faithful, our number can reach 250,000 in seven years. This depends on the endeavor of the young brothers and sisters and on the cooperation of the older brothers and sisters.