A young brother testified that he wants to preach the gospel in Africa. I would advise him not to go and preach to the Africans yet but to stay in Taiwan and preach to the Chinese first. We should not have unrealistic dreams. I never dreamed that I would go to America and preach to the Americans. It was the Lord who took me there. My initial consideration was only to spread to northwest China with the manpower from the north and the financial strength from the northeast. However, the Lord took me to America.
Instead of considering where to go, we should first learn some skills. After we learn some skills, we can go anywhere and be able to “catch fish” wherever we go. We will be fishers of men who gain people regardless of their nationality. If we do not have any skills, we may not be able to gain a single person when we go to Africa. I never dreamed of going to America, but when I went there, I was able to catch a large number of “fish,” and they are all Caucasian “fish.” God does not pay that much attention to the place where we labor. God cares for people. Taiwan is a good “fishpond.” In Taipei we do not even need to get into the pond; the fish are jumping at us. Therefore, we must first catch the “fish” that are on the streets of Taiwan. After we bring in all the people, we can go forth for the propagation.
For many years I often asked the saints whether a person who loves the Lord but is unable to lead one person to salvation in a year could be excused by the Lord. Now I would ask, “Is it too much to ask that we lead one person to the Lord in a year?” Regardless of our consideration, this is not a high requirement. We need to make a vow to the Lord to lead one person to salvation every year.
If one thousand saints lead one thousand souls to salvation this year, next year we will have 2,000 saints. At present there are about 5,000 saints who participate in the church life in Taipei, and 3,500 of these saints attend the meetings regularly. If every one of the 5,000 saints gains one person this year, next year there will be 10,000 saints; in the second year, 20,000 saints; in the third year, 40,000 saints; in the fourth year, 80,000 saints; in the fifth year, 160,000 saints; in the sixth year, 320,000 saints; and in the seventh year, 640,000 saints. If we continue to increase in this way, in the tenth year everyone in the city of Taipei will be saved and will be our brother or sister. In other words, the entire city of Taipei can be gospelized in ten years.
In 1949 when we began the work in Taiwan, there were 500 saints in the meetings. In seven years, by 1956, our number increased to 50,000. However, at present there may not even be a total of 50,000 saints who meet in Taiwan. This shows that there has not been any increase during the past twenty-eight years. Even though everyone is busy attending the meetings, our number has not increased. However, the real estate assets of the churches in Taiwan have increased. Twenty-seven years ago there were only three or four meeting halls in Taipei, and they were built with wood. Today there are twenty-one meeting halls in Taipei, and they are all modern buildings. This is also the situation in the other localities. There has been an increase in real estate, but the number of saints did not increase. It is as if we have been boxing for twenty-eight years but have not been able to knock down one person. This shows that our boxing skills are not good, because we have not been able to hit the mark. We need to study our situation to see if there are mistakes in the way that we carry out the work for the Lord’s testimony.
The problem of having no increase exists all over the world, not just in Taiwan. We have over five hundred churches on all five continents, but the churches do not have large numbers of saints. We need to be concerned and to study our “farming techniques.” We should farm in order to reap a harvest.
The elders in Taipei will do a “census” by organizing the information cards of the saints. They probably have more than twenty thousand information cards. After this conference, the other churches in Taiwan will also organize their information cards. We should not throw away the information cards of the saints whom we cannot locate, because the cards have historical value, and we should ask the saints who do not have an information card to fill one out.
After the churches have finished their “census” and have organized their information cards, we will know the actual number of saints in Taiwan. We will also know how many are meeting regularly and how many are dormant. The dormant brothers and sisters are the “field” that we should cultivate. We need to labor on them in love. All the responsible brothers in all the churches in the recovery need to conduct a similar “census.”
During the past thirty-five years, the Lord has shown mercy to and blessed the church in Taipei. The saints who participate in the church life in Taipei are our “land” that needs to be cultivated, but we have not cultivated our farmland. These saints work in hospitals, schools, and other places. Even if five hundred full-time serving saints will go to contact these saints, it will not meet the need.
In the Lord’s recovery we need to contact and gain people, but we must have the truth. We gain people by the truth. Another way to gain people is with the hymns. Hymns are related to our meetings, and they are related to the Christian life and living. Hence, we need to speak a further word concerning growing in life to live Christ. Growth in life is the foundation of our meetings. If we do not have the growth in life, we will be like little children in our meetings. As we grow and mature in life, we will be mature people in our meetings. The condition of our meetings depends on our growth in life. If we follow the Spirit’s leading and pay attention to life, we will grow in life. It is not appropriate for us to remain passive in the meetings. We should bear responsibility for every meeting that we are in. Everyone should bear responsibility for the meetings.