How should a Christian meeting be conducted? Currently, while we are waiting for everyone to arrive and take their seats, some saints talk and others pray. Then after everyone is seated, we wait for a brother to call a hymn, for another brother to read some verses, and for still another brother to give the message; then after the message we have a time for testimonies. This is a degraded, religious way. A meeting of the church should be a gathering of the saints with their riches that are released with a strong, rich spirit. Everyone should release his spirit and function according to his spirit, not according to any procedures. We do not have written procedures among us; most of our procedures are unwritten. These unwritten procedures are our “customs.” According to these customs, we do not function in the meetings; we only wait. This is wrong.
We need to have a change. We should not be concerned about what we should do in the meetings. Whether we pray, praise, or sing, it should be living. We need to be delivered from our old way of meeting. If a sister is the first saint to arrive at the meeting hall, she may begin to pray, and as the rest of the saints arrive, they can join the prayer. The brother who gives the message should not follow the old way. Whether he reads the verses in the Scripture reading depends on the sense in his spirit. If he has the sense in his spirit to read the verses first, he should read them; otherwise, he does not need to. During the message a saint may feel led by the Spirit to call a hymn. Everyone should sing. This meeting is according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, which says, “Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.”
The brother who is speaking may consider that calling a hymn during the message would be a distraction, and the saints may think that this would cause confusion. However, if everyone is exercising their spirit, we must believe that the leading of the Spirit will not be wrong.
The leading of the Spirit needs human cooperation. Suppose everything in a meeting is focused on life: the prayers are for life, and the burden of the message is also on life. When a saint feels led by the Spirit to call a hymn, which hymn should he select? If he does not know the hymns well, he will not be able to select a proper hymn. Hence, we need to know the hymns as well as the truth.
The hymns in the Chinese hymnal are classified into twenty-nine main categories and three hundred forty-five subcategories. If the saints want to study theology, they should spend four years to study the theology in our hymnal. This word is not an exaggeration. If someone really wants to study the hymns, he will need to spend much time and effort to learn the twenty-nine categories and the three hundred forty-five subcategories.
When we compiled the English hymnal in America from 1963 to 1964, our purpose was to show American Christianity that the truths in our hymns are high and comprehensive. We accomplished that purpose. There are one thousand eighty hymns in the English hymnal, but we regularly use less than three hundred hymns in the meetings. There are seven hundred eighty hymns in the Chinese hymnal and six hymns in the appendix, but less than three hundred hymns are regularly used in the meetings. The hymns that we do not sing serve as a contrast. It is difficult for new ones to select a hymn, because they do not know which hymn is appropriate. There should be only one line of hymns in our hymnal, and that is the line of life. All the hymns should be under the category of God’s economy.
We will now learn how to use the hymns in the meetings with Hymns, #499. Stanza 1 says, “Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! / The Christ who’s all within me lives. / With Him I have been crucified; / This glorious fact to me He gives. / Now it’s no longer I that live, / But Christ the Lord within me lives.” According to our custom, when we call a hymn, we ask the sister at the piano to play the tune once before the saints sing the entire hymn. From now on, we should not remain in our old ways. If a brother senses that we should sing this hymn, he can call it. We do not have to sing all four stanzas. We may sing only stanza 1. The sister at the piano needs to be alert. If she waits for a brother to ask her to play the tune once and then plays the tune, the meeting will be deadened. Every saint needs to kindle the fire. If the sister serving at the piano is not quick enough to respond when a hymn is called, any saint in the meeting should begin to sing the hymn. Then everyone else will follow.
After we sing stanza 1, a brother might stand up and say, “Brothers and sisters, I have a deep sense today concerning this stanza: ‘Oh, what a life! Oh, what a peace! The Christ who’s all within me lives.’ I never saw so clearly that Christ lives in me and that I am crucified with Christ. This is a glorious fact that He gives to me. Now it is no longer I that live, but Christ the Lord lives within me.” These few sentences are sufficient; if he speaks too long, there will be less time for the message. After he sits down, we do not have to sing the next stanza. If we do sing stanza 2, the saint at the piano needs to play immediately. The entire process should be living, and everyone should follow the Spirit.
It is proper to abide by the law in society, but we should not abide by the law in the meetings. This does not mean that we want confusion. We need to follow the Spirit. Our standard and our law are the Spirit. Everyone needs to follow the Spirit.
The saints who play the piano need to play in a tempo that is suitable for the meeting. When a person learns to play the piano, he will play at a certain tempo. However, the saints who play the piano should not be mechanical when they play in the meeting. Some hymns should be played a little faster. Otherwise, it will seem as if “an old ox is pulling a cart.” The tempo used in singing a hymn does not need to be so consistent. For example, the first stanza of a hymn used to open the meeting can be a little faster and the rest of the stanzas slower to stabilize the meeting. Furthermore, all the hymns should not be played at the same tempo. Music is expressive; it should not be rigid like steel. Therefore, the saints who are experienced in playing the piano can play a hymn fast or slow; they can also play it in a higher key or in a lower key. We all need to learn the hymns so that we are not limited by the piano.
If we sing stanza 2, it will be more meaningful to us. Formerly, our singing was not that much in the spirit, because we sang in a habitual way. Now we can touch the reality because our singing is the result of the Spirit’s leading. From now on, we should not sing in a routine way. I remind myself not to give messages or read the Scriptures in a routine way. This fellowship should help us to understand that the meetings in the churches should be living. They should not be routine and follow a set of rules or procedures.
In a big meeting it is appropriate to have a concluding prayer on certain occasions. However, it is not necessary to have a concluding prayer. Whether there should be a concluding prayer depends on the leading of the Spirit. If the meeting needs a concluding prayer, a leading brother does not have to be the one to give the prayer. Every brother and sister in the meeting should exercise their spirit and follow the leading of the Spirit. It would be wonderful for a young brother in junior high school to be led by the Spirit to release a concluding prayer after the message. His prayer will be refreshing and living.
Our meetings in the past were killed by procedures and routine. Christianity annuls the function of the believers. We should not repeat the mistakes of Christianity and become dead. Therefore, everyone needs to rise up and stand against our customs, but there should not be confusion. After hearing this word, some of the saints may think that they are now free to do what pleases them. This will not be permitted.