Because the workers and serving ones in various places have not made much effort, many saints have not been perfected, and the number of useful people is close to zero. A shortage of useful people is a great problem in the churches. The way to solve this problem is for all the workers to make a greater effort to learn.
Recently, as I was fellowshipping with the brothers about these matters, we all felt sorrowful inwardly. There are at least one to two hundred people in most of the churches in Taiwan. However, we face the most difficulty in the matter of leading the responsible ones. According to our present situation, nearly every major city has a full-time worker. However, if there is a need for these ones to go to another area of the work, their locality immediately will have a shortage of useful ones. This is a serious problem. If our work cannot produce useful ones, the workers will be entangled and unable to cooperate with the move of the Holy Spirit.
The number of deacons is even a greater problem. There is a significant lack in the number of deacons in every place because we have not taken the time and effort to perfect the saints through practical training in order to see who has the capacity to be a deacon. Such people are not only lacking but non-existent in certain places. As a result, churches have been established in various places, but there are no co-workers who can be sent to help the churches produce useful saints. This is a very heavy burden within us, yet no one can go out to do this work.
If we trace these problems back to their source, we will see that the definite, unique reason for these problems is that we have not put forth an adequate effort. For example, if one goes somewhere to establish a school, it is easy to recruit students; he needs only to post a few advertisements and posters on the streets, and people will come and enroll. However, after the students enroll, the real problem involves how to teach the students and how to arrange the classes, dormitories, and teachers. Recruiting students is easy; instructing them is not. Giving messages and preaching the gospel are somewhat equivalent to advertising and recruiting for students. After people hear the gospel, they are saved and stirred up in their heart to love the Lord, and after they hear a message, they become burning and are willing to serve the Lord. But how shall we lead and instruct them? How shall we bring them, little by little, onto the right track? What we do depends on how much we have learned and what we are.
I have been weighing a great matter continually before the Lord. Should the co-workers from all over the island stay in Taipei, learn together, and then return to their respective localities to work at the end of the year, or should they go back now? There are things that need to be done in the various localities, but I am afraid that if we do not put forth enough effort to learn, we will not be able to reach our goal even though we may want to be fast. Hence, there are two basic principles: first, we must learn, and second, learning requires that we make a sufficient effort.
A brother from a certain locality spoke regarding the matter of finances, saying that the saints have been exhausted in taking care of the church’s finances and offerings, and it seems that they have no strength to go on. This seems understandable, but in principle it may not be right. In terms of the work, the financial means may reach a point of exhaustion, but in terms of the church, the financial means should not reach a point of exhaustion. If those in a local church do not have the heart to serve, this should not create a financial problem, and if they do have the heart to serve, their service should be according to the saints’ capacity, in other words, according to the saints’ financial capacity. In the matter of service, no local church should look to other localities for its finances; in the Bible we cannot find the principle of one church relying on another church financially. A church in a locality is like a family. After being established, no family should expect help from other families. We should not have such an attitude. Otherwise, we will not be a family but some other entity. If there is no financial capacity, a church should not be established. If a church is established, it should serve according to its financial capacity. This is a great principle.
A few years ago we did something very risky in the work in order to care for the needs of all the churches on the island of Taiwan. At that time the overall environment forced us to care for the financial needs of the churches in Taiwan and even for the financial needs of their meeting halls. When we did this, we were taking a great risk, and we were afraid that the churches would misunderstand and think that they could obtain financial support from the work as long as they had some serving ones. This practice is not according to the principle in the Bible, and it will result in “missions.” Christianity in China had this kind of concept. There was a thought that as long as the saints loved the Lord and served God zealously, money would pour in from other countries. Hence, people in every place built meeting halls, hired evangelists, and so on. This negative thing was produced by Western missionaries working in China.
There is a very important principle related to finances. Wherever saints rise up to serve God as a local church, the local saints should bear the responsibility for the service and expenses. If the saints in a locality do not have that much material offering, the locality should not have much service. In the Old Testament all the furnishings in God’s tabernacle came from the Israelites; they did not come down from heaven. If a locality cannot provide its own money, we should not expect money to be given from other places. This is a basic principle.
Henceforth, the expenses for the work can be used only for places in dire need; we have no way to accommodate the localities that have meeting halls. Responsible brothers in various places should note that when there is more financial capacity, they can do more service, but when they do not have the capacity, they do not need to have so much service. For instance, a brother serving in a certain place should be very simple. If he is financially able, he can build two small rooms to serve as the church business office; if not, he does not need to do anything.
As long as we have money and capacity, we can do more; if we do not have the capacity, we should do less. For example, some brothers from a certain locality once fellowshipped with us about their desire to care for the meeting places of two other churches. We said that it would be better not to do this. If the places could not afford rent, it would be better simply to meet in the saints’ homes, and if this is not possible, they should find a cheaper location. I am not joking; this is a matter of principle. When the first group of saints began breaking bread in Tsinan, they broke bread in a cemetery on a remote hill. They gathered around a table used for sacrifices and put the bread and cup on it. This was the beginning of the meetings in Tsinan. At that time they were only poor students; later some of them sold their clothing and gradually saved up some money for a meeting place. This is the proper way.
The saints in Taiwan at the present time cannot possibly be poorer than those students. One brother wrote to me, saying that he went to a certain place where there was no meeting hall, and he asked me to help. At that time I was in Southeast Asia. When I sensed the tone of the request, I immediately refused. Thank and praise the Lord that when people refuse us, God cares for us. They finally have a meeting hall in that place. We must learn to look to God and not rely on man. These decisions rest with the local saints. We must let the brothers and sisters see that a church must be self-sufficient financially in order to rise up to function.
Now only a few of those who serve God full time in various places are being supported by the churches. This is wrong. The churches must return to supporting the Lord’s work. At the beginning the work sympathized with the financial shortage of the saints, and we did not want to put the burden of the work on the workers themselves. Up until now, the needs of the workers have been taken care of almost entirely by the work; more than ninety percent of their needs are being borne by the work. However, in terms of the saints in each locality, it is abnormal for the work to support the churches. As a whole, the churches in Taiwan have been quite blessed and are quite good. In the past, however, the churches in Taiwan received the service of the workers while overlooking the needs of the workers and of the work, not having the slightest concern for the workers’ living. This is extremely abnormal; this should not be the case. Bringing up this shortage is not for the purpose of soliciting contributions from the localities for the work and the workers but for us to be clear concerning the real situation and to have the proper giving.
By the Lord’s grace we can say one thing boldly. All the churches in Taiwan have the ability to care for the needs of the work and the workers, and our heart to serve is unquestionable. However, there must be a change from the abnormal situation of the churches asking for support to one in which offerings are given for the work and the workers. May the brothers in all the churches look to the Lord’s leading and speak about this to the saints clearly. However, we should not give the saints the impression that we are asking for their money; rather, we must help them to see that they have a responsibility toward the Lord’s work and the Lord’s workers. At the same time, we should ask what effect there will be on the Lord’s work if all the churches and the saints on the whole earth are like those in Taiwan. How will the Lord’s workers live? We must help the brothers and sisters see this matter clearly.
What the Lord has given the churches in Taiwan is rich, abounding, and overflowing. However, when there is a conference, the work has a great number of expenses; we even take care of the transportation of the participants. Nevertheless, few saints care for the work. All the churches should have a normal fellowship regarding finances unless we believe that the work is not of God. As long as the work is of God, we should have fellowship. I hope that the brothers in all the churches will have more fellowship on this matter. May we practice this together in every place so that the Lord’s work and workers can receive the proper care.