Since October of 1984, we have been speaking about the God-ordained way. But I have discovered that some of the saints who are absolute for this new way have been disappointed because they expected to see a great facade. These saints have said that every message which has come out from the ministry concerning the God-ordained way is scriptural. But after practicing the God-ordained way for a while, they say that very little has been accomplished. They do not oppose; rather, they agree with the God-ordained way. Yet they say that they have not seen the working out of this way.
My answer to such consideration is this. God created man, Adam and Eve, and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it" (Gen. 1:28). Man has multiplied and replenished the earth in a gradual way by means of small families. Our God is a God of patience. To Him one thousand years is as one day (2 Pet. 3:8). From the creation of Adam until today is about six thousand years. Man's multiplying and replenishing the earth has taken six thousand years, but according to God's counting, these six thousand years are only six days. During these six thousand years, man has multiplied gradually. It seems that the speed is slow, but actually it is not.
If you say that nothing has happened or that nothing has been accomplished in our practice of the new way within the past three and a half years, this is altogether not true. First, there has been a success in Taipei. When I went to Taipei in October 1984, the regular attendance at the Lord's table was about three thousand. After practicing the God-ordained way in only a partial way, there are now five thousand saints attending the Lord's table in Taipei. Statistics are subduing and convincing. In the past the elders in Taipei had the hard task of getting one speaker to speak in each of their twenty-one halls. The hardest thing for an elder in a local church to take care of was the Lord's Day morning message. Before October 1984 there were only twenty-one speakers every Sunday morning among about three thousand attendants meeting in twenty-one halls. But now in Taipei they are practicing the biblical way revealed in 1 Corinthians 14, the way of all speaking in mutuality for the building up of the church, and there are about one thousand saints speaking in the Lord's Day morning meeting among about five thousand attendants every Lord's Day morning.
I recently received a wonderful report concerning a conference in the southeastern part of the United States. In that conference, approximately one hundred fifty saints gathered together without a designated speaker. The speakers in this conference were all the saints, all the attendants. Of the more than one hundred saints who were meeting together, about sixty of the attendants spoke. To have a conference without a main speaker is a significant event in Christian history. The content of the conference was the outlines used for the additional meetings after the 1990 summer training (contained in the book entitled A Brief Presentation of the Lord's Recovery published by Living Stream Ministry). They used these outlines to read, pray-read, fellowship, and share with one another. The saints enjoyed each point so much and were so eager to speak that it was difficult for them to go on from one point to the next. Some of the twelve to fifteen churches which came together in that conference were raised up in the past two or three years in the God-ordained way.
The God-ordained way never builds up a facade. A Christian group built up in the traditional way may start out as a small denominational church with a congregation of twenty-five people. This congregation then hires a young graduate from a seminary or Bible institute. At the beginning, the young graduate is very new and fresh and may not have the confidence that he can do the job because his talent has not yet been developed. But through practice, his talent becomes manifest. He may be a good speaker who is eloquent and very knowledgeable concerning the Bible. In addition, he may be able to relate a lot of stories. Within two years, the congregation increases from twenty-five to five hundred, filling up their meeting place. As a result, there is the need for a bigger meeting place. They begin to make this need known and soon the money comes in to build a meeting place that can seat three thousand. In another three or four years, even the new meeting place is filled. This big congregation has become a big facade, and this young man has achieved a great deal and has established a very successful career in terms of service in Christianity. There are a number of examples of this in the United States today.