After the fruitbearing comes the nourishing. Every mother knows that the first thing a newborn child does is drink milk. Hence, the first thing a mother has to learn is how to nurse her child. In the past our way has been to invite people to come to the meeting in the meeting hall on the Lord’s Day morning immediately after we baptize them. We realize now that this method is not so correct. After a child is born, we do not ask him to come to us to be fed. Rather, we have to go to him and feed him with milk. If we cannot go to the homes of the new ones daily, we should go at least once every three days. The best way is to go every day. When we go to the homes of the new brothers and sisters and feed them with spiritual food, this is what we call the home meetings.
Whether in the East or in the West, the churches baptize a large number of people every year. But year after year the church attendance has not increased appreciably. The reason for this is that most of the newly baptized ones soon die. Take Kaohsiung as an example. In 1952 there were sixty people meeting here. By now thirty-seven years have passed. If we use sixty as a base number, and we baptize an average of two hundred per year, we should have brought in over seven thousand. But the number of attendants in Kaohsiung today is only about twelve hundred. Where are the other six thousand? Perhaps they have all died. The reason for this is that after a person is saved, we are zealous to remind him to come to the meetings. If he does not show up this week, we may call him by phone. There is still some zeal within us, but this zeal does not last long. After two or three months no one cares about where these newly baptized ones are anymore. This is why I have said that in the past we begot many, but with the begetting there was no nourishing. Even when there was the nourishing, the nourishing was not done properly.
We make appointments for people to come to the meetings. We use the phone to invite them to come. We even hire taxis to pick them up for the meetings and prepare love feasts for them to attend. All we think about is for them to come, come, come. It never occurs to us that we can also go, go, go. In the past when the new ones came, we considered that they were so obliging and kind to have come to us, that they have done us such a big favor and have so highly honored us! Now why not turn the thought around? Rather than painstakingly inviting them to come, why do we not go to them to do them a favor and honor them? In the future, we have to turn the matter around. We will no longer oblige people to come to the meetings. Instead, we will go to their homes to meet with them.
For example, if ten persons have been baptized, each one of us should claim one of these to care for. It would be best if some would fight for them saying, “This one is mine. I want this one!” This is a good sign. I hope no one would be so polite as to say, “Oh, I cannot do it. You take all of them!” Outwardly speaking, this is politeness. But actually, this is going backward. This is to shrink from responsibility. If every one of us would bear the responsibility of nourishing others, I absolutely believe that the newly baptized ones will not die, for they will all be sustained by the home meetings.
Concerning the new way, the two words that I like the best are “go” and “home.” To go is to beget children, and the home is where the nourishing is done. Both the begetting and the nourishing are important matters. But after the begetting and the nourishing, there is still the need of teaching. Ephesians 4:8 and 10-11 say clearly that the ascended Head in His ascension has given many gifts to men. Some are apostles, some are prophets, some are evangelists, and some are shepherds and teachers. According to man’s natural concept, we think that all these gifts are workers sent out to work. For example, the evangelist is naturally one who goes out to travel and to preach. We consider that this work is something which we cannot do. Actually, the gifts that Paul mentions here are for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry, and the work of ministry is for the building up of the Body of Christ. In other words, these gifts are for the perfecting of the saints.
Suppose I am a giant in evangelism. When I call a gospel meeting, three to five thousand people would come and listen to me. After the meeting I would have a thousand baptized. How can I take care of all these one thousand by myself? I must start a work similar to what is done in the teachers’ college, which is to raise up fifty to a hundred students to do the work of nourishing. In the end, I will not be the only one that can beget, nourish, and teach. Instead, fifty, or even five hundred will be raised up. Then everyone will be able to beget, nourish, and teach. This is the perfecting of the saints. The perfecting mentioned in Ephesians 4 is this kind of teaching.