For this reason, in the light of the revelation of the Bible, we must consider the home meetings, the small group meetings, and the prophesying in the district meetings as practiced among us in the past year. We must check to see if they are being carried out according to the sanctified way revealed by God or if they are being done according to man’s natural ways. Although the things themselves may be the same, the results may differ widely. Take gospel preaching as an example. To call a big meeting and invite a famous speaker to preach is the natural way. Although sinners may be saved, not much help will be rendered as far as the building up of the Body of Christ is concerned. On the contrary, much damage will be done, because such a practice kills the priestly function among the saints in the matter of preaching the gospel. Some great American evangelists have been preaching the gospel for many years. Thousands of souls have been saved. In the end, however, the ministry of the gospel priest has been confined to nearly these evangelists alone. All the others are only Levites. No doubt the gospel is preached and souls are saved, but absolutely no consideration is given to the Body of Christ.
In the United States there are sixty million Protestants. At least a third of them are saved and regenerated. That means that there are twenty million Christians. During the past forty years, if they had all practiced what we have seen in these days, everyone would be perfected, and everyone would fulfill his duty as a priest of the New Testament gospel. Every one of them would do the work of an evangelist. Even if each one would have saved only one person per year, in a year, twenty million people would have been saved. In ten years, two hundred million would have been saved, and in forty years, the number would have been staggering. But the opposite has happened. Today the gospel is not sufficiently widespread, and everywhere we see evil, corruption, fornication, and other dark and shameful things. From this we can see that the gospel has indeed been preached, but the way has been wrong. This wrong way is opposed to God’s economy and is damaging to God’s administration.
I say this because I have a burden within. In these end times, the Lord must bring His children absolutely back to the Bible in matters such as meeting, gospel preaching, service to God, and working for God. Strictly speaking, the Lord’s recovery is a recovery of these things. At this time what concerns me most is whether or not, in this new way of having home meetings and small group meetings and prophesying, we act according to the organic way revealed in the New Testament. According to the result of my studying of the Bible, the small group meeting should include five main items: fellowship, intercession, care, teaching of the truth, and help in the growth in life. The content of every small group meeting should be composed of these five things. Immediately after we come together, we should spontaneously fellowship. The fellowship will bring in the need for intercession, and from this fellowship and intercession the mutual care, concern, and shepherding will develop. After that, there will be some studying and teaching of the truth, with the rendering of some help in life.
At the same time, all this must be done in an organic and spontaneous way. The mutual fellowship should be open and spontaneous. The mutual intercession also should be sincere and spontaneous. It should not be like a religious worship service, in which there are set programs and activities. This kind of organic meeting is what Hebrews 10:25 describes as “the assembling of ourselves together.” Such a meeting is like a family gathering, with spontaneous, mutual fellowship in which some may ask questions and others may all answer. There is mutual teaching and mutual learning. For example, some may ask about the meaning of bearing the cross. Among the ten or so people in the small group, perhaps some would say that the cross is the terrible means by which the worst criminals were executed at the time of the Roman Empire, and that the Lord Jesus was crucified on such a cross. Another may answer, according to what he knows, that when the Lord Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with Him. In this way, everyone will speak something. The young ones will speak, and the old ones also will speak. Whether a person has been saved for a long time or for a short time, he can speak like all the others. Everyone can contribute whatever he knows. After this, a more experienced one may say that to bear the cross is to remain in the killing of the death of Christ so that our self, our natural life, and the old man are terminated. In only a few minutes, the answer is made clear. This is the small group meeting that we are after.
This kind of meeting matches the organic way described in the Bible. This is much better than the way of meeting that is like one man lecturing in a class. In the small group meeting, when all speak back and forth, in a year’s time everyone will have learned, and everyone will be able to speak. In the end, there will be an “academic tradition” developed among us, and it can be passed on to the next generation. Ultimately, everyone who meets with us will become an able speaker. The new way that the Lord has shown us is not according to man’s natural way because the natural way will not accomplish God’s desire but will only annul the function of speaking for the Lord. This new way is absolutely organic. It helps us to develop and perfect the life function that is in every believer.
In principle, our meetings should not be according to the worldly tradition or the natural way but should be according to the revelation of the Bible. All the members in the Body of Christ should be allowed to function. With the functioning, there is the exercise of the spirit. To exercise the spirit, we must not use man’s word but should use the words in the Bible. For this reason, we need to be familiar with the words of the Bible and should soak ourselves in the Lord’s word. In this way, when we open up our mouth, the Lord can be spoken forth. This is to prophesy for the Lord. I hope that when you go out to attend the home meetings, the group meetings, and the district meetings, you will strive to be free from tradition. You should not behave according to the worldly tradition or according to your natural preference. You must exercise your spirit, and you must function according to the words of the Bible. In addition, you should have the instant inspiration. In this way, you will supply and nourish others in an organic way.
You are being trained here. In addition to diving into the truth and pursuing after and experiencing life, you should pay special attention to these items of the organic work and should learn conscientiously. You must learn to be a New Testament priest of the gospel, going out to contact people directly, fulfilling the duty of a gospel priest, and saving sinners to offer them up to God as sacrifices. Moreover, you should continue to nourish the new believers, as a nurse would cherish her own children, that they may grow and may be led to present themselves to God as living sacrifices. After that, you still have to perfect them for the building up of the Body of Christ, until they arrive at a full-grown man. In this way, it will be easy for all of them to prophesy, and the church will be built. I hope that you will continue to get into these four items of the organic work and will act not according to the natural way but according to the organic way. May we all do our best to have a part in this, and may we go on faithfully.