The topic of this message is “The Foundation of the Church Meetings.” In anything you do, there is always a foundation. Even language itself has a foundation. The twenty-six letters of the English alphabet are the foundation of the English language. What is the foundation of the church meetings? It is not hard for you to find out from Acts how the three thousand and five thousand met after they got saved. They met in the temple and from house to house, from one home to another. When they were in the temple, it was mainly Peter and John who spoke. If you were to ask the Apostles Peter and John to visit the three thousand and the five thousand saved ones, who comprised at least a few thousand homes, even if they wore out the soles of their feet they still could not reach every one of them.
Acts chapter five also says, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and bringing the good news of Jesus as the Christ.” There were absolutely no different teachings at that time. Those who were saved, even though they were saved for only a day or two, began to meet in their homes. They definitely did not speak the teachings of Moses, nor did they speak the doctrines of Isaiah. Every household was speaking what they had personally heard from Peter’s speaking in the temple.
The home meetings were the foundation of the church meetings. The big meetings in the temple were not the foundation. Once the big meetings in the temple ended, they were over. In the big meetings believers were produced, and they were then brought to individual home meetings. The church meetings were not built up in the big meetings in the temple, but rather, the church meetings were built up in every house, from house to house.
Acts chapter eight says that a great persecution arose in Jerusalem not too long after the three thousand and the five thousand were saved. They all left Jerusalem; only the twelve apostles remained there. From this we see that the propagation of the Lord’s gospel and the spreading of the testimony of the Lord’s church did not depend primarily on the apostles, but rather on those who were dispersed. They brought people to salvation everywhere they went. I can guarantee that no big meetings existed then. The big meetings are not the foundation of the church. The meetings from house to house, the meetings in the homes, are the foundation of the church. The big meetings are a kind of skating on ice. It is the home meetings that can actually keep people. This light is very clear in the Bible.
We saw this from the beginning. Thus, we encouraged migration fifty or sixty years ago. However, it was very difficult to bring people to salvation during those days in mainland China, and there were no big meetings at all to rely upon. To have five people baptized was an earth-shaking event. In the eighteen years from 1922 to 1940, no more than thirty-seven people were baptized at one time. In 1940 the church in Chefoo saw the light concerning the church preaching the gospel. From that time on, a hundred or more were baptized each time. It was because of the increase in number that there was the need to meet in homes, but we did not go to the extent of meeting in small groups. The small group meetings did not come into being until we arrived in Taiwan.
In Taipei, we first began to meet in the old hall. When we gained more people, we met in several areas. When even more were added, we divided them into the homes. These home meetings brought in tens of thousands of people. The churches on the whole island of Taiwan increased from four or five hundred to forty or fifty thousand in the period from 1949 to 1957. However, in 1958 we got distracted and started to go downhill. The downward slope was not a steep one, but rather gentle. We have been walking downhill since 1958, for twenty-seven years.
When we first escaped from the big meetings in the denominations to climb this mountain, we climbed to the home meetings. But before we could reach the peak, we were distracted and could not climb any further, and instead went downhill. We went downhill to such an extent that we paid attention to big meetings and eloquent speakers. Whoever can speak attracts people. The saints have acquired a habit of listening to sermons. Before going to a meeting, they first ask who the speaker is. If Paul is speaking, everybody goes. If Mark is speaking, they say, “I don’t have the time to go.” Thus, the foundation of the church is no longer the homes, but the preachers and the big meetings. This is nothing but fallen Christianity.
In Christianity there is little emphasis on home meetings or small group meetings. Mostly they have a congregation and each congregation hires a pastor. If this pastor has a doctoral degree, has some capability, sociableness, and eloquence, and if when he opens his mouth, he can speak of both the past and the present and both the East and the West, then his congregation will certainly flourish and prosper. When a big preacher comes, tens of thousands may come to listen to the sermon. When the big preacher leaves, everyone leaves also. Everyone is skating on ice, and because the ice is thin, it melts to water when the big preacher leaves.
Why do people hold revival meetings in Christianity? It is because they are deflated. To hold a revival meeting is like giving a heart-strengthening injection. The foundation of Christianity is not in the home meetings, but in their big meetings. Those churchgoers in the same denominational church may never have talked to one another. When I was small, I went with my mother to a Sunday service for nearly twenty years. I never talked to anyone; neither did anyone talk to my mother. Everyone was dressed up on Sunday for church, sitting quietly in the pew. When we raised our heads, the first thing we saw was the hymn numbers posted on the board, so we knew which hymns were to be sung that morning. Someone would then call out these hymns. After the singing, someone would preach the sermon and then someone would make announcements about certain things. Finally, there was the benediction on the congregation. After the benediction, we all got up. I did not say anything to anyone, nor did anyone speak to me, but we simply went our own ways. Where were the mutual fellowship and communication, and the steadfast continuing in the teaching of the apostles, as recorded in the Bible?
The condition of fallen Christianity is that it relies on big meetings, on human capability, and on eloquent speakers. Sixty years ago, the Lord showed us that the truth of the Bible was not to take this way, but rather to emphasize mutual fellowship. How can a ten thousand member church have mutual fellowship? If the way is through big meetings, then it is not easy to talk once to every member, even after meeting for ten years. But if people come into a home, they have to speak even though they normally do not speak much, and their situation will be made clear through this kind of speaking. You may even be able to discover what kind of sickness they have through your speaking. The home meetings are the foundation of the church.