The leading ones in the church should pay attention to those who improve, those among the brothers and sisters who have made some real progress. It is better to divide our meeting into groups of ten or fifteen and let one or two who have some progress in the growth of life take care of each group. Then the ones in the group can share and fellowship with one another, not about other things but about the instruction the church has received from the Lord. Week after week there should be one or two meetings for the saints to come together in this way. This will be very practical and very helpful. All the brothers and sisters will be interested in this kind of meeting; they will have a taste for it, and spontaneously they will bring others into it. This will help the increase in the number of saints meeting. There may be ten or twelve people in a group, but after three months there may be eighteen or twenty. Then more leading ones will be produced. After five or six months, we may have to divide a group into two groups of ten, each with some leading ones. In this way, the saints will constantly learn to grow, and there will be the continual increase of numbers.
In addition, the useful ones will be manifested. We may even say that they will be “exposed.” In the church the ones who are truly spiritual and actually know something always like to hide themselves, to make themselves hidden. The fleshly ones, however, always like to make a show of themselves. Therefore, the spiritual ones need to be exposed, that is, manifested.
I say again, it is in this way that the saints will grow in life, our numbers will be increased, and the useful ones, the leading ones, will be produced. Then spontaneously all the members will be functioning members. Everyone will learn to function by growth. It will not be like today’s Christianity, in which everyone sits while one person speaks. A brother once incorrectly called me a “pastor.” I told him, “Brother, if I am a pastor, you must be the pastor of the pastor.” We are all functioning brothers. I have my function, and you have yours. I have my ministry, and you have yours. I have my responsibility, and you have yours.
To say this is easy, but we must put it into practice. The proper way to practice this is what I have shared with you in this message. Once a week on the Lord’s Day morning, some brothers who truly know something of the Lord can give us a message of ministry. However, one message a week is good enough. The rest of the time can be for worship, the remembrance of the Lord and the Father at the Lord’s table. We can also have a time to come together to pray, as in our prayer meeting. Then we can come together one or two times a week for practice meetings. In this meeting there are no messages or teachings. We simply practice all the instruction we have received from the messages.
Many of you have studied in college or in graduate school. In college many students spend more time in the lab than in the classroom. Without the lab, the classroom does not mean much. We need to put what we have been instructed with into practice. In addition, we also will help others and practice the outreach to unbelievers or believers. This is very practical. Allow me to speak frankly: If we do not have some brothers with some real ministry, there is no need to have a so-called message meeting for speaking nonsense and wasting time. Do not have the expectation of coming only to listen to more and more doctrines. You have been listening to many doctrines, but what help is it? We have to put all the things we have heard, the things that are necessary for the experience of Christ, into practice, and we should forget about the things that are not necessary.
The whole church, including the young people’s work, should take this way. Those who lead the young ones should help them to practice. Do not merely lecture them; just use a short time to give them some instruction. Then put them on the test and help them to practice. In addition, help them to “open the fields” in the universities, colleges, and high schools. Do not say that they are not grown enough. All mothers know that they have to let their children make mistakes. Then they will learn the proper way. We cannot say that since a baby does not know how to walk, we should not let him walk. This is foolish. Let him walk; then he will know how to walk. Let them make mistakes. However, we must check their motive. If a child does something wrong with a wrong motive, he should be reproved. But if he does something wrong with a good motive, he should be encouraged. Let all the young ones practice and learn from mistakes. If you do not know how to do this, you are wrong.
Do not let the young ones become the old ones. Do not let the grandchildren become the grandfathers. I live in a small, quiet apartment. The neighbors do not have the energy to make noise. Most of them are retired and too old to make noise; they spend the day on the sofa or in bed. I, my wife, and my little daughter are the most active persons there, with the most energy to make noise. Do we expect all the young people in the church to be old ones who do not have the energy to make noise? We must help the young ones to “make noise.” There are a number of universities and colleges in this area. If we have the proper practice, it will be easy to have three or four hundred young people in these schools to open all the “fields” in the campuses and dormitories. We have to help all the saints to practice. When we went to Taiwan in 1949, we had only a handful of young people, about ten or twelve. After less than a year, however, we had over one hundred college students. We have to put the young ones on the test; we must help them to practice and learn the lessons. I say again, though, that we must have a pure motive. It is not serious to make mistakes; our motive is the most important thing. What the church needs today is the real practice.
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