To go on in the Lord’s new way, the God-ordained way to meet and to serve, requires much study. We have had much speaking and teaching concerning the new way, and we have discovered many crucial points related to it. This speaking has been printed in messages and is available to read. Although we have been going on steadily in the new way, our going on has been too slow. We now need to rise up to practice the new way.
The first step in the Lord’s new way is to contact people to bring them the gospel of the kingdom, which is the gospel of Christ. In order to contact people for the gospel, we should not merely stay home to pray for them and invite them to come to us. We have learned that this is not adequate. One effective and time-saving way to contact others for the gospel is to use the telephone. This way has been used very much by the marketing industry. Some saints have begun to call people to make appointments to share the gospel with them. This is an improved way to contact others. Some people may not be willing to make an appointment, but due to the telephone calls, they may come to the Lord’s Day morning meeting. One church has begun to keep a guest book to record many details concerning each new one who comes to the meetings. Once a new one comes to the meeting, the saints will write them a letter or visit them. We should not trust that the new ones will contact us. Rather, we must exercise to contact them by many means.
There are many ways to visit people, and we still need more learning in this matter. If we are going to gain people, we must contact them. If a business receives only three replies for every one hundred brochures they mail out, they will recover their expenses. Likewise, for us to gain even one person out of five hundred contacts would be profitable and worthwhile. We do not expect a large increase. We only expect that each member in the Lord’s recovery will gain one person yearly. Through this onefold increase we will double our number every year. However, according to our study of church history, it is hard to find a church that has had even a thirty percent annual increase.
It is not good to be barren and unfruitful. The biggest commission from the Lord to His disciples is to go and disciple all the nations (Matt. 28:19), and the greatest charge to the New Testament believers is to bear fruit (John 15:4-8), to get people saved. It is not right to be a Christian for many years, and yet be without fruit. We should not take any excuse for not bearing fruit.
It is a joy to have some dear ones under our care who are younger or weaker than we are. The people in the world seek amusements to make them joyful. Our joy is Christ, but we cannot enjoy Christ well without fruit bearing. Without fruit bearing our enjoyment of Christ is in vain. To have children physically is a joy, but in the eyes of God spiritual children are much more precious than physical children. If we have two or three spiritual children under our care, they will be our comfort, strengthening, encouragement, and daily joy year-round, and we will feel that we know the meaning of our Christian life better. On the other hand, if we do not have anyone under our spiritual care, we may wonder what the purpose of being a Christian is, and the enjoyment of Christ will eventually lose its taste.
We all have to pray, saying, “Lord, I hate barrenness, and I love to bear fruit. If I cannot have two or three of Your children to be my children, I will not be happy. Year after year I always want two or three younger Christians under my care.” We must endeavor to reach the goal of fruit bearing. Then our Christian life will be meaningful, and our enjoyment of Christ will always be fresh. Whether or not the enjoyment of Christ is fresh to us depends on fruit bearing as the result, the issue, of our enjoyment of Christ. To abide in Christ is the main charge in John 15 (v. 4a), but this charge is for another charge—to bear fruit (vv. 4b-8). Abiding is for fruit bearing. It is impossible for a branch to abide in the vine and enjoy all the riches and life juice from the root of the vine without bearing fruit. The thought that we can abide in Christ without bearing fruit is a self-deceit from the source of Satan. We must condemn this thought. We cannot promote the enjoyment of Christ without fruit bearing. We should not be satisfied with the enjoyment of Christ in vain. The enjoyment of Christ must have an issue. This issue is not merely the growth of the branch but fruit bearing. We must have fruit bearing, and we must have children to care for. In John 15:16 the Lord said, “I appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” To go forth is to contact people, and to have our fruit remain is by taking care of the young ones. Without our caring for the young ones, our fruit cannot remain.