History tells us the real situation. I have been on this earth for many years. I have been a genuine Christian for more than forty years, and I have been in this work for more than thirty-five years. Just within the past two decades I have seen many groups in the Far East, in Europe, and in this country. I speak the truth that you can never have a living group of Christians serving the Lord in an adequate way without these five aspects to balance them: life, light, the church, service, and ultimately preaching. I saw some groups that were rich in life but poor in knowledge. I also saw some groups, and I was with one of them, that were rich in knowledge. One person among them was known as a “living concordance.” They were rich in knowledge, but they were very poor in life. In the past I have known some groups that were rich both in life and in knowledge, but they were poor in the church life, so they did not last long. Some groups even proclaim that they are rich in life, rich in knowledge, and also have the church life, but they are short of gospel preaching. After five years passed there were still the same number meeting with them, and after another five years there was no increase. They always said, “The Lord is with us. This is wonderful!” They were wonderful for ten years but still with the same people. Eventually in their twelfth year they lost their interest and disbanded. I saw this in 1957 and again in 1963. In another example, I recently received a letter saying that a group that had been meeting for more than twenty years also lost their interest and disbanded. They said, “What are we doing here? Year after year we have the same people.”
In a family with only a wife and husband, the first five years are wonderful. Then the next five, even up to twenty years, are still wonderful. After twenty-five years, however, they will not feel very wonderful. They need some children, some “new ones.” In the same way, the church needs some new ones. In order for the church to be strong, you have to have normal deliveries, normal births. If next week fifty persons are baptized, the whole church will be on fire. On the one hand, I was happy to see several people receive the Lord in a recent gospel meeting. Some may wonder how so many people could confess the Lord Jesus in just one meeting. On the other hand, in the past I have seen one thousand people stand up to acknowledge the Lord’s name. It is good for a few people to receive the Lord, but according to my experience, this seems like two drops of water. Still, though, the brothers and sisters are excited. Some proclaim, “This is wonderful, wonderful!” However, if you would endeavor, pray, and work to bring more people in, next week you may baptize fifty, one hundred fifty, or two hundred people. Then you will be so excited that you will not care to eat. I saw this in the past. The church needs new births, new deliveries. The church needs new ones.
Whenever there is such a suggestion to preach the gospel, the spirit of all the saints responds. The Holy Spirit within the spirit of the saints honors this, because this is the purpose of God in this age on the earth. However, the church has lost sight of this matter, so now we have to recover this. We have to realize what we are doing here. Are we here only to meet together and to have a wonderful message meeting on the Lord’s Day morning and a wonderful Lord’s table meeting in the evening? Are we here to have a wonderful prayer meeting on Wednesday and a study meeting on Friday, and then do it again the next week, the next month, and the next year? There is no need for five years to pass; even within this year if you would not bring in more people, someone will eventually say that there is no need for us to come together. There will be disappointment among us.
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