With these three items—saving sinners, home meetings, and group meetings—there is a building up, yet we still need something more. We need all the perfected saints to come together on a larger scale to prophesy, to speak for the Lord, in the church meetings of mutuality (1 Cor. 14:26). According to our study and experience, it is best to have no more than fifty coming together for the church meeting of mutuality. If we have more than fifty, it is hard to practice the universal prophesying. By the universal prophesying, I mean a situation in which every attendant in the meeting is ready to speak.
We have to take advantage of the Lord’s Day to have these larger church meetings. If a local church has one hundred saints that meet on the Lord’s Day, the wisest way for encouraging all the saints to prophesy is to divide these one hundred into two groups of fifty. These two groups could even meet in the same hall, one upstairs and the other downstairs. This will afford more time and opportunity for all the saints to speak. This speaking will build up the Body of Christ directly. In the New Testament there is a unique chapter that talks about a definite gift that builds up the Body of Christ. This chapter is 1 Corinthians 14, and this gift is the excelling gift of prophesying. Preaching the gospel is for gaining materials for the building up of the Body of Christ. Eventually, these materials will be perfected, equipped, and furnished to speak for Christ. This kind of speaking will minister Christ mutually. We will minister Christ to one another when all are prophesying mutually (1 Cor. 14:24). By our prophesying mutually to minister Christ to one another, we will be nourished, edified, joined closely together, and knit closely together. Furthermore, we will be causing the growth of the Body that the Body might build itself up in love. When all prophesy in the church meetings of mutuality, Ephesians 4:16 will be fulfilled.
The New Testament shows us that the early Christians met on the Lord’s Day. In Acts 20 Paul arrived at Troas and stayed there for seven days. On the Lord’s Day, the saints gathered together to break bread in remembrance of the Lord (v. 7). This indicates that at that time the Christians met on the Lord’s Day. In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul directed the saints to separate a certain amount of their income and offer it to God as a gift on the Lord’s Day (v. 2). Paul charged the saints to do this on the first day of the week, not on other days. This indicates again that in the early days of the church, the Christians considered the first day of the week to be a special day. It was special because it was separated for them to worship God, to remember the Lord, and to serve Him in many other ways.
When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He went to the synagogues on the Sabbath day because that was the day that the Jews gathered together. The Lord took advantage of their gatherings in the synagogues on the Sabbath day to preach the word of God. He was not for the synagogues, but He used them as an opportunity to speak to the people. We also have to take advantage of the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, to meet with one another. Most of the nations stop their work on the Lord’s Day, so we should follow the Lord’s pattern to utilize this day. Most people are free on this day, so it is a convenient day for the saints to come together as a bigger group. No other day is as fitting as the Lord’s Day for us to worship God, to remember the Lord, and to have a building up meeting.
In the church in Taipei, the saints call the larger meetings of the church “district meetings.” The saints meet according to the district in which they live geographically. For the sake of convenience, most of these district meetings are in the halls. Some of the districts meet in a small rented place. The saints have home meetings and group meetings during the week, but on the Lord’s Day morning, they come together to do two things: to remember the Lord, to have the Lord’s table, for at most one hour and to have a prophesying meeting. After the Lord’s table, the saints prophesy one by one. They all function to minister Christ to each other and they receive one another’s ministry on Christ as their supply. In this way, they all get nourished and built up. Their speakings for the Lord are not merely testimonies but short messages of about three minutes. Within three minutes we can say much.
All prophesy mutually in the church meetings of mutuality to speak building up, encouragement, and consolation (1 Cor. 14:3). These three items are strong evidences that prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14 is not predicting but speaking forth Christ. Such speaking convicts and judges people (v. 24). Then their real situation is manifested, causing them to worship God and say that God is really among us (v. 25). Prophesying, speaking for God, is for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (vv. 4-5).
When we fully enter into the scriptural way to practice the Lord’s present recovery, the entire church with all the believers will be engaged in the preaching of the gospel to save sinners, the home meetings to nourish the young ones, the small group meetings to carry out the practical church life, and the church meetings of mutuality for the worship of God, the remembrance of the Lord, and the organic prophesying. Eventually, the church will be built up organically as the organic Body of Christ. I believe that within five years this vision will be carried out in many places. It is worthwhile for us to devote ourselves to the Lord to carry out this scriptural way. We need to be both the hearers and the doers of God’s word. Our ears are surely blessed to hear these things. Now that we have heard the Lord’s speaking concerning His present recovery, we must rise up to bear our responsibility. This scriptural way is totally based upon the Word of God, and it is the God-ordained way. This is also the ancient way, the biblical way, which was practiced by the first group of apostles. This way will keep us out of the unscriptural tradition, and then we will have a complete deviation from Christianity. In other words, we will have a complete exodus from Egypt, and we will be brought fully into the enjoyment of Christ as the good land.