Whereas the administration and the management of a church are with the eldership, the practice of the church life and the building up of the church are carried out in the small groups. Hence, there is the need for every group to function and take care of the responsibility of teaching, shepherding, care, and support. If we try to take care of these four matters in the big meetings, they will never be accomplished. For example, even though many women work and send their children to a daycare center, the center cannot raise the children. The mothers still have to fulfill their responsibility of raising their children at home.
In the Bible there is a model of the church in Jerusalem, which was a large church. The management and administration of the church in Jerusalem was under one eldership, but the shepherding and building up of the church life were carried out in the homes. The church in Taipei is also a large local church. The responsibility of teaching, shepherding, care, and support must be transferred to the groups and borne by the groups. This can be compared to a country needing families to raise its young citizens. As long as every family does a good job, the country will be strong and prosperous. Therefore, if a local church can take good care of teaching, shepherding, care, and support, it will grow in life and be full of vigor. It will also be easy for the church to be built up. I hope that the elders in the localities, especially those from large localities, will realize that this is the time for the church life in the Lord’s recovery to take a big turn. We are turning from shepherding in large meetings to teaching, shepherding, care, and support in small groups.
The full-timers who are serving the Lord should set aside four hours every morning, from Monday to Friday, to have a good foundation in the truth. Christianity relies on its theology, but we rely on every saint knowing the Bible. Knowledge of the Bible is the foundation of our service. Hence, all the full-timers must make a resolution to spend four hours to study every day. I hope that all the leading ones and co-workers will help the trainees study without distractions. Furthermore, I would ask the elders and co-workers to supervise the young full-timers to make sure that they spend four hours on the Lord’s Word. We should try our best to assist them to learn to use their time appropriately.
Besides getting into the Word, the full-timers should serve in the small groups. This is a huge task. There are many details involved, because there should be teaching, shepherding, care, and support in the small groups. There are countless lessons for us to learn regarding these four matters.
Suppose we go to a small group and have the attitude that since we are full-time serving ones who study the Bible every day, our knowledge of the Bible is superior. Gradually, those attending the group meetings will stop coming. Even if they do not say anything openly, they will be stumbled by our attitude. Our putting on airs will scatter the whole flock of sheep.
Twenty years ago I discovered that of the twenty thousand saints in the church in Taipei, only three or four thousand actually came to the meetings. There was a large number of absentees. Hence, I suggested that the elders use a scientific method to find out why these saints do not come to the meetings. They were asked to analyze whether the saints were absent because they were poor and needed to work for their living, because they were sick, or because of something else. Regrettably, this was never carried out. There are many reasons that the saints do not come to the meetings. One reason is that the leading ones put on airs. The moment that we consider ourselves to be higher than others, the saints stop coming to the meetings. For this reason, there are no responsible or leading ones in our arrangement of the small groups. The full-timers should never consider themselves to be somebody and think that since they are trained, since they study the Bible diligently, and since they have passed some examinations, they are full-time co-workers. Such a consideration will do them much harm. Those who put on this kind of “uniform” will cause great harm.
When full-timers go to a small group, they should put off all such uniforms. This is not an easy thing to do, because sometimes when you put off a uniform, others try to put it back on you. At any rate, when you go to a small group meeting, you should never go with a special status; you should realize that you are simply a brother or sister. This is good enough. We should not even adopt the term that we are “helpers,” because no matter what term we use, it will mistakenly be used as a title. This is truly not good.