The pattern of remembering the Lord in a local church is our family inheritance. The first section of the bread-breaking meeting is to remember the Lord, and the second section is to worship the Father. According to Matthew 26:30, after the Lord Jesus established His supper, He led the disciples to sing a hymn. This means that after leading the disciples to remember Him, the Lord led them to worship the Father. Hebrews 2:12 says, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.” This clearly points out that in the Lord’s resurrection, He is leading His many brothers to worship the Father. We should not be indifferent concerning the second section, in which we worship the Father. We should spend ten to fifteen minutes to properly worship the Father with prayer, praises, and hymns. During the second section of the meeting, we should take the Father as the center.
After there has been much worship and praise to the Father, it is inappropriate to call a hymn concerning the Lord’s precious blood. Hymns concerning the Lord’s precious blood should be sung while the Lord is remembered and not during the worship of the Father. It may be that a newly recovered saint, who has an appreciation for the Lord’s precious blood and does not know the difference between praising the Lord and worshipping the Father, calls the hymn. In this case we should sing the hymn and not change it; otherwise, he may not come to another meeting. As he continues to attend the meetings, he will understand the difference between praising the Lord and worshipping the Father.
When we give a testimony in the bread-breaking meeting, we must learn to sense the atmosphere of the meeting and not interrupt it. The meeting may progress to a stage where it requires prayer. If our spirit is keen, when someone begins to pray, we will realize the need for more prayer. We should not call another hymn, because this will dissipate the atmosphere of prayer, and it will be difficult to continue the prayer after singing a hymn. Therefore, we must develop a spirit of prayer.
To give a testimony during the bread-breaking meeting, one must follow the flow of the Spirit. This does not mean that you should not give a testimony before the bread or the cup is passed, but that you must have the assurance that your testimony will not interrupt the meeting. If you do not have the assurance, it is better to wait until after the remembrance of the Lord and the worship of the Father before you give a testimony. The bread-breaking meeting usually lasts about one and a half to two hours after which there is still twenty to thirty minutes for the brothers and sisters to fellowship.
If we expect the number of saints in the church to increase twofold, the number of small groups should also increase twofold. At present there are three hundred sixty groups; a twofold increase means an increase of another three hundred sixty groups. Every month we should add thirty groups. The responsible brothers in the twenty-one halls should begin to prepare and plan how to divide the halls into districts and groups. As the number of saints increases, there is the need to add more groups. There is also the need to decide which groups should come together in districts to break bread. Besides this, there should also be a way to keep attendance so that we know who comes to the meetings regularly. We should also consider where the groups should meet.
I hope that all the halls will consider and observe this matter so that you may know which groups should be combined together to have a bread-breaking meeting, how many bread-breaking meetings there should be, and where the meetings can be held. In addition to the bread-breaking meeting, we also need prayer meetings. There are twenty-one halls in the church in Taipei, but there are only seven hundred saints in the prayer meetings. Hence, we should also consider which groups should be combined. The responsible ones in the halls and the experienced saints in the groups must consider how to carry out the bread-breaking meeting as well as the prayer meeting in the groups. Not every small group will have a prayer meeting.
We have considered the two sections of the bread-breaking meeting: for the remembrance of the Lord and the worship of the Father. We will now consider the person of the Trinity. There is an essential and an economical aspect of the Triune God. Due to the fact that some theologians did not have a clear view concerning these two aspects, the essential aspect and the economical aspect of the Triune God, great mistakes have been made in church history.