Although it is not appropriate for the elders to choke the workers so severely, the co-workers should be “choke-proof.” A brother who serves in a locality should not stop doing something simply because he feels that the elders are not fully supportive. The elders should not control him, but the brother should still be able to coordinate with the elders. However, the elders should not direct him in his service, whether it is giving messages, working with young people, working on the campuses, or contacting saints.
While the elders should not restrict the co-workers, the co-workers should not blame the elders. Instead, the co-workers should supply others. If the co-workers have something, they will supply life in the meetings, and whenever they open their mouths, the saints will be enlivened. Who would restrict the co-workers if they supply the saints? The co-workers should always have the supply. They should be like a river. The co-workers should forget about any restrictions and instead have a ready supply.
I would advise the elders to administrate less but exercise discernment. They should see whether a brother has a genuine supply. If a brother has the supply, he should be encouraged to serve. The brothers can testify that our work has never restricted the saints. In the work there is only leading, supplying, and supporting. We must reduce the administration. In the church life no one is useless; rather, everyone is useful. In any case, a person’s usefulness depends on whether or not he is used.
A co-worker should not allow himself to be useless. At the very least, he can preach the gospel to one person a day. He can distribute two hundred tracts every day. If we are useless, we bear the blame. We should not say that we are useless. Even a person who is mute and cannot speak can distribute tracts. The co-workers have many functions. A co-worker with no function has not developed his function.
It is not good for the co-workers to delegate everything to others and then merely attend the meetings. The co-workers should never be useless; instead, they should always advance and look for opportunities to develop their function. No saint is useless. To be useless means that we have not worked to develop our function. We should not blame our environment. We must develop our function. The Lord’s work cannot be restricted. The Lord’s work cannot be stopped. There is always work to do. We must labor to the extent that all the saints are stirred up.
We must have a long-range view. We must have a change of concept and let go of any thought of controlling the church. The church life will not become worse from a lack of control. Twenty years ago I would not have dared to say this. However, today I can say this. We should not control out of fear that the saints will make mistakes.
Last year in Los Angeles three young top serving brothers volunteered to labor with the young people. The more they worked, the less the young people came to the meetings. One day they came to fellowship with me. I told them that they should no longer work with the young ones; rather, they should let students work with students. I also said that those who are not in school should not work with students. Thus, the work with the young saints was put into the hands of the students. I even told the elders not to check how the students’ work was progressing. Even in a young people’s conference during the Thanksgiving holidays, the young students bore the responsibility of the meetings.
Before the conference, the young saints heard that no one would be overseeing the conference, and they were afraid that they might make mistakes. So a few of them made a plan for the conference and brought it to me. Instead of reviewing their plan, I told them to hold the conference and that it would not matter if they made mistakes. I can testify that that young people’s conference was blessed. The young people did an excellent job. This subdued the brothers who were ambitious to work with the students. The young people are qualified to take care of other young people. The young ones who thought they were incapable of doing a good work were quite capable in the end. We later asked the young people to take care of another conference, and two hundred and twenty-five young people were baptized. We should let go and let the saints serve. We should be bold and let them do the work.