However, today the co-workers are not laboring in this way. It seems that they pick up all the responsibilities of a local church; hence, they cannot leave that church. In some places the co-workers replace not only the saints but also the elders. The elders only sign documents; they leave everything else to the co-workers. It is no wonder that there is no increase in the churches and that the work cannot spread. A small number of co-workers are doing all the work, and the saints who should have been employed are idle. We must change our concept and then change our system. We must not replace others any longer; at most, we should only guide them. When the saints are able to take care of things, we should leave the services completely in their hands. Then we can oversee from a distance. In this way we will produce capable saints who function according to their ability, and every brother and sister will be useful. Then we can delegate a suitable service to every saint according to his function.
Some co-workers have worked for three to five years in a place, yet no elders have been raised up. The co-workers say that there are no qualified brothers in those localities. This is their concept. We must change our concept, and we must change our system. To change our system does not mean that the co-workers should no longer serve; rather, the co-workers should do more to raise up useful saints. Then we will have results in the work.
Some brothers have suggested that we take the co-workers out of all the localities, but this will not resolve our situation. We must change our concept. Without changing our concept and our system, we will always labor according to old concepts and old ways; we will replace others instead of leading them. Hence, it is of little avail to remove the co-workers from the local churches.
However, if our concept and our way of working are changed, even if the co-workers are not removed from the localities, we will have results. After one year of serving, the number of the saints will double. There will be no need to send a co-worker to propagate in the towns and villages. If a young co-worker is sent to the towns and villages for one year, at most he will gain fifty people. Even though every saint is valuable before God, there is a difference in our function. The work in the towns and villages will increase the number of local churches, but it will not necessarily increase the number of saints. It is best for us to labor in large cities and in schools. A co-worker serving in hall three may gain a thousand new ones. This is not an increase in the number of churches, but it is a large increase in the number of saints, and the capacity of these new saints may be greater than the capacity of new ones gained in the towns and villages. Taipei is a large city with a large population. To gain a hundred thousand saints, including twenty thousand students, would be quite substantial. This would be much more effective than gaining scattered believers.
Taipei is a large metropolis with many businesses and numerous universities. We should diligently work here. For this reason, the co-workers do not necessarily have to be taken out of the churches, but they must change their concept and the way they work. Then instead of replacing others, they will lead the saints and will be willing to be led by others. How good this would be! It is very easy to replace others, but it is not so easy to lead others to do things. We all have the tendency of doing things by ourselves. Most cooks do not like other people in the kitchen. We all have this tendency: once we have a task, we prefer to do it by ourselves. This is the natural way of doing things.
It requires skill to be a chief with apprentices. Eventually, the apprentices should also become chiefs, such that their teacher may even learn from them. The saints whom we perfect to function should surpass us. This requires skill. This is the way that we have conducted the work in the States. Initially, I took the lead, and a few others did the work with me. I was the “chief,” and they were “apprentices.” Gradually, many have become “chiefs,” and I have become an “apprentice.” I have learned many things by observing them so that when I lead, the function of the saints can be developed even more.
In 1958 I went to the United States and lived there for an extended period of time. Initially, I hoped that some co-workers would go there to labor. However, I eventually felt that it was better for none to go there, because they would not perfect the saints, and as a result, the work would not spread. Even the Taiwanese students have had little effect on the campuses there because they were not brought into function here in Taiwan. It is regrettable that the co-workers replaced the saints when they should have been leading them into service. The co-workers must learn to bring other saints with them. When you observe a particular skill in a saint, you must let him serve, and you must be willing to be led by him. If he makes a mistake, you can provide further guidance. Only when we let others serve do we bring them into their function. The slow development of our work has been mainly due to these reasons: we are inadequate in shepherding the saints, in entrusting the saints with the work, and in leading the saints. We always have only a small number of saints serving.
It is wrong for the co-workers to expect the elders to listen to them. Some have made this a requirement for their labor. When a co-worker goes to a place, he should not only lead but also be led. In this way all the saints can function. Our concept and our system must change, or else our situation will not improve. The most important thing is to change our concept and our system. The co-workers can continue to labor in the localities, but they should not keep everything in their hand; neither should they replace the saints. They should lead the saints into serving. Eventually, all things will be in the hands of the saints for the producing of the talents. This is the proper way to serve.
A brother said that the Lord prepared many useful saints in Los Angeles, but this is not the case. The saints in Los Angeles have at most a “junior high school education,” but the saints in Taipei are mostly “graduate students.” However, the saints in Taipei have not developed their talents. I am not joking, and neither am I being sarcastic. There are many useful saints here, but they are not functioning, because they are not perfected, and most matters are kept in the hands of a small number of co-workers. The co-workers must hand things over to the saints. Then the co-workers can instruct and oversee the saints and let the saints do the work. In this way, many useful saints will be produced, and they will all participate in the service.
The saints in Los Angeles do not practice the so-called baptismal interview. In most cases we baptize the new ones immediately, and at least eighty percent of those who are baptized remain. In contrast, we have baptized at least two thousand people here, but not even a hundred have remained in the church. Hence, we must thoroughly reconsider our concept and the way we do things. It is not sufficient to merely change our ways. If we pull the co-workers out of the local churches, the churches will still be weak; moreover, the co-workers will have no place to work. In large localities, such as Taipei, we still need the co-workers to assist the elders and the responsible ones in the districts for the spreading. If the co-workers are willing to assist the elders in one accord, two to three thousand new ones will be added in a year or two. But if the co-workers go to labor in a small town, they may not gain two thousand new ones, even after laboring for ten years.