We should also put our energy into the schools. The universities in Taiwan are clustered in three centers: Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan. We must labor on the campuses in these three places. If we do not labor on the campuses, we are shortsighted. We must concentrate our energy on the schools in these three centers because this work will have double the results with half the effort. This work will bring in many young people. The churches in these three places are our provision. As long as the saints are willing to go, there will be results. This is much easier than going to labor in a small town of fifty to sixty thousand people where there are no saints.
In Taiwan we should focus on large cities and schools. Every year the co-workers who have been manifested in their function should go abroad because there is a great need overseas. In other words, every co-worker whose function has been manifested should spend at most nine months a year in Taiwan and at least three to four months overseas. The co-workers should go to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Indonesia is in urgent need of help. Even three co-workers, staying there long-term, would not be enough to meet the need. Since we do not have a sufficient number of co-workers, one person can go there for three months, and then another person can go for another three months. Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia all have urgent needs, but the door for the work is not as wide open as in Indonesia. The Philippines also has a need. However, a foundation has been laid there, and the brothers are able to accomplish a certain amount of things themselves. The situation in Indonesia is different. If the co-workers do not go there, the brothers will not be able to go forward. A firm foundation has not yet been laid there. During the past five years there has been some progress there, but this was due to the help rendered by the co-workers. If the churches follow the way that they have practiced for the last thirty years, they will not be able to catch up with the flow in the work. The population in Indonesia is close to a hundred million people. It is the fifth largest nation in the world. There is a need for co-workers to go and labor there. The doors to the countries around us are open. Therefore, the co-workers whose functions have been manifested can go abroad for three to four months to labor and spend eight or nine months in their respective localities. In this way, the co-workers will be more useful. If we will practice this, the work will reap many benefits.
We must grasp these three crucial points for the work. First, we must labor in large cities. Second, we must labor in the schools. Third, we should labor abroad. The door overseas is open; the co-workers need only to go and work. Of course, this does not mean that all the co-workers should go; we need some to stay and meet the need here. Those who go must be useful. In other words, they should be able to produce results. We must not send anyone carelessly. Sending someone carelessly is the same as sending no one, and it will cause damage. At least ten to fifteen co-workers can go abroad every year. If the co-workers in the local churches lead the saints to serve, their leaving will not affect the churches when the need arises.
We need to develop strategic locations, that is, large cities; we need to promote the work in schools; and we need to let the useful co-workers go abroad every year. If they cannot go to faraway places, they should at least go to Southeast Asia and to Japan and South Korea. There are many benefits to carrying out these three crucial points for the work. The students who are saved will return to their hometowns. In this way, the gospel will gradually spread to the smaller towns, and we will not need to send the co-workers to small towns for the propagation. The co-workers should remain in the large local churches to labor in the strategic places, push forward the work in schools, and then go abroad. To labor in this way will be more profitable. I hope that the co-workers and elders will have a clear view concerning this matter. The elders should not think that the co-workers must stay in their locality. There should not be any problems if they go abroad for three to four months every year.
The greatest need of a church is to utilize every saint according to his function. This is also the most difficult thing for a church to achieve. Every saint can be useful. Never think that the saints in a certain hall are more talented than the saints in your hall. In every hall there are useful saints. Whether or not they are useful depends on the way we work. The co-workers must make the saints useful, perfect them, and lead them. We must have a thorough change of concept and work hard, because it is not easy to train apprentices, all of whom have opinions. Nonetheless, we need to lead the saints forward.
It is rather difficult to know how a young person will turn out in the future. Brother Nee is an example. Both he and his mother were saved by a woman preacher, Sister Dora Yu. On the night of his salvation, at the age of seventeen, Brother Nee was also called by the Lord. He was willing to give up his schooling and learn to serve the Lord. His mother, who also loved the Lord, agreed with his consecration and sent him to a Bible school run by Sister Dora Yu in Shanghai so that he would learn to serve the Lord. One day Sister Dora Yu asked Brother Nee to deliver mail to the post office. It took Brother Nee longer than usual to finish the errand because of the poor condition of the road. Sister Dora Yu thought that Brother Nee, being young, had been delayed by some amusement, so she asked him to withdraw from her school. Even though Brother Nee had spent the time running the errand, he willingly returned to Foochow and continued his schooling in Trinity College.
Later Brother Nee met Sister M. E. Barber and was taught under her. Sister Barber was very strict. At the time more than sixty young brothers and sisters went to Sister Barber to receive spiritual edification. Miss Barber rebuked every one of them severely, such that eventually they all left; only Brother Nee remained. Brother Nee often went to Miss Barber even though he knew that he would be rebuked. Sometimes he would argue with her. At one time he was contending with Brother Wang. When Sister Barber heard of this, she dealt with Brother Nee. Sister Barber asked Brother Wang to do many things. When Brother Nee challenged Sister Barber, she would reply, “He is older than you by a few years.” One time a number of people were going to be baptized, and Sister Barber asked Brother Wang to perform the baptism even though another brother, who was older than Brother Wang, was present. When Brother Nee pointed this out to Sister Barber, she only repeated that Brother Wang should do it. Because Sister Barber realized that Brother Nee was good material, she continually dealt with him and at the same time also supplied him. Brother Nee later testified that he received genuine perfecting from Sister Barber. He was constantly rebuked, but he was not disheartened, because Sister Barber not only rebuked him but also supplied him. As a result, Brother Nee was the only one under the hand of Sister Barber who was truly useful.
We all must learn this lesson. We should not blame the young people or give up on them. Of course, we need to deal with their opinions, but at the same time we should supply them and let them function. We absolutely must not give up on them; rather, we must lead them gradually. If we do not lead the young people now, we will have no one to continue after us.
We need to fellowship further concerning taking the co-workers from the local churches. We need to study this matter. In hall one there are three or four responsible brothers. On the one hand, the elders do not have the way to carry everything out, but on the other hand, it is a mistake for the co-workers to keep everything in their hand. There are even levels of administration. There are the co-workers and the elders, under whom are the responsible ones in the districts and in the small groups. This is not the proper administration. The elders should consider how to perfect all the saints. In terms of administration, it would be best if we would follow the Bible and have only elders and deacons. When taking care of the church affairs, we should include other saints. If the saints do not know how to serve, we should guide them. If they make a mistake, we can adjust them. We should not ask them to quit as soon as they make a mistake. The more mistakes they make, the more we should bear them. We should always lead the saints into the service.
This kind of working and serving is what we lack. The purpose of all our work of administration is to utilize all the saints by letting them serve. In the beginning, it may require more effort for us to teach, lead, and correct the saints, since we must be patient with them and bear their weakness and mistakes. However, after a period of time they will be able to serve. We are like orchard keepers, who do not bear fruit themselves but who cultivate the fruit trees that bear fruit. We simply take care of watering, pruning, and spraying of insecticide. However, it is not sufficient for us to be the only persons doing the work of watering, pruning, and spraying for the bearing of fruit. We must work until every saint is enlivened and is brought into this service. We must train the saints until they become useful. This is the kind of work that all the co-workers and elders should endeavor to learn.
These basic principles were fellowshipped in the book The Elders’ Management of the Church and also in the book The Normal Christian Church Life. Elders should not do things by themselves; instead, they should let others do the work while they oversee. Only in this way will all the saints be brought into the service. Not only so, elders should teach, lead, and even correct the saints so that the saints are able to bear responsibility. This way of working is urgently needed and effective. If we desire our work to spread, we must work in this way.
This does not mean that the co-workers should be removed from the churches and begin the work in other places. Rather, this means that we need to change our concept and our system. As long as we continue according to the old concept and old system, we will not see an increase in the total number of saints, even if the number of local churches increases. However, if our concept and our system are changed, we will concentrate on cities with large populations. When the co-workers and elders assist each other, it will be very effective. At the same time, we can work in the schools, which will double our results. We should not switch from large cities to smaller towns. We should focus on strategic locations and select the key places for our work. In this way the work will spread quickly. The church in Taipei is an example. It is a locality in a large city, and it has a regular attendance of about three thousand saints. If we can bring all three thousand saints into the service, in five years there will be at least fifty to sixty thousand saints. Furthermore, the local church will be very strong. If there are ten thousand students in Taipei, the testimony will be strong and the future will be bright.
If we take the co-workers out of the large localities and transfer them to towns and villages, the function of the co-workers will be reduced and weakened. At the same time, the churches will be weakened because there will be no help from the co-workers. Therefore, the co-workers and elders must change their concept and the system. They should not replace the saints but should lead and train the saints to serve until every saint is useful. Then we will have a promising future. Otherwise, only a few saints will be zealous and burning. We must learn to work in the way of perfecting the saints until everyone who meets regularly is useful. We must let the saints have the opportunity to serve. They must learn to be adjusted, trained, and led. Gradually, this will be a work that is carried out by the majority of the saints.