If the churches in Taiwan continue to advance, and the co-workers are willing to receive the burden to help the churches abroad, there will be substantial results. It would also be good to have a joint gathering or training every year or every other year for the saints from various local churches in Taiwan and abroad to attend. Each term of training could be either three weeks or a month. The saints from various churches can come together to participate in the training, just as the children of Israel kept the Feast of Tabernacles. The brothers and sisters who are serving the Lord can come together at least once every two years to have a training in which they live together and meet and fellowship together. This training could also be held every year. I believe that this would be a great help to the churches.
The co-workers who go abroad to labor for the Lord should take note of the saints who are seeking and promising. The co-workers can even encourage the young saints in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia to come to Taiwan to study, attend meetings, and learn the language for the purpose of translation. When these young ones finish their education and return to their countries, they will be a great help to the churches. The co-workers going abroad and the young overseas saints coming to Taiwan will cause the work to progress. It will double the results with half the effort.
The co-workers going abroad and the young saints coming to Taiwan will increase the burden of the churches and the co-workers in Taiwan. The spiritual and material burden will be heavier. For this reason, the churches in Taiwan should begin tithing for the churches abroad. This means that no matter how much the churches receive in offerings, they should give one-tenth to the Lord. In the Old Testament the Levites received the tithe of the Israelites and then gave one-tenth of what they had received to the Lord. This was pleasing to the Lord. Never think that your church does not receive much and therefore cannot tithe. This is a selfish thought. The Bible says, “Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38).
Beginning from January of 1971, all the churches should offer ten percent, no matter how much they receive. Suppose a local church receives ten thousand New Taiwan dollars, but it needs twelve thousand. What should this church do? The elders should still endeavor to offer one-tenth and then commit the lack to the Lord. This is according to the Lord’s word in Malachi 3:10, which says, “Bring the whole tithe to the storehouse that there may be food in My house; and prove Me, if you will, by this, says Jehovah of hosts, whether I will open to you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you until there is no room for it.” The Lord said that we should prove Him by our giving, and He will open the windows of heaven for us. We should not wait until we receive a surplus in order to give ten percent; rather, we should first set aside ten percent by faith. If the churches would practice this, the offerings would increase. Giving in this way will double what we receive from the Lord. Give to the Lord, and He will give to you. This is the way for the saints to be blessed and, even more, for the churches to be blessed.
Regardless of whether we have enough to meet our need, the churches in Taiwan must offer one-tenth by faith to the Lord. The Lord will bless this. This will not only test us but also confirm the experience of the saints throughout the generations. No one has ever suffered a loss because of loving the Lord and offering material blessings to Him. Without exception, what the Lord gives us in return is more than what we give to Him. This applies to individuals and also to the churches. We must look to the future. If every church would practice this, we will bring in the Lord’s blessing.
The churches in Taiwan should give for the needs in South Korea by helping the saints there to purchase land for the construction of a meeting hall. Such a project cannot be accomplished within a short time; nevertheless, we should ask the Lord to lead us in this matter. By the Lord’s leading, we may have a gathering of all the churches in East Asia every year or every two years. The financial need for such a gathering would be large. The burden would be too great for the churches to meet this need within a short time. Perhaps the churches can make an offering every month to meet this need. This does not have to be a rigid practice. If the churches are so led, they can send the offering to the business office of the church in Taipei, designating its use for the East Asia conference. In this way funds will gradually be accumulated, and it will be easier to bear the financial burden at the time of the conference. We must meet this need for the Lord’s sake.
Here is another example. There are two halls in the church in Taipei that can each accommodate about a thousand saints, but both meeting halls are in need of renovation. We need a place that can hold two to three thousand people for a training. In the future we will need to rent a hall that is large enough to hold ten thousand people in order to hold a conference. Of course, we may not be able to build such a large meeting hall in Taipei. Nevertheless, the church in Taipei should have a meeting hall that can seat two thousand five hundred to three thousand people so that we may regularly carry out trainings there.