In 1949 we began the work in Taiwan with a small number of saints. At the time, the people whom we gained were mostly young ones, whereas today we gain mostly adults. There is a big difference between the two age groups. When the work started, the number of saints increased. However, in recent years there has not been a noticeable increase. It is worthwhile for us to study the reason for our lack of increase.
There may be many reasons for our lack of increase, but the main reason is that the co-workers, elders, and responsible ones have not been able to perfect the saints. Not being able to perfect the saints is a lack. The saints are capable, but they are not being perfected. Unintentionally, the brothers are serving in a natural way, according to their temperament. As a result, the saints are not being perfected.
For example, there is a district in Taipei with enough capable brothers to administrate ten local churches. In other words, if the saints in this district were perfected and sent to ten places to sow the seed of the gospel, after several years there would be ten local churches with a manifold increase. It is regrettable that these capable ones have still not been brought into function. The co-workers are able to work, but they do not know how to perfect the saints. The elders know how to administrate, but they do not know how to perfect the saints. The same is true with respect to the responsible ones in the districts. This indicates that the brothers know how to serve, but they do not know how to bring the saints into the service. If a father and the older siblings do all the work in a family, the generation that comes after them will follow their pattern. The basic principle in the work and in the church is the same as the principle of a family. In a family the mother cooks whether or not she knows how to cook. The church is a family, and everyone in this family has to “cook,” regardless of how well they can cook. This means that every member in this family must function. Those with greater capacity have to function according to their capacity, and those with lesser capacity should function according to their capacity. In a family even a blind member can function. The problem in the past has been that the co-workers, elders, and responsible ones in the districts served with those saints who matched their taste and not with those who were not according to their taste. Neither did they serve with the weak and less capable saints. In the end, no saint was brought into function. We must bring every saint into function.
A carpenter can use any kind of wood to make a desk. He only needs to prepare and cut the wood. If we have this kind of spirit, the work will increase. However, our situation is that we reject different saints and select only those whom we consider to be capable. Our consideration of who is capable is based on our disposition; that is, we select whom we like. This limits the number of saints who can be perfected because too many are eliminated. Hence, the co-workers, elders, and responsible ones must change their attitude.
If the co-workers, elders, and responsible ones will go elsewhere and meet, they will give other saints the opportunity to serve. If they would hand an entire district over to the saints, the doors of the meeting place would not close. The co-workers, elders, and responsible ones should be able to form teams and go out. We have information cards for thirteen thousand saints in the church in Taipei. Three thousand of these saints meet regularly, and more than ten thousand do not meet. If the co-workers, elders, and responsible ones would meet and pray for these ten thousand and leave the district meetings to the saints, letting them serve and make decisions, the result would be surprising. Even in a family, when the parents and older siblings are not present, the younger siblings take care of everything. The elders should not make any arrangements but let the saints take care of everything and see what the results will be. The co-workers, elders, and responsible ones should leave the saints who meet regularly and pray earnestly for the ten thousand who are not meeting. They should not touch the saints who meet regularly but focus on visiting the saints who have not been meeting. If we would practice this for one or two years, there would be four to five hundred more saints in the meetings. This is an obvious way to gain the increase, but it is not the best way. The best way is to take the saints who are in the meetings and form them into groups. A district with four to five hundred saints can be formed into ten groups, and these groups should go out for the gospel. There may be a few saints who are unable to go. These ones can stay in the districts. After two years of going out for the gospel, ten new local churches would be raised up.