The Lord does not want us to be officials in the church or in the work; rather, He desires that we always supply life, just like air always fills a container. We must change our concept, not be complicated, and supply life. If we do not have the opportunity to speak in a meeting, we can still supply life through prayer. This is the kind of spirit that we must have in our service. Our situation has come to a standstill. When the service is handed over to the responsible ones, it is restricted. When the administration of a church is handed over to the elders, the church is restricted. We should not restrict the matters that are handed over to us, nor should we fight to receive things. We should only endeavor to supply life. If we are burdened for the young people’s work, we should serve them diligently.
Please forgive me for speaking frankly. When I am in the United States, I do not serve only the church in San Francisco and the church in Los Angeles. I serve all the churches in the United States. The brothers in Taipei, however, serve in one district and are unable to travel. According to our information, there are only five to six hundred saints who regularly attend the meetings. The brothers should be able to travel. We are not changing our way. From the beginning of the work we repeatedly charged the co-workers to travel for the perfecting of the saints rather than to replace the saints or serve on their behalf.
We have been working for many years, and yet we do not have any who can follow after us. We must change our concept and pay attention to the crucial matter of ministering the word. We do not need to give useless messages; we should not speak on loving God today and denying the self tomorrow based on whims. We need the line of life, and we need to consider how to advance in the work. If we cannot produce a message, we should search for material in our publications. We do not need to give pretty messages. We need messages that meet the present need and are a supply. All the full-time serving ones should give themselves to labor in and study the word. It is a shame for us to spend our time aimlessly. Some co-workers think that they can accomplish something, but they cannot. Other co-workers stay within their measure. They are obedient but have not accomplished anything. If a certain district has four full-time brothers who neither supply life nor minister the word, the brothers are not doing a proper work. With four brothers serving full time, many things can be accomplished if they are diligent to function. They should not care for who is in charge, nor should they care for the system. They should work in order to have a result, and they should use every opportunity to supply life. All their service should be living.
Furthermore, we should not have complicated situations. We should be open and seek to improve. Only when we change our concept, our disposition, our way of doing things, and our system will we be delivered. Otherwise, with our present concept, disposition, and way of doing things, the work has reached a standstill. No matter how much more we do, we can only maintain our situation, because we do not bring the saints into function. Even if we recruit some capable saints, we do not know how to bring them into function. If we change our concept, our disposition, and our way of doing things and then bring the saints into function, the number of saints will increase, and those in the meetings will also increase. Some saints are unwilling to come to the meetings, but if we change the way we do things, they will have a desire to come to the meetings.
We should not serve as if we were government officials. The elders do not occupy the highest position in the church; instead, they are servants. May the Lord have mercy on us. The elders must give themselves to serve until there is feeding and shepherding in the church. The elders have spent enough time in the affairs of the church, but the saints are neither being supplied nor educated. This can be likened to parents who consider how to clean and upgrade their house but do not provide food for their children. There is no need to pay so much attention to “cleaning our home”; we should rather consider how to feed our children so that they can progress in a good way. This is our urgent need. The elders often spend hours discussing the business affairs of the church, but they only briefly mention matters concerning visitation, shepherding, care, and the supply of life. This also applies to the co-workers. Their service tends to be a routine. Our service must be living. In the meetings we should not follow the old way; we should be led by the Holy Spirit. The Lord can use any saint to enliven a meeting. Hence, there is no need for the co-workers to make so many arrangements. Often when the co-workers try to lead the meeting, they kill the meeting. The saints do not need arrangements in order to be enlivened.
If the young people’s meeting is led by the young people and not by co-workers, the young people will be willing to attend the meeting, and even if they do not know how to have the meeting, they will learn. The co-workers’ service must not replace the young people. The co-workers must let the young people serve. Do not even stir up the young people. The co-workers should not keep things in their hands, because this causes the young saints to be passive. Even if the young saints ask the co-workers to help, the co-workers should still not replace the saints. The co-workers must insist that the young saints serve.
The co-workers, elders, and responsible ones should not try to do everything but rather should bring the saints into function. Bringing the saints into function is the basic principle of our service. Every saint who comes to the meeting is useful, and we must perfect him. A co-worker who knows how to work would visit the saints who are not in the meetings. At least half of the saints who are in the meetings must be brought into their function.
We should be practical and make a list of the services in the district. Then we can fellowship with the responsible ones to find out who among the saints can bear responsibility. We can then arrange for the different services to be given to the saints. The details related to the services should be decided by the saints who are responsible for the service. For example, two brothers and a few sisters can be given the responsibility of hospitality. They will be responsible to find other saints to help with room and bed assignments and cleaning. This way of delegating is very simple and easy to carry out. The elders need only to have oversight and make sure that the services are properly taken care of. If a saint is not thorough, the elders need not intervene personally. They can let the responsible ones take care of the situation. When the church in Los Angeles received more than one hundred visiting saints, four brothers were responsible for serving meals. The brothers asked different saints to take care of various tasks, such as obtaining chairs and tables, preparing plates and bowls, planning menus, and making purchases. All the saints who were available were employed. The saints who were responsible for lodging arrangements sought out other saints to help them. This way of doing things is very easy. The elders did not get involved in any of the services, yet everything was carried out appropriately. In all the districts in Taipei there is an abundance of useful saints. The elders should hand over all the services to them and oversee from a distance.
The elders should spend most of their time shepherding and supplying life to the saints. The co-workers should have time to propagate the work and should study to minister the word. We cannot let the saints come to meetings week after week without receiving any supply in the word. The co-workers should study the messages that we have released and coordinate with one another to minister the word for the supply of the saints. This is the practice in several churches in the United States. In every meeting there is always the supply of the word of life. This is easy to do. Hence, the co-workers and the elders should let go of other things. They should not keep anything in their hands.
Furthermore, the co-workers and elders should not be rigid in their practice. It does not matter how the saints are formed into small groups. We are too rigid and regulated, and we rely on methods and arrangements. We must tear these down. We must let the saints have the opportunity to serve. The elders should only oversee from a distance. The co-workers should grasp the opportunity to supply the word. They should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to release a living word. If a local church does not have a co-worker, the elders should do their best to meet the need in the word. Otherwise, the meetings will be poor, and the saints will starve. In short, the elders should oversee, and the co-workers, together with the elders, should do their best to render a supply in the word and maintain the line of life.
There are two lines in the supply of the word. One line is to bring the new believers from knowing regeneration to knowing the indwelling life, and then to following the sense of life, that is, enlivening the new ones step by step. The other line is concerning the leading of the local church. This line can be compared to blowing the trumpet. The church’s going on is dependent on the supply and leading through the word. However, in order for the word to come forth, there cannot be only a few saints functioning; all the saints need to function. Depending on regulations and methods and not doing anything without being directed prevent us from following the mingled spirit and prevent the divine life from growing.
We must do our best to let all the saints serve. Otherwise, we are old hens occupying the roost but not laying eggs. Our method and our disposition have brought us to a standstill, to a point where we have reached our capacity. Unless we change our disposition and our practice, we will have no way to go on and no way to spread; we will remain in our current situation.
Young sisters can preach the gospel to their classmates and bring them to salvation. This is very simple. We should never think that only certain qualified saints can be involved with the gospel and that only a handful are capable. Young sisters can go before the Lord in desperate prayer. They can fast and pray for their class. When two classmates are saved, the sisters can begin a meeting with them. At that time the co-workers should grasp the opportunity to supply the sisters with life. Gradually, the new ones meeting with the young sisters will increase. Our present way of serving is mechanical because we are halfhearted. We must enliven the saints. If the Lord gives a brother the burden to lead a few junior high students, he should pray for them desperately until they are burning. As a result, each of the students will bring at least one classmate to salvation, and there will be a hundredfold increase. Although the brother is serving a few junior high students, he is supplying the Lord’s Day meeting with life and thus even the young people’s meeting. He also needs to go to different districts to take care of different needs. This should be the way that we work. It is very simple.