For the church to advance there is the need to increase and spread. Without the increase and the spread, the church has no way to advance. The way for the church to increase includes two steps: first, frequently preaching the gospel so that people can be saved and brought to the Lord; second, bringing the saved ones solidly into the church life. This is the increase, and only when there is the increase can there be the spreading outward. In these years, although the churches have been increasing and spreading, the increase and the spread have been too slow.
For example, twenty years ago the total number of saints in the churches in Southeast Asia was at least 2,000. There were at least 500 to 800 saints in Indonesia twenty years ago. Among the churches there, Surabaya was the biggest one and had around 200 saints in 1965. The second largest was Jakarta, the third was Bandung, and there were also several smaller localities. These churches must have had over 500 saints. In East Malaysia, the churches in Sibu, Kuching, and Bintulu had at least 250 saints. These are very conservative numbers. Thus, we can say that twenty years ago, the churches in Southeast Asia had around 2,000 saints.
If we assume a ten percent rate of increase each year from 1965 to 1985, then in 1966 there should have been 2,200 saints, in 1967 there should have been 2,420 saints, and so on. An annual rate of increase of ten percent is equivalent to ten persons gaining one person in a year and a hundred persons gaining ten persons per year. Businessmen know that if they cannot make a profit of $1,000 with $10,000 in a year, then they should close their business. In any case, we have to present our fruit because this is a principle in the New Testament. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord Jesus was seeking fruit to eat (21:18-19).
Statistics are very helpful wherever they are applied. No matter what a person does, he cannot have accounting without also having statistics. Accounting is for statistics, and statistics are for the setting up of policies. The operation of our business is all based on statistics. Only when we have statistics will we know how to establish a direction in which we may proceed. If we have been in a certain business for twenty years and have not even gotten a ten percent profit, then we must close our business, change to another business, or make some personnel changes. The establishment of a business’s operational direction must be decided according to accounting and statistics. Therefore, last year in Taipei we did this very thing. When we laid out the accounting and statistics, we saw that the work in Taiwan needed a change in its system. We determined that we could no longer do our work in the way we had been doing it. Not only had we failed to make a profit, but we had even lost some of our principal. Because of this, the work in every locality had no way to advance.
We can no longer go on doing something in vain, nor can we stay in self-delusion-always feeling that we are so good and so wonderful because we have the truth and life. If we would look at the statistics carefully, we would see the real situation of everything. The real situation is that the Lord has not gained much among us. If this situation persists, then even after two hundred years, the Lord’s recovery still will not have a way to progress and spread. I hope that the younger generation would especially take this word and go on properly and faithfully before the Lord. There is no problem on the Lord’s side for the churches in the recovery to increase and spread; the problem is on our side.
I hope that the older saints who may have several decades of experience will wake up to see that the situation is wrong and needs to be adjusted. I also hope that all the young people will see the statistics and take them as a reminder and a direction for their advance. May we all bow our heads and pray, “O Lord, forgive us; we have limited You too much, and we have failed You in too many matters. The problems are truly all on our side.”
We have all seen a three-legged race. With this race, it is not a matter of how fast or how slow the contestants walk. Rather, it is a matter of whether or not they can cooperate and coordinate with each other. If one of the contestants runs very fast and the other runs very slow, then they will easily fall and be unable to rise up again. Consequently, they will remain in the same place and have no way to go forward. Today we are tied together to the Lord in a three-legged race. However, often when He walks, we do not walk, or when He does not walk, we walk. As a result, this three-legged race is not in step or in unison. Hence, how our future will be and how the church will advance both depend on how we cooperate and coordinate with the Lord. If we have much prayer, much pursuing of the truth, and much entering into the truth, we will have more knowledge and experience of the Lord. Thus, we will have more supply, the number of saved ones will naturally increase, and the power to retain them will be strong.
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