Recently, we have had a heavy burden concerning how to take care of the many people whom we baptize each year. We could ask the elders to take care of them, but there are only a dozen or so elders and more than ten thousand saints in Taipei. The elders cannot care for all the saints. Hence, the elders suggested that we establish districts and let responsible ones in each district care for the saints. However, in principle, the responsible ones in a district cannot bear such a heavy responsibility alone either. Therefore, the districts were further divided into small groups. Even after all of this subdividing, the elders are still not shepherding and feeding. This is also true for the ones bearing responsibility in the districts and groups. Even though many of these ones are busy being “responsible,” many of our lambs are not receiving proper care. Thus, many have run away, and many have died.
The situation in the church today is that there is neither feeding nor shepherding, and the church life is maintained only by the meetings. The elders and responsible ones for the districts and the small groups spend most of their time on administration, studying how to do this and that. Sometimes when I go to the business office and see so many forms and procedures, I get a headache. I do not like to criticize these methods, because there is the need for them. I have even said that in order to give people food and soup, we need to consider plates and bowls. However, today we are not taking care of the “food and soup” but only the “plates and bowls.” Our “plates and bowls” are quite good, but there is no “food or soup” in them, and even when there is some food in them, it is not tasty. Outward things are merely accessories; we should not pay too much attention to them. As long as the “plates and the bowls” are clean, we should focus on putting food on the table. Our focus should be to feed and satisfy the saints.
From this time forward, I hope that the elders and responsible ones would simplify the administrative things. The activities of the business office should be simplified. This does not mean that we should not have an office, because in order to eat, we still need utensils such as chopsticks and bowls. Nevertheless, our focus should be on feeding and shepherding the brothers and sisters.
It is the Lord’s mercy that the church in Taipei is a large church. However, we still need to advance. Recently, the Lord has done a number of things in the church in Hong Kong, which has opened up a new way. Formerly, the saints in Hong Kong were divided into several districts, but due to certain circumstances they all had to come together to meet. Since this required that the saints spend more time to travel to the meeting hall, the saints had difficulty coming to every meeting. Therefore, the Lord led the saints to come together once a week for a longer period of time. Now they meet on the Lord’s Day from ten thirty in the morning until three o’clock in the afternoon, that is, for four and a half hours. During these four and a half hours they do many things. In the first half-hour they sing hymns, pray, praise, stir up their spirit, and release their spirit. From eleven to twelve o’clock, a message is released. Through the message, the saints are supplied and instructed; the message also serves as the sound of a trumpet, helping the saints to know how to go forward in the coming week. From noon to one o’clock in the afternoon, the saints receive training, exercise, correction, and instruction; they also receive some encouragement to practice certain things at home in the coming week. From one to two o’clock in the afternoon, there is a love feast and fellowship. Each saint brings his own food, and they eat and fellowship together. Then from two to three o’clock they break bread in remembrance of the Lord. After remembering the Lord, they have a strong sense of the Lord’s love when the meeting is dismissed; thus, every saint goes home well-fed and satisfied.
During the other six days of the week, they meet in small groups. When the Lord Jesus distributed loaves of bread to the crowd, He sat them down in groups (Mark 6:40; Luke 9:14). Hence, they were gathered into groups. The groups in Hong Kong vary in size. A small group consists of five people, two small groups form a medium group, and two medium groups form a large group. In Taiwan groups are formed with those who live close to one another. As a result, many of those who are listed in a group do not come to the group meeting. In Hong Kong, however, the groups are formed with those who sign up to be in a small group. Anyone who is willing to be in a group in order to pursue and serve together can sign up. Based on the sign-up list and according to their addresses, five saints are put together as a small group. The small groups do not have leaders. Every week the saints use one or two evenings to take care of personal affairs and house chores, and the rest of the week is spent serving the Lord. The service of the saints is based on the burden of the saints. Sometimes they come together to pray and read the Bible so that their spirits can be stirred up to be burning. Sometimes they go out in coordination to visit other saints or to preach the gospel. Under this leading, the impact of the meetings and the service in the church in Hong Kong have been uplifted. In Taiwan it is very convenient to meet, and there is no need for everyone to come together only once a week. However, we need to consider and learn from the church in Hong Kong in regard to their way of meeting in small groups.
I would like to mention one thing as a supplementary point. The saints need messages that are living. A local church should be supplied with two to three living messages each week. If we are unable to provide such living messages, we can read and digest the messages from The Ministry of the Word magazine or from other ministry publications, and then we will be able to render some supply to the saints.
This way of digesting a message and then supplying the saints is often used by the churches in the United States. For example, the church in Houston, Texas, is quite strong, but the saints cannot produce living messages. Therefore, they obtain audiotapes and notes from the meetings in Los Angeles. Then four brothers, who are gifted with speaking the word, come together one night every week. They listen to a recording and then read the notes from a meeting in Los Angeles. Then they study and digest the message together. After the message has been digested, the four brothers serve together and speak the message to the saints when the whole church comes together. Before the meeting they print an outline of the message and ask the saints to pray-read the verses; then they speak what they have digested. After the message the saints all share their enjoyment. The situation is very living.
The church in Los Angeles also does this. Every year we hold conferences that often last for one month and result in many messages. After a conference the saints review the messages one by one. Their reviewing is not at all monotonous; it is very fresh and living. Consequently, every meeting is very strong and rich.
In addition to being supplied with living messages, we should stir up the habit of pray-reading spiritual books in small group meetings. For example, small groups can pray-read the messages in The Ministry of the Word magazine and in other booklets published by our bookroom. In this way we will not merely have a living spirit and a strong service but also a clear understanding of the truth.
I fellowship all these matters with you for your consideration. I hope that the elders in every place would bring these matters before the Lord and consider how to arrange the saints who meet regularly into groups so that they may be burning in spirit to incite one another to love and good works related to the spread of the church, the recovery of dormant saints, and the gaining of new believers.