In the previous chapter we saw the need to carry out our priestly service in a regular and diligent way. At this time we want to fellowship concerning the group meetings. Although many of us have been faithful in the church life for years and love the Lord, the results of our labor have not been that satisfactory. This can mainly be proven by our barrenness. When the recovery came to the United States in 1962 and the ministry began to function, there were a good number of the Lord’s seekers from the very beginning. These twenty-five to fifty believers were ready and prepared to receive something as the Lord’s recovery. At this point they came into the church life.
During the first ten years from 1962 to 1972, the number of saints increased rapidly. However, after 1972 the rate of increase slowed down very much. During those early years, I traveled frequently from the East to the West coast to speak to the seeking ones who had invited me to come. As a result, wherever I went, some were gained by the Lord’s recovery. At that time most of them moved to Los Angeles and settled there. So, the increase in the church in Los Angeles was not an increase of local people, but it came from different cities far away.
In 1970 over one hundred saints migrated out to two or three cities. That was quite successful. Everywhere they went, they met groups of seeking ones. Gradually within one year all of these seeking ones were also gained by the recovery. This prevailing increase stirred up the attention of Christianity, but not in a good sense. They became jealous and conspired to damage us. This was the source of all the evil books that were written against us.
After being defamed, we scarcely had any increase. Today the total number of saints in the recovery is still about the same as it was fifteen years ago. Although the number of local churches has increased, the total number of members has not risen that much. In 1974 more than one thousand were meeting in Orange County. Today there are less than one thousand. One church in Orange County went from fifty to one hundred within one year. Today less than one hundred are meeting there.
This bothered me quite deeply. From 1984 I felt that I could not go on in the United States. I had to stop my work here because the results were disappointing. After a number of semi-annual trainings and other conferences, there was still the same number of persons. They all appreciated my ministry but very few new ones were brought in.
During the past five years we passed through many turmoils. The more that I have been attacked and defamed, the more I have the confirmation that what the Lord has shown us is the right way. This is the very thing that the enemy hates. The older and more experienced co-workers among us were quite useful in the first period of the Lord’s recovery. However, when I began to be used by the Lord to bring in the so-called new way, it did not fit in with their disposition. Due to the disposition of the opposing ones, they do not like the new way. According to his disposition, one of the opposing ones prefers to give messages in the larger meetings and rarely preaches the gospel. Actually, our disposition controls us in every way. We may never have brought one new one to the Lord just because of our disposition.
In the past we did not have the time to build the recovery up into a situation that we desired. However, according to our recent five-year study, the Lord has shown us from the Bible the God-ordained way that was never practiced properly among the Christians throughout the centuries. The proper way is the God-ordained way.
This God-ordained way consists of four steps. First, we must practice the New Testament priesthood of the gospel (Rom. 15:16). This is not the common gospel preaching found in Christianity today. On the contrary, the practice of the New Testament priesthood of the gospel is for the kingdom of God. Therefore, we must carry it out in a particular and trained way. Of course, the Bible does not tell us everything in detail, but the New Testament does give us clear light and examples concerning the proper preaching of the gospel.
Ephesians 4 says that the Head “gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints” (vv. 11-12). Not only the apostles, the prophets, and the shepherd-teachers are mentioned here, but the evangelists are mentioned as well. We must realize that the evangelists are also perfecters. The evangelists were given by the Head not only for preaching the gospel directly by themselves but also for perfecting the saints. The evangelists, in turn, should perfect the saints to preach the gospel.
Do not think that to fulfill the New Testament priesthood of the gospel is an easy thing; it is not so easy. We all need some perfecting. Perfecting indicates that this is not a common thing. Rather, it is something particular. We are not just knocking on doors like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are fulfilling the New Testament priesthood of the gospel. This is not a small thing. We must learn how to be priests. In the Old Testament the priests began their training as apprentices at twenty-five years of age. They learned under a certain period of training for five years. At the age of thirty, they began to carry out their full responsibility as priests (Num. 4:3; cf. Luke 3:23). Their duties included burning the incense and offering many kinds of offerings. Each offering had its own laws and regulations (Lev. 6—7). In particular, there were many regulations concerning the peace offering (Lev. 7:11-21). We must realize that the New Testament priests are just priests of the gospel (Rom. 15:16). To preach the gospel is to go to contact people and visit them (John 15:16). No one can deny this principle.
Second, we must nourish and cherish the new ones like babies under the care of a nourishing mother. Feeding is only needed three or five times a day, but cherishing lasts all day long. For example, when the weather is cold, a mother puts more clothing on her little child. When the temperature is hot, she removes some of the baby’s clothes. If the child is crying, the mother knows how to calm down her little one. A mother also knows how to make so many things pleasant for her unhappy child. This is to cherish. The Apostle Paul said that he was such a nourishing mother and also an exhorting father (1 Thes. 2:7, 11).
The third step involves the perfecting of the saints in the group meetings. The perfecting is clearly revealed in Ephesians 4. The last step is that all the saints must learn to prophesy. The entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 14 deals with this one thing, that is, speaking forth the Lord to minister Him to others that they may be nourished, edified, and built up. As a result, the Body of Christ will be directly built up by everyone prophesying (v. 26). This God-ordained way is here in the Bible, and no one can deny it. According to His principle, there must be a way to work out whatever the Lord says to us in His Word.
One brother from the church in Seoul, Korea, recently told us that in 1985 they began to meet with seventeen saints in a small section of that large city of twelve to fourteen million people. That section of the city now has over three hundred meeting together. He told us that they just practice according to whatever I speak.
As we are burdened to take the new way, we should consecrate ourselves to the Lord and have a time with the Lord each morning in order to be revived. This should be followed by a daily practice of overcoming. Furthermore, we must practice the New Testament priesthood of the gospel by going out to visit people. After much study, I found out that we do not need to knock on that many “cold doors” because we have too many “warm doors” already. We have many relatives, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and classmates.
As ones who love the Lord, we should take care of our relatives and neighbors. By visiting them we can bring them to be saved and baptized. After a week we may gain others. At this point we may be caring for four different new ones. Instead of baptizing more, it is best to return to them to have home meetings in their homes. This requires nourishing them first along with a great deal of cherishing. We can then bring these three or four together to form a small group.