In 1924, some workers were not satisfied with me, and God suffered the church in Foochow to be suddenly brought to a test. In order to avert a split, I then left Foochow. Later there was a call to visit Southeast Asia; so I went there, and meetings were also started there. In May 1925 I returned and rented premises in Pagoda, Foochow, a small village near the sea, with the aim of settling down. At this time I felt that we should publish a magazine laying stress on the truths concerning salvation and the church and also touching upon prophecy and types. My original intention for this magazine, known as The Christian, was that it should be of only a temporary nature. In 1925 two issues were published, in 1926, ten, and because of continuous demand, twelve in 1927.

In the first half of 1926, I visited Amoy, Kulangsu, Changchow, and Tung-An to bear testimony, and many people were saved. In the second half of the year, I went back to those places. This time I was very tired as I had to conduct meetings, write articles, and attend to correspondence as well. I was then already slightly indisposed. I was originally scheduled to have ten days of meetings, but on the ninth day I fell ill. Another worker came and resumed the work for a few more days. It was in the second half of 1926 that the work in the south of Fukien started, with meetings in Amoy, Tung-An, and the neighboring districts.

Some doctors said that the disease I had contracted while in Amoy was probably fatal and that I could expect to live only a few months! I was not afraid of death but I could not help thinking of what I had learned from the Lord during the many years before and the lessons I had experienced, none of which had yet been put into writing. Surely all this ought not to go with me to the grave! I prepared to write The Spiritual Man.

When I arrived in Nanking, I learned that a number of brothers and sisters who were standing on the ground of unity in the local church broke bread together, so naturally I went to them and joined them in remembrance of the Lord. Brother Weigh Kwang-hsi, a schoolmate of mine, was then studying at the University of Nanking. Through his introduction I went to the university to deliver several sermons, at the same time regaining two brothers, whom we accepted at the Lord's table. This was the beginning of our work in Nanking.

In order to be able to devote myself to the writing of The Spiritual Man, I soon left Nanking and went to the country in Wusih, where I wrote the first four sections. There was military action in Nanking in March 1927, and as it was impossible to communicate with brothers and sisters at some places, I left the countryside for Shanghai. On arriving I learned that many brothers and sisters had been arriving one after another from different places. Prior to my arrival in Shanghai, there had been bread-breaking meetings in Sister Pearl Wang's house at Hsin's Garden. After we had all arrived, our meeting place was moved to Keng Ching Lane, and the Gospel Bookroom was started in Shanghai.

Toward the end of 1927, we had a prayer meeting every day. The believers in and around Ping-Yang, north of the Yangtze River, who had been helped by our written testimonies, began to correspond with us. Realizing that they were ready for instruction and that the believers in China had a need for it, we considered holding a special meeting for them. In January 1928 we rented some premises at Wen-teh Lane on Hardoon Road in Shanghai, and on February 1 we started the special meeting. The central theme of the messages was solely that of God's eternal purpose and the victory of Christ. We did not refer to other problems such as the truth as it concerned the church. There were twenty or thirty brothers and sisters who came from other places, but God illumined them and enabled them to see how they should walk along the path of life. They solved for themselves such problems as baptism, forsaking denominations, and other similar things. In the four years up until 1936, seven or eight hundred brothers and sisters were saved or revived in about ten meeting places north of the Yangtze River. In about the same number of meeting places in and around Ping-Yang and Tai-Shun, some four thousand were saved or revived. All this work was done by the Lord Himself, and He had been working for many years to bring it to pass.

After we moved to Wen-teh Lane in 1928, it was decided to continue publishing The Present Testimony since The Christian had ceased publication. In 1930 Notes on Scriptural Messages was published.

During those few years in Shanghai, our aim was to make people follow the Lord Himself, the teaching of the Scriptures, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We did not nor should we have expected anyone to give himself to us. This was not the so-called policy of exclusion, nor should it be taken to mean that we considered ourselves alone to be right; our only wish was to be loyal to the end. I wrote The Spiritual Man while I was ill; when it was completed, I became worse and was confined to bed practically all the time. Since the earthly house of my tabernacle was likely to collapse at any time, nothing worth mentioning was done during my first few years in Shanghai. It was in the following two years that things were actually started. In 1931 there was again a special meeting, of which the main message related to two enormous themes: the New Testament and the wisdom of God. At this meeting there were more brothers and sisters from other places.