The administration of God’s New Testament economy is the topmost administration in human society. What is the constitution of God’s administration? Without question, the constitution of God’s administration is the sixty-six books of the Bible. This constitution was not instituted by the representatives of the people; this constitution is simply God Himself. Therefore, God’s administration in the New Testament is not by human autocracy or by human democracy, but by God Himself administrating. If the apostles, elders, deacons, and all the saints are walking according to the Bible, then they are in God’s administration. Otherwise, whether they are apostles or local elders or deacons or the saints, they fall outside of God’s administration and bring in a situation of confusion in which they act at will. This is the situation of today’s Protestantism and Catholicism; this is also the main reason we left that system. We do not wish to serve in such a situation of confusion, but rather we would forsake everything to come back to the Word of God and serve according to His Word and His desire. This is the basic principle of God’s administration in His New Testament economy.
In 1922 the Lord raised up His recovery in China. The one who took the lead among the first group of brothers and was used by the Lord to release His truths was Brother Watchman Nee. He made a thorough study of the Bible and possessed spiritual insight and knowledge of God. He collected many writings in Christianity concerning church history, the establishing of different denominations, biographies of famous men, and the writings by the great teachers. There were about three thousand volumes. Therefore, he was not merely enlightened by the Bible to see God’s New Testament economy and the administration in this economy; he also compared the ways of administration in the different denominations and Christian groups in the last two thousand years. He had seen the proper practice of God’s New Testament economy, and he practiced the church life according to what he had seen, as I have mentioned briefly before. At the same time, there was a group of brothers and sisters like Levites helping him in order to put into print what he had seen. Whenever he opened his mouth to give a message, there were some who would do the recording, transcribing, and polishing. The messages were reviewed by him, then typeset, printed, and published. This was our past practice in mainland China.
In 1949 we were led by the Lord to move from the mainland to Taiwan. According to the Lord’s leading in the past among us, that is, according to God’s administration which we have followed, we began to have local churches, the work of the apostles, and those who serve the apostles and their work. At present, the Lord’s recovery has spread to six continents and has more than nine hundred churches, requiring the service of more Levites. My ministry alone occupies about sixty full-timers, who serve in the three ministry stations in Anaheim, California, and Irving, Texas, in the United States, and Taipei, Taiwan. Besides these, there are many who volunteer to serve. In the full-timers’ training this time there are many from abroad who volunteered to come to help in meal preparation, construction, cleaning, and translation. Therefore, now in Taipei we can see the model of the administration in God’s New Testament economy. Here we have the church, the work of the apostles, and the service of the Levites.
Because of the fact that it requires money to carry out anything on this earth, there is the matter of finances. There is no definite rule or guide regarding this matter in the Bible. There is no such thing as controlling finances, nor setting up a department to manage finances. According to the principle in the Bible, the management of finances is carried out spontaneously, not requiring the setting up of a center for management. If this is done, there will be much harm. At the present, there are nearly one thousand serving the Lord full time in Taiwan. According to the way of Christianity, there would definitely be the need to set up a mission to handle all the monetary offerings. Everything would need to pass through that mission and be distributed by it. But we cannot do things that way. The proper situation among us should be that no matter which church produces the full-timers, whether these full-timers stay in that same city or go to work in other localities, the church which produces the full-timers should be before the Lord to follow His leading concerning the matter of supporting them. In this way man’s flesh will not have any opportunity to exercise control, and those who receive the support will not have the sense that they are being hired, that they cannot move freely. For example, many full-time brothers and sisters are now working in Taipei; yet they are being supported by other churches. The church in Taipei only receives the benefit of their work without bearing any financial burden for them. Without the Lord’s grace, this kind of practice can never be carried out. A church may have produced a good number of full-timers, but most of them work in other localities; yet the church that produced them still supports them in love month after month. Suppose that particular church says that since those full-timers supported by them do not work in their locality, they will not support them any longer. The full-time brothers and sisters should not question, saying, “Why will you not support me when I work in another place? That will cut off my supply and I will not be able to survive.” We should not have problems such as these. If you feel that you cannot survive, then you should not serve full time. If you want to serve full time, you need to do it absolutely, whether you live or die. This is the Lord’s way.
I have been serving the Lord for nearly sixty years, and I have been living without definite support. If today there is something to eat, I will eat. As for tomorrow, let the Lord be responsible. In 1949, when we came from the mainland to start the work in Taiwan, we were sent by the work. However, among us, whenever the work sent someone, the work did not supply him financially. I brought all ten members of my family to Taiwan with only three hundred U.S. dollars with me, an amount sufficient for three months’ living. After I had worked in Taiwan for more than ten years, I went to the United States. At that time I did not have even three hundred dollars. The brothers in the United States thought that Brother Lee was well-known everywhere and loved by many, and that those in the Far East surely had monetary offerings for him. And the brothers in the Far East thought that since Brother Lee had gone to work in a wealthy country, he surely had received much money. Eventually, neither side took much care of me. Who then took care of my living? I thank the Lord that He was the One who took care of my living. Today in the United States, the property for the two ministry stations in Anaheim and Irving alone is worth a considerable amount. Where did this come from? This was from the Lord’s hand. The land was provided, and the buildings were also constructed. This is the management of finances in God’s administration.