For this reason, the ministry station needs many more people to come to serve. At the beginning of April this year, I was writing the Life Lessons in Taipei. Originally I only hoped that the Chinese edition could be quickly translated into English after it was issued; that would have been good enough. Never would I have thought that among the trainees who came to Taipei from different countries, we could find some translators who could together translate the “Mystery of Human Life” from Chinese into thirty-four different languages. At present, some of them are still continuing the translation work and beginning to translate the forty-eight lessons of the Life Lessons into twenty-seven languages. Of these, about eighteen languages have already been completed, in order to meet the needs of different countries. A few years ago, in the ministry station we considered gathering all the editors into one place so that as soon as the messages come out, they could immediately be translated into different languages so that the truths could be quickly spread abroad. Our purpose in establishing the ministry station was for the propagation of the truths. In this respect, we have already seen a great effect at the present time.
Today, the Lord’s speaking is clearly in His recovery. The saved ones in every place and many who are hungry for the Lord desire the truth and the understanding of the Bible. Therefore, when our publications went into places such as North and South Africa, and Central and South America, those who pursue the truth were eager to receive them. The greatest need now is for the ministry station to quickly put out the publications, audio tapes, and video tapes. The audio and video tapes are being used extensively, and the results they produce are also very significant.
At present we are promoting the new way of going out to preach the gospel by door-to-door visitation and establishing home meetings. This has created a very great need. When we go to preach the gospel by knocking on doors and go to lead home meetings, it is not adequate only to speak with our mouths; it is best to give each one a book and lead him to read it. It is even better to give him an audio tape so that he can listen to it again and again. If there are publications available for reading and audio tapes for listening, it will be easy for people to get into the truths. Our ministry station needs to do its best to supply people with publications and audio tapes.
In the New Testament, Paul also had a group of people serving him, although he did not use the term “ministry station.” It was the same with the Lord Jesus when He was on the earth; even His food supply was taken care of by that group of serving ones. Now the Lord’s recovery has spread to the six major continents; there are those everywhere who love the Lord and hunger after the Lord’s truth. This urgent need is something that we have no way to take care of fully. It does not mean that we have no supply; rather, we have the top supply here, but these supplies are not fully distributed yet.
The raising up of the work of the ministry and of the ministry station is entirely for the establishing of churches. If the churches cooperate with the ministry and the ministry station, their effectiveness will definitely increase significantly. Due to the extensive need, the ministry must have a group of serving ones. Today, the ministry station is set up in three places: Anaheim, Irving, and Taipei, with over sixty brothers and sisters altogether. They are a group of serving ones serving the ministry, cooperating with the ministry to distribute the truths and the publications. We expect to find many more capable ones in order to meet this urgent need.
Besides these needs, there is now in addition the full-time training being held here in Taipei. More than five hundred attended this training last semester, and over one thousand this semester. Over three hundred came from abroad, from approximately twenty-three countries. In order to meet the need for dormitories, we even purchased eleven units in the building next to Hall Three and spent a total of fifty million Taiwan dollars. This amount was offered mainly by the overseas Chinese-speaking brothers. We really saw the Lord’s confirmation in that, although the expenses were great, the Lord’s supply was abundant. In order to cooperate with this training, the main personnel of the two ministry stations in the United States were transferred to Taipei for remodeling Hall Three and Hall One to meet the urgent need. Although we tried our best to avoid entangling the church, we had no other way, because we needed to use the church property as a training facility and the church members as coordinating personnel. I thank the Lord that the local churches are indeed cooperative. Not only did they send people to coordinate and serve, but they also allowed the training to have the full use of the facilities.
The training here in Taipei has been set up by the ministry for the perfecting of the churches. We need the whole church to rise up to coordinate for the goal of gospelizing Taiwan in five years. Everything the work of the ministry accomplishes is for the benefit of the churches. Whatever is carried out here by this training belongs one hundred percent to the churches in Taiwan. There is no difference whether you come from the churches or the ministry station; we all need to put our shoulders to the work. We are in one accord doing whatever needs to be done in every aspect spontaneously and automatically.
I would let you all know that the reason we have such an effect today is not due to the labor of one person, but is the result of continual development through the past sixty years. The greater part of my work is a continuation of that of Brother Watchman Nee. It was the Gospel Book Room that served him in his ministry. Besides that, no one else served him and his ministry.
In 1950, Brother Nee arrived in Hong Kong and wanted me to come from Taiwan to see him. When he fellowshipped about the matter of issuing publications, he took the opportunity to make some arrangements. It was decided that the Gospel Book Room would remain one, yet due to the political situations, it had to conduct business separately in three places: Shanghai, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Brother Nee was responsible for the bookroom in Shanghai, I was responsible for the one in Taipei, and Brother Weigh was responsible for the one in Hong Kong. However, Brother Nee wanted me also to take care of the responsibility for the publications of the Hong Kong bookroom. In addition, he made it clear that the finances of the bookroom in each place should be taken care of by each respective place. Also, he provided a very clear leading from the beginning that all the finances related to the ministry should be clearly separated from those of the church; they should not be mixed together. The ministry does not interfere with the finances of the church, and the church does not interfere with the finances of the bookroom. What is of the bookroom is altogether related to the ministry, and not to the church. Therefore, when we first started the work here on Jen Ai Road, we made very clear and appropriate arrangements regarding the usage of the meeting hall by both the bookroom and the church, as well as the division of the property rights.