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Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 13:2-3; 26:16-20; 20:24, 34-35; 1 Cor. 9:7-15; 1 Tim. 5:17-18
The Bible is consistent from its beginning to its end. In order to understand the Bible, one must know the lines in the Bible, such as the line of life, the line of the kingdom, and the line of the church. In this chapter we will consider the line of “come, go, come.”
There is the line of “come, go, come” in the Bible. The entire New Testament concerns these three words: come, go, and come. When the Lord Jesus came forth to carry out His ministry, He called people to come to Him. He said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37), and “Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The word come almost covers the entire scope of the four Gospels. In the four Gospels the Lord repeatedly called people to come to Him: come and rest, come and drink the living water, come and be saved. The thought of “come” is also in the Epistles. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help.” The Lord wants us to come to Him because our experiencing grace, salvation, power, love, light, holiness, and righteousness depends on our coming to Him. When we come, we receive grace, salvation, power, love, light, holiness, and righteousness.
In the New Testament the first word in the Lord’s calling is come. Every believer has come to the Lord at least once. We cannot say that those who have come once to the Lord do not need to come to Him again. We need to come to the Lord again and again. Coming to the Lord can be compared to breathing, because no one can graduate from breathing. If someone graduates from breathing, he is finished. Likewise, we cannot graduate from coming to the Lord. In eternity we will still need to continually come to the Lord. Therefore, we have to come to the Lord day after day. We can come to the Lord numerous times in one day. We can come to the Lord in the morning, at noon, and in the evening by calling on His name so that we may receive grace, life, and the life supply.
After we come to the Lord and receive grace, the Lord will ask us to go. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord said, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations.” This going may be a “great” going or a “small” going; it may be to go to a faraway place or to a nearby place. For example, after the Samaritan woman in John 4 drank the living water from the Lord, she immediately went away into the city and testified to the people (vv. 28-29). We may come to the Lord at night and go and testify to people the next morning, or we may come to the Lord at noon and go and testify to people in the afternoon, spreading the good news. To go and testify to our parents or siblings is a small going to a nearby place. To go and testify to all the nations is a great going to a faraway place.
The entire New Testament involves these two words: come and go. The New Testament involves coming, and it also involves going. To come is to receive grace, and to go is to impart grace into people. By our coming and going, we will eventually express a desire to the Lord. We will say, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). Therefore, the second “come” is connected to the Lord’s coming again. Hence, the entire New Testament is concerning these three words: come, go, and come.
The first “come” is continual, and the “go” is also continual. We continually come to the Lord, and we continually go until the final “come,” when we will be with the Lord for eternity and will no longer need to go. May the Lord strengthen both our coming and our going. If we daily come to the Lord in the morning, at noon, and in the evening, we will surely go and testify to people. The issue of such coming and going is that we desire and yearn for the Lord to come back.
We should not understand this coming and going as something religious or organizational. After a person is saved and receives the Lord’s life, he needs to come to the Lord daily. Our physical body needs to breathe, drink, and eat daily. Likewise, we need to come to the Lord daily. The more we come to the Lord, the more we have the burden to go. No one comes to the Lord and does not go afterward. This going is the result of receiving a commission from the Lord and going with the Lord and His salvation. In the past two thousand years of church history, thousands of Christians have had a living of coming and going. These Christians had such a walk.
If we come to the Lord, He will ask us to go and preach the gospel and to go and impart His grace into people. This going is not a trend or a movement; it is not a religious enterprise, an organizational operation, or a political movement. Rather, this is a person coming to enjoy the Lord, gain Him, and be filled with Him, and then going by the Lord’s being in him, bearing him, and supporting him. Such a going is spontaneous.
In Christianity the Lord’s charge to go and disciple all the nations has become a religious enterprise. Hence, Christianity organizes missions and sends out preachers to carry out a missionary work. This kind of going is an organization and a movement, a missionary enterprise. However, according to the Bible, going does not refer to a missionary enterprise, an organization, or a movement. Rather, going is as natural and spontaneous as breathing. When we breathe in, we must breathe out. To come and go is our spiritual breathing. To come and draw near to the Lord in the morning but not go and speak to people about the Lord’s grace afterward is the same as holding one’s breath. We must remember that to come and go is not a movement or an enterprise. To come and go is the normal spiritual life of Christians.
It is not right for us to come to the Lord but not go, nor is it right for us to go without coming. After we come, we must go, and if we want to go, we must come. We come to the Lord no matter what our condition may be; we may be weak, in darkness, defeated, sinful, or empty. However, we go with the Lord and His grace. We come empty-handed but go filled with the Lord. Such a coming and going is spiritual fellowship.
In 1949 I left mainland China and came to Taiwan to begin the Lord’s work in Taipei, but I was not hired by the church in Taipei. Although I was sent by the work to Taiwan, I was not carrying out a religious enterprise or establishing an organization or movement. I can testify that the spread of the Lord’s work is His doing.
Concerning the land on which hall one in Taipei is built, the front half was a gift to the church from two Chinese brothers, who had been living overseas and had returned to Taiwan and saw the Lord’s need. We built a small meeting hall on that piece of land. On August 1, 1949, we held our first conference there to officially begin the Lord’s work. Under the Lord’s blessing, the number of believers kept increasing until the meeting hall was no longer adequate for our use. Then the Lord allowed us to purchase the adjacent piece of land at a low price. Thus, we tore down the existing small meeting hall and built a larger one. Once, when we were preaching the gospel in Taipei, some people had to sit on benches in the empty lot across from the meeting hall in order to hear the gospel, because there was not sufficient space in the hall. We later built a workers’ house on that empty lot. Years later, the government planned to expand the roads in Taipei, so we returned that piece of land to the government. Everything was according to the Lord’s good pleasure. We are now going to build a large meeting hall, and the Lord has provided us with a sum of money.
We must remember that in our work we do not have an organization; rather, we live in the principle of “come and go,” that is, the principle of coming to the Lord and then going after receiving a burden from the Lord. Only this kind of work is worthwhile. This is neither a movement nor an organization. Any work that is a movement or an organization is wood, grass, and stubble; only the work of coming and going can produce gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12).
We come to the Lord, and then we go filled with the Lord’s grace so that we may bring this grace, which is the Lord Himself, to people. The issue of such a work is gold, silver, and precious stones. My spirit is excited and revived to see that so many saints are in the Lord’s recovery, because the saints are my joy (1 Thes. 2:19). Those who are in the church life can testify that what they have gained is the Lord Himself. They have received salvation and the Lord’s love, grace, life, and light, and they have also received the Lord Himself. This is gold, silver, and precious stones, which will last for eternity.
Our coming to Taiwan for the Lord’s work was in the principle of coming and going. We did not carry out the work as a movement or as an organization. In a co-workers’ meeting, Brother Watchman Nee decided that I should go to Taiwan. I went forth in faith and did not receive support from anyone. I had a family of ten plus two helpers whom I could not dismiss, and I had only three hundred dollars in my hand. Outwardly, we came to Taiwan empty-handed; inwardly, however, we came filled with Christ to share with all the people. I believe that the saints can testify that in the church we are receiving gold, silver, and precious stones.
Let me repeat, we do not have an organization, an evangelistic campaign, or a mission, nor do we promote any movement. We share with others the grace that we have received through coming and going. We all should be coming and going. We come to the Lord to be graced, enlightened, dealt with, purified, emptied, and filled with Him so that we may be sent forth by the Lord, and we go with Him.
The Lord’s recovery is the Lord’s move on the earth. Therefore, we move according to the Lord. We do not want to initiate any movement. If there is a movement, there is an organization, for these two are inseparable. We have abandoned every religious organization and movement. We only want to come and go, that is, to come to the Lord daily and to go after receiving a burden from Him. We will fellowship concerning five aspects of the need in the Lord’s recovery. This fellowship is concerning great goings, not small goings.
In the last two decades the Lord has raised up over sixty local churches in Taiwan. Some of these churches are stronger, and some are weaker, still needing help from the co-workers. The stronger churches still have shortages. For example, the church in Taipei has more than twelve elders who were appointed over twenty years ago. Some of these elders were a little over thirty years old when they were appointed but are now over sixty years old. Because the elders in Taipei are older and have such a history, the church in Taipei has a firm foundation. However, when the leading ones get older, they are not as living and fresh. Therefore, several years ago the Lord’s leading to the churches was for a turning of the age. The goal was to replace the elders who were over sixty years old in all the stronger churches with the younger generation. This is not saying that the older elders are not qualified or have not done a good job, but if the father in a big family has worked hard since his youth, he should be discharged of his burden when he becomes old so that the second generation can pick up the burden. Then the entire family will have a future and will have hope. If the son is thirty years old and the seventy-year-old father is still busy, the son has no choice but to be a bystander, who cannot render any help but rather becomes sarcastic when he disagrees with the situation. Such a family has no future. The aged father should rest and let his young son take over the responsibility. This example may be inadequate, but it is clear. I hope that we can understand the meaning.
Many of the stronger churches in Taiwan have a history of over twenty-five years, and most of the elders in these churches are over sixty years of age. These brothers have served as elders for over twenty years. As such, they should be allowed to rest. However, I am not saying that they should no longer be concerned for the church. They should be concerned for the church and pray for the church, like elderly fathers who stand behind the younger generation to support and supply the family. The younger generation should rise up to meet the present need. The stronger churches in Taiwan need some strong younger ones who are raised up by the Lord to carry on the eldership.
The second aspect of our need is for the smaller and weaker churches. There is a need for the younger generation to be led by the Lord to go to the smaller and weaker churches in order to bear the responsibility and strengthen the testimony.
The third aspect of our need is for the satellite towns of major cities. In some of these towns there are ten to twenty saints, but the church has not yet been established, because the saints are not strong enough to bear the responsibility of the testimony of a local church. The young working saints need to receive a burden from the Lord to go to these places to preach the gospel and establish churches on the proper ground in coordination with the local saints.
Our urgent need is to raise up younger saints to continue the eldership, to strengthen the smaller and weaker churches, and to establish churches in satellite towns. The stronger churches are normal, healthy, and stable, but the elders are older and cannot do too much; they therefore lack the strength to push forward. Hence, the younger generation needs to rise up and bear the responsibility in order to push forward the various aspects of the work. There is also the need for a group of strong and burdened younger saints to strengthen the testimony in the smaller and weaker churches. This will turn the smaller and weaker churches into stronger churches. The major cities in Taiwan, such as Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung, have satellite towns, where a small number of saints are residing. These saints love the Lord, but they are not strong enough to establish a church. Because these are satellite towns of major cities that have local churches, it should be easy for these towns to receive help and supply from the churches in the major cities. Hence, the young saints need to receive the burden to strengthen the local testimony in these towns for the establishing of churches on the proper ground.
The fourth aspect of our need is for the remote towns. According to the trend of the mobility of people in Taiwan, most students and skilled people have moved to the big cities. When we preach the gospel, we are like fishermen (Matt. 4:19). Fishermen go fishing where there are schools of fish. My hometown, Chefoo, was a fishing harbor. The wise fishermen did not usually catch big fish, because big fish are difficult to handle. The experienced fishermen caught fish that were neither too big nor too small. When they cast their net, they caught a multitude of fish. This is the wise way. Fishermen always go where there are large schools of fish. Hence, as fishers of men, we must go where there are crowds of people.
However, there are many small towns in Taiwan. Even though people tend to move to big cities, there are still many people in the small towns. These towns may not have colleges and high schools, but they have junior high schools. If we have insight, we will see that the most effective way to preach the gospel is to begin with the children. We need a children’s work that begins with young children and continues to students in junior high school. It should also include students in high schools and colleges.
When I returned to Taiwan in 1966, I encouraged the brothers in Taipei to work with the goal of gaining ten thousand children to meet every week in the meeting halls or in the saints’ homes. These meetings do not have to be on the Lord’s Day. They may be held on an afternoon or in the evening during the week. We should not be limited to the meeting halls. Many saints may open their homes to serve the children. Whether we teach the children to sing hymns or tell them stories, they will be happy.
At that time the church in Taipei had approximately twenty-three thousand saints, of which at least two thousand were young families. If each family had two or three children, there would have been five to six thousand children in the church in Taipei. In addition, the saints’ relatives, friends, and neighbors also have children. Therefore, I was confident that the number of children could reach ten thousand. If there were ten thousand children ten years ago, now they all would be in junior high school. These ten thousand students would be our gospel seeds, who can preach the gospel to their schoolmates. Every student in junior high school should be able to lead at least one schoolmate to salvation. Thus, these ten thousand students would become twenty thousand. After three years these twenty thousand high-school seniors would graduate, and at least one-third of them would go to college. Thus, we would have seven thousand brothers and sisters as gospel soldiers in all the colleges.
I am neither complaining nor blaming anyone, but if I were taking the lead in the church in Taipei, I would be involved with the children’s work. The brothers who go to the small towns should receive the burden to work with the children and the students in junior high school. In order to teach in a junior high school, a person must graduate from a university or a junior college. The young working saints who have a heart to serve the Lord all have this level of education. The people in the small towns might not have graduated from a junior college, but they are simple and can accept the gospel. Because of their level of education and their character, the young working saints will be a positive influence in the small towns. In this way they will lead some children or some students in junior high school to know and believe in the Lord. Through these children and students we will be able to contact their parents and lead them to receive the gospel. This can be accomplished.
The saints who come to the Lord and go forth with a commission do not care for position or enjoyment. Hence, no one who goes forth for the Lord will starve to death. I hope that the younger saints will all go to the Lord and pray. The one way before us is to go to the small towns and contact the students by teaching in the elementary schools and in the junior high schools. Then it will be easy to lead children to know the Lord or to lead the students in junior high school to salvation. After we lead people to accept the gospel, we can establish a church.
The fifth aspect of our need concerns the campus work in every major city. The churches in Taipei, Tainan, and Kaohsiung should have a campus work. Taipei County has approximately two hundred junior high schools, high schools, junior colleges, and universities. If there were twenty brothers and sisters in every school, there would be four thousand saints who are students participating in the church life. This may seem difficult, but it is easy to attain if some working saints would receive a burden from the Lord and be led to go to a certain school for the campus work.
There are a few ways for the working saints to be involved in the campus work. First, they can teach in a school. Second, they can move close to a school into a spacious house where students can be contacted, come and sit for a while, and have a snack. Third, they can contact the staff and workers in the school. Fourth, they can use every available channel to gain an entrance into the school in order to contact the students. The student work requires patience; we should not be anxious for results. Some may work for a couple of months with no result, but at the end of the semester they will see the result. From our past practice in the United States, we know that the most effective way to gain people is to preach the gospel through the campus work. I believe this also applies to Taiwan.
We have presented five needs in the Lord’s recovery. If the saints are willing to receive the burden and practice this fellowship, I believe that after a few years the Lord may bring us back to mainland China. Then He will be able to recover the situation in mainland China through the blessing received in the churches in Taiwan. How glorious this would be! However, the Lord may lead some of us to go to Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia, or Europe. I believe that some brothers will go to Africa or South America. This is absolutely in the Lord’s hand. I never dreamed that I would work for the Lord in the United States, but the Lord led me this way.
We have begun to take the first step, so we must be steady and go up step by step. We must receive a burden from the Lord before we take action. We need to bear the burden in the stronger churches, strengthen the testimony in the weaker churches, establish a church on the proper ground in satellite towns, pioneer the work and establish churches in rural communities, and contact students through preaching the gospel in schools. We all need to bring these five aspects of our need to the Lord in prayer in order to seek His leading.
We are not an organization, nor do we have someone who makes arrangements. However, we do not want to see someone act individualistically. Hence, we need to be led by the Lord, and we also need much mutual fellowship. We need to pray much before the Lord, and we also need to come together and pray. We may also need to fast and pray. In Acts 13 there were prophets and teachers in Antioch, in the local church, and “as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (vv. 2-3). This was not an arrangement according to human will. It was done in fellowship; it was not an individualistic action.
When we go and preach the gospel in different places for the Lord’s need, we will encounter financial needs. According to the Bible, there is no such thing as professional preachers who are hired and given a salary. We must knock down such a concept. Every person who comes and goes should be an evangelist. Some may receive a particular commission. The function of their gift that is constituted with the grace of the Lord may become so great that they have no time or energy to care for other things; they care only for the things of the Lord. Hence, there is a need for them to serve full time.
Even though the term full time is not used in the Bible, there is such a fact. First Corinthians 9:7-9 says, “What soldier ever serves by his own wages? Who plants a vineyard and does not partake of its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not partake of the milk of the flock? Am I speaking these things according to man? Or does the law not also say these things? For in the law of Moses it is written: ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.’ Is it for oxen that God cares?” Verses 13 and 14 say, “Do you not know that those who labor on the sacred things eat the things of the sacred temple, that those who attend to the altar have their portion with the altar? So also the Lord directed those who announce the gospel to live from the gospel.” These verses speak of evangelists needing the supply from others. This is proof that those who preach the gospel do not sustain their living with a job. They spend all their time on the gospel and live from the gospel. We should not misunderstand living from the gospel to mean that preachers are hired and given a salary.
Verse 9 says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain.” This means that an ox treading out the grain to feed others should be fed first. This verse does not refer to the giving of a salary. Verse 13 says, “Those who labor on the sacred things eat the things of the sacred temple.” This does not mean that they are given a salary; it means that their needs are supplied. These verses show that in the early church there were full-time serving ones who did not have an occupation but devoted their time and energy to the gospel. As a result, their needs had to be supplied by others.
First Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching.” This shows that in the early churches some elders also served full time. The word honor implies material supply. Some elders were apt to lead and administrate the church, and they also labored to proclaim the Lord’s word and teach the believers. They were full-timers without an occupation. Therefore, they needed the supply from others.
How do we carry out the support for the full-time serving ones? There is no set practice. There is only one way — the way of faith. If we love the Lord, come to Him, and receive a burden to preach the gospel in every place, we will have no way to escape. On one hand, serving the Lord brings us joy, but on the other hand, it is a heavy yoke. On the day of my salvation I was yoked to the Lord. I have wanted to escape many times, but I could not escape. Sometimes it seemed that I succeeded, but I did not feel at ease or satisfied. Hence, it is not up to us, just as we could not choose to be male or female, or Chinese or American. Similarly, becoming a Christian was not up to us; it was determined by God before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).
Because we have believed in the Lord, our serving full time is not up to us. When we come to the Lord and are touched by His love, we are willing to preach the gospel. The more we come and go, the more we lose interest in other things. As a result, we might offend our parents, because they do not understand why we go to meetings all the time and have no interest in other things. It may be that we cannot explain why we have no interest in other things, but we are delighted to serve the Lord. We have been chosen, called, and separated by God. This is our destiny, and it cannot be changed. The way of faith is the only way to live such a life.
Although the way of faith is glorious and bright, there are hardships. Because I have experienced this, I can assure you that no hardship will cause you to starve to death. Every hardship is an opportunity to experience the faithfulness of God.
It is much easier to take this way today than it was in the past. When we took this way, it was truly difficult because this way had not been opened, and there were few churches and few saints. Today, however, this way has been opened, and there are a good number of churches and saints. The Lord can move the churches and touch the saints to care for the needs of His serving ones. Even if most of the saints are not touched, the Lord will still send people to supply us, just as He sent ravens to bring bread and meat to the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17:2-6).
In 1936 I was working in Tientsin and Beijing in northern China. At the end of the year, Brother Watchman Nee called a nationwide co-workers’ conference in Shanghai because he had received new light from the Lord. (The messages released in this conference are included in the book entitled The Normal Christian Church Life.) We took a train on January 1, 1937, to Shanghai. After the conference I was invited to visit the churches in Hangchow, Nanking, Tsinan, and other places. My family was in Tientsin, while I was traveling in the south. One day my wife and children ran out of food, so they knelt down in front of the bed to pray. Before long an elderly sister knocked at the door. She was not acquainted with my wife, and she was not fluent in the northern dialect, because she was Cantonese. She told my wife that while she was at home, she did not have peace. The Lord urged her to deliver a package of food and some money to my family. This timely supply met the needs of my family.
We need to exercise faith and to take the way of faith. However, this does not mean that the church should not pray or that the church should not make any arrangements for the support of the full-time serving ones. It is proper for the church to pray and to arrange for the support of the serving ones. Nevertheless, whether or not the church cares for the needs of the full-time serving ones, the full-time serving ones should live by faith. This does not mean that the saints do not need to receive the burden to care for the needs of the full-timers. The Lord moved that elderly sister to deliver the supply in a timely way to my family; she did not wait for a meeting to deliver the supply.
On one hand, the church and the saints should receive the burden to care for the needs of the full-timers. On the other hand, the full-time serving ones should be able to maintain their living. Paul said, “These hands have ministered to my needs and to those who are with me” (Acts 20:34). Paul worked with his own hands not only to maintain his living but also to minister to the needs of his fellow workers. During China’s War of Resistance against Japan, the Chinese economy was doing poorly, and it was difficult for the co-workers to live. Brother Watchman Nee opened a pharmaceutical company to minister to the needs of many co-workers in a hidden way. But some believers criticized him for going into business. In 1948, when his ministry was resumed, Brother Nee spoke of this matter with tears in one of the revival meetings in Shanghai. He said that his going into business was like a widow’s remarrying in order to raise her children. There were around five hundred saints in that meeting, and all wept when they heard this word. This shows how Brother Nee cared for the needs of the co-workers. We all need to learn to have faith not only for ourselves but also for others.
May the Lord’s precious blood cover me to say that from 1949, when I started the work in Taiwan, until 1952 the Lord raised up nearly eighty full-time serving ones. I received a burden from the Lord to care for the living of these serving ones so that they would not be deprived of food. My ministry ministered to the needs of about one hundred eighty people every month. Because of what I had experienced, I was concerned for the new serving ones. Not many saints had been led to care for them directly, because their gift had not yet been manifested. For example, many believers might have ministered to Paul but not to Timothy. Hence, Paul had to take care of Timothy. This is the principle.
In order to serve full time, we must learn the lesson of faith and take the way of faith. We do not have an organization, but we have the way of faith. We need to believe that our God is living. After I went to the United States for the work, a brother said that I was able to work by faith in the United States because many churches and saints in the Far East ministered to my needs. Before the Lord, I would like to say that after I started the work in the United States, from 1961 to 1965, not one church in the Far East sent me even a penny. In 1965 I became a United States citizen and needed to pay taxes. A brother, who was an accountant, handled my taxes and found out that the support I received from the church in Los Angeles was about seven hundred dollars a year. Some people may ask how I was able to live without any source of support. My answer is that I live by faith and I take the way of faith. This is not being childish or superstitious. Every full-time serving one must realize that this way is the way of faith.
Those who are burdened to serve full time must be clear that no one will promise to support you. This is the way of faith. If someone cannot take this way of faith, there is no need for him to force himself. If he wants to take this way of serving full time, he must have the grace of the Lord. He may not care whether he has faith but would still willingly and joyfully take this way even if he would starve to death; this is good. When the Lord called me to serve full time, He gave me a clear word that He would care for all my needs. I dared not disbelieve the Lord’s word, but I had only partial faith. Inwardly, I said to the Lord, “If I will die of hunger, so be it! If I need to, I will eat tree roots and drink from mountain brooks.” This word lacked faith. I have been serving the Lord for more than forty years, and He never allowed me to eat tree roots or to drink from mountain brooks. I have had many times of poverty, but I have also had more times of abundance. Some people know that the Lord not only cared for my needs but also enabled me to provide funds for many churches to buy land and build meeting halls. Based on my experience I can say assuredly that those who take this way will not starve to death. Some may not have faith, but as long as they have a heart to take this way whether in life or in death, they can take it, because the way of faith is also the way of being placed in death.
Finally, what should we do practically? Those who have a heart should pray and inquire of the Lord concerning the five aspects of our need. In which aspect should you participate? On one hand, you should contact the Lord concerning whether you should serve full time. On the other hand, you should fellowship with the saints around you and ask them whether the gifts and functions constituted into you through the Lord’s grace require you to serve full time. If the answer, after praying and fellowshipping with the saints, is positive, you should fellowship with the leading brothers concerning joining the full-time service.
Based on our experience we feel that this is the safest way. We do not have a rigid rule that once someone serves full time, he must do so his whole life. Full-time service is not like marriage, which cannot be changed except through the death of one party. According to the common work practice today, we can have a two-year trial period. During these two years the serving one or other co-workers will realize whether he is suitable for full-time service. It is not easy for a serving one to change his profession after twenty years.
The Bible shows that it is permissible for a person to take a job after serving full time for a period of time. Paul is an example. He had a great gift and the highest function, but when it was necessary, he worked with his own hands by making tents (Acts 18:3; 20:34). Hence, it is not that those who decide to serve full time cannot change but must serve full time their whole life. Some may have to take a job after a few years.
Paul’s Epistles reveal that the churches and the saints were not up to the standard. Hence, Paul had to make tents in order to meet his needs and the needs of his fellow workers. In Acts 20:34 he says, “These hands have ministered to my needs and to those who are with me,” and in 1 Corinthians 4:11 and 12 he says, “Until the present hour we both hunger and thirst...and wander without a home; and we labor, working with our own hands.” I hope that the churches and the saints will follow the Lord’s leading. The Lord has blessed Taiwan. Because the average national income is increasing, we need to offer more to the Lord. I trust that the Lord will bless us even more. Then the full-time serving ones will not be forced to take a job because of their living necessities.
May we all pray and seek the Lord concerning serving full time and also fellowship with one another so that the Lord may raise up at least thirty full-time serving ones. The need in the work is great; hence, there must be some strong and useful saints who are willing to offer their time, energy, and strength to meet this need. For the first few years of the work in the United States I was the only one serving full time, but now in almost every major church there, the Lord has raised up some to serve Him full time. The burden of the work is so heavy that it cannot be carried out without full-time serving ones. There is such a need.
There are always some saints who must serve full time because the Lord has given them a special work or commission. If these saints do not serve full time, their function will be consumed by other things. Therefore, we must bring this desire to the Lord in prayer. May the Lord raise up many full-time serving ones among us.
