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The terms ministry and work in the New Testament denote a kind of service. The Greek word translated “ministry” literally means “service.” In the New Testament the Lord raised up apostles from among His believers and then commissioned them with the ministry. The apostles went out with the ministry to raise up local churches. Thus, there was first the ministry with the apostles and co-workers, and then there were the churches.
According to Acts and the Epistles, the ministry is regional. When the New Testament was written, there were two regions of the ministry, or the work: Judea, the Jewish region, where Peter, James, and John labored; and the Gentile world, the Gentile region, where the apostle Paul and his co-workers labored (Acts 21:18-19; Rom. 15:16; Gal. 2:8-9). The churches are local. Each church belongs to one locality. The apostles raise up and establish the churches. They appoint elders to bear the burden of the local churches. Like the churches they care for, the elders are local, bearing the local burden. The apostles are regional, bearing the burden of the ministry to strengthen all the churches in a region. Some apostles may also be elders in a church in the center of their region to strengthen the testimony in that church. For example, Peter was an apostle and also an elder in Jerusalem. The church in the center of a region is not higher than the other churches and does not control them but is the center of the work in that region, as Jerusalem and Antioch were in the New Testament.
We need to pray that the Lord would strengthen, increase, and spread the ministry to cover every region. There need to be brothers carrying out the ministry in every region to strengthen the churches there. We also need to pray that every local church would have adequate elders to take care of the local building. If the ministry and the churches are in a normal situation, the Lord will be able to have a proper testimony. In other words, the need for the Lord’s testimony on the earth falls into two categories. First, the Lord needs more brothers who are useful to carry on the ministry by raising up, establishing, and strengthening the churches in every region. Second, the Lord needs more elders to take care of the local churches, which includes shepherding and teaching for the building up of the church in each locality. If we meet the need for the brothers to carry out the ministry in different regions and the need for the brothers to bear the burden of the local building, the Lord will have a way to go on.
Once we see the sphere and service of the ministry and the churches, we can address the relationship among the churches. All the churches are on the same level; there is no head church. In the past few years there have been three kinds of mistakes in the relationships among the churches. The first mistake concerned the stress that all the churches follow particular “flows.” The word flow has been incorrectly used to denote various outward practices. The right meaning of the word flow is God’s testimony on the earth. We entitled our periodical The Stream and the first article in the first issue “The Divine Stream” to signify the unique flow of the Lord’s testimony on the earth. All the churches are part of this one testimony, the testimony of Jesus, which is the Lord’s recovery in life and truth. This flow is never confusing or demanding.
The second mistake in recent years relates to the interference of local churches with other churches. No local church should interfere with other local churches, just as families should not interfere with other families. Ministering brothers may visit other churches to strengthen them, but they should not interfere. All the saints should blend among the churches, but they should not compare, judge, or express opinions about the churches. In the recent turmoil among the churches much damage was done through such interference.
The third and perhaps greatest mistake in recent years was the organizational transfer of saints and elders between localities. There was a subtle, hidden, evil intention behind these transfers, and they greatly damaged the local churches. Just as different families do not transfer members, neither should the churches transfer members. Even if the parents in a family are poor, they cannot be fired or transferred away, nor can new parents be hired. Transfers cause a local church to become a man-made organization without the nature of a family. Such human maneuvering and manipulating is wrong. These transfers cause the churches to lose the Lord’s blessing. In recent years the churches that did not participate in such transfers received much more blessing than those that did. We must stand against transfers among the churches. Just as different families may have different conditions, local churches may be strong or weak, but their members should not be transferred to try to change their condition.
We must beware of these three mistakes: so-called flows, interference among churches, and transfers between churches. These mistakes may cause us to deviate from the truth. We must respect God’s economy and His ordination of the ground of locality for the churches regardless of the churches’ conditions. The desire to make every local church the same is a human concept and requires human maneuvering. Some people are born tall, and others are born short. If we try to make them all the same, we may damage or kill them. We must leave the churches as they are and not try to organize them hierarchically in order to make them the same. Even if a local church is weak, others should not interfere with it. This is not a matter of pride but of contentedness in family life. A poor family is still a genuine family, and the family members can enjoy their life together. We should be content in our local church because we are a genuine church. In the past year a certain church has had much increase not by transfers or by trying to conform to so-called flows but by enjoying the church life as a genuine local church. This honors the Lord’s headship, His economy, and His ordination.
Even if we have the truth, we must not be careless, lest these things creep in. We should see and learn much from our past mistakes. We must respect other churches. If we visit a smaller, weaker, or poorer church, we should not interfere or even compare. Comparing is a kind of interference. We must leave all the churches as they are and respect them. We also need to avoid transfers. Under the Lord’s sovereign leading, some saints may migrate, but organizational transfers to try to control the condition of the churches are wrong.
When we have dealt with these mistakes and are in a normal condition, the local churches need to learn to receive the other churches. No church should be proud or closed to the other churches. We need not only to receive other churches but also to be open to them. We should be willing to learn from other churches, just as families learn from other families to try to improve their own condition. We should have as much fellowship as possible with other churches but without any interfering. We must realize that in such fellowship all the churches are on the same level; it is not a vertical fellowship among churches on different levels but a horizontal fellowship. If we take care of these few points, the relationship among the churches will become normal.
We all must bear the burden to pray that the Lord would raise up more brothers to participate in the ministry so that every region would be adequately cared for. The brothers who are now bearing the ministry need to pray to seek the Lord’s leading concerning which region to care for. The brothers who bear the ministry should care for several churches. They must allow the elders to bear the burden of the local building so that they can spend more time to minister to all the churches in a region. This is not a small thing. We need to pray that the situation of the ministry in every region would become normal, but we should not do anything in ourselves to try to change the situation. No human hand can make the situation normal. We need to pray much for ourselves and others. This is our practical and urgent need.
I have a burden to help the churches in Southern California while I am living in Anaheim, but my primary burden is to release the Life-studies. I also have a burden to visit the churches in the United States and Canada. Many churches in other countries have invited me to visit them, but despite my heart for them, because of the practical situation, I do not feel that it is the Lord’s leading for me to travel abroad presently. I feel that I must leave the ministry in other countries to others, who can care for them with the help of the Life-study messages. This has already been taking place and working well. Because I still feel that the United States is strategic for the Lord’s recovery on the whole earth today, I am burdened to strengthen the churches here. However, my main burden is to release the word — to finish the Life-studies of the New Testament books along with the Recovery Version of the New Testament. I also have a burden and ask the saints to pray that the Lord would give me the time to finish the Life-studies of the Pentateuch. If I can finish these two sets of Life-studies, my present burden will be discharged, and they will be a rich supply to all the churches on the earth.
Question: In our local church two saints who were poisoned and who left during the recent turmoil have indicated that they would like to return to the meetings and have fellowship with the church. However, there is some indication that they still do not want to receive the ministry. How should we leading brothers approach this?
Answer: The leading brothers first need to make it clear to the saints that there are no conditions or terms for coming into the church life. All those who are saved are members of the church, and as long as they are not living in sin, they can meet with the church. Receiving the ministry is not a condition for someone to be in the church life. This subtle concept may damage the saints’ appetite for the ministry.
Question: If a local church needs an elder to serve full time but cannot afford to support him, should they ask other churches to help them financially?
Answer: We must see clearly that the elders are local. If there is a need and a burden for an elder to serve the church full time, the elder and the church should pray much to see whether this is the Lord’s leading. The financial support for a full-time serving one depends on the Lord’s leading and our faith. To make an arrangement with other churches in order to guarantee financial assistance is somewhat organizational. If the Lord leads us to do something, He will send the supply to take care of the needs. Therefore, we need to learn to seek the Lord’s leading and exercise our faith.
Question: The first local church on a certain Spanish-speaking island was established four years ago. Some came and told us that because the “flow” of the churches was in English, we had to do everything in English. As a result, many seeking ones who spoke only Spanish came but left after a short time. After those who insisted on English left, the Lord gave us the burden to begin using Spanish, and the church has been growing greatly. Can you say something concerning uniformity among the churches?
