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In October of 1984 the church in Taipei began to change the system, and there was a scene of newness replacing the old, particularly regarding the method of our work, the church meetings, and the service. Not only was there a change in appearance outwardly, but even more there was a change inwardly, in the intrinsic nature. One year later it reached a certain scale. Then after another half year, in order to meet the need, we officially began the full-time training and the practice of going out to knock on doors, bringing people to be saved, and baptizing them. This was the first step of the new way.
In 1986 we baptized 7,100 people within one hundred days, and about a month later we baptized more than 1,100 people, totaling over 8,200. This figure is a proof that this new way is indeed effective. One brother from the United States testified that within those one hundred days he baptized one hundred twenty-nine persons, a brother from Malaysia said that he baptized one hundred twenty persons, and a brother from Anaheim said that he baptized over eighty persons.
In recent years, therefore, wherever there are churches in the Lord’s recovery throughout the earth, localities have responded to this move of door-knocking, bringing people to be saved, and baptizing them. Regrettably, though, no one has fully known how to do these things. In the initial stage of the full-time training, all the practices in the training were not publicized. Because this training was for the most part in the experimental stage, without our firm assurance we were reluctant to spread these unconfirmed results. We feared that once they were spread, they might create preconceptions that would not be easy to change afterward no matter how we tried. Hence, the training was originally meant not to be publicized, but it soon became an open matter, and everyone started to go door-knocking.
Generally speaking, knocking on doors is very easy. Who does not know how to do it? It seems that even a child can do it. On the other hand, some who saw this practice “blew cold wind,” saying, “What is the difference between this door-knocking and the Mormons’ door-knocking?” Apparently, the Mormons’ success is founded on door-knocking. Where then is the differentiation? This is a particular point of concern — one kind of door-knocking is in fact vastly different from another.
In the past when a few localities in the United States began door-knocking, it was not very effective. However, some among them joined the training and returned to be “coaches” after the training, teaching others how to knock on doors. As a result, they have reaped the benefits. In one particular locality fifty saints went out and baptized more than forty people within three days, and some even set up home meetings. This opened the eyes of many to see that there is a difference between being trained and being untrained and that one kind of door-knocking is different from another. Thus, different localities in the United States hoped to come to be trained. Not only the elders wanted to come, but even those being trained to be elders and others who had a heart to pursue the Lord in the churches wanted to come. For this reason, we set up short-term training sessions, adopting an allocation system to assign fifty seat numbers for each locality. Each seat number was shared by one group of three persons. One training session lasted four months, which is one hundred twenty days in total. Thus, each of the three persons could participate for forty days. The first one came for the first forty days, occupying a certain seat; then the second one came, and after that the third. In this way, if there were ninety-five elders and fifty-five of those learning to be elders, all one hundred fifty could join the training. I believe that they were able to make an impact in different places after they returned from the training.
One elder who joined a two-week training session learned some secrets and practiced according to the new way when he returned. He testified that he had been in the church life for over twenty years, being an elder for fourteen or fifteen years, but had not brought one person to the Lord. At this time, however, he baptized seventeen persons within four months and another four persons in a following month, totaling twenty-one. All of these twenty-one persons were his fruit of only five months. There is no comparison between not bringing one person to the Lord in fourteen or fifteen years and baptizing twenty-one people in five months after practicing the new way. This showed us that the new way was absolutely effective, even lovely in the eyes of many people. Recently, of the number that came from the United States to be full-time trainees, less than sixty returned; the remaining ninety-two stayed to continue with the training. Leaving their hometown was not an easy thing, but it is wonderful that once they came, they did not want to leave. That is why we say that the training is lovely.
Our research concludes that to succeed in the new way there are two principles: first, to produce one full-timer out of every twenty saints, and second, that one-fourth of the number who meet should set aside two to three hours to go door-knocking, four weeks a month, fifty-two weeks a year, continuously week by week. As long as we practice this principle, we will see the result. A church with a base number of one hundred people can produce five full-timers. If these five go door-knocking five days per week, two to three hours per day, they each will baptize at least one person a week. This should not be difficult; everyone should be able to do it. In this way one person can gain one a week, which is approximately fifty a year. Thus, five persons can gain two hundred fifty in a year.
Besides the full-timers, among the basic number of one hundred there are another twenty-five “job-holding full-timers.” They can go visiting once a week, two or three hours each time continually for four weeks in a month. (Among one hundred saints who meet, after deducting five full-timers and another twenty-five who go out once a week, there are still seventy saints on reserve. Therefore, in reality only thirty saints are mobilized.) According to our estimation, each of the twenty-five should be able to baptize one person in four weeks. Thus, in the fifty-two weeks of the year, three hundred people can be brought in, which, added to the two hundred fifty gained by the full-timers, increases the total to five hundred fifty. Adding this to the original base number of one hundred, the grand total is six hundred fifty people. To add five hundred fifty to one hundred is a five-and-a-half-fold increase.
Calculating further from the first and second years, the total by the third year will be over sixteen thousand people. From one hundred as the original base, the number will exceed sixteen thousand after working for three years. Using a more conservative calculation, we simply may say that ten thousand can be gained in three years from a base of one hundred people, which is a hundredfold increase. One hundred can become ten thousand in the first three years, from 1987 to 1989. Then using ten thousand as the base, another hundredfold increase in the three years from 1990 to 1992 will produce one million. Therefore, if beginning from 1987 we all truly practice according to this new way, one hundred will become one million in six years.
Using again one million as the base and another hundredfold increase in the three years from 1993 to 1995, the total number will be one hundred million. Then after another hundredfold increase from 1996 to 1998, the total will be ten billion, which is twice the present world population of five billion, one-fifth of which is in China. Thus, twelve years takes us through four rounds of multiplication: the first turning one hundred into ten thousand, the second turning ten thousand into one million, the third turning one million into one hundred million, and the fourth turning one hundred million into ten billion. In this way we can evangelize twice the number of people on the earth. As such, this way is too good; in only twelve years we will be able to see the result of evangelizing the entire earth.
Perhaps some will ask if this is too quick, too ideal, and not practical. For their sake, we can calculate in another way. If there are one hundred people meeting in a church, and these one hundred all go out to knock on doors every week, each person should be able to gain one person to be baptized every two months. By the third year there will be close to five thousand persons, which is a fiftyfold increase. After several more rounds there will be five billion, the total world population. This is very wonderful indeed!
The current total population of Taiwan is nineteen million. At present there are six hundred full-timers here. If they go out to knock on doors every week this year, each one will baptize fifty-two people. Even if they cannot do this, they will baptize at least forty. In this way twenty-four thousand people will be saved.
Previously, there were approximately ten thousand saints meeting regularly in the whole of Taiwan, more than three thousand five hundred of whom are in Taipei. Of the over eight thousand who were baptized last year, about one out of four are stable in the church life. Adding these two thousand stable ones to the original ten thousand, we have a base number of twelve thousand. For one-fourth of these to go out to knock on doors weekly means that three thousand are going. If each of these gains one person every two months, that is, six a year, eighteen thousand people will be saved. Adding these to the original twelve thousand saints and the twenty-four thousand gained by the full-timers, there will be a total of fifty-four thousand saints in all of Taiwan by the end of this year. This is a law that we discovered from the training, a figure that we calculated scientifically; every saint should see this.
After this, in 1988 there will be at least one thousand full-timers. If each gains forty persons, there will be forty thousand people. If one-fourth of the fifty-four thousand calculated above each gains six in a year, there will be eighty-one thousand. Adding this number to the original fifty-four thousand and the forty thousand gained by the full-timers, the total then will be 175,000. With this kind of accumulation through 1989, the result will be 477,500, which we may round up to 480,000. This is a fortyfold increase from the original base number of twelve thousand. Another fortyfold increase in the next round will result in 19,200,000. Therefore, within six years, by 1992, every one of the nineteen million people in Taiwan will have been sought out by us, unless, of course, someone is a son of perdition. By that time Taiwan will be evangelized; the gospel will have saturated Taiwan.
For this, we must practically study our estimates in order to find the reliable, crucial points for our practice. According to our experience, we must practice the following points in order to have each full-timer baptize forty persons in a year. First, the full-timers themselves must be produced. This is not a problem in Taiwan, because there are already one thousand who have registered for the training. There will definitely be six hundred full-timers starting next month. Although it sounds very easy to have one thousand people each baptizing forty in a year, it will require their labor from house to house. If these one thousand are merely dreaming day after day, thinking that our estimate is unreal and because of this being at ease, then they may not be able to baptize even twenty persons.
It is practical to expect that the one-fourth in the church who have a heart to go door-knocking once a week can gain six persons in a year. However, we fear that they may “fish only for three days and dry their nets for two days,” eventually becoming unfruitful. To gain people properly requires us to be in one accord and to work seriously. To be sure, working seriously will produce results. This is the first key to success in the new way.
We also need to lead the home meetings in a good way. This is more difficult than the first point, but if the home meetings are unsuccessful, the new way cannot proceed. The one-fourth in the church who have the heart will continue to increase in number; therefore, they will need much perfecting. In John 15:16 the Lord Jesus first said, “You should go forth and bear fruit”; after this He said, “That your fruit should remain.” Whether or not the fruit remains is not on the Lord’s side but on ours. If we work well, this will cause our fruit to remain. The Lord also reveals to us that it is the home meetings that cause our fruit to remain (see footnote 3 of verse 16 in the Recovery Version).
Previously, out of one hundred people whom we baptized, perhaps not even five would remain. This can be compared to a woman who, having given birth to some children, feels that she has finished her duty and does not raise them up. Because of this, one hundred may be delivered, but only five survive; the remaining ninety-five die prematurely. This is because there is no nourishing and supporting through the home meetings. At this time, though, we have the home meetings, which are a safeguard for the newly baptized ones. Once a person is baptized, we should immediately arrange a home meeting for him. As soon as a home meeting is started, this newly baptized one will have a safeguard, covering, and protection. The modern medical technology in America is very advanced. A baby born prematurely can still grow properly after he is delivered. This is because as soon as the baby is born, he is put into an incubator. The incubator becomes his way to survive. Our home meetings are the “incubators” for the new ones.
After bringing a person to be saved, we must nourish and teach him. When a certain young man was born prematurely, he was small and wrinkled. Those who saw him lying in the incubator had to exercise their faith, because they did not know how he could grow up. Today, however, he has become tall and strong and is a soccer player in school. This was possible only because he was properly taken care of after he was born. This is what we are saying about our home meetings. We cannot merely baptize people. Of course, we long for more births, yet if we do not nourish and teach those who are baptized, they will die prematurely. The home meetings provide the nourishing and teaching for people after they are saved and baptized. In the spiritual sense, to teach is to nourish. The more we teach people the truth, the more the riches contained in the truth will supply and nourish them. Hence, the home meeting is the second key to success in the new way.
We can summarize the need in the home meetings in four crucial points, which we need to pay close attention to.
First, never bring the old practice into the home meetings; this will kill the function of the believers. When we go to the homes of the newly baptized ones to lead the home meetings, whether in singing, praying, reading the Bible, or fellowshipping, we cannot use the old method. We hope that all our concepts will be changed regarding this point. What is the old way? It is the way in which everything in a meeting is cared for by those who lead the meeting. The selection of hymns, the singing, the praying, the reading of the Bible, the giving of messages, and even the concluding of the meeting are all carried out by those who lead the meeting. Consequently, when a newly baptized person comes to the meeting, he dares not do anything except remain in his seat, because those who lead the meeting do everything. This is the old way, the old method, which nullifies the function of the believers.
It is easy for the old way to produce a clergy. In addition, organization emerges unconsciously from the old way, and once there is organization, there is control. In such a condition there is no way for the newly baptized ones to function. Originally, a newly saved one may have been very active, but once he comes to the meetings, he can no longer be active, because the practice of the old way immobilizes, even kills, him. Gradually, he loses his spiritual sensation, coming merely to believe that a Christian should love the Lord, pursue Him, and come to the meetings regularly. Eventually, even though he comes to the meetings, he does not have any feeling, like a person who has been drugged. Although he is alive and still breathing, he has no spiritual consciousness.
Second, we need to see that the old way deprives the believers of their organic function. We have to realize that if we remain in this old way of meeting, after half a year we will be “anesthetized” and unable to wake up. As we said earlier, a brother among us admitted to having been an elder for over ten years yet not having brought one person to the Lord nor having had any realization or feeling that this was a very serious matter. In the Gospel of John the Lord said that He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit (15:2). This is a terrible thing. What does it mean to take away a branch? To take away a branch cannot be a good thing. For a branch in the vine to be taken away means that it has nothing to do with any of the riches of the vine. This is not a question of whether or not you will perish; it simply means that you will certainly not be able to enjoy the Lord’s riches.
Logically speaking, the enjoyment of the Lord should issue in a rich fruit-bearing. How can a brother be an elder for a long time, not bring one person to the Lord, and still not have any sensation about it? This is to be drugged, even to be in a “coma,” alive and breathing but with no feeling at all. This is a grave matter. The old kind of meetings kill and drug the members of the Body of Christ. Therefore, we can no longer take the old way of practice in the meetings. Rather, we must absolutely abandon it.
Third, we must help the new ones to establish proper home meetings. This includes three main items: how to teach people the truth, how to nourish people for growth in life, and how to lead people to know the church. To lead the home meetings properly is the crucial key to the new practice in the new way. At present, there is no problem in bringing in new ones; many babies are being born. Rather, the question is how to nurture the babies after they are born. To begin with, the old method cannot be brought into the new meetings. According to this principle, we have to study how to call the hymns, read the Bible, and pray in the home meetings in order to purge the old practice of having everything taken care of by a few. We should not tolerate that a newly baptized person in the meeting is influenced by those who lead the meeting to the point that he loses the exercise of his normal function.
In addition, we have to make appointments for home meetings after baptizing people. The new ones may not know how to meet the first time we go, so we have to teach them how to have a home meeting. We must tell them that this meeting is a meeting for their family and that we are there only to help. We also have to tell them that Christian meetings are nothing apart from singing hymns, reading the Lord’s Word, testifying, sharing, and preaching the gospel when gospel friends come. We should let them know that a meeting is simply a matter of these things, which should not be carried out by the so-called responsible ones. Almost everyone in a home meeting is a newly saved one. In this sense there are no elders, deacons, or even any leading ones. Everyone has to function and take care of his own meeting. Initially, when we go to help the new ones in a home meeting, we will at most fellowship with them and demonstrate to them in the meeting how to pray, sing the hymns, and read the Scriptures, but we must allow them to do these on their own as much as possible.
Fourth, do not replace the organic function of the new ones as members. When we begin a home meeting, there is no need of a formal opening. When the parents begin to clean and arrange chairs after dinner, the children know that it is time to meet, so they joyfully sing, “You need Jesus, you need Jesus.” Once the children start singing, the meeting has already begun. When others arrive and hear the children singing, they will spontaneously join them, and the father and mother will also follow in the singing. It is the same with praying. Perhaps when dinner and cleaning are almost finished, the father will begin to pray, “O Lord, we thank You that we all are saved, and today we can come together to enjoy You. We thank You also for sending a brother to help us.” At this point the meeting has begun. Instead, perhaps no one sings or prays after the meal, but someone reads Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This also begins the meeting. There is no need for someone else to lead a home meeting; it is those in the home who lead the meeting themselves. This is the way to call hymns, pray, and read the Bible in the new practice.
It is the same with testifying. Perhaps after the meal the mother says to the children, “Children, see how great the Lord’s grace is! We used to worship idols in darkness.” The mother is actually testifying when she speaks in this way, thus beginning the home meeting. It is not necessary to wait until 7:00 to begin, and there is no need to rely on someone else. Those in the family can start the meeting. The father may say, “Children, select a hymn,” or the children may not wait for the father but will start singing, “Since Jesus came into my heart.” We have to teach all the new ones in this way when they begin to meet after being saved, just as a mother helps her child to eat after giving birth to him. All mothers realize that they have to help children to eat and not eat for them.
Moreover, once the new ones have established a home meeting, we have to help them to appreciate the hymns. Each one should have a hymnal. They need to learn how to sing the hymns but not only in the meetings. Even at home a mother can learn to sing by playing a cassette tape while she washes dishes. We all know that young children learn how to talk and sing by listening. People who are unable to hear are also unable to sing or talk. If circumstances allow, we need to help the new ones to listen more to song tapes at home. Then it will be easy for them to sing. Initially, they can sing short songs, such as “You Need Jesus” and “Since Jesus Came into My Heart.” We should also urge them to own a Bible in order to read the Lord’s Word daily.
How to teach people the truth, how to nourish them, how to help them grow in life, and how to help them know the church in order to enter into the church life are all items for our study. Do not hastily bring the new ones to the church meetings after they are baptized. The most precious of the various church meetings is the Lord’s table meeting. Therefore, we have to lead them to meet to break bread, but we must continue to study how to bring them to the other meetings.
Question: When we go to the home meetings, we are all prepared, having prayed and come to the meeting in the spirit. However, when we stop speaking in the meeting, the new ones also stop. Even though we truly do not want to speak too much, we still have to speak. What shall we do?
Answer: We have to do our best not to replace the function of the new ones. Our speaking too much will not perfect people. After making an appointment with the new ones for their first home meeting, we need to give them an opening word to help them understand that this meeting is their meeting and that the meetings of Christians are nothing more than praying, reading the Bible, singing, testifying, and exhorting one another. We have to lay this foundation the first time we go and show them how to conduct the meetings, encouraging them to start the meeting themselves and not to wait for each other. Each one may have a hymn, a word from the Lord, or a testimony. All these are proper practices for the meetings.
What we have fellowshipped here is the new way of meeting without any formality. We need to make this way clear to people the first time we go to their home to meet. We should not completely carry out the meeting, replacing their function to lead the singing and praying. To do so is to go back to the old way. When a mother teaches her child to speak, she knows that he should speak correctly from the beginning. If a child habitually mispronounces a word, it will be difficult to correct him later. We must pay close attention to all the above points.
