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In August of 1986 we held the first term of the full-time training in Taipei. Now this training is continuing. The main purpose of the training is to perfect the trainees to take the new way, to bring sinners to the Lord that they may repent and be saved, and to continue to take care of them. At this time there are about eight thousand five hundred new ones under our care, and we have meetings in their homes.
Despite the desire of the saints in the various localities, they do not have the capacity to fully take the responsibility of caring for the home meetings. Moreover, these new ones were baptized by the trainees in the full-time training. They were begotten by the trainees and are the fruit of the trainees. If they are handed over to the local saints, I am afraid that some of them will be lost. Therefore, after much consideration, we feel that the trainees should continue to bear this burden.
We need five hundred who have passed through the training to continue to take care of the newly baptized ones in the home meetings. The number of saints in Taiwan who have been trained and can coordinate and continue to bear the burden at this time is only about four hundred. Compared with our expectation of five hundred, we are still one hundred short. Therefore, we need one hundred English-speaking trainees from other countries to remain in Taiwan for at least two years to continue to take care of the home meetings.
There is an urgent need here that requires the coordination of the churches. We have over two hundred fifty English-speaking saints who have been trained. Two-thirds of these, one hundred seventy, are willing to remain. This is very good for the need here. However, all these saints from overseas were sent by the churches in their localities and are supported by their respective localities. Undoubtedly, the local churches sent and support them with the purpose that after they are trained, they will return to their localities to serve. If they are kept here after the training, I am afraid that the churches will think that we have snatched them away. If this is the case, we do not want them to stay; we would rather that they return to their localities.
Whether you are full-timers from Taiwan or from overseas, if you decide to remain and continue to serve in coordination, you must receive a joyful Amen from your respective localities. Otherwise, we will not ask any one of you to remain here. All of you are sent by the various churches, and these churches have been supporting you, so you must have not only their consent but their joyful consent if you want to stay here. Only in this way will we have the ground to keep you, and only this is the proper way.
We must always maintain a pleasant relationship with the churches. We are not dealing with the churches in a legal way, merely aiming at obtaining their consent. In spiritual matters, especially in the Body of Christ, a mere legal Amen is not what we want. What we want to receive is a joyful Amen. Even if you are from other churches within Taiwan, you also must be certain that the churches that sent you here would like you to remain in Taipei and participate in the move of the gospelization in the communities. We want to hear joyful Amens. Please bring this matter to the Lord in prayer and have a thorough and joyful fellowship with your respective localities concerning the matter of staying or returning.
It will be good for those who remain to coordinate with the work in the communities to stay for two years in order to adequately meet the need. We are joyful that the saints speaking foreign languages can join this work, but we will ask you to learn Chinese. You need to seriously learn Chinese during the day and attend home meetings in the evenings. Otherwise, if you still need translation while contacting people, you will not be capable of taking care of the home meetings. The most capable ones in taking care of the home meetings are the bilingual ones. Their ability to speak both Chinese and English in the gospel work is appreciated very much by all the gospel friends. If you speak only English but not Chinese, they may still welcome you, but it will not be as good. When the gospel friends see you and realize that even as Americans you can speak Chinese, you will win over their hearts. Therefore, you have to pray much and give yourselves to learn the language.
If the respective localities of the full-time serving ones from overseas joyfully consent to their remaining, we will be very pleased. At the same time we will assure the churches in the United States that when we send the American saints back, we will send back both “capital and interest.” By “interest” we mean that we will send many Chinese saints to help the overseas churches. This is a sweet fellowship. We will borrow the saints from overseas to help gospelize Taiwan. When this draws to an end, we will not only return the overseas saints but also send more saints with them. We hope that all the churches will hear this news and say Amen with joy.
Two and a half years ago we planned to gospelize Taiwan by preaching the gospel in towns and villages, but afterward we realized that people in the big cities are highly educated, and the population of the communities in the cities is highly concentrated. Therefore, we decided to begin from the communities in the cities. Taipei is the first among the big cities, so in order to gospelize Taiwan we first need to gain Taipei, and afterward Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Tainan. This is our strategy. All those who will remain and continue to coordinate will live in different communities. There are at least four hundred newly saved ones in each community, so there is much work to do. We will fellowship about the details at a later time.
Question: For those of us who want to stay, should we fellowship with our respective localities by phone or mail, or should we return to our localities to fellowship with them?
Answer: Any method is fine. To save time and obtain a quicker answer, it is better to fellowship by phone.
Question: Will this work require a maximum of one hundred saints to stay, or will it require more?
Answer: Only the Lord knows what the maximum should be. We hope that all of you can stay. However, you must first gain a joyful Amen from your respective localities, and if you will remain here, you must learn Chinese diligently. We will give you examinations, and if you fail, we will have to send you back. The principle here is that when we do something, we need to do it seriously without dragging our feet. Therefore, if you will remain, you need to be clear and prepared to receive the burden to learn Chinese. In at most six months you must be able to speak fluently.
Question: If I stay here, when will I begin to learn Chinese?
Answer: Many universities here have good courses for foreigners to learn Chinese. We will inquire about them at the schools. If you have any matter to care for that requires you first to go back, then go back and take care of it. If you do not need to return, then remain and join the work of taking care of the home meetings. We will give all of you a vacation of ten days to two weeks. For those of you who have matters to take care of, you may go back during this vacation. For those who will not return but will remain, you may take a vacation and get some rest. After you come back from your vacation, however, you should be prepared to labor. First, you will go to take care of the home meetings. Each of you will take care of seven homes a week. At the same time you will continue to beget, that is to produce new ones by door-knocking.
Question: Do those saints who support themselves still need to fellowship with their localities?
Answer: We are not doing a business. As long as you come from a certain locality, even though you are not supported by the church, you still need to obtain a joyful Amen from the church because that is where you came from. Do not be concerned only with money, thinking that you need to fellowship with the church only because the church is supporting you. It is not like this, and it should not be like this. For those of you who support yourselves, you still need to obtain a joyful Amen from the church in your locality.
Question: Should the saints from Australia be considered in the same way as the American saints?
Answer: It is better for all the saints from Australia to return and serve there because the number of churches and saints there is few. To remain here will weaken the churches in Australia and New Zealand. Therefore, apart from special circumstances, we hope that you all will go back to strengthen the Lord’s move in Australia in the churches there. We will not do anything to weaken the Lord’s work that has been newly raised up in these places. Australia is not like America. Even if we borrow two hundred saints from America, it will not weaken the churches there. On the contrary, it will cause them to be burning. According to what we have heard, the Lord has His move in Australia and New Zealand. Therefore, it is better for you to return to strengthen the churches there. As for those from Europe, it is also better for you to return to strengthen and help the churches for the Lord’s move there.
Question: Should those who are from the United States be grouped with saints from other churches as a team? If they do this, how should the churches share the burden of support?
Answer: The saints from the United States will be gathered together to form groups of four to five. From the beginning of our consideration of the full-time service, we clearly stated that when a church produces a full-timer, it will support him no matter where he goes. Perhaps some will say then that it is better not to produce full-timers, because once they are produced, they will leave the churches in their localities. We need to ask the Lord to enlarge us. What we are fellowshipping here is only a principle. In practice there will be many different situations. If a full-timer produced by the church in New York goes to serve in coordination in Brazil, the Lord in His sovereignty will care for his needs in Brazil. Then he can tell the church in New York that he no longer needs their support because the Lord has already taken care of it.
Question: I come from England where there are not many like me. Some full-timers have not attended the training here in Taipei, and some go back to their careers after the training. In this kind of situation, what should I do?
Answer: The Lord admitted to the evil and slothful slave that He was a hard man, reaping where He did not sow and gathering where He did not winnow (Matt. 25:26). We should never think that serving the Lord is an easy matter. Most of the saints choose to serve in Taipei because it is easy to serve here. However, if the Lord sends us to a place where He did not sow and still asks us to reap, we will need to act accordingly. This is difficult. Therefore, do not choose an easy way. When you return to England, you must be prepared to suffer and to labor. The Lord may give you fields full of rocks, and you will need to sow, fast, and pray. We believe that by the Lord’s mercy and grace, He as the faithful One will give you the harvest.
When Brother Hudson Taylor first came to China, it was absolutely not an easy situation. When the pioneers of the Presbyterian Church went to the villages in China, it also was not easy for them. When they went door-knocking in the villages, the villagers had already agreed among themselves that they would not open their doors to them. When one or two missionaries came, the first ones to see the missionaries outside the village would immediately strike the gong and spread the news to the whole village, and then all the doors would shut. According to a true story, an American brother from the Presbyterian Church was very wise; he was as prudent as a serpent. He stood outside the door for fifteen minutes to half an hour until the people inside would crack open the door. When this brother saw the opening, he would thrust in his walking stick so that the people inside were not able to close the door. Then after gaining a little opening, he would put one foot inside. Eventually, he managed to put both his feet inside the house.
The missionaries knew that the Chinese are kind and loving in nature and are not barbarous, so they dared to go inside the house. They had studied the Chinese living style and found out that every house had a mill for grinding grain. Rich people used donkeys to do the grinding. They would cover the donkeys’ eyes and then put them to the task of grinding. Poor people, however, had to do it by themselves, which was a laborious job. The missionaries studied and learned about this, so when they entered the house, they would run to the mill and begin to grind diligently. The host of the house would say, “We might as well let these foreign devils help us to grind at the mill.” The missionaries would keep on grinding. After they had worked for several hours or half a day, the host would give them water to drink. Once the host gave them water, they knew that they were welcome. Then they would continue grinding for the rest of the day. Later, they would be given something to eat. This also was a good sign. Eventually, they had the opportunity to talk to the members of the family. They knew that the best way was not to talk to them right away but to grind at the mill until the host came to talk to them and ask them where they were from. They then began to speak the words that they had prepared. It was in this way that the missionaries opened the door of the gospel in the villages in China so that we too had the opportunity to hear it. We absolutely believe that when the Lord returns, they all will be rewarded. They were truly faithful. Therefore, do not choose an easy work but a difficult one and receive a genuine burden from the Lord.
Question: I come from Canada, but according to my burden for Europe, I want to go to Austria. Should I follow my burden to go to Austria?
Answer: Since you are so burdened for Austria, we feel that you should go there, but you need to obtain a joyful Amen from the churches in Canada. We received a letter from the brothers in Bolzano, a city in northern Italy. They began to meet last year. They learned about the Lord’s recovery through our publications and videos. They also began to knock on doors, which has enabled them to bring in a number of new ones and contact some Austrians. Undoubtedly, some churches will be raised up in Austria. If you have the burden, it is best for you to go there to strengthen the Lord’s work.
Question: If there is a need in our respective local churches, but we have been trained for only one term, should we return immediately or should we continue to attend the second term of training?
Answer: According to the principle, it is better to complete the second term of training. Attending only one term of training is not enough. You may think that if you remain here, the churches in your localities will suffer loss, but you need to pay a price. It is only a momentary loss. If you remain here for a year to go through the second term of training, your function will be even greater when you return. As you all know, we have a burden to gospelize Taiwan. Because we need you, it is worthwhile for you to remain for the training.
Question: Do you have any advice for the trainees from the Philippines?
Answer: The principle is the same for them. If some of you have the burden to remain, it will not be a loss to the churches there. To remain for too long, however, will be a loss. For only five or ten to stay may not weaken the churches there. However, this also requires fellowship with the local churches. I do not have the position to say anything. Unless you have the burden and the consent from the churches in the Philippines, we will regard that it is better for you to go back.
We must be clear that we are in the Body and that we come from a certain “part” of the Body. Whatever we do, we must gain their consent. Life is not a judicial matter but an organic one. Our living in the Body of Christ is entirely an organic matter. What we do should make us grow, not kill us. If our doing a certain thing kills us, we should not do it. It is not a judicial matter.
Question: I have already obtained a bachelor’s degree and have the opportunity to go to graduate school. Should I first return, obtain a higher degree, and then come back to serve full time?
Answer: That is fine. If you have the burden, you can first obtain a higher degree. Then if the Lord leads you to serve full time, you will serve full time. There is no legal obligation. It is altogether a matter of life, an organic matter. We all have to be clear that in the Lord’s recovery we follow the revelation of the Bible and the patterns in the Bible. Among us there is no human organization nor legal obligation. We simply follow the way of the Spirit, the organic way. This is the way of life.
Question: If I have not yet finished my college education, should I first attend two terms of the training?
Answer: It is better for you to first finish your college education. To do the Lord’s work in the world today requires education. You need to know more languages, the more the better. I encourage you to learn two languages in addition to your mother tongue. English is a necessity; the other language may be German or Spanish, or another language such as Greek and Hebrew. The more you learn and the more education you receive, the better it will be.
We wish to take this opportunity to explain a crucial matter, that of knowing the ministry. I hope we all are clear that we do not and will not take the way of organization. What we have is not an organization. We have one leading and one ministry among us because all the churches on the earth are for the Lord’s recovery. This ministry is not the personal work of any individual. In every age and generation the Lord has His move, and in a particular age He has a particular move. At the time of Noah the goal of the Lord’s move was to build the ark, and in order to obtain the ark the Lord commissioned Noah to carry out this ministry. We can say that this was Noah’s ministry, but Noah did not build the ark by himself. Rather, there were others who participated in the building. They all had a part in the same ministry. For any of them to suggest that they build a tower or a different ark would have been to raise up a different ministry. Christianity today is divided because there are too many ministries. When we say that we are one with the ministry, we are not saying that we are one with a certain person. Rather, we are one with the Lord’s ministry today.
In the age of Noah the Lord’s ministry was to build the ark. In the age of Moses His ministry was to build the tabernacle with all its utensils, especially the Ark of the Covenant. In the age of David and Solomon the Lord’s ministry was to build the temple. In the New Testament the Lord’s ministry is to build up the Body of Christ and produce the local churches. This ministry was first with Peter and his co-workers, and later it continued, spread to the Gentile world, and was carried out through Paul and his co-workers.
There should be only one ministry on the earth. Otherwise, there will be division, which damages the Lord’s intention and purpose. When we say that we are under one leading, what we mean is that we are under the leading of the New Testament ministry. We believe that in the age of Noah there was only one leading to build the ark, in the age of Moses there was also one leading to build the tabernacle and its utensils, and in the age of Solomon there was also only one leading to build the temple. However, there are too many leadings in Christianity today to build too many different things. Hence, in the Lord’s recovery we must forsake all these things. It would be terrible today for a so-called co-worker to say that he has a different burden.
When we say that we need to receive the one leading, it does not mean that we receive the leading of a certain person but that we receive the leading of the Lord’s move. We must not transgress the mark of the Lord’s ministry of building up the local churches. We do not have an organization; we only have the work in life. In every age there is the ministry of that age. Moreover, there is the ministry now, and there will also be the ministry in the future. This unique ministry is for the Lord to gain what He is after in a particular age. Whatever we do, and whatever we will do, must be under the leading of the ministry. This will cause us to learn to look to the Lord for His vision and also learn to contact the Lord more, deny ourselves, deny our opinions and views, and live in the Lord’s present move. This is not according to our choosing or preference but is altogether based on the Lord’s vision and our knowledge of this vision. In this way we are one with the ministry and are under the one leading.
Some people may say that we have this teaching because we want to control everything. We have no intention to control anyone, but we definitely have a burden, fully understand, and even can boast that the Lord has charged us to care for His ministry today to build up the local churches. We look to the Lord for His leading in all that we have fellowshipped.
