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Dear Brother Weigh,
I have long been thinking of writing to you, but I have put it off lest my thoughts were not sufficiently mature to do so. However, I think it is now the opportune time. I hope you will humbly place this before God.
I am afraid the difficulties of the churches in Hong Kong and Canton will be rather enormous, namely (a) among co-workers and (b) in the church. I hope what I am going to say below will, through the grace of the Lord, help towards changing the situation there.
(1) Those who are leaders ought to learn to love others, to think on their behalf, to take care of them, to deny oneself for their sake, and to give them all one has. If one cannot deny himself on account of others, it would be impossible to guide people along the spiritual path. Learn to give others what you have even if you feel as if you have nothing. Then the Lord will start pouring down His blessing.
(2) The inner strength of a worker should measure up to the outward work. There should not be any overstrain, overreaching, uneasiness, scantiness, tension, lack of overflowing, human plans, or going ahead of the Lord. All these are undesirable conditions. If one is inwardly abundant, whatever is emanating from him is like the flowing of a stream, and there is no overstrain on his part. You must really be a spiritual man; you should not merely act like one.
(3) Learn to listen to others in connection with your work. The teaching in Acts 15 is to listen, that is, to listen to the views of all brothers because the Holy Spirit may speak through them. Be very careful lest in refusing to listen to the voice of the brothers you may not hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. All the co-workers and elders ought to sit down to listen to them. Give them unrestricted chances to speak. Be gentle, be broken, and be prepared to listen.
(4) The difficulty with many people is their being unbroken. They may have heard about being "broken," but its significance eludes them. If one is broken, he will not attempt to arrive at his own decision regarding business matters or teaching, will not claim to understand people or to be capable of doing things, will not venture to assume authority or to impose his own authority upon others, and will not take the liberty to criticize brothers or to deal with them presumptuously. A brother who is broken will not try to defend himself, and there is nothing he needs to look back to.
(5) There should be no tension in meetings or in the church. Regarding church business, learn not to do too much yourself. Distribute the business among others and make them learn to use their own discretion in making decisions. You should first brief them on the fundamental principles to follow and ascertain afterwards whether they have acted accordingly. It is wrong to do too much personally. Avoid showing yourself in excess in meetings, otherwise the brothers may feel that you are monopolizing. Learn to place trust in the brothers and divide it among them.
(6) The Spirit of God cannot be coerced in the church. You have to be submissive to Him; otherwise, once He stops anointing, the church will feel tired or possibly even bored. If your spirit is strong, it will sweep over and overwhelm the audience within ten minutes; if it is weak, even shouting some threatening words and spending a longer time will not help and may even be harmful.
(7) In delivering a message, do not make it too long or too elaborate; otherwise, the spirit of the saints may tend to feel bored. Do not include superficial thoughts or base statements in the contents of your message; avoid childish examples as well as those reasons which are so common that people will consider them childish. Learn to finish delivering the essence within half an hour. Do not think that, when you yourself enjoy your message, the words are necessarily those of God.
(8) The temptation often encountered at a prayer meeting is to deliver a message or to speak at length. A prayer meeting should be devoted to praying; too much talking will make the conscience feel heavy with the result that the meeting becomes a failure.
(9) The work at Kuling, Fukien, in 1948 was an exceptional case. Workers should learn a lot before getting into a position where they deal with problems or persons. With inadequate learning, insufficient knowledge, incomplete brokenness, and unreliable judgment, one will be incompetent to deal with others. Do not jump to conclusions; even when one is about to do something, he should do it in fear and trembling. Do not treat spiritual matters lightly. Learn in the heart.
(10) Learn not to trust your own judgments only. What is considered right may not be so; what is regarded wrong may not be wrong. If one is determined to learn humbly, it will take at least a few years to complete. Therefore, for the present, you ought not to have too much confidence in yourself or be too definite about your way of thinking.
(11) It would be a dangerous thing for people in the church to follow your decisions before you reach the state of maturity. The Lord will work on you to deal with your thoughts and to break you before you can understand the will of God and thus be His authority. Authority is based on the knowledge of the Lord's will. Where the Lord's will and purpose are not manifest, there is no authority.
(12) The capacity of a servant of God should be constantly expanded by Him. I think He is now doing it; you need not look inward, since this will make you disheartened. God may wish you to assume the responsibility of leadership. As to the work in Hong Kong, it is possible that some brothers will feel led to join it. I think we ought to have rest in the matter.
Yours in the Lord,Nee To-sheng (Watchman Nee)
