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As we are gathered today, I think I have something to say. Let us first look at two passages of the Scripture.
Colossians 4:5 says, "Redeeming the time," and Ephesians 5:16 says, "Redeeming the time."
I have wanted to talk to you about this matter in these past few days. There are several Greek words for the word time, as it is translated in the two verses we just read. In both these passages, the Greek word is not chronos, but kairos. This word does not merely refer to time. There are many passages which use this Greek word in conjunction with other words, and in those instances it is translated opportunity. Galatians 6:10 says, "As we have the opportunity, let us do what is good toward all." This means that we should seize the opportunity to do good. These words from the Bible show us the Lord's thought about opportunity. The Lord considers opportunity to be something very important. One could translate the word time in the passages from Colossians and Ephesians as "redeeming the opportunity." I do not know how much you understand the word opportunity. I always wonder how many opportunities I have missed. In many matters, on the negative side, we do not know how many opportunities we have missed. Many things which we can do are all too easily missed by us. Many people which we can save are all too easily neglected by us. Many cities where we can start an assembly are all too easily overlooked by us. Many brothers whom we can gain are lost through us. We have lost so many opportunities! When we face the Lord in the future, we will truly have much regret to face! We are confused and unclear about everything, and we do not know how many opportunities we have missed!
Of the days which the Lord has ordained for us, perhaps yesterday should have been the greatest day of our life, but we may have lived yesterday in an ordinary way. This is what it means to miss the opportunity. One who is learning to serve should not do the same thing today as he did yesterday. If he is the same today as yesterday, he has squandered his opportunities. If we do not know what the Lord is doing today or what is going to happen today, we are missing the opportunity.
In the early days in Shanghai, the brothers did not pay attention to the need for a meeting hall. As a result, we do not know how many souls we lost. I want to say to the brothers who want to save their money, "You have indeed saved your money, but you have lost the souls of men!" We could have saved more souls, but because there was not enough space for them, some were lost. Losing a soul is losing an opportunity. Souls were lost when we saved our money. We now think that we have spent our all in moving from Hardoon Road to Nanyang Road. It may never have occurred to us that if we had not missed some opportunities before the Lord, certain kinds of meetings would never have been started. We have missed some opportunities, and as a result, some meetings were produced. It is very easy for us to work in a place in a habitual way. Every Lord's Day we preach the word; every week we have an edification meeting. We think it is all right if we gain ten to twenty people a week. We do not know that the Lord wanted us to gain one thousand in one day. Through negligence we lose nine hundred of them. We throw away and miss many opportunities.
As I was considering this whole matter, I thought perhaps the Lord would want to gain more people in Yangshupu than at Nanyang Road. But can we seize the opportunity? Perhaps the Lord wants to gain more people at North Szechuan Road than He does at Nanyang Road. Can we seize the opportunity? Perhaps the Lord wants to gain more people in Nanshi than He does at Nanyang Road. Can we grasp the opportunity? No worker or servant of the Lord can feel satisfied with what he has done so far. All who are satisfied with the present are losing opportunities. We do not know what great things the Lord wants to do. Among the 470 million people in China, there are only a few hundred thousand Christians. We do not know how many opportunities we have already lost! I believe that God has given more opportunities than we can imagine. If we can seize every opportunity God gives us, the increase of the work will be according to God's expectation. The work has not increased as God wants because we have limited it. We hope this limitation will end here today.
When we appear before the Lord one day, I hope that all the young brothers will be together and will examine the calendar of 1930, 1935, or 1949. Granting that we will know all things as the Lord knows them, we will see that on January 1, 1930, the Lord had ordained an opportunity for us to go to North Szechuan Road to save twenty souls. But we did not go on that day. Instead we went to Nanyang Road and missed the opportunity. We lost twenty souls. Perhaps we will examine January 2. Perhaps that day the Lord wanted me to hold a gospel meeting at Pudong. Perhaps He wanted to gain five hundred people during those six months. But on that day, I did not go. I missed an opportunity, and five hundred souls were lost. On January 3 perhaps the Lord gave me a thought that I should seek out a certain person who could have turned out to be a great vessel in the hand of the Lord in the next five years. Perhaps the Lord wanted to use such a person to save tens of thousands of souls, but on that day I did not go because I was afraid the weather was too hot, and I was too lazy. I lost an opportunity and neglected a person who was potentially very useful to the Lord. Day by day, the Lord gives us countless opportunities in our life, and we miss them all!
Why does the Bible translate time as opportunity? Because "opportunity" is something that is found in time. Every day the Lord gives us opportunities. Today we can only bow our heads and say to the Lord, "I do not know what opportunities You have given me today. There is never a day without Your arrangement. Every day You have ordained something to happen to me." Those whom God can use never miss the opportunities He has provided. The Lord may ordain that we should rent some place tomorrow. We should rent that place. Or He may ordain that we help a certain person get over some problems. We should do so accordingly. As we finish one matter, another will come our way. When the second matter is finished, the third, and then the fourth will come. Things happen continually, and we do not know how great any one of them will be. This is like throwing a stone into the water; the circles keep expanding until the ripples touch the shore. If we are faithful to follow up every event, we will not miss any opportunity, and we will reap colossal benefit. But if we miss any opportunity, the rippling may stop at any point, and our reluctance may result in no further widening of the circles.
Who would have guessed that one day an illiterate cobbler could become a Moody? If someone had missed the opportunity to preach to him, the world would not have had a Moody. Who would have guessed that Philip would meet the eunuch the day he went into the wilderness (Acts 8:26-39)? The entire church in Africa owes its beginning to that day, and we know that the church in Africa began earlier than the church in Europe!
We do not know how many opportunities we have missed. When we wake up early in the morning, sometimes we feel as if all is light (perhaps from the sunlight). At other times we feel as if all is dark (perhaps from considering our own future). We do not know what will happen to us. I beg you to discover every opportunity God has given you every day. We hope we can discover the opportunities today instead of being reminded of them in the future. Today is July 19, 1950. Today the Lord has put certain opportunities before me, and I can see them today. Redeeming the time means seeing what the Lord has arranged for us. If we do not miss the opportunities, the Lord will make tremendous gains, and the work will make immense progress.
In order to not miss the opportunities, we need spiritual training. We also need spiritual sensitivity. If we are spiritually sensitive, we will sense the opportunity. With spiritual training, we can identify opportunities when they come our way. We cannot allow opportunities to go away. We must not be dull to any direction from the Head. We must not let the Head have a sense that we are numb to His leading. We have to be desperate for this. We should grasp whatever opportunity we have. If we do not have this kind of training and feeling, we will miss the opportunities the Lord has arranged. Day after day, we will become a person dull to opportunities.
One day we will face the Lord. Perhaps we will regret the things in our life that now provide us with satisfaction. We have come short of God's will. We have not been faithful. We have acted foolishly. The Lord may have put ten opportunities before us, but we have not even touched one. Woe to us when we stand before the judgment seat! We do not know how many opportunities we have missed. Woe to us, for we have acted thoughtlessly and have missed many opportunities that God has given us!
It is a terrible mistake and a great loss to the church to bury the one talented ones in the ground, thinking that they are useless and unqualified for the service, not giving them the opportunity to produce. We must put out the capital before we will have the chance to earn money. If we bury the one talented ones in the ground, we take away the opportunity for such spiritual gifts to be employed and we stop their function. We will never be able to grasp the opportunity. This is called digging a hole to bury our gold. This is foolishness. I do not know how many opportunities are missed because of this.
My feeling is that the Lord could do a work ten times greater than is now among us. I do not say a thousand or ten thousand times greater; I only say ten times greater. But today we cannot do it. We have not seized the opportunities. We are already satisfied! We think that everything is finished for the rest of our lives because the meeting hall on Nanyang Road is built, and so we stop here. We have missed and buried the opportunities. Soon there may not be any more opportunities. Brothers, we must wake up. We do not know how great the opportunity ahead of us will be. It is possible for us to increase according to God's desire. We must bring God's children into His ordained way. Day by day we must take the opportunity to go on and to do the work before us.
I think the responsible brothers need to be fully conscious of the need to seize all opportunities. We should be filled with an awareness of all God-given opportunities. Every time we make a decision, we must be accurate. Whenever we make a decision, we should not just look at the present. Instead we should check whether our decision matches the opportunity given us by God. I think that if our sense is sharp, we will know the things that will put us to shame and the things that will give us joy. Doing certain things means losing certain opportunities. Perhaps I should have visited Brother Tang a certain time, but I visited Brother Chang instead. Perhaps I should have gone on an errand at eight o'clock, but I was late and did not go until nine. Perhaps I should have gone north a certain time, but I went south instead. As a result, I have lost many opportunities and can do nothing but regret my failures. On the other hand, there are occasions for which I have to thank God. On a certain day the Lord preserved me as I was about to make a mistake. Or I almost visited Brother Tu but instead visited Brother Hsie. I almost lost the opportunity, but the Lord kept me from missing it. Perhaps I almost went north when I should have gone south, but the Lord kept me from going north. I do not know what that little turning of the Lord has done to me. But I know God has kept me and has saved me from losing an opportunity.
Before the coming of that day, I pray we will all learn to put ourselves into the Lord's hands so that He might train our spiritual sense and spiritual sight. If we are short in these two things, we will not know how to deal with situations when they come up. We should give ourselves to Him this way daily. The situations we encounter daily are not necessarily opportunities. Opportunities come and go as the days pass; they are not constant. Time is constant, but opportunities are not. Opportunities appear in time. Time is continuous, but opportunities come and go. Therefore, we must grasp the opportunities. We must sense the opportunities whenever they come and make the most of them.
At the same time, we must have spiritual insight. Once we have spiritual insight, we will identify the opportunities when they come and lay hold of them. We must be quick. If we do not miss opportunities as they march by us one by one, the church will increase by leaps and bounds. This increase will far surpass our greatest expectation.
Today the problem is not that the Lord does not give us opportunities, but that we miss the opportunities. Every one of us must rise up. The responsible brothers of the church must rise up. We do not want to let the opportunities from God go by. We have seen how God has blessed Brother Witness's work. His strong point is that he does not allow any opportunity to slip by. It is hard to find him missing an opportunity. Once the opportunity arises, he takes advantage of it. If we let the opportunity go, we will limit God's work.
More than half of God's will is found in His opportunity. One day when we stand before God, we will see that most of God's will lies in the opportunities He has given us. If we can identify the opportunities, we can identify God's will. This is a very serious matter. Daniel 11:32 says, "The people who know their God will...take action." This means that the people of God will open up new horizons. The more we know God's will, the more we will seize the opportunities. Anyone who hesitates is living in a habitual way. Those who know God will never act in a habitual way.
The brothers from Shanghai must learn to break new ground. It is not good to stop where we are. How many brothers do we need before we can say we have enough? There are not enough. We must go out continually and never stop. Every time we go out we have to have the sense that we have not done enough and that our business is not finished yet. We cannot organize everything in such a sterile way that there is nothing more for us to do. The affairs of the church are endless and always emerging. The first business is never finished before the second emerges. The second matter is never complete before the third appears. It is the principle of Babylon to engage in self-appreciation. Nebuchadnezzar boasted one day: "Is this not Babylon the great, which I have built up as a royal house by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" (Dan. 4:30). He was satisfied with his own work — this is the principle of Babylon. In the church one thing comes after another. Before a person has time to complete a task, a second one is just around the corner. The work is continually expanding and reaching new fields.
I have no other intention than to exhort the brothers and sisters to not miss our special opportunity. There have never been as many wonderful and numerous opportunities as those that we are facing today. If we but open our eyes a little, we will see these opportunities. Let me repeat: We should not miss any opportunity. If we seize every opportunity, we will stop many things from happening. If we grasp every opportunity, distracting situations will not develop in some areas. Diversions developed in some areas because the brothers were lazy and poor. The brothers should be strong to take action. Once God moves, we should move. We should not give up any opportunity.
I am happy that God has given us opportunities. When an opportunity comes, we find money coming as well; souls are saved, and the work advances. If we just afford these opportunities a little opening, they rush in. The problem, however, is that opportunities do not wait for us. When God opens the way for us to do something, we must do it. Once time moves on, the opportunity is gone. If we wait until tomorrow to do something, we will miss the opportunity. It may be useful to talk to a brother today. However, if we wait until tomorrow, it may no longer be useful because the opportunity is gone. We must have spiritual insight, and we must have spiritual senses. We must ask God to preserve each opportunity He has given us.
Recently, I experienced a great change in my feeling. I believe the Lord wants our senses to be sharpened. If we make any mistakes now, we will lose the God-given opportunities, and once these opportunities are gone, we may have to wait a few decades before they will come again. Perhaps I will conclude my words here. But I still want to bring up some practical matters. Once the new believer edification meetings are well established, I believe we should find a way to reach out to the groups that love the Lord and are amicable to us. We should establish fellowship with them and bring them to the church. In the past our emphasis was to gain sinners from among the "Gentiles." Among believers, we only sought to bring in individuals. We were afraid that people would say we were stealing sheep. We were hesitant to go out to them. This was our attitude in the past. Even to this day, we have taken this way. This was what the Lord wanted us to do in the past.
After the second Kuling conference, my feeling began to change. It was not a doctrinal change. Over the past three months, this inward feeling has become stronger and stronger. Today I feel that we must not only gain lovers of the Lord individually but must gain group after group of those who love the Lord. Suppose there is a group of people who love the Lord in a pure way, who are not a mixed denomination. Suppose further that the people there do not know the church and have not taken the same way as us. When the new believer edification meetings are well established, I think the Lord will want us to fellowship with such a spiritual group. Of course, if the new believer edification meetings are not strong, we cannot stand up easily. All the brothers must be mobilized to go out and reach these ones. We did not do this in the past; we must do it now. We must pray much. Everyone must consider before the Lord to see if these feelings will grow within us. On the one hand, we must emphasize the gospel. On the other hand, we must pay attention to the spiritual groups. We will gain not only individuals but entire groups. The responsible brothers in each locality must see if this is what the Lord wants us to do today.
For example, there is the "Family of Jesus" Church. Perhaps the time has come when we should gain them. We can learn something from them. They know more than we do and are more advanced than we are in the matter of possessing all things in common and living the communal life. They can help us. Perhaps, we can help them concerning the truth of the church. This can become a great move of God in China. May God lead us. If this is His opportunity, I hope we do not miss it.
If our goal is to bring all the groups that love the Lord into the same way, there are many other spiritual groups aside from the Family of Jesus. All the brothers and sisters have to rise up to do this. We want to turn them as a group. I am presenting this matter before us today in a simple way. I hope we will spend some quiet time to meditate upon such God-given opportunities. This is the opportunity of opportunities. We do not want to miss it; we want to take advantage of it. We must repent and confess our sins for having missed so many opportunities! We have continually dropped the opportunities which God has given us. If we had not lost so many opportunities, there would be more than one meeting hall and one place for training today. There would be more than one communal farm today. I hope that from now on, no opportunity will escape our feelings and our eyes. If we take the way of opportunities, perhaps we will be able to gain a few more steps along the way.
Watchman NeeShanghai,July 19, 1950
Among the ten virgins in Matthew 25, there are five foolish and five prudent. What is the difference between the prudent and the foolish? They are called by the same name, carry the same lamps, have the same goal, hear the same voice, and rise up the same way. The difference between the prudent and the foolish is that the five prudent virgins have oil in their vessels before the bridegroom arrives. The five foolish virgins do not take oil in their vessels and go to buy when the bridegroom arrives. They obtain oil, but do not have it before the bridegroom comes. The time to buy oil has already passed. It is not a matter of having oil or not, but of when they obtain it. Timing is a great matter. Oh, foolish people are those who miss opportunities. — Selected
On this trip to Sian, we clearly saw God's presence with us. Before the formal start of the conference, there was a fellowship meeting. We went to observe the condition without any intention of doing anything. While we were sitting there, we had an inward feeling to speak something concerning the attitude of the meeting. Just as I was going to get up, Brother Yu got up. He spoke on exactly the same topic — the attitude of coming to the meeting. I was inwardly surprised and joyful beyond description. After Brother Yu finished, I continued the speaking. This was the first time I have had such an experience since becoming a Christian. It gave me great faith for the coming work. Thank and praise God. Glory be to God.
We can say that the problem in the assembly in Sian has been satisfactorily resolved. Today's problem is that there are a few unemployed brothers who cannot find jobs.
Next week we will go to Lanchow. Are there any special matters in the church in Shanghai? Have the wall and small house on the south side been finished? (All the work is finished. — Editor)
Your brothers in the Lord,Yu Cheng-hua, Chu ChenJuly 29
The difficulties in the church in Sian have been completely resolved. All but a very few have turned back in the light of the Word.
There were fellowship meetings for six days this week which began every evening at 7:30. The Lord's Spirit was very strong in these meetings because He wanted to glorify Himself. Many brothers and sisters from other counties came to these meetings to receive the grace. The Lord truly blessed those who sought Him. When our eyes were opened just a little, we could not help but fall on our faces and worship Him in the dust. God is fearsome and awe-inspiring. I dare not say anything here because the way before me is so long. Please pray much for me.
Brother Chao Xu-dong came to Shensi province from Peking on the ninth of this month. God used him to speak faithful words to the brothers and sisters, and they were well able to receive such words. We see that God is arranging everything from all sides to bless His church. We deeply believe that greater blessings lie ahead of us.
Liu Xian-zhiJuly 12, 1950
Mailing Address: 5 Shihaozhuang, Sian, Shensi province
As Sian is a door to the Northwest, may the Lord have a clear way through here so that the gospel work in all of the Northwest would be brought into oneness and would combine forces with the brothers in the coastal regions. There are approximately twenty young brothers and sisters who are all engineering and agricultural graduates of Northwest University. They all have the heart and desire to serve the Lord. May the Lord gain them.
In retrospect, I did not learn many things well last year before the Lord. Nor was I able to read the Bible as often as I had planned. My mind is still too active. However, my feelings toward the Body and toward authority seem to have gradually become weightier. I have personally experienced some of the things I saw in the Word. May the Lord allow me to touch something of resurrection again in my experience and to leave all vain matters behind. I hope you would also remember my poor, weak, blind, and pitiful condition and instruct me much.
Lee Yin-hsinJanuary 2, 1950
The brothers in Lanchow, Pinching, and Tienshui were all blessed by the Lord in the gospel after the new year. The Lord willing, we will go to Meixian (more than three hundred miles west of Changan) to preach the gospel the day after tomorrow.
Lee Yin-xinFebruary 10, 1950
Mailing Address: 23 Garden Road, Lanchow, Kansu province
The gospel conference over Chinese New Year lasted for seven days with ten meetings. Eighty-three people registered to be baptized. Apart from those who needed more time or did not have the time, we actually baptized thirty-seven (one was an aborigine). There is another aborigine who is ready but has not yet been baptized. On the fourteenth through the sixteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, we arranged for three more days of gospel preaching and increased our visits to those friends who had not yet been baptized. As a result, eighteen more registered to be baptized. We have preached the gospel four times since January 1 and saved a total of ninety-two people: fifty-nine brothers and thirty-three sisters. We now feel that God has especially blessed us in the matter of the gospel. Thank Him. However, now we need "edification." Although we have increased our visitation, we still feel that we are not giving them enough guidance. Furthermore, the young brothers and sisters have started school, so "edification" is our desperate need.
Your brothers,Lee Jing-sanKu Zhong-yinTu Xin-xue
Mailing Address: 3 Garden Road, Shuang Cheng Men Wai, Lanchow
We stayed in Meixian for ten days and preached the gospel on three days. Thirty-six brothers and sisters were baptized. The atmosphere of the gospel is very burning, and the brothers are all doing very well. There are now more than ninety people in the meetings, with at least one third who have turned from the denominations (mostly from the China Inland Mission). Christianity has a sixty-year history in Meixian. Some people from the denominations told me that they started using our hymnal and reading The Present Testimony twenty years ago. The responsible brothers now are all their sons and students. We had more than ten edification meetings there, and people came from villages as far as thirty miles away to gladly receive the ministry of the word. This was the Lord's work; man cannot do anything. The responsible brother, Jia Xiu-gi, is a young brother (twenty-nine years old). We recommend him to you for some edification. Please accept him.
We have received four application forms for Kuling from Lanchow. Because we will not return to Sian until the twenty-fourth, we will be a little late in forwarding the applications. It would be best if you could send us a few more forms. I personally would like to attend the fourth session of the training and be edified by it.
Lee Yin-xinFebruary 27, 1950
Mailing Address: 22 North Sichun, Meixian, Shensi province
I received the four copies of Messages for Building Up New Believers which you sent. They were immediately passed on to the four regions of Tsingtao for their use. Because the needs in Jiaoxian, Kaomi, and Pahe were urgent, I gave them two copies. Their condition in the Lord is very good. The Lord has manifested His special doings in Qixiaxian. After the brothers finished working there, they were arrested and taken to Chefoo, but they were later released on bail. All the brothers went to work with a mind to suffer.
Last week 340 were baptized in the church in Tsingtao, and they were filled with the Lord's presence! One woman who had to crawl on her hands and legs was healed! There were also more than twenty who had once tried to commit suicide, but who were called back by the Lord. Once they were saved, they made marvelous improvement. The door for the gospel is really opened.
Chang Tze-jiehJune 24, 1950
The church here has prepared three or four rooms for those who come to Tsingtao to rest. In addition, we have another floor. Is any co-worker willing to come? If anyone wants to come, please tell me, as I hope to be able to meet you in Chinan.
Chang Tze-jiehJuly 11
Mailing Address: 4 Long Shan Road, Tsingtao
The number of those meeting in Peking has increased gradually, and our meeting hall cannot contain everyone. Due to the desperate situation, we intend to tear down our old meeting hall at Kuanjie next spring and build a new, bigger meeting hall that will be able to hold eight hundred to a thousand people. (The new meeting hall has been completed. — Editor)
Recently, many people who are seeking the Lord have been raised up in many places. There are brothers in some places in Hopeh province who have found their way to Peking to fellowship with us. They wanted us to go to them and lead them. The brothers from Ch'ang-ch'un, Manchuria, and other places in the Northeast have also sent several letters imploring us to go there because the brothers are truly hungry and thirsty. Many who seek the Lord in the various denominations have expressed the desire to come to join us.
God has greatly blessed the entire area of Suiyuan, and the meetings increase gradually. The brothers and sisters also are desperate for the Lord, and all the churches zealously preach the gospel. The Lord has really saved many sinners. During the winter season, more than sixty young brothers and sisters met for more than four weeks at Baotou. They received much of the Lord's mercy.
Caleb YenJanuary 23, 1950
Mailing Address: 9 Kuanjie, An Nei, Peking
In Pingliang we preached the gospel four times over the New Year, and only three brothers and one sister were baptized yesterday. Thank God! Brother Wang Zhi-xiao's father was also baptized at this time. There has been very little fruit in the gospel over the past few months. We do not know if it is because we do not do enough visiting or if there is another spiritual reason. Please instruct us and pray for us much.
Your brothers in the Lord,Wang Zhi-xiao, Lian Qi-xiu, You Ling-chuanJanuary 9, 1950
Mailing Address: 61 Fuxing Road, Pingliang, Kansu province
Through the love of the brothers and sisters on the farm, I have been received into the cooperative farm here. My work has been assigned as well. I belong to the group managing the storeroom, and my wife does the work of making clothes. Yue-xu (my child) is learning to be a farmer. With regard to the coordination in the service of the church in Yangshuchiao, I am in the gospel service group and the ushering service group. In the matter of the corporate living, I deeply desire to place myself before the elder brothers and sisters and to live together with them. I ask the Lord not to allow me to fall into error again.
A weak member,Lee Wen-fuJune 25, 1950
Dear brothers! We want to report to you the good news that the meetings in Kweiyang have been resumed. We believe you also will rejoice over this matter. About four or five years ago, there were meetings in the Lord's name at 33 Chaoyao Street, Nan Men Wai, Kweiyang. Later, they were stopped for some unknown reason. Thank the Lord for His grace in bringing a few brothers and sisters here from other places. In order to not grieve the Holy Spirit and to serve Him according to His will, we started home meetings on November 21 of this year, and we began to break bread to remember the Lord on December 4.
We now have gospel meetings or message meetings on the Lord's Day mornings at 10:00 and the Lord's table meeting in the evening. There is a prayer meeting every Tuesday evening and a fellowship meeting every Saturday evening. There are four brothers and three sisters who meet regularly. We meet in a sister's home at 222 Zhong-Hua South Road, Kweiyang. We are few in number, but by the Lord's grace, we firmly believe He is with us. We passed through several months of prayer and waiting until we clearly realized that we should rise up to meet in the Lord's name. We know that we are very young and weak. But we also know the importance of the commission given to us by the Lord and the holiness of His work. We feel that we are very unworthy! Therefore, we are forced to cry out to you and ask you to pray desperately for our meetings and for the Lord's gospel. Through your prayers we will receive mercy so that we may not bring shame to His name!
Your weak members in the Lord,Chen Tieh-mei, Sung Jing-hungDecember 18, 1949
Mailing Address: 222 Zhong-Hua South Road, Kweiyang
The work here in Ninghai consisted of a twenty-day conference for the responsible ones and those who are more advanced in life from all the surrounding localities. We gave them thirty-four of the lessons for the edification of the new believers. We showed them the way of pursuing the Lord individually, the way before the church today, the way of the gospel, and the way of the entire Body coordinating in the service. The Lord opened the eyes of many to see the way, and all were willing to rise up to serve and to leave everything to follow Him. With the exception of a few who had come from the denominations, all consecrated themselves. With regard to the brothers' and sisters' money, we asked them to give it to their respective local churches to be dispensed by each locality. We asked the leading brothers and the local churches they represented to make a statement and a pledge to the co-workers in Hangchow, pledging to place themselves and the churches under the authority of the Head and in the hands of the co-workers, and to follow the footsteps of the flock in the way of recovery. We have already sent a report of the situation and their consecrations to Brother Hsu Da-wei in Hangchow. Presently, all the churches are in coordination. I have asked the elders to wait for the co-workers from Hangchow to come make arrangements. They will temporarily serve God according to their individual leadings. The Lord has placed the fire of revival in the church. All the localities have risen up. I personally am pursuing the outflow of love. I seem to have a vision of a person who is humble and meek, full of love, kindness, and sweetness, who is seeking for the lost ones. This is such a beautiful picture! But I am too far from this picture and can only look to Him for mercy, hoping that one day I will be matured.
Hua Tien-minFebruary 1, 1950
(Brother Hua has already returned to Ch'ang-ch'un. — Editor)
By the Lord's leading, the meetings began here in Bangbu at the beginning of this year. The Lord has continuously added saved ones to our number. As a result of this, the church in Nanking sent someone here, and we held our first baptism meeting on June 4. We had the second baptism meeting on the twenty-third of this month. A total of thirty-four brothers and sisters were baptized into the Lord's name in the two meetings. We began having the Lord's table to remember the Lord on the same day (July 23). We all want to give glory and honor to our Father God and to the Christ on the throne. Amen.
We have just begun and are immature and weak, so we need all the churches to pray for us. May God have a clear way here. May He lead us and keep us until He comes.
From the brothers meeting in the Lord's name in Bangbu,Shu Pei-zhi, Shao Yi-ming, Han Tseng-yuJuly 23, 1950
Mailing Address: 1 Hua-Tung Li, Hua-Sheng Road, Bangbu, Anhwei province
Brother Dao-sheng, Brother Shao-zu, and Sister Bao Xue-jie went to Mongtze to preach the gospel, and a total of more than sixty people were baptized into the Lord in three different meetings. Thank the Lord for saving sinners. The brothers were there for more than two months and have now returned. Brother He Jun-yu of Weixi, who is about thirty years old, has gone to the remote border regions to preach the gospel (he comes from that area), and many people have come to the Lord. We have heard that there are sixteen places with meetings. Sister Yu-rui sent us the letter she sent to you, but we did not have an opportunity to get together with her before we received word on January 25 that she had gone to be with the Lord like the faithful witness Antipas! She was the only co-worker raised up by the Lord here who could speak the Yunnan dialect. Last year when she came to K'un-ming, she really wanted to go to Kuling to be edified, but was too late in returning. Now that she has gone to rest, the Lord's work has suffered a great loss; we are very saddened! The work there will be very difficult from now on!
Andrew ChenFebruary 7, 1950
It is very difficult to spread the work in K'un-ming at this time. The brothers and sisters all seem to have heavy burdens in spirit. The only place with gospel work apart from K'un-ming is Mongtze. But it is very immature and weak. A Tibetan brother, Jiang-Ba-o-se, is responsible for taking the lead there.
I am teaching mathematics at En-Guang Girls' Secondary School. I have nine classes a week plus tutorial lessons. I work for half a day and use the rest of the time for reading the Bible and visiting people. Brother Dao-sheng and I take turns bearing the responsibility for the message at the Thursday night new believers' meeting. Brother Dao-sheng is working for an architect. He has more time than I, and he bears more responsibility for the work of visitation in the church. The elder Brother Chen Ruo-tien bears the responsibility for edification of the believers on the Lord's Day morning and for the work of Bible study. (We are in Romans 8 in our Bible study.)
Your brother in the Lord,Shao-zuMay 31
I have been in K'un-ming for about a year now and really am in debt to the Lord's work. I have discovered two matters in this past year: First, I have not learned enough about preaching the gospel, and I am unable to meet the church's need. Second, my personal growth is too immature, as I have not received enough dealings. I can only beg the Lord for much mercy.
I am now teaching school here and learning to serve God in the church at the same time. This has all been arranged by the elderly brothers; I did not make any choices. The Lord's arrangement is always good. I did not learn enough at Haiguanxiang last year. I really hope to attend the third session of edification meetings at Kuling....I am praying now, and if the Lord wills, I hope to return to Shanghai, attend the third session of training, and then return to K'un-ming. May the Lord have mercy on me, this miserable wretch.
How has the church in Shanghai been recently? I heard that several hundred people migrated to the Kiangsi Province. (Less than one hundred people went. — Editor) Thank the Lord! Who is responsible for the church in Nanchang? (Brother Fan Zhi-guang and others are responsible. — Editor) Did Brother David Hsu go to Nanchang? How have the brothers at Jiao-Tong University been lately? Greet them for me when you see them.
Your little brother in the Lord,Shao-zuJune 5
Mailing Address: 3rd Floor, 312 Jinbi Road, K'un-ming, Yunnan province
Brother Guang-tao is here and is still able to mingle with the brothers in the service. We spend most of the time in physical labor. He washes clothes himself and cleans the house, which seems to be good for him. We feel that we need his portion in many matters.
Your sister,Peace WangJuly 17
The brothers at Kuling have hope for their harvest if there is one more month without a typhoon. Their difficulties in making a living would then be solved. There are not many elderly, weak, or sick ones in the church in Kuling. Most are strong, but without work. There are difficulties in giving aid to them, however: 1) Many are too proud to take it freely. 2) Some are lazy and easily become greedy. We have asked the local responsible brothers to go before the Lord together to find a way. With the exception of those who are sick, we now render help in return for work. We have assigned them to fix up the clinic and the school on the mountain. They have recently volunteered to repair the Ministers' House on Haiguanxiang on the same ground of fellowship. The brothers and sisters living in the Ministers' House had some precious fellowship in the Holy Spirit with brothers living in the neighborhood. Thank God! He has done all things well in this matter!
All of us together are still doing our best to cultivate the fields and raise rabbits, bees, and pigs, but we are far from making ends meet. (Kuling is too remote, and there is not enough area at Haiguanxiang.) The brothers have made several plans but have not been able to carry them out. We plan to plant flowers for honey at Kuling and are preparing to make honey in large quantities in the future.
Your sister,Peace WangJuly 25
Mailing Address: Ministers' House, 14 Haiguanxiang, Foochow
There are many places in northern Kiangsu that only have home meetings. When the brothers went there, they were all prepared to recover the Lord's table. They will recover the other service as the situation allows. They are inwardly burning! More than ten brothers came from northern Kiangsu. They were all responsible brothers in the churches. They stayed in Ningpo for more than twenty days and returned yesterday.
If the Lord allows, we want group after group of them to come to Ningpo to learn to have fellowship with the churches on the one hand, and to lead them according to the measure of strength given by the Lord on the other hand.
We can only confess our sin with regard to the churches in northern Kiangsu and cannot say anything more. We have let down the churches, the co-workers, and all the brothers, sisters, and sinners in northern Kiangsu! Our foolish unfaithfulness has been manifested! We only hope that the Lord would have mercy on us so that He would give us the time to repay this debt. We can now only confess our sins and repent; there is nothing else to do! The Lord, however, is giving grace, and He is using Brother Feng Xian-zhi to minister to a group of seekers of the Lord. His spirit has been very strong in the past year, and he has helped many people there. Praise the Lord! He came to Ningpo recently and returned yesterday.
All the brothers and sisters who bear some responsibility in the church in Nanking are in one accord. Although each has problems with his own disposition, everyone is in one accord for the things of God, and the entire Body has developed such a taste.
The Lord's Day morning messages alternate between gospel messages and edification messages. Many from the denominations come. Some have taken a turn this way and break bread together with us. Every Monday afternoon for half a day, the responsible ones come together to wait on the saints for fellowship. During these times, there are counselings and prayers. After learning the situation and needs of each one, they help them according to their ability. The result has demonstrated God's blessing.
There are many brothers and sisters with a heart for the Lord, but their occupation has become a big problem. Some are jobless, and some want to get out of business and into production. There is no practical way to solve their problems. We do not know how to help them.
Ji Yung-tungJanuary 23, 1950
Mailing Address: Hsin 26 Citanxiang, Zhongshan East Road, Nanking
After leaving Shanghai and returning to Hunan, I visited the brothers and sisters in Xiangtan and Yiyang. I also went to Wuhan and preached the gospel with the brothers and sisters there. I formally began to stay in C'hang-sha in October of last year. The Lord arranged a teaching job for me, and I have been learning how to serve Him with the brothers and sisters.
There have never been many brothers and sisters in the church in C'hang-sha. The condition of the meetings has been lifted up during this year, and there is the inward supply. As everyone felt the inward need, we began to formally break bread in remembrance of the Lord on March 12 of this year. There are about ten people who come to break bread.
I was really burning when I first returned to the inland region. My entire heart was filled with the desire to serve the Lord. At the beginning the Lord really had mercy on me, but later I saw that I could not make it....Thank the Lord for giving me some deeper dealings.
I hope to learn some Greek during my vacation and spend more time studying the Bible while I am still young. I do not know if this is what the Lord wants. Please pray for me concerning this matter.
Your little brother in the Lord,Chang FangzhengJune 4
Mailing Address: 1 Xundao Street, C'hang-sha, Hunan province
After my older brother, Lie-shan, left this earth, my sister-in-law remained in Hangchow for three years before returning to her hometown. Our family is very poor and does not produce anything. We depend on manual labor to make a living. My sister-in-law was very thankful to receive our occasional help. She became ill with a tumor in her nose and left this earth last June! My brother had three daughters who are all grown and married. He had one son named Xiang-xin who is eighteen years old. Last semester he graduated from junior high school, and he wanted to attend high school this coming semester, but he was unable financially.
My brother Lie-shan was the eldest child in the family, and I am the fourth son. Since graduating from the Gospel Hospital in 1924, I have been working in the neighboring countryside of Junlingzhen as a doctor to make a living. I have had some ability to support my nephew in his studies after graduation from junior high school. This has really been the Lord's great grace, and I thank and praise Him for it.
Because my nephew will not be able to go to high school next semester, he has become mentally ill. For the last two months he has hardly eaten or drunk, and he has become physically weak. Although he has taken medicine, received shots, been exhorted with kind words, and been the subject of many prayers, nothing seems to work. His future is very precarious, and I am very worried. I hope that you pray that he will be healed soon, lest something terrible happen to him.
Your brother in the Lord,Tseng Chi-zhongNovember 27, 1949
Mailing Address: Jien Min Hospital, Junlingzhen, Huichang County, Kiangsi province
Our meetings began in 1935. During the Sino-Japanese War, most of the brothers and sisters left for Hunan, Hupeh, Kweichow, Kwangsi, and Kiangsi provinces. They worked and preached the gospel at the same time. After the war, we began to return from Hunan, Hupeh, Kiangsi, and other places to our original localities.
In August 1948, we began praying and preaching the gospel in different brothers' homes every Lord's Day. By the Lord's arrangement, we built a three-room tiled house in the winter of 1948 and began regular meetings. We established the Lord's table and had a baptism meeting on February 5 of this year. There were thirty-one people breaking bread to remember the Lord. Every Lord's Day we preach the gospel, edify the believers, fellowship, and break bread in four different meetings. There is a sisters' meeting and a prayer meeting on Thursday and Saturday.
Our reason for writing this letter is to have the fellowship in life with the churches in other localities and to ask the brothers and sisters to remember to pray for this young and weak church.
Yu Yien-chuan, Shao Bao-xin, Chen De-huiMay 21, 1950
Mailing Address: c/o Gao Chiao Post Office Box, Fu Yang, Chekiang
After I returned to Hankow, I consulted with Brother Liu Ai-wu by letter and made preparations to safely return the children who could be returned to their own homes in Hankow. He answered that there was no one who would be coming soon, and they could not send someone just for this purpose. Therefore, I can only wait. Life in the orphanage goes on as usual. There is enough food to last for the summer. Once there is someone to supervise the children, we will begin bringing groups of them to Hankow.
Brother Zhu Si-jin of southern Shantung province had tuberculosis for a long time and passed away on the sixth of this month! His widow and orphaned children are all at Chili. Fortunately, their uncle has a stationery store in Chili where he also does some farming. The brothers in Chili are all very poor. A certain brother and his family do not have the strength to hoe and have no way to make a living. What can we do?
Lan Tsi-yiJune 26, 1950
Mailing Address: 59 Xiao Dung Jia Alley 1, Hankow
(The Hebron Orphanage is in the remote locality of Chili, Hunan. There is a limit to what can be produced, and they cannot expand, so it must close its operations. According to the latest news, the children have already begun coming in groups to Hankow. Brother Lan Tsi-yi has already moved to Hankow for the gospel work. — Editor)
While I was staying in Zhenjiang, I received a letter from the brothers in Huaian in northern Kiangsu province, saying that they had several brothers with a heart to serve the Lord. They invited me to visit and give them instruction concerning the way to serve the Lord and the kind of responsibility they should bear. I mentioned their request to Brother Ji and elderly Brother Wu, and they also felt that I should see the situation of the brothers in northern Kiangsu. Therefore, I went to Kiangsu on July 2. When I arrived in Huaian, there were some brothers and sisters waiting for me.
God arranged all the circumstances, and the brothers in Huaian gathered all the brothers who had a heart and who were already bearing responsibility in the localities around Huaian. In the conference the brothers and sisters were stirred up to consecrate themselves to the Lord and to learn to serve. I will probably be able to return to Chenchiang on or around July 20.
Chiu Ri-jienJuly 16
Mailing Address: 31 Sifu Street, Zhenjiang, Kiangsu
The brothers and sisters who migrated to Nanchang have all been well, and the Lord has really graced us.
Our meetings are free, and people get saved when we preach the gospel. More than ten have been saved this year, and many lost sheep have been brought home to rest. The rented meeting hall can seat only about ninety people; it cannot accommodate everyone. We are praying daily for a house.
It has been very difficult to find jobs for the brothers. But we are going on positively to find a solution. Our car's engine is being changed to a charcoal-burning engine, and we hope it can be finished soon. (It has been finished. — Editor) Our finances are very tight, but the Lord always gets us through the difficult situations. (According to the most recent news, many of these difficulties have already passed. — Editor)
Fan Chih-kuangJune 28, 1950
Mailing Address: 13 Loboshi, Nanchang
You have no way of knowing our situation because communication is so difficult. We would like to tell you how the Lord has progressively led us.
We resumed meetings in July and August of 1948. At that time, Brother Rao Jun-ren and Brother Huang Deh-en from Nanchang and Brother Hsu Xu-guo from Nanking were all here. A newly saved brother, Wei Yan-bin, who was bearing responsibility with them, was also with them. (Brother Wei returned to Shanghai long ago.) By the Lord's arrangement we borrowed a hall at 15 He-Dong Road because of the needs of our meetings. Beginning in July, we began paying rent. Although the rent is not much, it makes our ground more solid. By the Lord's grace, we are learning to serve Him step by step and have been continually kept in His grace. Although we are in an isolated spot, the Lord has helped us to learn to trust Him.
The number in the meetings here varies according to the season and the environment. At the most we have around fifty or sixty, and at a minimum we have more than ten. The number of those who regularly attend the meetings is around thirty or forty. (There are about ten men and twenty women.) Five brothers and sisters were baptized on June 11.
In the beginning we only had meetings on the Lord's Day, but later we added the prayer service. Presently, we have four meetings a week: a message meeting on the Lord's Day morning at 9:00 (we preach the gospel on the first Lord's Day of every month), the Lord's table meeting at 11:00, a fellowship and Bible study meeting on Wednesday at Brother Hsu's home, and a prayer and Bible study meeting on Saturday.
We have a children's meeting every Lord's Day afternoon. There are almost one hundred children. Three young sisters bear the responsibility for this meeting.
We really need the supply for the children's meeting and the edification of a new believers' meeting. Please remember us much before the Lord.
The brothers in Guling,Xiong Cheng-en, Yu Xin-liang, Hsu Xu-guoJuly 28
Mailing Address: Wenhua House, Hsin 121 Bo-shu Road, Guling, Jiujiang
We recently read Brother Kuo Ben-biao's letter from Hankow. He met a certain Brother Ma Cheng-yen of Shanghai in Hankow who had gone to Chungking as a pioneer for groups migrating to Szechuan. According to his letter, two hundred thirty brothers and sisters in Shanghai have signed up for migration for the gospel. We were overjoyed when we heard this news. We saw that there is not only the need in the remote places but also the response in the coastal centers. Therefore, we feel that we should bring our pressing needs to your attention at this time.
When we left Shanghai last spring, we remembered that Brother Witness Lee said in a meeting something to the effect that our returning to Szechuan might be for later migrations. We did not have such foresight then, but we really do have a heavy burden for the work in Szechuan.
We have been here for more than a year and have written to tell you about the condition of our gospel work. We already have begun the meetings. We have seen the Lord's support and blessing amidst all our weakness, immaturity, and pitifulness. We have given Brother Hsu Jung-jieh in Chungking detailed reports of the situation in Wanxian and have asked him frequently for advice. We recently received a letter from Brother Hsu saying that if the Lord allows, Sister Sia Xiu-lian may come to Wanxian to visit us.
We held our first baptism meeting last Lord's Day (June 18) and baptized a total of twenty-one brothers and sisters. The Lord was really with us. Thank the Lord!
With regard to brothers and sisters from Shanghai migrating to Wanxian, we have found a place that can accommodate from twenty to one hundred people. When the brothers arrive, there will be no problem finding them a place to stay. Regarding the problem of the brothers' occupations after coming to Wanxian, we have made the following preliminary investigations: 1) Farming. We have asked if fields would be available after the harvest next fall. If the brothers coming to Wanxian want to farm unused land, they will not be able to make a living, because there is not much unused land, and what there is is too difficult to till. If the brothers decide to farm here, we will do our best to find a way and tell you in another letter. 2) Industrial production would be easier to carry out. There is a very good building not far from the city that can hold over a hundred people. It is excellent for a factory. If the brothers can bring some means of production, and if they are able to engage in such work, this place can be a good production base for Wanxian. This is merely a suggestion. With regard to the details of the matter, you will need to make decisions about how many brothers and sisters are coming to Wanxian and what kind of product would be produced. If you have any questions, please write us, and we will carry out your instructions and decisions. This letter is merely to give you an introduction to our needs and the situation here for your consideration and decision. In conclusion, we are issuing a repeated call, and we ask that you not ignore it. In any event, you must remember this lonely, weak, and pitiful flock of sheep in a remote mountain corner. Finally, we ask that you answer our letter, lest we worry! Oh, we rejoice so much when we receive a letter, a magazine, or a book from the brothers!
Chen Fa-guang, Chen Liu Shi-fengJune 23, 1950
Mailing Address: 120 Huan Cheng Road, Wanxian, Szechuan
HISTORY: In the spring of 1949, Brother Chen Fa-guang and his wife returned from Shanghai to Szechuan after the church laid hands on them and prayed. They brought the fire of the gospel with them and scattered the seeds of the gospel all over Wanxian. After approximately one year of preaching the gospel once a week on the street corners and in buildings, the number of those who had signed their names as believers had reached more than three hundred. Beginning the third day of the Chinese New Year, gospel meetings were held every day for seven days, and fruit was gained officially. Thirty to forty people were raised up at once. A regular meeting place was found through the Lord's marvelous arrangement, and meetings officially began.
MEETING HALL ADDRESS: 274 Huan Cheng Road, Wanxian (Brother Lee Guang-min's house). It is in a good location.
CAPACITY: The room at the back can accommodate eighty or ninety people. The front room can also be used. In total there is capacity for more than one hundred people with appropriate ventilation and light.
CURRENT MEETINGS: Wednesday Prayer Meeting, Saturday Fellowship Meeting, Lord's Day Gospel Meetings
NUMBER IN THE MEETINGS: Usually around forty or fifty.
NUMBER BAPTIZED: The first baptism meeting was held outside the city on June 18, and twenty-one brothers and sisters were baptized.
THE LORD'S TABLE: We have not officially started breaking bread together.
NEARBY CHURCHES: Chungking is upstream. Hankow is downstream.
OTHER DENOMINATIONAL CHURCHES: Episcopalian Church (including China Inland Mission), Gospel Church, Lutheran Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Catholic Church.
LOCATION OF WANXIAN: Wanxian is located on the north bank of the Yangtze River in the eastern region of Szechuan province. It is the largest city in eastern Szechuan and is one of Szechuan's three largest cities: Ch'eng-tu, Chungking, and Wanxian. It is a large port for river traffic on the Yangtze and is the unloading point for goods destined for eastern Szechuan and western Hupeh. Szechuan province covers a large area, and if eastern Szechuan were a separate province, it would be larger than Chekiang province. For this reason, Wanxian can be considered the center of eastern Szechuan for the sake of the gospel.
POPULATION OF WANXIAN: The entire county has a population of 800,000, and 200,000 of them live in the city of Wanxian.
COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION: River Traffic: It takes two days traveling upstream to reach Chungking and one day traveling downstream to reach Yichang. Passing steamers regularly make stops here. Land Traffic: The Wanxian-Chungking Highway passes through Liangshan, Dazhu, and Daxian. An express bus can reach it in one day. The Wan-Kai (County) Highway is not open yet.
PRODUCTION: This area produces rice, tung-oil, hog's bristles, cow and sheep skins, tangerines, and oranges, but tung-oil is the largest industry. Presently, there is a large spinning factory and three small flour factories. The rest are all small industries. (For example: rice husking, machine repairs, tanning leather, and dying cloth.)
Brother Zuo-xin and I have received some light; we are serving God in one accord with Brother Xun-tian and Brother Xi-nian, and there is not the slightest problem among us. The more we go on, the clearer the way becomes. The church in Ch'ang-ch'un has been blessed by the Lord more than we could ask or think. There have been a total of four weeks of message meetings with two breaks for days of prayer. The Lord's own word came upon us and resolved all kinds of problems. We saw some matters in the Word for the first time. Today is a great day because God is coming forth! He establishes what is of Himself, and He tears down what is not of Himself. He did not allow us to continue serving Him in the flesh. The day in which God speaks is the day in which His light shines. We can only worship Him and give ourselves more to Him while waiting for His cleansing. I am in more fear and trembling. We have such a great responsibility because we hold the spiritual future of so many brothers and sisters who are pursuing the Lord in our hands! I am so poor and weak in myself! After returning, I have had a time of prayer and spiritual pursuit with the brothers every morning. On the one hand, I desire to be an unwavering and uncompromising person for the sake of the Lord's truth. But on the other hand, I want to pour myself out in loving the brothers. I want to be faithful, but I do not want to hurt others.
I deeply feel that all work begins from our service before the Lord. Once we meet the Lord we have the way, and once we meet Him we have the truth. Our plans are not the way, and our doctrines are not the truth. Indeed we do not move in ourselves, we can only move when He moves. I do not know how many tears I have shed while I have been looking to Him. We cannot make any more mistakes in the spiritual work in Manchuria. If we make another mistake, we may not have another opportunity to serve for the rest of our lives! Therefore, I am bringing my scars to the brothers. We wait on Him in fear and trembling concerning all matters. Hymn #188 has become our prayer for this fresh start.
Concerning the principle of Antioch, I have recently felt that Barnabas and Saul were sent out and the brothers commended Paul and Silas to the grace of God. The apostles were the sent ones of the church, so there should be a sending church, and they should go forth in the spirit of oneness. I really say "amen" to having no workers in the central church because the workers are always sent out and commended to the Lord's grace. The spiritual center chosen by God is the center of God's work, and the apostles are sent out in a spirit of oneness. I really feel that the Lord has prepared Ch'ang-ch'un in Manchuria. Therefore, the work in Manchuria as well as the work in Ch'ang-ch'un should proceed according to this principle. If it does not, there will not be much blessing or protection. This has been my main consideration, and I dare not be relaxed in this matter.
With regard to my occupation, chicken farming takes up too much of my time, and other occupations require too much thought. I want a job that does not require much thought. I want a change in occupation, one that exercises my physical body instead. There is a brother in Harbin who owns a bakery. I plan to go there for two or three months to learn how to make bread on the one hand and to serve the brothers and sisters on the other hand. Perhaps I will start a bakery in the future. Do you think it will be practical? I have already fellowshipped with the brothers, and everyone is seeking the Lord. Brother Zuo-xin also plans to go to Ch'ang-ch'un. In the ministry of the word, Brother Xi-nian is very strong. Brother Wang Xing-yu is bearing some responsibility for the edification of the new ones. There are a few brothers who are able to serve in the ministry of the word. This conference really showed us the right way, and the preaching of our gospel is with more zeal now. Since I left Ch'ang-ch'un, the brothers are better able to carry out their functions.
Your little brother in the Lord,Hua Tien-minJuly 17, 1950
There are many matters related to the work in Manchuria, and we are waiting for your instructions and arrangement. We hope that you will come to Manchuria soon because there are some matters in which we cannot proceed with full assurance. In the Lord's work, I think that there must be a few praying in one accord before something spiritual can be realized. A small number of people have to wrestle in prayer, bring about some changes through prayer, and touch the things that the Lord wants to tear down and the things that He wants to establish, before they can say that they are co-laboring with Him. One must serve in prayer before he can serve in the ministry of the word. What a small number of people touch will spread to the many. If a small number purge themselves of all judgments, views, or decisions, and if they come before the Lord as empty vessels for Him to speak to, work on, and judge, there will not be any problems in the Lord's manifesting Himself. The Lord is desperate. The key matter is whether or not we will let Him come out. What the Lord wants to tear down in many must first be torn down in a few. What the Lord wants to judge in many must first be judged in a few. The service of the co-workers and the elders depends on this. If a few are willing to pursue the Lord, setting themselves aside to meet the Lord, we will know that everything is Christ. Authority, work, and position all belong to Christ. We are empty; we are nothing.
There are still problems in the service in Manchuria. When everyone comes before the Lord, there is still the lack of one accord. This is related to our background. When I was in Shanghai, I planned to fellowship openly with you, but I did not have the opportunity because the Lord's time had not yet come. It is very difficult to get through these matters without discussing them, and they are creating endless problems. In my private prayer, I beg the Lord to tear down all that is of our flesh and human opinion, and to establish what is of Himself. I am no longer silent, but am learning to stand firm with the Lord. I also deeply desire that I would have a right spirit, free from individual feelings, in opening the situation in Manchuria to you. Indeed, the service of some has posed a real problem. These are truly days for the Lord to cleanse His church. He will not let our flesh go. We are waiting for reminders in fear and trembling. We want to repent while it is still today, lest we bring our mistakes to the judgment seat. I really do not want to pay attention to my slight pain. I only want to receive the cleansing judgment. If you cannot come to Manchuria soon, could I make a trip to Shanghai to receive your instructions? If I cannot do this, some matters will be left untouched, and the church will suffer real spiritual losses.
For many years, Brother Xun-tian and Brother Xi-nian have given up their money and time with sweat and blood for the Lord's testimony in Manchuria. During the Japanese occupation, they were put in jail for several months for the Lord's testimony, but they never renounced the Lord. They paid a price for the Lord's business in Ch'ang-ch'un. I deeply feel that we cannot ignore what they see before the Lord, so I hope you will fellowship with them.
With regard to the matter of the brothers' occupation in Ch'ang-ch'un, there is an oil factory (mechanically producing soy oil) that is completely run by the brothers. There is a newly established textile factory, but it is very small. Last year Brother Xun-tian started the Canaan Soy Sauce Factory, and the Lord has greatly blessed it. Recently, a large soy sauce factory was put up for sale. The lot is very large, and it can employ thirty to forty people. It will require a capital investment of seven hundred to eight hundred million yen. The brothers in Ch'ang-ch'un may be able to put the money together, and it will be managed by the Canaan Soy Sauce Factory. These brothers are all consecrated and have the heart to strive for the Lord's work. In this way, the brothers' occupations will be resolved.
Your little brother in the Lord,Hua Tien-minAugust 20, 1950
Mailing Address: 9 Tongxun Alley, West 4 Road, Ch'ang-ch'un
We, the meeting at Huangtze Town, have never belonged to any denomination, nor do we have much fellowship with brothers and sisters of other groups. Therefore, our spiritual life is very immature. Thank God for having mercy on us, His ignorant sheep, and for constantly giving us grace. We began to have His table in April of this year with a total of fifty-five people breaking bread together. Praise the Lord! Another thirteen brothers and sisters were baptized into the Lord recently...
Wu Huan-deh, Shen Jien-dingAugust
When I heard that the brothers and sisters in China were in a condition of serious poverty, my heart suffered greatly. The wisdom, skill, and money of the brothers and sisters from each locality should be combined to find ways for everybody to survive by establishing small industries. Those with skills should teach others. It would be good if classes to train people in the trades could be set up in a number of places. They could teach weaving, dying, chemistry, pharmacology, and even short-term training in medicine. Perhaps the training at Kuling could have a class in trade skills. I really hope this could happen.
I am praying about my future on the one hand and offering myself into the hands of the co-workers on the other hand. I am willing to submit to the decision of the co-workers concerning the aspect of the work that is most appropriate for me in order to serve God. I hope you will give me some directions.
May the Lord be with you, brothers!Stephen KaungFebruary 9
(Brother Kaung is in the process of applying to return to China. We hope we will be able to publish the fourth issue of The Gospel when he arrives in Shanghai. — Editor)
Although I have not written for a long time, I long for you in my heart and remember you often in my prayers. I have heard that the work of the gospel in China has been blessed by the Lord and that the number of saved ones has increased greatly. I really thank the Lord! I hope Brother Witness Lee will be able to come here soon to work. The application for entry into the Philippines is very strict, and it requires much prayer. May God have mercy on us believers here.
We really thank the Lord that Brother Stephen Kaung and his wife have come here. Brother Kaung helped the young brothers and sisters very much. It is now summer vacation, and he leads the young people in studying the Bible for one hour every morning. This is a great benefit to the young brothers and sisters.
Your sister in the Lord,Lin Xue Yu-giangApril 16, 1950
Mailing Address: Mrs. Lin Yu-giang, 737 Reina Regente Street, Manila, P.I.
The church now has a home prayer meeting in the Tong-Ren Hospital every Saturday evening at 7:30 in addition to the prayer meeting at 10:00 on the Lord's Day morning. There are no other meetings. Since I came here, the brothers and sisters want me to take the opportunity to preach at the time of the prayer meeting. I just stand in my position as a brother and gradually speak what I have seen of the truth every Saturday and Lord's Day. The number in the meetings has increased from three to more than twenty. Two have signed up to be baptized. We are now looking to the Lord to see how He will work. We dare not run in front of Him, but only want to follow Him so that His will may be carried out. I deeply know that I am weak and cannot bear much. For the Lord's sake, please lead and instruct me so that I would not veer to the right or the left, but may be able to go on the straight way.
A weak member in the Lord,Wu Chiu-jiangOctober 31, 1949
Mailing Address: 279 Chang Fang Bridge, opposite the Central Post Office at Suriwong Road intersection, Bangkok, Thailand
Brother Faithful Luk recently came from Singapore through India to Ceylon and stayed for three weeks. He labored diligently among the brothers and sisters, especially among the Chinese brothers and sisters. We were all greatly helped. Several men and women believed and were baptized as a result of his work. It really is a cause for rejoicing. Yesterday, Brother Luk took the Swiss ship Sumatra back to Singapore. Although we did not want him to leave us, his move was completely of God, and we dared not interfere.
Hsu Yun-tingJune 28, 1950
Mailing Address: 109 Chatham Street, Colombo, Ceylon
I have wanted to write about how God led us to migrate from Chekiang to Kiangsi and something of what we learned before Him, in order to have fellowship with the brothers and sisters in the Lord, but I have not dared to write lightly. I only now dare to write a little bit.
In the summer of 1948, there were sudden, terrible landslides into the river in the region of Nansha, Xiaoshan in Chekiang province (including the localities of Jiazaowan, Shi-Er-Dai, Dangshanwan, Meilinwan, Sinwan, Toupeng, and Sanchadai. This is the region along the river in Nansha.) The areas worst hit were Shi-Er-Dai and Dangshanwan. In less than two months several thousand Chinese acres of land slid into the river. The homes of the brothers living on this land were carried away to the east. Some of these brothers had no place to live, and some were willing to submit to the authority of the church and wait for the church's arrangement. They dared not loosely seek their own way. With the exception of a small number who moved away, the rest were temporarily placed by the church in homes of the brothers whose houses had not slid into the river. At that time, it seemed outwardly that the church had met with a great difficulty, but this was really the beginning of God's move to carry out His plan.
One afternoon, I was talking with a brother when he suddenly said, "Let us move to Kiangsi." From that day God began to operate in us for His work because we were inexplicably caught by this idea. At first we did not want to tell anyone about this matter because we thought it was impossible. We thought it was nothing more than something we had talked and thought about. Later, we privately told a few brothers who pursued the Lord and who had learned lessons in the service about this constant inward burden. Who would have thought that once we mentioned it, they would receive the burden also? In this way, it spread from one to another until many brothers knew about this matter. Nevertheless, we dared not speak about it publicly because we were afraid of going contrary to God's will, not to mention that this was a very difficult proposition. However, the outward difficulties could not suppress the inward burden, and because we did not have the confirmation from the Word, we dared not hold on to the inward burden.
We were caught in a dilemma of not knowing what to do. During that time Brother Witness Lee held a ten-day conference in Hangchow (October 25 to November 3, 1948). We brought up this matter during one of the discussion meetings one day. Praise the Lord. Through the mouth of His apostle, the Lord publicly announced the message about migration for the gospel in the conference. Brother Lee also told us how the brothers in Chefoo had met with great suffering because they migrated too late. He told us clearly that the church had not progressed because a group of old Christians were unwilling to leave. They were occupying the place of others. As a result, for many years it was hard for newly saved ones to be added to the church. Today if God's children are willing to leave their homes at all cost, God will immediately raise up a group of saved ones to fill the empty seats. The ones who go out will be able to raise up another group of people as well, so the church will be raised up everywhere, and God's will can be accomplished everywhere. God's requirement today is that His children go out. If the brothers from Shi-Er-Dai leave, perhaps the land will stop sliding into the river. (This word came to pass later.) Therefore, leave quickly! Brother Lee confirmed this word with the verse: "Go [migrate] into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation" (Mark 16:15)....At this point, we could only believe, submit, and worship. We quickly made a long-distance phone call to the brothers in Shi-Er-Dai to tell them that migration was God's requirement. We asked them to wait in peace before God. (At that time the river banks were sliding terribly, and brothers' houses were dropping off one by one.) Praise the Lord! He prevailed in this step.
After the conference we hurried home and told the brothers the details of the message God had preached through His apostle. We also asked them to pray much for God to accomplish His desire. After awhile, we had them sign up to migrate on one Lord's Day afternoon. Praise the Lord! About twenty brothers (representing their families) signed up. The work of migration formally started that day. We felt that the first step should be to go to Kiangsi to see the situation, just as Moses sent twelve spies to spy out the land when the Israelites were about to enter Canaan (Num. 13:1-20). I invited five brothers to go with me. On the trip we paid attention to the hand of God to see if He would confirm His will for us to migrate to Kiangsi. We stayed in Brother Fan Chi-hung's home in Guali for the first night. (Brother Fan was one of the brothers who went along.) We prepared to get up at 11:00 in the night to hire a boat to take us to Xiaoshan to catch the early train. Before we slept, we prayed that the Lord would make us watchful so as to not waste His time. As we wakened from our sleep and were lying quietly in bed, we suddenly heard a clock clearly striking 11:00. We hurriedly got out of bed and dressed. Just as we were going out the door, we looked at the clock on the wall and were surprised to see that it had stopped at 9:00 at night. We marveled and rejoiced. Although the clock did not work, God did not sleep. Oh! He kept us from napping by day and sleeping at night. We could only fall down and worship Him.
The boat arrived in Xiaoshan around 5:00 in the morning. We walked to the train station and saw many passengers sleeping there. We walked into the station and lined up at the ticket window. Soon the sleeping people woke up and were fighting for places in line after us; more and more people came to buy tickets, and the place was soon very crowded. When the time for ticket sales came, we saw a notice on the ticket window, saying, "Only ten tickets will be sold for today's train, half for soldiers and half for citizens." Oh! That was just the number we needed, not too many or too few. We heard many of the people behind us berating themselves for not being watchful, having spent the night in vain. We could only prostrate ourselves and worship the Lord in our spirit!
We arrived safely at the Yiyang Train Station on the second morning. We walked for fifteen miles from the station to the Yangshuchiao Faith Cooperative Farm. (Brother Fan bought the land and cultivated it in 1942.) As we walked, we noticed that there are hills and mountains everywhere: the countryside is not flat like that of Chekiang. Villages are scattered among mountain ridges, and it is difficult to know where towns are unless one sees smoke from their fires. On the following day, we went out to see the fields on the neighboring hillsides. There are cultivated places and unfarmed land. The soil is yellow and sandy. It is much inferior to the soil in Chekiang, and we could imagine what the harvest would be like. We walked through several villages, and as we saw their broken down, neglected condition, it was as if buckets of cold water were quenching the ardor which was in us. We began to worry how we would make a living in this kind of place. Would we be in the same pitiful condition as the natives after being here for a few years? The brothers and sisters would never be able to stand this kind of hardship....Our faith was so oppressed by the physical environment that it was difficult to stand firm. But in our deepest part, we felt that this kind of thought was from the enemy and that we should not allow it to have a place. A fierce struggle began in our hearts.
When I arose on the morning of the third day, I saw a copy of Streams in the Desert on the table. I picked it up and opened it to one page. The main point was that God is like a locomotive. He is fully able to move all His children, but they must have the hook of faith to connect them to the locomotive....After reading this, God grasped me again. I saw the light inwardly and was moved to confess my weakness and lack of faith before God and to ask Him for mercy. Thank the Lord, my inner boldness was immediately rekindled. I originally planned to return home dejectedly that day, but decided to stay for one more day. We then went to another place — Zhaobintian. The fields there are much better than those at Yangshuchiao. There is also a Christian in the denominations there (he is already in fellowship with us now) who warmly welcomed us. Praise the Lord that we did not go in vain that day. We felt that our mission had been accomplished.
We began our trip home the following day. We gathered the brothers and sisters who had signed up and told them everything that had happened. After listening, some became weak, while others became strong because they knew that this would be the way of suffering. At the same time God gave us a clear test because the landslides into the river had stopped within two weeks. Therefore, some became even weaker, but others became even stronger. We passed through three trials between the time everyone registered and the time we actually migrated. As a result, twenty-one households actually migrated, with a total of ninety-one people including children. (But we dare not say that all were those who had passed through trials.) The third step we took — since we have started counting the steps, the first step being the registration to migrate and the second step being the scouting out of the place — was to require all those migrating to fill out an announcement of their desire to migrate and to make a list of the possessions they were consecrating. They also had to first pass through consecration (the consecration of Romans 12). Based on their lists, we decided which ones would bear the responsibility for selling the possessions. About sixty to seventy percent of the possessions were sold within a month.
As the time to migrate came closer, things became more and more tense. The situation was pressing us to leave quickly. We did our best to consolidate our possessions on the one hand, and we asked the brothers to go to Xiaoshan to make arrangements for a train on the other hand, so that we would not have to make last-minute arrangements. The week before we left, we were busy packing our personal luggage and the things to take. When we finished packing, we gathered all the people and their belongings at the meeting hall (in Shi-Er-Dai) to wait for our departure. We also had a departure meeting for one day to serve as our spiritual food for the way. We left on the sixteenth day of the eleventh month of the lunar calendar. In the morning everyone fasted and prayed, asking the Lord to give us the inward and outward strength we would need along the way and to lead us as we began to go in the way before us. Everyone's heart was filled with anxiety. Perhaps, we were like the Israelites as they left Egypt. After praying, we took a picture of those migrating. The brothers and sisters and their friends and relatives all crowded into the meeting hall to say good-by to each other. Everyone's heart was filled with a mixture of joy and sadness. We were sad to be leaving our friends and relatives and could not help but feel privately depressed. We were happy that we were doing God's will and were giving Him a way to go on. We believed that what we were giving up would become our reward in the future. As we thought of this, we became joyful again. We ate lunch early because we wanted to leave early. The church held a love feast for us to say good-by. Although the food was delicious, we had no heart to enjoy it. After lunch we went to the river's edge and boarded the boat. The banks on both sides of the river were filled with those sending us off. As we boarded the boat, we could not hold back the tears from our eyes. After we boarded the boat, I thanked those sending us off on behalf of the entire group and added a parting word of the gospel to those who had not yet believed in the Lord. After I finished speaking, the boat set sail, and a band began playing. We then said good-by to our hometown.
The boat sailed twenty miles to Dangshan. We planned to spend the night in the meeting hall there. After dinner, there was a night meeting. We had just gone to bed when a brother suddenly came from Shi-Er-Dai to tell us that there had been a phone call from Xiaoshan and the train was ready, so we had to start quickly. During the meeting on the evening of the fifteenth, we had received a call from Xiaoshan telling us that the train was broken down and had not come into the station. They told us not to leave yet. We felt that we should not wait any longer and that we could not look at our circumstances, so we left as planned. In our meeting at Dangshan, we had prayed desperately that God would prepare a train for us. Who would have guessed that before we had finished sleeping, a brother would come to quickly report the good news? We gathered together to praise God in surprise and joy. We quickly got up and went to the port. We got on the river boat and traveled by night to Xiaoshan. In the middle of that quiet night, there were songs of praise and shouts of joy issuing from the boat which broke the stillness of the night and startled many people sleeping in their warm homes.
The boat arrived in Xiaoshan on the morning of the seventeenth. We learned that the train had still not come into the station, and we took the opportunity to put on our gospel robes and hold a gospel parade through the streets with the band leading us. We spent that night in Xiaoshan. God prepared a chance for us to rest.
On the eighteenth (Saturday) we learned that the train had come into the station, so we gathered our baggage and went as a group to the station. Although there were women and children, we went in good order. Outwardly we looked like refugees, but we kept order like soldiers, which surprised those around us. After we arrived at the station, we sat and rested for a short while and then boarded our carriages. (We had two fifteen-ton, roofed railway coaches, one for baggage and one for passengers.) After loading, we waited to be hooked up. We were surprised to find that the trains coming from Hangchow were already filled to capacity. It is difficult to add on carriages at Xiaoshan unless it is for special military use. So we waited from morning to afternoon and from day until night. One train after another after another....Our carriages never moved an inch. Eighty or ninety people were crammed into one carriage like sardines. It began pouring rain in the night, and the roof of the carriage needed repairing. It leaked terribly, but there was no place to escape from the rain, and we were unable to sleep. The most difficult problem to deal with was the group of children who cried and screamed. We made it to dawn with great difficulty. On the second day, we went to the station master to request that he find a way to attach us to an engine, but every time a train came, the conductor disappointed us. Even though the trains were pulling so many carriagess, they were all filled to the brim with passengers. Even the tops of the carriages were crammed with people. They did not care about the rain, they just held on to the tops for dear life. The station master always answered us with a disappointed tone of voice. Finally, he would not even consider our request and just told us that it was impossible! He told us not to bother him anymore! Finally, he moved our carriagess from the first track to the second track, then to the third track, and then to the track for unused cars where we were left unattended.
The weather was still cloudy and rainy. It was stuffy being crammed inside the carriage, but when we left the carriage it was cold. We had not eaten or slept well. We went on this way day after day until the morning of the fourth day, when I saw that the faces of the brothers and sisters were pale and wan. Some were vomiting; others were dizzy. It was especially difficult for the sisters. One of my daughters was very sick; her breath was short, and her eyesight was hazy. I was even more worried for the two pregnant sisters who were close to their delivery dates. All these difficulties overshadowed us like thick clouds, and there was still no hope of a train. At this time it really seemed as if darkness had surrounded us, but even though the ark was surrounded by waves, there was still a place at the top for light to come in (Gen. 6:16). In this situation, what else could we do but pray to God through this skylight? We were really like widows and orphans without anyone to support us, but we poured out our problems to God. After our prayer, my daughter's illness began to get better. Some time later, a sister who worked in the Railway Clinic came to tell us that she had already made arrangements concerning our carriages with the central station, and they had promised to hook up our carriages that night. It seemed as if a great burden was lifted from our hearts in that instant. We let out a sigh of relief, and all of the rain and clouds in our hearts disappeared! Oh! It was God's hand pressing us lightly for a moment. Our carriages left Xiaoshan around 5:00 that evening. We arrived safely in Yiyang around 2:00 on the afternoon of the twenty-second. After leaving the train, we walked to First Faith Farm. Praise the Lord for completing the second step of His work.
The almighty God used His great power along the way to sustain the two sisters who were about to have babies. It took exactly one week to travel from Shi-Er-Dai to First Faith Farm. Although we traveled on boats, on trains, and on foot, God gave us the strength we needed. But the event that caused us to marvel the most was that both sisters gave birth within two days of arriving in Yiyang. Both mothers and their babies are safe. This was an obvious miracle that proved God was with us. We could only prostrate ourselves in worship and give glory to Him!
We passed through the first two stages, but the third stage lay before us. Where should we settle? When we came to search out the area, it seemed that our goal should be Zhaobintien. On the third day, we went to Zhaobintien. But the fields there were few and very expensive; furthermore, the people there thought we were lawless refugees and were not willing to let us live there. God cut off the way for us to go to Zhaobintien. Where should we go? To Yangshuchiao? This was twice as close to Yiyang than Zhaobintien. If the goal of our gospel was Yiyang, then we should stay in a place closer to the city. Therefore, after we all prayed together in one accord, we felt that we should settle ourselves in Yangshuchiao. But the people there knew that we would eventually buy land, so they purposely did nothing and said nothing. We guessed that they were probably trying to push up the price of land. We went on in this way for one or two weeks. We began to be a little uneasy. What would we do if we could not buy fields?
Fortunately, God had showed us His love and power in many ways on the trip, so we dared not give way to anxiety. We just gave this matter to God. Oh! God seems to arrange all kinds of circumstances to win His children's prayer so that He will have a way to accomplish His will. A few days after our prayer, God worked in the environment and caused the people to sell us the fields willingly, which they had wanted to sell to us in the first place. They were actually eager to sell their fields but were afraid that we would not buy them. Within two months, we had bought more than four hundred acres of land at a price that was just within our means. We built our huts on the side of a medium-sized mountain ridge. We moved into our new homes on January 5, 1949. Thus, in the wilderness of those mountains, God's children made their homes, and in places which had not heard voices of praise since the creation of the world (maybe we can say that) there are now the sounds of hymn-singing. We could not build enough huts because there was not enough time, and everyone had to crowd together. Three or four families must live in a small hut. There are no beds, so we pile hay on the floor and sleep there. Oh! the outward suffering (if I can call it that) makes things sweeter on the inside. This rustic life often causes us to go to God!
Before our migration, we had intended to continue living as individuals. God, however, did not want us to live in this way (this does not apply to everyone in general) because He wants to gain more glory through our living. Therefore, we inwardly felt that we should not continue to live as individuals. The fallen human nature is selfish. If we separated, we would inevitably care for ourselves and develop our own businesses. Perhaps we would have reached a point where we would not have been able to go on. Spontaneously, we formed one large household. God put us into this large household to learn the lesson of loving one another. It is an especially good place to have the flesh dealt with. We used to think that we had lost the flesh, but now we have discovered that we have not lost it, nor have we thoroughly dealt with it. We used to think that we could love the brothers and sisters, but now we find that we still cannot. We used to think that we knew the "self" and that we had experienced something of the lessons of the cross, but now the facts tell us that we are really not that clear. Oh! May God cause us to quickly finish our courses in this school.
On the other hand, however, because we work, eat, sleep, and live together, we are full of joy and do not feel that the burden is as heavy as it was when we lived as individuals. We rely on God, look to God, and trust in God together. God is the only Head of our household. This loving, almighty Head of the household has performed many miracles of love for His children. One day we did not have rice for lunch. After breakfast, we all prayed to Him, and around 11:00 someone came with seven carts of rice, wanting to trade them for some of our salt. Many villagers have been kidnapped or even murdered, but at the most crucial times, He still protects His household. When we do not have enough money to buy food, He prepares rice that only costs us one or two dollars so that we do not have any lack. When we have a dangerous illness, He answers our cries that we be healed without medicine. Although He did not hear our prayers concerning one sister and took her home, He used this to raise up more of His children to be useful to Him and to come serve Him together with us. There have also been difficulties like storms and rains, which He has resolved for us one by one. Oh! Our God allows us to experience great difficulties in order to test, try, and edify us. We can only prostrate ourselves and worship Him.
Oh! Praise the Lord for causing us to practice the lessons of loving and serving one another in this large household. May God grant that we would thoroughly root out our selfishness and enter into the state of having all things in common, being free from the distinction of individual identities. To solve the problem of differences in clothing, we preached a message on thorough consecration. Praise the Lord! The brothers and sisters were happy and willing to offer up their extra clothes and cloth. Some only kept the clothes on their backs. May God raise up more brothers and sisters to migrate everywhere for the gospel that God's will may be done on earth.
Feng He-renApril 3, 1950
Mailing Address: First Faith Farm, Yangshuchiao, Yiyang, Kiangsi province
In preaching the gospel, one needs to exercise the gifts; however, he also needs to exercise his spirit. This means that there is the gift of preaching the gospel and the spirit of preaching the gospel. One who has the spirit of the gospel preaches in season and out of season. Only a few people are raised up every ten to twenty years in the history of the church who have the gift of the gospel. These people are few and far between. But everyone who loves the Lord can and should have the spirit of preaching the gospel. It is not limited to special gift.
I have read the biographies of many evangelists, including Finney, Moody, and Stanley. They all had the spirit of preaching the gospel and the gift of preaching the gospel. Their biographies can encourage us, but we cannot imitate them, because we do not have as great a gift as they did.
I particularly love this book Seen and Heard because we can say that Brother James M'Kendrick did not have the gift of preaching the gospel, but only the spirit of preaching the gospel. He was an ordinary man just like us. There was nothing special about him, but his heart was melted by the Lord's love, and he was extremely anxious for the needs of sinners. He could love, and he could cry. He could pray, and he could shout. The Lord's love was so strong in him that he was not able to refrain himself. Man's need made him restless day and night. As I read about him, I was often forced to weep with him. While Brother Yu Cheng-hua was translating this book, many times he also wept with him. M'Kendrick became a fool for the Lord's sake. He was beside himself that the gospel could go forth. Not all young brothers have the gift of preaching the gospel, but we must not lack the spirit of preaching the gospel. May this fire burn in us until we can no longer control ourselves. May this fire, because it consumes us, also consume sinners until they have no ground to refuse the Lord. May the fire of the gospel be ignited in China, first burning God's children and then sinners. Sinners will be saved in great numbers. If this fire does not burn us, it will not burn those in the world. The church can become the hindrance to man's salvation. O Lord, have mercy on the church! May the Lord have a way in the church so that He can gain access to the world. Fire! Fire! Let the fire of the gospel glow — first kindling us, and then setting the church ablaze. — Watchman Nee
(Published by the Gospel Book Room, P. O. Box 5008, Shanghai)
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1) We hope to continue the publication of The Christian and The Present Testimony. (The Way will be merged with The Christian, and The Testimony will be merged with The Present Testimony.) However, The Christian and The Present Testimony will be published irregularly and at a floating price. (There are no stock copies of back issues of either The Christian or The Present Testimony.)
2) Because the editors of The Christian and The Present Testimony are out with the work, we will be late in publishing them. Please forgive us.
3) There are still copies of the third issue of The Ministers and the second through fourth issues of The Testimony. Those who want copies should send us a letter. We will limit it to one copy per person until all have been given out.
The Gospel Book Room, P. O. Box 5008, ShanghaiSeptember 1950
