Preface

  Watchman Nee conducted two trainings between 1948 and 1949 for those who offered themselves to serve the Lord. The first began in the latter part of May 1948 and ended in early October of the same year. The second began in August 1949 and ended at the beginning of the following year. The nature of both trainings was the same, and the content was similar, with some improvements in the second training over the first. Most of the messages released during these two trainings have been published in The Collected Works as separate volumes (e.g., Authority and Submission (Vol. 47), Messages for Building Up New Believers (Vols. 48—50), Church Affairs (Vol. 51), The Character of the Lord's Worker (Vol. 52), The Ministry of God's Word (Vol. 53), and How to Study the Bible and The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit (Vol. 54). These books have rendered great help to seekers of the Lord everywhere. In addition to the messages which were previously published as books, previously unreleased notes from these trainings have been made available. Notes from Brother K. H. Weigh, Mrs. Weigh (Lin I-tien), and Brother Chang Wu-cheng have been collected, compiled, and edited into this and the following volume of The Collected Works. Chapters One through Forty-four are from the first training, while Chapters Forty-five through Sixty are from the second training.

  The supplementary notes in these two volumes include:

  1) Four messages on the breaking of the outer man and the exercise of the spirit. These notes supplement the book The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit.

  2) Twelve messages on authority and submission. These notes supplement the book Authority and Submission.

  3) Several messages on the life of a worker, which relate to the series of messages entitled The Character of the Lord's Worker.

  4) Additional lessons in the series Messages for Building Up New Believers.

  Messages which do not belong to any existing series include:

  1) Question-and-answer sessions during the trainings.

  2) Trainings on ways to preach the gospel. This section is comprised of eight messages and one question-and-answer session. It deals in depth with the techniques of preaching the gospel. The brevity of the notes does not hide the preciousness of the points conveyed.

  3) Miscellaneous messages. These include notes of some Lord's Day morning sermons during this period, special fellowship on the handling of finances, and other miscellaneous talks.