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In the previous three chapters we saw clearly the vision in the Lord’s recovery, the vision in the New Testament, the ultimate consummation of the visions, and the vision that matches the age. Today we are taking the same way, doing the same work, entering the same flow, and speaking the same thing in this ultimate, consummate, and up-to-date vision. This can never be accomplished without the proper vision.
Needless to say, in mainland China, with its vast differences between the north and the south, it was difficult to practice the one accord. Even in the little island of Taiwan we have many differences. There are the “locals,” the southern Fukienese, and the Hakka people. There is no way for us to be one. Yet as children of God, we know that God’s desire is that we be one. Ephesians 4 tells us that we have seven “ones” as our base. There is one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.
In the Gospels the Lord did not speak much about the matter of the one accord. In Acts after the Lord resurrected and ascended, He left the disciples on earth to continue His ministry and to carry out His commission. It is at that juncture, at the beginning of Acts, that the crucial matter of the “one accord” is mentioned (1:14).
The first of the Epistles is Romans. In that book, after writing concerning many important truths, Paul says in 15:5 and 6, “Now the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In the original language the phrase one accord means “having the same mind, will, and goal.” This means that as our whole inward being is one, our outward speaking also becomes one. When we are in one accord, we speak the same thing with one mouth.
Following Romans we have 1 Corinthians. In 1:10 Paul says, “Now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.” The reason Paul said this was that some in the church in Corinth said that they were of Paul, because Paul had brought them to the Lord. Others said that they were of Apollos, because Apollos was powerful in expounding the Scriptures. Still others said that they were of Cephas, because he was the most prominent apostle. Then there were those who claimed that they were more superior than others; they said that they were of Christ. These four groups of people appreciated different things, and they all argued with one another. It is because there were these four schools that Paul exhorted them to speak the same thing. Unless these four groups of people saw the same vision, it would be impossible for them to speak the same thing.
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” A vision controls men and heads them up. Ephesians 1 says that God’s eternal economy in the fullness of the times is to head up not merely the believers but all things (v. 10). In the millennium there will be a miniature heading up. When the new heaven and new earth come, God will head up all things, including all men, under Christ the Head. Today is the time of preparation. In eternity we will taste the true oneness. Not only will we speak the same thing; all creation will speak the same thing.
Isaiah 11:6-9a says, “The wolf will dwell with the lamb; / And the leopard will lie down with the kid, / And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; / And a young boy will lead them about. / The cow and the bear will graze; / Their young will lie down together; / And the lion will eat straw like the ox. / The nursing child will play by the cobra’s hole, / And upon the viper’s den / The weaned child will stretch his hand. / They will not harm nor destroy / In all My holy mountain.” This is a picture of the millennium. Today the cobra preys on the mouse, and the lion preys on the cow, but in the millennium neither the cobra nor the lion will harm or destroy anyone. When the new heaven and new earth come, the same will be true to a greater extent. One day God will restore everything to this state. As God’s children, we can have a foretaste of this today. By God’s grace we are qualified and can be saved to the extent that we speak the same thing. No matter what nationality and race we belong to, and no matter what language we speak, we can speak the same thing. This oneness comes from the one vision we hold in common.
The reason Christianity is divided is that it has different teachings. The different teachings come from different visions. Every denomination has its own beliefs, which become its own tenets of faith. The source of these tenets can be traced to the founders of the different denominations. They saw a certain portion of the truth in the Bible, and this truth became their “vision.” Based on these “visions,” they devised a set of tenets of faith, and based on these tenets, a denomination was founded. The result is that many grounds are claimed by many different kinds of Christians, and the end is a multitude of divisions.
In looking back over the history of the Lord’s recovery during the past sixty years, we can see some who came but later were troubled and left. The reason they were troubled is that there was a difference between their vision and ours. Thank the Lord that the co-workers, the elders, and the young full-time workers among us here today have all seen the ultimate and consummate vision. There is no difference of visions. However, we cannot stop here. We also must be the same in our footsteps and our tone. Not only must we speak the same thing, but we must do the same work, which is to preach the gospel, build up the small groups, and teach the truth. It is not an easy task to accomplish these three things, and there is a real need for us to be in one accord.
In October of 1984, when I returned to Taiwan to study how to change the system, I emphasized repeatedly the need to discard the old things and adopt the new things. In particular, I focused on the way we met and the methods with which we worked. At that time I “blew the trumpet” in a clear and loud way. The proclamation was clear, and the explanation was plain. I also pointed out that since the practice of the new way was in its experimental stage, we were not clear about the way ahead of us. We had never taken such a way before, and we needed to study it thoroughly. For this reason none of our ways were set. Even our co-workers had to try out different ways to meet. Now that a year and a half have passed, we should be able to do a little evaluation.
First, we must realize that the process of changing the system is very slow. This is the reason that we are having this training at this time. I believe every saint agrees with our proposal to change the system. In practice, however, do we all agree that we need to spread the gospel, meet in the homes, build up the small groups, and teach the truth? I believe all of us would readily agree that we need to beget, nourish, and teach. To spread the gospel is to beget. To build up the small groups is to nourish, and to impart the truth is to teach. We are not forced to do the work of begetting, nourishing, and teaching. As long as we are men, and as long as we have a family, live in a society, and have a nation, we need to beget, nourish, and teach. In order to be a man, we need to beget; in order to have a family, we need to nourish; and in order to have a healthy society and a strong nation, we need to teach. These are clear and reasonable things that we must do.
We may agree with the new way, and we may agree to the change of our system. However, in practice we may still hold on to the habit of the old way and abide by the old system. In my hometown, four years after the Chinese Revolution, the people still kept their pigtail hairstyle. Some had a difficult struggle before they would give up their pigtail. I tell you this to show you that it is not an easy thing to drop the oldness and pick up the new things. At the end of the Ching Dynasty, the Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen promoted the revolution. He had to struggle for a few decades before the revolution finally succeeded. Actually, the revolution only changed the form of government and ousted the imperial dynasty; there was no real change in politics and society as a whole. Later, men like Yuan Shih-kai and Chang Shun rose up and attempted to restore the imperial dynasty. China went through a civil war for a few decades. Countless numbers of people appeared and disappeared from the political scene, but the real revolution was still not realized. The common Chinese people still held on to their oldness. It is difficult to change bad habits.
I hope that the brothers and sisters will see that since we have made up our mind to change the system and have resolved to be renewed, we must change all our ways and be renewed thoroughly. We cannot carry on business as usual and follow the old rules. Unless we make a strong resolution and abandon everything old, we cannot succeed in changing the system. When I was young, my brother and I went to study in an American school. Some students already had adopted Western-style clothing, but we were still wearing the Chinese long blue gown and cloth shoes. Although we were studying in a Western-style school and were learning English, we dared not speak English at home for fear that we would be accused of being influenced by the West. We were even afraid to speak in proper Mandarin, preferring instead to use the local dialect and native colloquialisms. The more unsophisticated we acted, the safer we felt. Although we had studied diligently and learned much, and although a bright future awaited us, the strong tradition still tenaciously held to us. This shows that it is not an easy thing to adopt something new.
Now we have all seen the vision, and we are all clear about the practice, which is to spread the gospel, build up the small groups, and teach the truth. However, we cannot merely shout slogans. We must have the determination to carry things through to the end. Of course, at the beginning we may not do a good job. It always takes a period of time to study and improve before we can succeed in adopting anything new. When the Chinese first immigrated to the United States, they did not speak English well, but as long as they were willing to improve, they eventually picked up the language. Here, in the previous weeks I visited three places. In some places I saw much improvement, but in other places people were still holding on to the old things. This proves that after a year and a half we are still not that absolute in adopting the new system.
Recently, the church purchased a piece of land in Linkou. Our plan is to build a big meeting hall there. The news spread to all the countries, and in the United States more than two hundred fifty people have applied to come see that land and observe our meetings. When I was in the United States, I learned that even some from the churches in Europe wanted to visit us. After some fellowship I agreed to give them a quota of four people. Those from the United States are not allowed to come at all. On the surface I told them that we wanted to be spared the trouble of hospitality and of taking care of the differences in habit and food of foreigners. Acts 6:1-6 does speak about this inconvenience. Actually, I have other reasons for refusing them. I know that they all want to come to observe how we are changing the system and adopting the new way. However, we are still groping with the proper way to meet in the small groups. We still do not know how to teach the truth. What do we have to show them? All the churches think that Taipei is in the third heaven. Actually, we are hardly a few feet off the ground, and we can easily fall back to the ground at this point in time. This is the reason I do not want them to come. I say this as an exhortation. We must be absolute in our endeavor. Since we have decided that we will change the system and since we have put this matter into practice, we should be thorough and absolute in our work. Surely at the beginning it will be somewhat messy and not so proper, but in the end we will succeed.
As far as the outward façade is concerned, the big meetings are wonderful. A large meeting with fourteen thousand attendants surely draws much admiration, but the wonderful feeling does not last long. Once the excitement is over, what change has resulted in the saints when they return to their daily routine? What change has been brought about in the church? Is the Lord satisfied with us? In hall one of the church in Taipei, every Lord’s Day there are at least three hundred fifty people meeting. The atmosphere is proper, a well-dressed person with a suit and tie conducts the meeting, the speaker is eloquent, the singing is accompanied by a grand and sonorous piano, and the meeting’s atmosphere is uplifted. Many saints like to invite people to such a gathering. They like to tell their friends, “This is our church.” It seems as if they come to the meeting with the sole purpose of making such a display to people. When we speak of the small groups, however, who wants to bring their friends and relatives to such a meeting? The attendants are all unorganized, and everyone comes late.
We need to understand that the element of nonuniformity is the very characteristic of the small groups. This is a very distinctive feature of the small groups. It means that the small groups are able to take care of every saint in the group. This is the reason we say that the small groups are the life pulse of the church. Without such an element of nonuniformity, a small group is not able to be a proper small group. I have attended some very uniform small groups, and I like them and appreciate them, but I appreciate even more the disorganized small groups. They may meet from seven to eleven o’clock at night. The saints may be constantly coming and going, and there may be much excitement. One brother testified that when his small group meeting began, no one showed up; as a result, he decided to go out and visit some people. By nine o’clock at night, however, everyone arrived, and there were more than twenty people meeting. At the beginning the scene may be discouraging, but those who endure to the end will be saved and will prevail.
We have had too much experience with the big meetings. During the past twenty years, how many people have we brought in through the “props” of the big meetings? In the United States Billy Graham also organizes large gospel campaigns. His campaigns often are attended by hundreds of thousands of people. Countless numbers of people come forward to commit their names, but in the end, it is difficult to tell where they have gone. This can be compared to scooping up water from a pond with a woven basket; eventually, the water leaks back into the same pond. The small groups may not seem that great, but if we look at the statistics, the results are astounding. If each small group brings in one new one per month, from the four hundred small groups in Taipei there will be four thousand eight hundred new ones added to the church in a year. The individual numbers are not that impressive, but the total is staggering.
We have pointed out that one of the goals of the small groups is to recover the dormant saints. Until now, however, we still have not seen this carried out. If we practice this matter conscientiously, we can recover one dormant saint in a year, even if we cannot bring in any new people; in a year we will recover four thousand eight hundred dormant saints. If from the beginning we had set our mind to labor in this way, we would have recovered seven thousand five hundred dormant saints during the past one and a half years. This is the reason I say that our new practice is something that is on paper only; there is no reality to it yet. The reason there is no reality is that we have not practiced properly and conscientiously.
I am not rebuking anyone. If I were an elder, I also would be happy to see a large gathering. If the hall or church under my administration were made up of small unorganized groups, I also would be unhappy. Still, we need to realize that it is this “unorganized” element that brings in new ones. Romans 8:25 says, “If we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly await it through endurance.” If we are clear about our situation, we will exercise much endurance. We will not be afraid of the so-called “unorganized” element in the small groups. Once the small groups become uniform, the requirements increase, and it becomes difficult to bring in the new ones. The fact that the small groups are somewhat disorganized is proof that the new ones are being brought in. In order to care for everyone’s condition, each one can come as early or as late as he pleases.
My hope is that the elders would pick up this burden to do their best to promote the small groups in all the meeting halls and all the churches. Tell the saints about the benefits of the small groups. The government of Taiwan has produced an overabundance of food, and the domestic consumption cannot catch up. The government is now on a promotional campaign to teach everyone how to best utilize the excess rice. In contrast, I am afraid that the elders have accepted the new practice merely as a doctrine or a theory; in practice they have not promoted it but have left the whole matter to run its own course. Of course, when they take this attitude, the saints do not pick up a taste for the small groups.
The primary task of the elders is to promote the small groups. If I were an elder, I would surely speak concerning the small groups every day. In every meeting I would take the opportunity to promote them. I would work on the saints until every one of them is in a small group and enjoys the small groups. After this I would dig out the records of all the saints and make a list of those who are dormant or who seldom come to the meetings. I would distribute the names to the small groups who meet in close proximity to them, and encourage the saints in the small groups to visit them and recover them. The elders may think that though this exercise is good, it will not increase the number in the big meetings. Perhaps at the beginning, the number in the big meetings will not increase, but in the end it will increase. We are here to pay attention not only to the number in the big church meetings but to the number attending the small group meetings. I hope that one day the church in Taipei will have two hundred thousand saints meeting in the small groups. The number will increase, but the meeting halls will remain the same. Of course, when that happens, the big meetings will not be that important anymore.
Our new system is not a one-sided arrangement; it takes care of every aspect of the church life. First, we still keep the big Lord’s Day morning meeting. This is to take care of those who come for the bread-breaking meeting and to listen to a message. We are not dropping the big meetings. We want to be proper and not go to an extreme. The elders need to take care of the Lord’s Day morning meeting. They need to prepare a good message, and the subject needs to be appropriate. We can speak concerning the burden of the small group meetings in any meeting except the Lord’s Day morning meeting. In that meeting we cannot speak concerning the small group meetings, and we cannot have the truth lessons. We use the Lord’s Day morning meeting to keep the people who come only to listen to a message. Gradually, as their church life becomes more normal and they begin to know the saints more, we will transfer them to the small groups and the truth lesson meetings. As long as there are people sitting in the big meetings on the Lord’s Day morning, we must take care of their needs.
Second, the elders must work and labor diligently on the ones who come only to the big Lord’s Day morning meeting and not to the small group meetings. The elders cannot force them to do anything, but they must exercise wisdom to visit them, nourish them, and stir up the hunger in their inner being. In this way they can lead them into the small groups. We need to work on the small groups in this way, and we need to work on the truth lesson meetings in the same way. This is to be faithful to the new system, and this is what it means to continue steadfastly in it.
Although this is a training, I want to study the matter together with you. After we have studied it, we can bring the result of our study back to our church to practice it in an absolute way. On the one hand, we must do our best to promote the small groups. On the other hand, we cannot give up the big Lord’s Day morning meeting. That meeting more or less helps some people. The big meetings also must be proper. They should not be like the small group meetings. Neither should they follow the format of the truth lesson meetings. We need to deliver a solid message, a proper preaching. Some meeting halls use the big Lord’s Day morning meetings to conduct the truth classes. This is like teaching mathematics in a history class; it is a little of everything but almost nothing in actuality.
One and a half years ago, I removed all the co-workers from the meeting halls. I was hoping that the meeting halls would not degenerate into a region for the work but that the elders would do the work of management, perfection, and care themselves. However, in order to strengthen the speaking in the big Lord’s Day morning meetings, we have asked a few co-workers to return to the meeting halls to help the halls and to support a good preaching. Still, I am very concerned that once the co-workers return to the meeting halls, they will immediately pick up the work again. This is wrong. The meeting halls must be managed and cared for strictly by the elders. The co-workers do not need to busy themselves with the work there, but their help in sustaining a good preaching is needed.
We may take hall one of the church in Taipei as an example. There are sixty to seventy saints who need to listen to a message when they come on the Lord’s Day. If we turn that meeting into a truth class, they will not come. Every meeting hall has a group of people who are like this. If they stop coming to the meeting, our attendance will immediately drop by one thousand. This is a serious matter. This is the reason that I deliberately said that it is improper to conduct the Lord’s Day morning meeting like a truth class. Whatever we do, we must do properly. If we want a Lord’s Day morning meeting, we must conduct one properly. Otherwise, it is better not to have one at all. Even if there are only a few dozen people who come to listen to a message, we must still deliver a proper message. At the same time our truth classes need to be absolutely proper according to the standard of the truth classes. The small groups also must be proper according to the standard of the small groups. Although the small group meetings are somewhat unorganized, we must still encourage everyone to practice them. Do not forget our slogan: “Heaven and earth may pass away, but the small group meetings and the truth lessons must never be forsaken.”
Our practice will take care of all aspects of the meetings. Since the church is a family, it has to take care of the needs of all kinds of people. Suppose a family has a two-month-old baby, some teenagers, and some old persons. It will not work for everyone to eat the same kind of food. Different kinds of people must have different kinds of food. We need to prepare many different kinds of food for many different kinds of people. We must take care of each group of people properly. We cannot serve one kind of communal cooking to everyone. This is the reason we have different kinds of meetings. In addition to the big Lord’s Day morning meeting, which takes care of those who come for a message, we have the bread-breaking meeting, the prayer meeting, the small group meeting, and the truth classes.
We have pointed out in the past that we need a life message after the bread-breaking meeting or the prayer meeting. Some meeting halls, however, do not practice this. Some do practice this, but the messages they use are not the right ones. Perhaps it is too much of a burden to prepare the messages in each meeting hall. They may not be able to do a good job. Perhaps the church in Taipei as a whole should pick up this burden and prepare the messages for the various meeting halls as well as make them available to the other churches. The various meeting halls and churches do not necessarily need to use these messages. They can consider their local situation and use them accordingly. If the elders are flexible and apply these messages in an organic way, the small groups will become vital.
One advantage to reading the messages is that in the sharing time the saints will not ramble in their speaking. The weakness in our meeting lies in the fact that those who have something do not share, but those who have nothing show up at every meeting, open their mouths in every meeting, and speak too long every time they open their mouths. Some people are all right when they are silent, but once they open their mouths, they turn others away. Although everyone knows that some stand up and speak every time, no one stops them from their rambling. Instead, everyone holds back his function and refuses to share the portion that perfects the saints and benefits the church.
The elders must exercise wisdom in managing the church. There is a time to exercise control. After the message, when the time comes for everyone to share, the elders need to exercise control. The minute they observe that there is some improper or vain sharing, they should stop this speaking and ask others who have something to share to speak instead. If there is no control, the meeting will flow “where the wind blows”; it will not move according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. If we have life messages, we can choose a few passages to read together. In this way we can save the meeting from rambling, and we will afford the attendants a solid supply. This can be more beneficial to the saints than listening to a message in the big meetings.
There is one important principle that we must keep in the small group meetings and the truth classes: Everyone must speak, but no one should preach from Truth Lessons. In the truth classes we do not need to expand or supplement Truth Lessons. In the small group meetings we should encourage everyone to speak. In all the places that are practicing the truth classes, some are doing it rightly, but others are doing it wrongly. Every lesson of Truth Lessons is a good message. The main points, the lines of thought, and the material presented are very rich; they are more than what an ordinary believer can absorb. You must trust me that everything that should be included was included when we compiled Truth Lessons, and everything that should not be there was excluded. I do not believe that anyone, myself included, can give another message as good as the printed lessons. The subject matter is well organized, and the content is concise. For this reason the teachers do not need to expand, expound, or supplement these lessons with anything. Sometimes a short passage contains a tremendous amount of material. I am afraid that some brothers have been elders for many years, but they still do not understand the material contained in the lessons. In teaching the truth classes, the first ones we should teach are ourselves. There is no need to preach the lessons. All we must do is study and memorize them. There is no need to engage in a long discourse regarding them. All we must do is help everyone to absorb the points and remember them. There is no need to add or delete anything.
The outstanding point about Truth Lessons is that it presents to the reader the truths in the Lord’s recovery level by level, from the most simple to the most advanced. We have been in the Lord’s recovery for many years, but many of us still do not quite understand the truth. Our understanding is very general. We know something, but we do not know it in depth. Since we are saved and by the Lord’s mercy we are in His recovery, we should receive some basic education in the truth. For example, all of us need to know the origin and functions of the Bible. These are all found in Truth Lessons. All we need to do is study and memorize them and then teach the saints to “repeat-read,” “emphasize-read,” “pray-read,” and “vitalize-read” them.
If the saints can continue steadfastly in this matter and if they go through one lesson a week, in four years all of them will become “scholars.” They will be rooted in the truth. This will fill up the lack we have had in the past. In the past some of you listened to messages for more than twenty years, but you still did not know the origin and the functions of the Bible, and you still did not know that Satan is both an enemy and an adversary. All you knew were such terms as bearing the cross, loving the Lord, and the resurrection life. This is like some who teach arithmetic for years but teach only simple counting; they do not advance to addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Now we must overturn our past. We must not repeat the past. Consider the educational system in our society. A man does not receive a good education by listening to famous speakers every day. Rather, he learns by going to school day by day. If he merely listens to lectures day by day, he will not graduate from school, and he will not learn anything solid. This will greatly affect his family, society, and nation as a whole. The teaching of the truth lessons may appear dull, but in four years it will lay a firm foundation in the truth.
Today in Taiwan we have intercollegiate college entrance examinations. If all our schools did not teach according to the syllabus and if every class went according to the way it pleased, how could students pass these entrance examinations? Today among us we do not have any examinations; we do not know how much truth the saints know and how much experience they have in their daily life. If we tested everyone on matters such as the cross, resurrection, and the functions of the Bible, I wonder how many would pass. This is a great lack among us. I only wish that I could overturn all our practices. Now that Truth Lessons is printed, I hope that this situation will change.
In education, the first thing to take care of is the students. If we are teaching in a primary school, we need to use a primary school curriculum. We cannot teach with the material we use in a doctorate-degree seminar. This is the reason that I need to repeat what I have said, that in teaching the truth we must not enter into a lengthy discourse. All we need to do is read, ask some questions, and repeat a little when we come to the crucial points. We may have a “doctor” among us, but we must remember that we are teaching the truth; we are not training people to become “doctors.” We do not need to use our own material to teach. Rather, teach according to the Truth Lessons.
At the same time you need to encourage the saints to attend the small group meetings, and you need to make everyone speak. In particular, those who do not usually speak must open their mouths. Those who always speak should be advised in private to speak less and to give more opportunity for others to speak. They may be full of words, but in order for others to be perfected, they should be advised to exercise some restraint. Encourage those who speak little or who do not speak at all to speak more, and the small group meetings will become living.
On the spiritual side we have all seen a vision, and we know what we are doing here. Under the same vision we are speaking the same thing, we have the same view, and we think the same thing. I have spoken much today, but not for the sake of forcing others to follow me. Since I dropped my job in 1933 to serve the Lord full time, I have been serving in the church life for fifty-three years. I have observed the situation in Christianity and have studied the history of Christianity. In order to consider how to change the system I have even studied the present condition of society in general. Throughout the ages, many groups and organizations have risen up, and many have fallen down. There are reasons for the ups and downs. The conclusion I drew from my studying is what I have fellowshipped with you during the past one and a half years. I am not forcing you to take the burden of my fellowship. I am imploring you. If you want to hold on to the old traditions, you are on a dead-end street. If you try to find another way, you are wasting your time. Here I am presenting to you a practical way. I hope all of you will follow and practice this in a simple way.
Our present practice is to spread the gospel, build up the small groups, and teach the truth. If we can do these three things, the church will surely be strong; it will surely multiply and spread. Our failure in the past was because of the lack of these three things. We trusted only in the big meetings, and the result was a downward slide. Today we are not dropping the big meetings. Rather, we are practicing and building up these three things in addition to the big meetings. If we practice them, the church will multiply. This requires every elder to do his best to work in a disciplined and serious way. Simply giving verbal consent will not work.
The way to take care of the dormant saints is to compile a list of names and pass it on to the serving ones in all the districts, charging them to visit these ones in a suitable way. They may not be able to visit them every day, but they can at least invite them for a meal once a month. I believe if they will do this continuously for half a year, the dormant ones will be recovered. Human hearts are made of flesh; they are soft. Everyone has feelings, and everyone knows who is actually helping him. At the beginning this may require some labor, and it may not show results immediately, but after half a year or a year, the results will be obvious. In the past we wanted quick and great results, but we ended up dropping everything. The only thing that was left was a façade. Today we do not want to have a façade. We want to gain people.
I hope that the brothers and sisters will receive my fellowship in this chapter. I include sisters because I hope that even the sisters will understand what we are doing and will help to practice this matter in all the halls and churches. It is too early to ask the saints from foreign countries to come and see anything at this point in time. I have told them that the new way has not taken full shape yet. We are still adjusting and improving. I ask them to be patient. They all want to receive news and the messages that you are receiving here, but I told them that after they hear something, they may not understand it at all. This is because they do not know the context of what they are hearing. It is useless for them to imitate according to the letter. My hope is that a model, a miniature, would be built up here in the church in Taipei. If that is built up, we will have something to show the saints and to fellowship about when they come to visit us.
I beg you once again to practice these two things: the truth has to be taught in a proper, living, and matter-of-fact way; there is no need to preach too much. We must also continue steadfastly in the small group meetings. We considered much at the time we compiled Truth Lessons. I am convinced that after a believer goes through the one hundred ninety-two lessons in four years, he will have a “Masters of Theology.” As far as the small group practice is concerned, we must continue to exhort the saints to learn to nourish others, to warm their hearts, to care for them, to fellowship with them, and to bring them to the small group meetings. We must also tell the saints not to expect the small group meetings to be too orderly. We should rather take care of the condition of all the people. It is more attractive when it is not so orderly. The atmosphere should not be too tense, and everyone should have the opportunity to know everyone else, but of course, we should never drift into worldly conversations. There should always be a message for nourishment and teaching. If we practice this consistently for a long time, we will see great results.
Question: How should the teachers prepare themselves in order to make the truth lessons attractive, and how can they avoid preaching and expounding?
Answer: In reality, your preparation does not have that much to do with the material; it has to do with your spirit. Of course, you need to read the lesson through a few times. You need to find out the crucial points and practice repeat-reading, emphasize-reading, pray-reading, and vitalize-reading. Then you should exercise to do the same in the meetings. If some saints do not understand a point, you do not need to expound too much. Simply read the points a few more times until they remember the points. I beg you not to prepare something to preach. Whatever is in you will come out of you. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). If you prepare too much, you will have too much deposit within you, and it will be difficult for you not to preach. Therefore, do not prepare too much. Simply open the book and teach. It is not difficult to teach. All you need to do is repeat-read, emphasize-read, pray-read, and vitalize-read. You must prepare yourselves for this, but you do not need to prepare the lessons too much.
At the time we compiled Truth Lessons, my helpers asked me if we should list some reference books at the end of each lesson. I told them that the lesson itself has enough material for the saints to digest; there is no need to provide any reference material. When we compiled Truth Lessons, we considered all these. Please forget about preaching. There is no need to preach anymore. Simply teach, which means, simply read. If we do this, our teaching of the truth will be a success.
