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Prayer: Lord, we thank You that we can be here to seek Your leading. You know that our inner being is in fear and trembling; we are afraid of losing Your presence and of either walking ahead of You or behind You. Lord, be in our midst and give us a deep impression so that we may clearly touch, and carry out as well, all that You want us to do. Save us from vanity and mistakes. Lord, may we not regret what we are doing today; instead, may it be of eternal value.
Lord, cleanse all of us that we may exercise our spirit to receive Your leading. We do not want to receive man’s teaching or leading; we want to receive Your leading. Lord, You are the Head of the church. We pray that You would visit Your church, Your Body. We are members one of another, and we desperately need Your operating. Lord, we confess that we are weak, empty, and useless, and many of our activities, views, and feelings have become veils to us and restrictions, hindrances, to You. Lord, deliver us in these matters so that we may enter into You to touch Your heart’s intent.
Lord, give us the words and the utterance. As we speak and fellowship, make Your intention known to us so that we may touch the desire of Your heart and be the testimony of Your heart’s desire in this age. Lord, cleanse us and cover us with Your prevailing blood; draw the limit for us, and do not allow Your enemy to overstep. Day by day spread a table before us in the presence of our adversaries. Amen.
In this chapter we will fellowship about the home meetings. First, Acts 2 says that immediately after the three thousand were saved on the day of Pentecost, they had meetings from house to house. They did not meet as small groups but met from house to house. Second, when we speak of meeting in a group, it seems as if the group can be either large or small, depending on our preference. But when we speak of meeting in a house, in a family, no one can increase or decrease the size of a house, a family, at will. Third, a home is the smallest corporate unit. If our promoting of a certain matter can reach the homes, we have done a thorough job. Therefore, we are not subdividing merely into small groups; we are subdividing with the home as a unit. A year and a half ago I said that we needed to work to the point that there is a meeting in every saint’s home. It should not be that only those who are strong and aggressive have meetings in their homes, whereas those who are weak, backslidden, and attend meetings infrequently do not. We hope that every home will have a meeting, including the homes of the weak and inactive ones.
Someone may ask, “If a certain saint has stopped meeting, how can we have a meeting in his home?” It is because he has stopped meeting that we need to establish a meeting in his home, to “deliver” the meeting to his home. He has stopped meeting because he does not have a meeting at home. If there is a meeting in his home, naturally he will meet. For most of the saints, as long as a meeting is established in their homes, it will not be a problem for them to meet. Hence, the best way to recover a saint who has stopped meeting is to deliver the meeting to his home instead of asking him to come to a meeting. We need only to meet in his home once, and he will begin meeting again. Therefore, the problem with non-meeting saints is that we do not deliver the meetings to their homes. We bear the responsibility. I hope we will all have a change in concept. Instead of dragging the saints and forcing them to come to a meeting, we should bring the meeting to their homes. Suppose we invite someone to our home for a meal. If he cannot come, we should deliver the food to him so that he can at least taste the food. I cannot guarantee that the non-meeting saints will be revived immediately, but if the brothers and sisters are willing to coordinate with one another to deliver the meeting to the homes, at least there is a great possibility for them to begin meeting again. We must carry this out.
Another advantage of delivering meetings to the homes is that it solves family disputes. Perhaps a saint has stopped meeting for no reason other than family disputes. The longer he stays away from the meetings, the more serious the quarrels between him and his wife become, and the more he loses his heart to meet. A wife who has stopped meeting for eighteen years might have been crying out for help the entire time but has been unable to find any help. Suppose one day some of the saints bring the meeting to her home; as a result of their singing and praying with her, she is nourished and filled with joy. Then she might pray, “Lord, have mercy on us, and have mercy on my husband so that he could also enjoy You as I do.” Moreover, if this sister has not been meeting for eighteen years, her children must not have been meeting as well. Now through our bringing the meeting to her home, the children also are joyful to receive salvation. In this way we reap several benefits with a single action.
Twenty-five years ago the medical field in Taiwan practiced making house calls to give injections; now we need to practice to deliver meetings to the homes. If we deliver the meeting to the homes, not only will the inactive saints be recovered, but their friends and relatives will also be given a great opportunity to receive the gospel of the Lord’s salvation. If we are willing to practice this delivery of meetings to ten homes per week, I believe that at least five homes will be raised up. At present there are at least six thousand non-meeting saints in about one thousand five hundred to two thousand homes, with at least one to two saved ones in each home. If in three months we visit these two thousand homes three to five times, at least one thousand homes will be raised up. This is truly the best way, and it is worthwhile to endeavor in this matter. Hence, we need to encourage the saints to practice this change in the system; moreover, we must find a definite way to effectively gain the increase.
In the past month the number of saints meeting in the small groups, that is, in the home meetings, has increased by one thousand. I have said that once a small group has more than twelve people, it should be subdivided into two groups. At this time some groups have exceeded twenty-four people, yet they are still reluctant to be divided. I understand this feeling, because I too am human. A certain hall has a very good small group that has brought in more than a hundred people. I attended their meeting once, and it was bustling with people. The saints in that small group told me that they did not want to be subdivided, because they like that small group. I dared not touch them lest some would stop meeting. They are like plants in a greenhouse that would die if they are moved. Furthermore, human beings are sociable by nature. When a group of people are always together, they build up a feeling for one another and like to be close and intimate with one another. However, we must see that if we do not subdivide the groups and the homes, the increase will stop, and the edification of the brothers and sisters will be greatly limited. This is the reason that the group we mentioned earlier has stopped increasing and is now at a standstill. We see this situation in other places as well.
The biological principle is that it is difficult for anything old to bear fruit. The spiritual principle is the same. Suppose a family migrates to a new place to spread the Lord’s gospel and preach God’s truth. Within a year this family may be able to bring in fifteen people, and then they may increase to thirty or fifty. Once they reach fifty, however, their rate of increase will slow down. This is similar to an old person being unable to bear children and an old tree not bearing fruit. For a tree to bear fruit, it must have new branches. If these fifty people want to bear fruit, they must be subdivided into different homes and into small groups. However, this may be difficult for them emotionally. Moreover, people usually love crowds. It is truly enjoyable to have many gathered together to sing and pray when the content and speaking of the meeting is very good. If they are subdivided into different homes, they are concerned about losing this kind of enjoyment. If they remain together, however, it will be difficult for them to gain an increase. For instance, when planting trees and grass, if we do not scatter the seeds, they will end up clustered together. If we scatter the seeds, they may initially appear uncomely, but a year or even half a year later they will spread all over the land and look beautiful. I hope that the elders will change their concept to see that subdividing the small groups is a tremendous matter and that they need to work on this carefully.
If there were presently six people in every home meeting, there would be one thousand small groups in the church in Taipei. These small groups might be very weak, but as long as the elders are willing to take the lead and aggressively take care of the saints, eventually the small groups will be strong, and the numbers will increase. It is not a matter of whether the small groups will be weak or strong; it is a matter of whether or not the elders are willing to take the lead. If the elders are willing to take the lead, there will certainly be a result. In the past month the number of saints meeting in the small groups in Taipei increased by one thousand. This is the result of the labor and endeavor of the elders. This also proves that as long as the elders are willing to take the lead, the saints will follow.
Our brothers and sisters have many relatives, friends, neighbors, classmates, and colleagues. If the elders are aggressive to take the lead, it will not be difficult for every home to gain one person a month. If every home gains a person each month, the church in Taipei will gain a thousand people in a month and twelve thousand in a year. This is a twofold increase. Moreover, the new ones gained in this way are more likely to be remaining fruit, because they were not compelled to come from off the streets and be saved and baptized; neither were they invited through gospel tracts or telephone calls. Rather, they are the relatives and intimate friends of the saints. Hence, it will be easy for them to be kept and to receive edification. This kind of increase is the most effective and practical.
These are the two steps, or two ways, to practice the changing of the system. The first step is to recover the non-meeting saints by delivering meetings to their homes. If we cannot do it once a week, we can at least do it once every two weeks. Moreover, we need to be steadfast. The second step is to subdivide the small groups. Once a small group has over twelve people, it should be subdivided into two groups. This will stir up the spirit of the saints to spread the gospel among their relatives, friends, neighbors, classmates, and colleagues.
We are those who belong to the Lord. If the Lord in whom we believe is not false, and if He is worthy of our believing in Him, we need to be serious, absolute, and faithful to Him. We have seven days in a week. Besides the Lord’s Day, which we set apart for the Lord, we should consecrate at least one evening to the Lord. The practice of the new way does not require the brothers and sisters to give a whole day to the Lord; it requires only one evening from 7:00 to 11:00. Moreover, this is a demonstration of our service to the Lord. In this way our friends, relatives, neighbors, classmates, and colleagues will know that every week we have a definite evening, from 7:00 to 11:00, when we meet in a small group to preach the gospel and study the Bible. This period of time should be very free. People can come at any time and stay as long as they want. They can come to have a meal, drink some tea, or eat some fruit. In this way the door of grace will be wide open for the spreading of the gospel and the genuine edification and exercise of the saints.
Practicing the new way is more than our obligation; this practice brings us countless benefits. First, our “delivering” the meetings to the homes can be compared to sending people “charcoal during a blizzard.” Suppose a certain family has been very cold toward the Lord; it has been difficult to make the members of that family burning for the Lord. Now by sending “charcoal” to their house, we light up the “fireplace” of this family. This will not only stir up their spirit, it will also burn away all their family disputes. In the past the couple always quarreled, and as a result, they would not speak to each other. But now they can ignore each other for only six days at the most, because on the day of the home meeting they need to read the Bible, pray, and sing together. In this way they have no way but to be reconciled. This will be a big rescue.
At the same time the children of this family will be greatly influenced. We all know that it is difficult to deal with our own children. No one can boast concerning his own children. However, the home meeting every week will provide our children the best opportunity to receive spiritual nourishing and edification. It will also leave them with a good pattern. The hidden benefit is truly great.
There are apartment buildings throughout the city of Taipei. In one apartment building there are dozens of families. If one of the families has a meeting in its home, over a period of time people will know that in this apartment building there is a family who speaks of the Lord Jesus one evening a week. Then when people suffer afflictions, when they are deeply distressed and discouraged and want to find comfort, sympathy, and help, they will spontaneously look for those who believe in Jesus. In the past those people may have thought of a chapel, but now they think of the home where there is a meeting in which the Lord Jesus is preached every week. This will also affect our neighbors, colleagues, friends, and relatives because we not only preach the Lord Jesus at home, but we also testify for the Lord at work. If we continue steadfastly in prayer for our friends, relatives, and colleagues, though they may not come within a year, they will eventually come within three years. This long-term practice will certainly bring in the increase.
Home meetings can also stir up the organic function of the saints. Today in the Lord’s recovery there are still many saints who say that they do not know how to speak for the Lord Jesus or preach Him. Some elderly brothers and sisters migrated to America; however, they did not know even the English alphabet. But after listening to the English language for a period of time, they were able to speak a few simple sentences. Consequently, it is not that we cannot speak but that we will not speak. When we deliver the meetings to the saints’ homes, the saints may not know how to speak at the beginning. But in the meeting they will be supported and even forced to speak; eventually, they will learn to speak. Furthermore, it is easy for the saints to speak in a home meeting. It is as easy as chatting about domestic matters. The home meeting does not require eloquence, gift, or a sequence as the big meetings do. As long as one is willing to speak, this is good enough.
Therefore, a home meeting requires neither orderliness, good appearance, nor eloquence; these are the requirements of being in an army. What a home needs is warmth, empathy, and love; only these can keep people.
We should not carry out the home meetings sporadically; rather, we should do it steadily and continually, fifty-two times a year. Even though there may be conferences, trainings, and joint meetings, we should try not to interrupt the time of our home meeting. If one thousand homes in the church in Taipei maintain such a practice, the long-term impact and benefit will be immeasurable. I hope the elders will have a clear vision.
I have been very encouraged by the few small groups I attended in the past two weeks. Last Saturday I joined an “outlying” group. Initially, I was slightly worried that since this group was called an outlying group, there might be only a handful of people present, and the meeting might drag. When I arrived there, I was surprised to find that it was not an outlying group at all; rather, it was a “central” group. The home was filled with saints, including a sister who traveled thousands of miles from Hong Kong because she heard that I was in Taiwan. This sister is a widow, and she and her household are newly saved. She likes to read our books and was determined to see me in person. After she found out that I was going to the outlying group, she came with her whole family to the meeting. In the small group every member was a core member. Their prayers were strong, and they all functioned organically. After the meeting everyone came out of the house to say goodbye to one another; it was so warm and touching. They all love the Lord and the brothers and sisters. They are truly a good pattern.
This small group proves that the church in Taipei is wealthy. There are five families in this small group, and every family is qualified to establish its own group. They all love the Lord, their prayers are strong and clear, and their pursuit of the Life-study messages is excellent. They are able to read the sections clearly with spirit and life. If each of these five families open their home for meetings, they will definitely bring in more people.
Those who promote any kind of movement or activity in society know that if they want to promote an activity, they must do so at the grassroots; they cannot merely gain the husband of a household and not have any regard for his wife and children. If they have no regard for the entire household, the movement or activity will not succeed. But if they gain the wife and children as well, the promotion will be easy. Likewise, the goal of carrying out the home meeting is to gain the wife and children of the family. The result will be that the entire family will become the Lord’s good soldiers who work for the Lord to preach the gospel.
Furthermore, Acts 1:8 tells us that we need to spread from our “Jerusalem.” Those whom we bring to salvation will follow us in what we do. If we bring our relatives and friends to the Lord, our relatives and friends will also bring their relatives and friends to salvation. In this way the cycle will continue endlessly. We will no longer need to rely on big gospel meetings or any great work. Our number will increase speedily and spontaneously. I hope the elders will have this foresight.
What we have fellowshipped is a scriptural practice. This is the way shown in Acts and in the Epistles. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He also took this way. Rather than holding gospel campaigns, He preached everywhere He went — by the shore, on the mountain, or in people’s homes. He deliberately went to Samaria to bring the meeting to a Samaritan woman, and in so doing He brought salvation to her (John 4). After the Samaritan woman was saved, she went back to her city and testified for the Lord. This resulted in the entire city being shaken and receiving great benefit.
Today we are influenced by the tradition of Christianity to the extent that we are tied down by its rules and formalities. We like to hold gospel meetings at the meeting halls with a set time and topic. In the end, even though we spend much time and energy, we hardly gain anyone. Even if we have gained some, only a handful remain, and the rest are lost. Therefore, we should not continue in this wasteful way.
In the previous chapter I said that in a period of thirty-eight years, from 1948 to 1986, a world-renowned evangelist held big gospel meetings wherever he went. At every gospel meeting several thousand were in the audience, many of whom left their names. He was a talented, learned, and influential person. If he had spent his effort on the home meetings for those thirty-eight years, I believe that he could have stirred up at least several million homes. If there were three million active homes in the fifty states of America, the whole of America would have been turned upside down.
I am fellowshipping these matters to help us change our view so that we would no longer focus on big meetings and good messages. If we emphasize the big meetings and good messages, our work will be killed immediately. Today we are not only few in number; those who function among us are even fewer. Hence, when we have a slight increase, we feel overwhelmed and do not know how to nourish the new ones. The big meetings have become a bondage to us. For this reason I hope that all the churches will accept this fellowship to no longer rely on the big meetings and good messages but to rely on the home meetings. Co-workers and elders, the only thing that we need to work on is the home meetings. As long as we succeed in carrying out the home meetings, the church in our locality will be living, and the number will increase.
The content of the home meetings is the truth in the Lord’s recovery. This truth is concerning God’s New Testament economy, the gospel of the kingdom. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He preached this truth. When the apostles went out to labor, they preached this truth. We also should preach this truth. We thank the Lord that among Christians today, the Lord’s recovery has the greatest, deepest, and clearest utterance on the gospel of the kingdom. As long as we have the heart, we will be able to find the appropriate materials from our publications for our pursuit and edification in the home meetings.
In a suburb of Taipei, there is a Christian group that has experienced an increase of one thousand people in ten years. They have a practice similar to our home meetings. They put out messages for edification using the materials in the Lord’s recovery and make them available to the believers free of charge. The first message they put out is “Joining the Church,” and the second is “Reading the Bible”; both are taken word for word from Brother Nee’s Messages for Building Up New Believers. This group has had the highest rate of increase over the past ten years, and they use material from our publications.
If we look closely, we will find that we do not use our own materials as enthusiastically as others. It seems as if we do not treasure the blessing that we have, because we have been continually eating this good food for many years. Therefore, our problem is not a lack of riches; rather, our problem is that we would not avail ourselves of what we have. The truth that the Lord has given to His recovery is the most comprehensive. We do not need to think of what to say or how to say it. Even if we were to strain our mind and exhaust our effort to think of something to say, we may not say anything better than what is in our published materials. The materials in the Lord’s recovery are rich and plentiful. We have not only hundreds but thousands of messages. We should learn how to use them properly and choose a message or half a message to supply the home meetings.
Thirty years ago I taught the co-workers to first digest the messages and then release them from the podium. Now I take this back and say that it is not necessary to do this anymore. All we need to do is to repeat what the book says, reading with repetition, emphasis, and prayer. Allow the saints time to digest the materials in the meeting and speak them to one another. If the co-workers in Taiwan had done this over the past twenty years, I believe that there would be four times as many saints in the Lord’s recovery today. Many other Christian groups, knowing that they do not have much content and realizing their own lack, borrow the riches from the Lord’s recovery. In the end they bring in a manifold increase and cause many to be saved and edified.
Today in the church in Taipei there are almost five thousand saints, and not many of them participate in the church service. In the past thirty years the church in Taipei has not increased even by a thousand people. The other Christian group, which I mentioned earlier, was started by a couple, a husband and wife. They moved to a certain place and practiced meeting in their home using the materials of the Lord’s recovery, and now they have increased to one thousand people in ten years. This proves that we are so rich in our family assets, yet our co-workers have been laboring day after day without much result. We have no excuse. We have brothers and sisters in the churches who love the Lord, not only in the big cities but in smaller towns and villages as well. Hence, compared to other Christian groups, we have an easier job. But over the years we have accomplished very little. This is worthy of our consideration.
Of course, we cannot put the blame entirely on the co-workers. The underlying reason is that our system was wrong. I regret that I did not come back to Taipei to change the system five or ten years ago. Now we must realize that our former practice is not working and is outdated. Today we must be realistic; we need to receive a practice that is according to the revelation in the Scriptures.
By observing the situation in all of Christianity, we see that the Lord’s riches are truly in our midst in His recovery. However, because we have not done things in a proper way over the past twenty years, we have come to a standstill. At the same time others have overtaken us because their practice is more advanced and because they use our truth. In the end they multiply and increase. However, we should still be joyful that the truth in the Lord’s recovery is spreading.
Our eyes need to be enlightened. We need to discard the old ways and forget about trying to give better messages. I hope that all of us will aggressively use the truths in the Lord’s recovery. If the elders can prepare messages for the saints to pursue after the Lord’s table meetings, after the prayer meetings, and in the home meetings, the saints will be greatly nourished and edified. According to the statistics, the number of saints attending the truth classes is higher than that of the big meetings. This shows that the saints genuinely like to study the truth. For this reason we need to learn how to make use of the rich material in the Lord’s recovery in a living way, not in a formal, rigid way. We have a large amount of assets in the abundance of the truth, which is accessible and inexhaustible.
I hope that we all can change our concept to shift all our attention and effort from the big meetings to the home meetings. We should highly regard the home meetings, setting them as our goal and stress, because the practice of the home meetings is the life pulse and the life line for the increase in the church. Through the home meetings we can gain people, keep them, and at the same time carry out the functions of begetting, nourishing, and teaching. This is truly the practice for changing the system. I hope that the elders will consider this matter and pay much attention to it.
Question: We have group meetings in our homes, but sometimes we also meet where we work in order to make it more convenient to bring people to the Lord and to edify the new ones. But some of our colleagues live in places that belong to different halls. How should we take care of the statistics, and to which hall should we report the number of our small group?
Answer: It is better not to know, because once we know, there will be no increase. Revelation 3 says that the church in Laodicea thinks that she is wealthy yet does not realize that she is poor. This is to say that when we think we know, we are poor. Only when we do not know can we be wealthy. And only when we are wealthy can we multiply home after home and have home meetings from house to house. In the past we were too clear in our distinctions, and we eventually became deadened. Even though now we may seem unclear, as long as we are living, everything is fine; we should not worry too much. As long as there are the statistics in heaven, that is fine. We do not need to count the number on the earth.
Home meetings have many advantages. What the big meetings can do, the home meetings can do also. For instance, in a home meeting last Saturday two new ones were baptized in the bathtub. Big meetings bind people, and preaching kills people. But the home meetings stir up the organic function of the saints and encourage them to fulfill their function. In a recent co-workers’ meeting, I told the co-workers that to learn the real way to work is to learn to work without preaching. The Lord Jesus was the best example. He did not have a set style of speaking. Sometimes He spoke two or three sentences, and at other times He gave a long discourse. Moreover, He did not have a set place or a set time to speak. He could speak anywhere and at any time. This is what we co-workers should learn. We must go against the dead rules and regulations of our past.
On the other hand, I strongly advise the elders from all the churches to receive this new leading and practice. We may have taken care of the church in our locality for thirty years, but the church has remained the same. It would be best to find someone who is younger who can be a helper. He might not be as experienced as we are, but this does not mean that his ability to do things is inferior to ours. We should give him an opportunity to learn to serve.
We have always been faithful to the teaching of the Bible and have not been willing to take a way that is inconsistent with the Scriptures. Therefore, regarding some important matters, we must consider again and again what the Bible reveals to us. Concerning the appointment and qualification of co-workers and elders, we can view this from two angles. On the one hand, we should follow the Scriptures. On the other hand, based on our long-term history, we know that some of our co-workers have been harmed because there has been no evaluation of their service. Today in various big companies and government organizations there are examinations with grades. Even diplomatic officials must take examinations. We are human beings. Even though we have been saved, we cannot deny that our nature is still fallen. We may have much spiritual learning, but as long as we have not been raptured, our fallen nature is still in us. I absolutely believe that if we had systematically evaluated the co-workers in Taiwan over the past thirty years, the co-workers would have been more fruitful than they are today.
The same applies to the elders. I have considered this matter for many years. In the Bible we cannot find any length of time for the service of an elder. According to our understanding, it seems as if an elder should serve his whole life, like a justice on the Supreme Court. If an elder is constantly learning and making progress and is truly an elder among the saints, this is all right. But if one has been an elder for twenty or thirty years, and the church under his management is only mediocre, this proves that the time has come for him to voluntarily yield his position to someone who is younger but more qualified and experienced. If we wait for the co-workers to address the issue, it will be embarrassing and unpleasant for everyone. I hope the elders will consider their situation to discern those who have been manifested by the Holy Spirit and let them take the lead. In this way the churches can have a new beginning and a new hope.
In reality, our system must be updated. We are too old. We are still adhering to the way we learned thirty years ago. Our thinking has not kept abreast of the times, our equipment is outdated, and our plans and methods are old. Today we cannot remain old-fashioned; we need to learn aggressively. If our co-workers are not willing to learn new ways, once the system is changed or once they leave Taiwan, they will be unemployed, having nothing to do, because they will not know how to do anything. However, some co-workers may feel that the old way is still better and that it is not good to change the system and have a new beginning. I would ask them, “If your way is good, where is the increase?”
May the Lord forgive me and may all of you bear with me as I boast a little. Twenty-three years ago I went to the United States empty-handed. I did not have anything — no helper and no support. I labored alone and relied entirely on the Lord’s provision. When I first began my work in America, there was no meeting hall. I started my work in a Chinese brother’s house, which was in a neighborhood where there were predominantly black people. When I departed from Taiwan, I left the co-workers with rich assets of meeting halls in all the main cities and tens of thousands of brothers and sisters. In the past fifteen years, because of the proper leadership of the government in Taiwan, there has been a rapid economic development in Taiwan, and the offerings of the saints have been strong. Yet we have not made any progress in our work. This is all because of an improper method.
I do not mean to put the blame on anyone, but I want us all to be awakened to see that our old ways are not right, and our system is also not right. We need to have an overall review and a complete change. We must begin everything anew. We are elders of the biggest church on earth, having twenty-one halls in our hands. We must realize that the only solution to our problem is to change the system. Under the present shining, we need to ask ourselves, “Am I too old? Is my way too stale? Am I still qualified to take the lead?” We need to keep asking ourselves these questions. Today we are all living before the Lord and are responsible to Him. One day we will need to give an account to Him. We cannot wander about and live in a carefree way. Twenty years are a long time, but they have gone by fast. In the past twenty years we neither increased nor decreased in number. We should be awakened to discard the old things and adopt new things. If we are willing to forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to the things which are before, the churches under our leading will have the beautiful prospect of an increase.
