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In human society typically many things are not discussed in public meetings but privately in small gatherings. The private discussions are then followed up by public meetings. This should not be our practice in the church life. In the church, matters should be discussed and fellowshipped by everyone in public meetings and not discussed in private fellowships. For over fifty years we have been paying attention to and leading the saints into this practice; nevertheless, at present this matter has not yet been adjusted among us.
It is not proper for us to have our private fellowships and then announce our private decisions in the meetings or present our private decisions as an order. It is wrong for only a few people to make decisions for everyone and for the majority not to have much knowledge about the matters at hand and to be in the passive position of receiving orders. This is altogether wrong because this is not the Body. Similar to our physical body, it is not proper for four or five members in private fellowships apart from the Body to make decisions for the Body. Any private fellowships apart from the fellowship of the Body are improper.
If someone desires to discuss matters privately in order to avoid revealing secrets, this is a great mistake. In the Body there should not be the need to keep secrets; when there is a secret in the Body, it is a cancer. A cancer is produced when a group of “cells” gather by themselves to keep a secret. In the end they become a cancer. Hence, in the church life we need to avoid keeping secrets. Do not be afraid that others would know something, because we are not organizing a political party; we are in the church. Almost every nation in the world has two, three, or four political parties that are always involved in intrigue against one another. Even a great democratic country such as the United States is no exception. In contrast, we need to see that there are no parties among the churches. There is only one church, one Body. As we are serving in different localities, there should be no distinction between Taipei and Taichung. We are one church expressed in every place as the one Body.
There is nothing that cannot be made public among us. We should not be afraid that others know of our affairs. For instance, all the churches should be able to know about the affairs of the church in Taipei. The advantage is that the other churches can pray for the church in Taipei. Recently, we completely “dissected” the church in Taipei. At the time it was as if the church in Taipei was put on an operating table; after being dissected, it was sewn back up. Not only did the church survive, it became even more living and healthy than before. Whether the church is in Kaohsiung, Tainan, or Taichung, nothing should be hidden; rather, everything can be completely displayed. For instance, in the past because the church in Taichung had a need, it had the courage to tell us that the church in Taipei should not take care of only itself. Likewise, the church in Tainan had similar fellowship concerning its need. This is good because it proves that we do not have private fellowships among us. Through open fellowship all of us are able to see the needs of the churches. This is the lesson we all need to learn.
According to the intention of the elders of the church in Taipei, originally they felt that there was no need to ask so many halls to fellowship regarding their condition; instead, they wanted to choose only good halls and good districts to give their testimonies. This kind of attitude is to report the good news and conceal the bad news. To exhibit only the nice things is similar to inviting people to our house and allowing them to sit only in the living room while preventing them from entering the bathroom. When we go to someone’s house, if we see only the living room, it is difficult to determine whether the house is neat and clean; in order to determine whether the house is neat, clean, and orderly, we need to take a look at the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathrooms. Hence, in leading the church, we should not be afraid to reveal the true condition of the church for fellowship; this will help us to know what needs to be improved and strengthened.
Concerning the work with the students, we first need to study the college work and then work with the high-school and junior-high students. Every church involved with the students’ work should fellowship with one another to learn from one another’s practices. If some have been warned or admonished due to their mistakes, we can receive help from them. In this way we will all receive the blessing. During fellowship we need to try to speak without giving any opinion. For example, if we are studying the college work, and someone working with high-school students speaks up, this may only be an opinion. His fellowship, however, may not be an opinion if it is confined to the issue under discussion. Through fellowship we will receive both the burden to pray and the revelation. When we listen to others’ fellowship, we need to realize that we are being placed on the altar to be slaughtered so that the entire Body may reap the benefit.
To work for the Lord, we should not rely on organization; once there is an arrangement and organization, our work will be similar to a worldly enterprise that first establishes a small unit and then develops into a bigger organization. This is how a general leads an army. First he trains the soldiers; then he forms them into a corps or division. Although such an arrangement is not altogether useless in the Lord’s work, if our work relies entirely on organization, it will become like degraded Christianity. Organization is not a sign of advance but of becoming fallen. If the church is established by organization, it is merely an organization, not the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is an organism. It can be compared to the human body. In the operation of the human body, although there is a certain amount of organization, it is linked to the body organically. For example, although dentures can be inserted into our mouth, they are merely an organization; they may be in the right position and have the proper function, but they do not have an organic relation with the body.
The value of a work or a church depends on how much is left after organization is taken away. In 1975, due to the need, there was a change in the church in Taipei. The church in Taipei had a history of twenty-six years, extending from 1949 to 1975; through these twenty-six years of development, it was inevitable for the church to experience some changes. The longer a church is in existence, the more the church becomes organized and develops a kind of organization; the more the church is an organization, the more fallen it becomes. Therefore, no matter where we work, we must endeavor to avoid organization.
After the change of system in 1975, the number attending our Lord’s table meeting decreased by one-third. When there was an organization, over seven thousand met in seventy to eighty homes for the Lord’s table. After the change the organization was removed, and everyone walked and served according to the spirit without relying on organization. In the end, the number of attendees dropped from seven thousand to four thousand; approximately one-third of the people were gone. This proves that in 1975 one-third of those attending the Lord’s table were upheld by organization, and two-thirds were upheld by life. Some said that it was sad to lose one-third of the people; nevertheless, I felt that it was quite good that two-thirds remained and that not everyone left once the organization was removed. I believe that if the organization in the denominations ceased, only one-tenth would remain, and the majority would be scattered.
Those who work with the students need to lead them to function for the development of their organic function. The development of the students’ organic function is an important part of our service. In the past we may not have paid much attention to this matter; instead, we relied on organization and arrangement. In fact, part of the work with the students relies on visiting people through door-knocking. Every student needs to knock on the doors of his classmates. This is not an arrangement. Although outwardly speaking it seems to be an arrangement, this arrangement is for every brother and sister to fulfill his or her organic function. In the same way, after we preach the gospel through door-knocking and bring people to salvation, we need to begin to contact the new believers and help them establish home meetings and group meetings. Apparently, it may seem to be an arrangement, but this arrangement is for all the brothers and sisters to fulfill their organic function. In the matter of door-knocking, if there is no arrangement, everything will amount to zero. This kind of arrangement relies on the organic function of the saints and develops their organic function.
The organic function of the saints will not be influenced by a change in the national situation. Even if the national situation changes, the brothers and sisters can spread to the whole inhabited earth, to the cities, villages, roadsides, and parks and fulfill their organic function by preaching the gospel everywhere. If preaching the gospel is merely a matter of arrangement, once the national situation changes and the arrangement is gone, no one will do anything because, like a machine without an arrangement, no one will know what to do. Thus, we always need to remember that the church and the Lord’s work are an organism, not a machine. If it is a machine, it would not be able to move when there is no “electricity” or when a “screw” is missing. However, this does not apply to organic function. For example, if a person has a kitchen and a dining room in his house, he can cook three meals, sit down, and eat with his family. If, however, the kitchen were demolished and the dining room no longer existed, the family would still think of a way to eat. They could still buy bread or noodles and eat by the roadside and stay well fed. Man’s eating is something organic and does not require a certain arrangement. When we lead the church and the Lord’s work, we can still find food to satisfy the need of the Body even if the “dining room” and “kitchen” are destroyed. Hence, although the environment may change, our organic function of eating continues.
Some may say that because of the change in the outward arrangement, many works have been incorporated into the training center, and thus, the campus work is affected. This proves that our work is a matter of arrangement and is not organic. For example, our literature work puts out books and publications when we have desks and sufficient equipment, and we also put out books and publications when we do not have desks or sufficient equipment. We write when we have pens and pencils, and if we run out of pens and pencils, we will continue by writing with brushes. No matter what circumstances we face, we will continue to put out our publications because our literature work is organic. This organic operation cannot be defeated or hindered. We should lead the church and the work in a similar way.
My inward, organic feeling toward the literature work and the leading of the church remains the same. Based on my learning, I do not want to have so many arrangements, but I would like to serve and lead by the organic function. I hope that we would all remember this principle. It is not that we cannot use outward arrangements, but we should make use of them only when they are necessary.
There is a need for some explanation regarding the students’ work and the training center. If in our understanding the students’ work, the ministry, and the training are combined together, this is wrong. We have no such intention. At present, all the full-time serving ones are in the training, and as a result, the personnel is temporarily in the hands of the training. Consequently, regardless of the specific service, whether with the high-school or junior-high students, if there is a need for the help of the trainees, we can fellowship with the training center and let the training center arrange for some to work with the high-school students and some with the junior-high students. No one should go to the training center and summon a certain number of trainees to help with a specific student work. This kind of fellowship is neither proper nor right. The arrangement of personnel should be under the direction of the training center.
All the saints serving full time, whether they are laboring in colleges, communities, high schools, or junior high schools, are being trained in the training center. In the training there is a specific time for classes and for work. The living arrangements and rest schedule of the trainees is completely planned and arranged by the training center. However, this should not change the nature of the students’ work and cause it to merge with that of the training center; this is an erroneous understanding. The students’ work is absolutely an independent work, and it cannot be interfered with easily. If there is a need in the churches due to the full-timers’ participation in the training, the churches should fellowship with the training center through the proper channel. For instance, if there is a need for fifty people to labor in the college work, the training center will consider this need and fellowship with the brothers. They will assess the situation and consider how many the community needs, how many the colleges need, and how many the high schools and junior high schools need. In this way the training center will determine a number for each work; perhaps only forty people will be available for the college work. This will provide an overall strategy that keeps the whole work in view.
It would be foolish to merge the students’ work with the training center. For example, the Ministry of National Defense does not need to merge with the Ministry of Finance simply because the former needs money from the latter. If this were the case, the Ministry of National Defense would not be able to engage in warfare. The Ministry of Finance does not know how to fight; this is the job of the Ministry of National Defense. When the Ministry of National Defense needs money, it must use its budget through the proper procedures and channels. Every nation has a system to budget for national defense. This enables it to carry out matters related to national defense according to a budget. The Ministry of National Defense does not need to merge with the Ministry of Finance simply because it needs money.
The proper way for us to serve is to arrange for certain ones from the entire work to labor on the colleges, that is, to make them “ministers of the national defense.” When they serve on the various campuses, they should serve according to their capacity. For instance, in Taipei we need to see how many universities there are, how many brothers and sisters are studying in each one, and how many among them are able and have a strong desire to be useful. Based upon this, we can decide how many trainees will be needed to cooperate with the college work. Because the trainee brothers and sisters are now in the training, it is more than appropriate for us to fellowship our need with the training center. We should not go to the training center to recruit people secretly; this is not permissible. Each church or school should inform the training center regarding the number of people and the age group they need; then the training center can allot the needed manpower to the churches and schools according to the actual situation. After we hand over the manpower, the training center will not interfere with the work in the churches and in the schools.
The trainees are restricted in their time. For instance, after being sent out to labor for a while, they need to come back to the training center to receive more training and do their assigned homework. Hence, if the college work desires to use some of the manpower from the training center, it needs to cooperate with the training center. If it does not cooperate, the training will not be able to proceed. The responsible brothers from all the churches need to pay attention to this matter and cooperate with the training center.
Since most of the trainees are young people, the training has arranged a comprehensive and integrated training curriculum to strengthen them in such matters as truth, life, the gospel, the church, and so forth. In regard to their character, we need to train them in the habits of rising early and having a set schedule for work and rest. For instance, they are assigned certain times to read the Bible, read the ministry, discuss the ministry mutually, and attend Greek class. All these items are included in their training. Every day they also need to allot some time to carry out the student work, either in the colleges, high schools, or junior high schools. With this kind of comprehensive training, we believe that they will be able to accomplish much.
When the training is in session, the training center will surely cooperate with any need related to the work with the students. However, since the trainees are “on loan” to the various services in coordination, they need to return to the training center after serving. These trainees are still required to follow all the regulations set up by the training. In other words, even their campus work is part of their work related to the training. Some people may be under the wrong impression and believe that the training has taken over everything. We should be clear that these trainees are the possessions of the churches; similar to a big family, all the children are ours, but we also send them to school.
Every school has its class schedule. For instance, often the first session begins at 8:00 A.M., and the school dismisses at 3:30 P.M.; the school has a set timetable. If a father tells the school that his child’s grandfather is visiting and wants to take the child out for lunch, I believe that the school would not be very happy. Although the child belongs to the father and the father has all the rights to the child, he should abide by all the regulations of the school because he has committed his child to the school; otherwise, he makes it difficult for the school to function. Hence, if parents desire that a school provide their children with a good education, they should have the peace of mind to give them to the school and let them abide by the school’s regulations. Some schools may require the students to live in dormitories and may have certain regulations related to the dormitory. No parent would like a school if it had no regulations and the students were free to wander about after class and return to the dormitory in the middle of the night.
Since the parents have given their children to the school, they surely desire that their children abide by the school regulations. For example, often students are allowed to leave the dormitory after 2:00 P.M. on Saturday but must be back to school at 7:00 P.M. on Lord’s Day evening. During this period of time the school gives the children back to the parents and has no responsibility over them. This is the principle of schooling — the parents must cooperate with the school’s timetable; only then can the education be successful. This example is to show the saints that we cannot incorporate the work with the training center; this would not be right.
The goal of our service is to bring the brothers and sisters into the church life. When we began our work in Taipei in 1949, the land for hall one of the church in Taipei was bought with the money of the ministry. Later, with great effort we gradually built up the church in Taipei. In 1962, when I began the work in America, I did not bring any brothers with me; I simply took my Bible bag and left by myself. I left the brothers in Taipei with what I had labored on for over ten years. Now in 1984 I have returned, desiring with all of you to bring the church on. I admit that wherever I go, there are no peaceful days. To speak frankly, if anyone wants to have peaceful days, he should not come to listen to my messages. He should go to the denominations because it is very “peaceful” there. Year after year in the denominations, both those who preach and those who listen live peacefully. The Lord has not commissioned me to do this kind of work. Wherever I go, I work in such a way that no one is able to sleep peacefully. The brothers who conduct the training are apprehensive that once my burden comes they will not be able to live peacefully. It is truly difficult to conduct the training in Taipei. On one hand, it needs to please the many elders in the churches, while on the other hand, it needs to satisfy the young people and also myself. This is not easy.
Since the start of the training, there has been much gossip. We have all heard the gossip, but no one has heard my voice. A person who takes the lead in the Lord’s work and the Lord’s church must be like this; he must learn the lesson of the cross. Some who come from other places speak loosely regarding whatever they see. They say that this is right and that is wrong, this is good and that is bad. They speak this way because they have never learned the lesson of the cross. The first lesson of the cross is not to speak. Even if we were the apostle Paul, when we come to the church in Taipei, we should first come and sit without saying anything. If a person is able to sit for twenty days, even four months, without saying a word, he would be comparable to Paul; such a one would be useful and able to accomplish something. When some people go to a certain place, they begin to speak loosely and express their own views after having only been there for two weeks; this is to express their opinion. We may use the example of riding in someone’s car. One who has truly learned the lesson of the cross does not have anything to say concerning the speed and condition of the driving when he rides in another person’s car. He does not comment whether the driver drives too slow or too fast, or whether the driver should make a left turn or a right turn, or go forward or back up. Willingness to say something proves that a person has not learned the lesson of the cross.
We may have heard many doctrines concerning the cross, but when situations come, they manifest whether or not we truly know the cross. We can tell how much a person has learned the lesson of the cross by his speaking. One who has truly learned the lesson of the cross does not and dares not speak loosely; speaking is the touchstone of the cross. If someone has truly learned the lesson of the cross, he will not speak loosely when he visits another place. To use the example of driving, only the driver should speak. When we are in someone’s car, we should not say nonsensical things, such as, “Your driving is not good.” We do not need to speak, because we are not in our car, and we are not the one driving. Someone may go to Kaohsiung and say that Kaohsiung is good in a certain matter and not good in another matter; this shows that he has not learned the lesson of the cross and does not know the cross.
We realize that the brothers and sisters serving full time in the churches are inadequate in many ways and that there is a need for some to perfect them properly; thus, we have picked up the burden to provide these full-timers with some training. After the training we need to consider where we should send them. For example, when someone establishes a medical school or a department of medicine, there must be a hospital nearby that will cooperate with the school. In this way the medical students will have a place for internships. Without a hospital the students will not have a place to practice what they have learned. For a medical school to be established, cooperation must be successfully established between a hospital and the medical school. Similarly, the trainees cannot stay in the training center forever; they must go out and practically apply what they have learned. Hence, we require that they go out to labor; in order for them to be able to labor, they must fellowship with the churches in their localities. When the training fellowships with the churches, it demonstrates that what the training carries out is not for the training but for the churches.
I hope we can all see that neither the church nor various works are being merged with the training center. This fellowship is so that all of us may learn the lesson that we are not a social organization that has private fellowships. The churches should not take this way. If we take this way, we should permanently close down and do no more work. Our concept must be utterly changed. We need to realize that we have been saved and regenerated, that we have been sanctified, and that we are in the process of transformation. This is the same in regard to serving in the church; we must pass through regeneration, sanctification, and transformation. We need to serve the church with such a vision.
Through this kind of fellowship and explanation I believe that the brothers and sisters will have a deeper realization of the cross. In this period of time, if you have anything to say, you must be cautious. Not being careful can be likened to a household full of women whose gossip and criticisms are not fair. There is a saying in Chinese: “Even an honest official cannot judge family affairs precisely.” No one can precisely judge the family affairs of the church; thus, we should not criticize so easily. We need to have an understanding of the training as a whole. As for unintentional criticisms, we do not now know how to handle them, and we find it difficult to handle them. Thus, we need to pay special attention to these matters.
May the Lord cover me with His blood. I have been serving with the brothers for several decades, and none of you, whether in Taiwan or abroad, have ever heard me say anything loosely. I have never said that a certain place is good or that another place is not good. I have never said that Japan is good or that Korea is good. The elders and especially the co-workers must learn the lesson of not speaking loosely, regardless of where they are. If they can refrain from speaking too much, regardless of where they are, their work will surely be successful. One who speaks much cannot help people, but one who speaks little is able to render the most help to people.
Fifty years ago when I was in Shanghai, there were five co-workers, of whom I was the last to arrive. One day one of the co-workers was about to travel to another place. Because of this he went to Brother Nee and asked him, saying, “A certain place has invited me to work, but I do not know what to do.” Brother Nee replied, “You simply need to do one thing, that is, to say ‘I do not know.’” This means that when someone asks us what he should do regarding a certain matter, we should have only one answer: “I do not know.” Later, another person may ask the same question. To him we should also give the same answer: “I do not know.”
Most people may wonder how a person can carry out a work if he does not know anything. Actually, we need to realize that we can help people the most when we truly do not know anything; if we know everything, we will not be able to help others. For instance, if we have the answer regardless of whether people ask us about the east or the west, or about our mother-in-law or our daughter-in-law, we will be useless in God’s hand. Some co-workers are like this; in the end they have no usefulness in God’s hand.
A good doctor does not give people a diagnosis casually. Doctors with special skills often sense their own inadequacy. Although they are very familiar with their own specialty, they sense that their knowledge is limited to certain matters, to a special field. If they encounter other problems, they are aware of the need to consult and discuss with doctors in the relevant fields. Those who do so are good doctors. Those who think that they know everything are “medical quacks.” Those who have not studied medicine thoroughly often think that they know everything, yet those who have studied medicine more thoroughly rarely say that they know anything; they often say that they do not know. When the co-workers go out, they must have this kind of attitude: “I do not know; I have learned so little.” Even if we really know something, unless we are in our own place, that is, unless we are in our own “car” and we are the one “driving,” we should not say anything. We need this kind of attitude and learning to work for the Lord.
We fellowship these points with the hope that we will all learn this lesson. We should not only pay attention to how to carry out the students’ work or to how well we do it; rather, we need to pay attention to the matter of the cross, put it in our heart, and learn this lesson together. If we learn this lesson well, our work with the students will surely succeed; however, if the students’ work is not successful, it is not because the way is not good but because our learning is inadequate.
We should labor and take the lead according to this principle and continue to keep this principle by giving everyone the full opportunity, enlightening them, and inspiring their organic function. Whether it is the work with the college, high-school, or junior-high-school students, the first group of people we can and should use is the existing brothers and sisters who are students. For instance, we can list all the colleges and universities and see how many brothers and sisters we have in each of these schools. Then we need to motivate them and help them to function. If there are fifty brothers and sisters in the National Taiwan University, the first thing we should do is to motivate them to labor on their university. After motivating them, we should see how many full-time trainee brothers and sisters are needed to cooperate with them and strengthen them. If we begin in this way and follow this principle, I believe that the students’ work will be successful.
For over three years we have been studying the way for the church to gain the increase and have seen that door-knocking gains people, the home meetings keep people, the group meetings join people together, and the district meetings bring people into the church. The principle is the same with the students’ work. We need to visit people and gain people directly on the campuses. Then we need to keep them by the principle of the home meetings. Although the students do not have homes, we must find a way, based on this principle, to keep them. Then we need to use the group meetings to join them with others. Finally, we can use the district meetings to bring them into the church. While the work of gaining people is done on the campuses, we still need to bring the new believers to attend the district meetings on the Lord’s Day so that they can taste the church life and have some knowledge and feeling for the church. Whether it is the campus work or any other work, we may have all kinds of activities during the week, but we must bring the new ones to the church meetings on the Lord’s Day. I am presenting some principles, but there is still the need for the elders to study concerning the details. If we are able to practice these points well, we will succeed.
