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In this chapter we will consider a point that is crucial to the small groups. The success and survival of the small groups hinge upon the content of the small group gatherings.
We have heard many encouraging testimonies regarding the small groups. Most of these testimonies speak of the effectiveness of the small groups in recovering the dormant saints. While these testimonies are good, the small groups should do more than specialize in recovering dormant saints. We need to study more aspects so that the small groups can have more functions.
If we start counting from the summer of 1950, the Lord’s recovery has been in Taiwan for the past thirty-five years. In these thirty-five years we have baptized more than one hundred thousand believers. Recently, we counted the information cards for the church in Taipei, and there was a total of more than fifty-eight thousand forms. Since the number of saints in the church in Taipei typically makes up half of the total number of saints in the churches in Taiwan, there should be more than one hundred ten thousand saints in Taiwan. However, there are at most fifteen thousand saints who are in the church life in Taiwan at the moment. This shows that there are close to one hundred thousand saints who are not meeting. If we estimate the number of saints who have left the country or passed away to be ten thousand, then there should still be ninety thousand saints that we need to find and bring back to meet with us.
A brother who is a doctor testified that quite a few of the directors in the hospital where he works are brothers who have not met with us for many years. These ninety thousand saints are scattered among Taiwan’s eighteen million people, like drops of water in a great lake. We must find them and bring them back. I beg all the churches to pay attention to the information cards. These cards are our gold mines, and we should dig much gold from them.
The church in Taipei has more than fifty-eight thousand information cards, but not more than five or six thousand people meet regularly. If we calculate those who have left the country or passed away to be five thousand people, then there are still more than forty-five thousand who need to be located. Therefore, we must exert some effort. We entreat all the meeting halls and group gatherings to pick up this burden and seek out the lost ones. The churches should study their information cards to find those who are not meeting and bring them back.
There are three matters that must be the focus of our groups. First, we must keep the existing saints. When we preached the gospel and baptized new believers in the past twenty-eight years, we did not have a proper way to retain them. As a result, many of the newly baptized ones left. If half of the fifty-eight thousand people had remained in the church life, the churches would have a completely different look today. Hence, the small groups must focus on retaining the existing ones and not allow them to be lost.
Second, in order to recover the dormant saints, we must cooperate with the churches to locate and bring back those for whom we have information cards. This may seem like we are looking for needles in a haystack, but it still must be done. Since they are our family members, we must by all means find them and bring them back. Hence, all the churches on the island need to use the information cards to recover the saints, making an effort to seek them out one by one.
In order to sort the information cards, we need to use computers to establish a clear filing system. The records of the saints who are deceased should be put into one file but should not be discarded or burned; this is our history, and it must be kept in a proper manner. The records of those who have gone abroad must also be sorted out. We should locate where they are living and determine if they are meeting with the church. After we enter this data into the computer, we can know at the touch of a key how many brothers and sisters have passed away, how many have gone abroad, and how many are in other various situations. This is something we need to do urgently.
In addition, we also need to discuss a new publication, New Way and New Doors. We have decided to publish a global church newsletter in English, Chinese, and Spanish. It will be typeset and mailed to different places for printing and distribution. In the first six issues we will print a global list of more than six hundred local churches, including the date when the saints began to meet in the locality, the number of saints on the name list, and the number of those who meet regularly. [Note: This information was subsequently published separately as A Table of the Churches in the Lord’s Recovery in 1985.] Using the computer to analyze our information cards will be a tremendous help to this effort. The editorial office for this publication will be in Anaheim, where we have both Chinese and English editors. If a church receives a request, please write down the initial and the present condition of the church, the address of its meeting hall, and the number of saints who meet. I believe this will be a great help to the churches throughout the world.
For example, there is a small church in France, and if the brothers and sisters there are able to read New Way and New Doors, they will be very encouraged. Similarly, those who are able to see the situation in the more than one hundred churches from Mexico to Argentina will be encouraged as well, and their burden for prayer will increase. In the same way, many will be able to read about the current situation in the churches in Taiwan, and they will be encouraged.
Third, we should focus on the preaching of the gospel. We not only need to sustain and retain our existing saints and recover dormant saints, we also need to preach the gospel. Concerning these three matters, we should not focus only on the first matter with the thought that it must be completed before we address the second matter. We must focus on all three matters at the same time. Retaining existing ones, recovering dormant ones, and preaching the gospel are three things that small groups should do at the same time.
The content of the small group gatherings involves mutual fellowship. In Greek the word fellowship conveys the meaning of flowing, being in agreement, linking up, and communicating. Hence, fellowship is a flow. For example, the circulation of the blood in the body is a kind of fellowship. Likewise, the electric current in a lamp is a kind of fellowship. When there is no flow of electricity, a lamp stands alone. But once a lamp is connected to the electrical current, it is connected not only to the power plant but also to other lamps.
As believers, we have the Spirit of God and the life of God in us. Today the life of God and the Spirit of God are flowing within us continually. We have this flow, and even those who have not been meeting for a long time have this flow. Many dormant saints say, “I have not been meeting for many years, and I am embarrassed to go back.” This sense of embarrassment proves that they still have God’s life in them; they are still breathing. It also proves that they have the sense of life within them. Hence, there is still hope for them. This hope is related to the flow of life, which is also the fellowship.
When we gather together in the groups, we should believe that the Lord is in our midst. From the day we were saved, He came into us with His life, and He has never left. Furthermore, we can also stand on His promise in Matthew 18:20: “Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.” We must acknowledge and grasp this privilege.
The small groups are gathered into the Lord’s name, not into my name or into your name. When we are gathered into the Lord’s name, we have the position to say, “Lord, You must be in our midst because this is Your word in Matthew 18:20.” We need to learn to speak words based on the spiritual reality. For example, if only three people come to a small group gathering, we should not say, “How pitiful! There are only three people in our small group gathering tonight.” We must count the Lord Jesus and not forget Him. In doctrine, we know and believe that the Lord is in our midst when we meet. In practice, we need to count the Lord Jesus as one of the attendants. If we do not count Him, our understanding is based on doctrine rather than reality. From now on, when we report our numbers, we should include the Lord Jesus. If we have one hundred eighty people, we should add the Lord Jesus and report one hundred eighty-one. If there are two thousand six hundred eighty, we should add the Lord Jesus and report two thousand six hundred eighty-one. This is not a small matter; we must realize that counting the Lord Jesus makes a world of difference. This is not a matter of doctrine but of practice. When we gather together, He is listening as well as speaking because He is listening and speaking in us. Since He is with us, we should count Him among the number of attendants.
Each time we come to a gathering, it is not to conduct business, not to eat hot pot, and not to make friends or seek assistance. We come to seek the Lord Jesus, that is, to be gathered into the Lord’s name. Once we have this faith, we can say, “Lord, we thank and praise You. This small gathering is connected to heaven. You are on the throne, in our midst, and even in us.” We must have this faith and make this declaration.
Once we make this declaration, we are in the fellowship, just as turning on a lamp switch causes the electrical current to flow and the light to shine in all directions. Once we are in this condition, we will be in the light and will not engage in idle talk; rather, we will be able to speak of our real condition spontaneously. For example, a brother may testify, “I am truly blessed to participate in this small group. The Lord is with me every day. In our last gathering, a brother said that we should have at least ten minutes of morning watch with five minutes of prayer and five minutes of reading the Bible. I went home and practiced this, and it was truly helpful. Throughout the day I had the Lord’s presence, and the Lord’s word was moving in me continuously. This fellowship has been a real enjoyment to me. In particular, after ten minutes of fellowship with the Lord this morning, I had no desire to argue with my wife. I was truly happy, so I hurried to come here tonight.” This is fellowship. When the brother finishes speaking, we should not merely nod our head and smile, thinking that this testimony is good but not saying anything. We need to see that fellowship is not one-way traffic. Others should spontaneously continue to share. We need to learn in this matter. A young sister may offer a prayer: “O Lord, may You give us grace so that, like this brother, we can all grow in life.” This two-way traffic is fellowship; in this way everyone is supplied.
Mutual fellowship is truly better than merely listening to messages. Listening to messages is similar to eating only white rice during a meal; there is not much variety in flavor. When we have a meal, we always have other dishes in addition to white rice. The two-way traffic in fellowship is similar to pickled vegetables, which stimulate one’s appetite during a meal. After the young sister has prayed, the Spirit may lead everyone to pray one after another, or another brother may say, “I can testify that this is absolutely true. I have been practicing praying for five minutes and reading the Word for five minutes in the morning for several months. I feel very blessed, and now I want to begin to pray for ten minutes and read the Word for ten minutes.” This testimony will be a strengthening. The fellowship that follows could be endless. There may be strengthening prayers or testimonies that follow one after another. Following this fellowship, the entire gathering will open up. After half an hour of fellowship, everyone will be full and satisfied, and when they part, they will yearn for the next meeting.
The Lord’s grace in us is rich. However, since we have not been adequately trained and lack exercise and practice, we are accustomed to attending worship “services” and sitting. From an early age I went to Sunday worship services with my mother. Once we entered the chapel, we would simply sit down. Christianity requires believers to sit. When I was in elementary school, all the students were required to dress neatly on the Lord’s Day and then go to school to wait for the teachers’ arrival. Once the teachers arrived, they led us to Sunday school to sit in small pews and then to the big chapel to sit in large pews. This was truly a suffering to me because I wanted to play soccer, but instead I had to go and sit in a pew.
Today we are under this influence to sit whenever we meet. Sitting does not require any learning or practice. It is common for Christians all over the world to attend and sit through a service, because we have not been trained to meet according to the Spirit. For instance, in large gatherings two young brothers lead the singing of hymns and the reading of the Bible from the podium. As a result, the singing and the reading are very orderly. Nevertheless, why is it necessary for them to be on the podium? This is a religious ritual. Can they not simply rise from their seats and read? They can surely rise from their seats and say, “We will read Acts 2:42.” This would be sufficient.
Of course, it is also possible to turn a practice of not going to the podium to sing hymns and to read the Word into a religious ritual. We must realize that religious rituals are part of our very constitution. The only way to be delivered from religious rituals is to be according to the spirit. In our spirit we know whether or not we are meeting according to religious rituals because things of religion cannot enliven people or gain people. Every time we meet, we should stand against our religious constitution; instead, we should do everything according to the spirit, including singing, praying, and testifying. If we can grasp this principle and practice it, our small groups will definitely have a future.
Let me give another example. Suppose a brother who has not met for a long time comes back and says, “I have not met for twenty years, but I have a favorite hymn, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know.’” Although he has called a hymn, it is not in our hymnal. What should we do? Should we say, “This hymn is not in our hymnal, so let us not sing it”? If we did this, he would be stumbled. We need to exercise our spirit because there are many situations in the small groups that can never be handled by applying regulations. Rather than saying anything to the brother, we also could be silent, using the excuse that since there is no leader or responsible one in the small group, we should do nothing. This would be like throwing cold water on him, and it would not be proper. Again, we should exercise our spirit and pray inwardly, “O Lord, what should we do?” I have had this experience; when we look to the Lord, He will lead us. Perhaps He may give someone the leading to say, “Those of us who know this hymn can sing together, and those of us who do not know it can learn.” This will comfort the brother’s heart. Although “Jesus loves me, this I know” is a very shallow hymn, it will be very sweet, and the brother will be recovered if everyone sings in the spirit. If no one knows this hymn, someone can say, “Brother, if you tell us the first stanza, we will follow along.” This hymn can be like a drop of dew that brings in a river. After singing, someone can follow with a prayer: “Lord, we thank You! You love our brother, and You love every one of us. Today we are enjoying Your love.” Although this is a small matter, it can turn into a flow of living water.
Although I have written outlines concerning the small group gatherings, all of these are merely principles; the practice is entirely a matter of being in the spirit. The fellowship in the small groups must be living. From this fellowship we can know a brother’s situation, problems, and burdens so that everyone can intercede and share the burden. Our responses must always follow the Lord’s leading. We do not necessarily need to shed tears every time we hear someone’s problems. Even the expression of our love must be a matter in the spirit. All that I have written in the outlines and spoken in this meeting is in the nature of fellowship; when the time comes, we must do everything according to the spirit.
The content of the small group gatherings also includes singing hymns and praying. In Christian meetings there will be singing and praying, but we should not treat these as rituals or forms. When Christians meet today, they sing, then pray, and at the conclusion they sing and pray again. These are all religious rituals. In our Christian meetings we also sing and pray, but sometimes we do not sing a hymn. However, it is rare when there are no prayers, because we have a spirit that needs to breathe, and prayer is our breathing. It would be difficult to meet for one to two hours without any prayer; this would suffocate us. Prayer may be in the form of thanking, praising, extolling, or petitioning. In any case, whether we are singing or praying, there should be no regulations or rituals.
In the small group gatherings we do not need to wait for everyone to arrive in order to call a hymn. This indicates that our singing is a ritual. In large meetings in Christianity, arrangements are made beforehand to have “Pastor So-and-so” call a hymn and “Doctor So-and-so” lead the prayer. We must not allow the singing and praying in our small groups to follow this pattern. If three or five persons are gathered and have a genuine burden to sing hymns, they should sing hymns. Singing hymns should be according to inspiration and the mood of the gathering. If there is no inspiration or mood to sing, there is no need to sing. The same principle applies to praying. We should not turn singing and praying into rituals. For example, we can offer praise and thanks to God for His many answers to prayer since the group last gathered. At the same time that we are giving thanks and praise to the Lord, we can let our requests be made known to God, and there can be prayers related to the execution of God’s will and the accomplishment of the Lord’s work. If the Spirit moves and leads us in this direction during our gatherings, we should follow the Spirit. These matters are not rituals.
The small group gatherings should also have the supply of the word as their content. This is the life pulse of the group gatherings, and while it is the most important item in a Christian meeting, it is often the most difficult item. However, the Lord’s word among us is not scarce. Volume after volume of Life-studies have opened the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. As long as we spend a few minutes every morning to read two or three verses with their footnotes and three to five paragraphs of a related Life-study message, we will be filled with a supply. Over the course of a year, we will build up a great deposit of the truth in us. Then when we attend the group gatherings, the Spirit will guide us to speak for the Lord.
In the small group gatherings the supply of the word must be focused on God’s New Testament economy. God’s New Testament economy is the Triune God becoming flesh, passing through human living, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit to dispense Himself into every believer so that we can become the children of God and the members of Christ as His Body. This is God’s New Testament economy. This does not mean that we must recite this statement every time we meet. We can speak about many points in the Bible, but our focus must be on the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people.
One time a local church invited me to preach the gospel. The title of one of the messages was “The Triune God Dispensing Himself into the Tripartite Man,” and I spoke from Romans 8. Some may think that this topic is too deep and that many would not understand it, but such a thought only shows how much we underestimate people’s capacity to receive. The truth of the tripartite nature of man is a proof that man has the capacity to receive the dispensing of the Triune God, and for this dispensing, there must be a God-given capability for man to understand and to contact God. We must change our concept and not think that others cannot understand; rather, we must see that it is our limited ability to speak that hinders people from understanding and receiving the supply of the word. If we know how to speak, people will understand.
When I first heard about computers, I could not grasp the concept of a computer. After I gained some understanding about computers, I discovered that even a ten-year-old child knows how to use a computer. I did not understand computers, but even a ten-year-old child knows the difference between software and hardware. When my grandchildren received a computer, they plugged it in and immediately started playing with it. When I saw this, I was amazed and encouraged. Based on my remembrance of this experience, I decided to speak on “The Triune God Dispensing Himself into the Tripartite Man” when I preached the gospel that day. I spoke about the Triune God and about the tripartite man, and the people listened with keen interest and understanding. Hence, we should never say that people in a group gathering will not understand our speaking related to God’s New Testament economy. People will understand if our speaking is adequate. While they may not appear to understand, they will understand after hearing it again and again. We should not underestimate people. Man was created by God with three parts, and even though man has a mind and a body, he also has a spirit to contact God.
For this reason, we need to cultivate our understanding of God’s New Testament economy. This does not require much effort. With just ten minutes every day over a period of a year, we will accumulate a considerable amount. We must be truthful with the Lord. Since we love Him, we should practice a life of enjoying Him. In the morning watch, we should spend five minutes to pray and five minutes to read the Word and then gradually increase our prayer to ten minutes and our reading of the Word to ten minutes. Everyone can pay this price. If we have such an exercise every morning, we will definitely have a supply for others in the group gatherings. Furthermore, we have many spiritual books and publications. For the past eleven years these publications have all been focused on God’s economy. Line by line and point by point, they all speak concerning God’s economy, which is God’s desire to dispense Himself into His chosen people. If we are willing to make the effort to obtain the material from these books, we will be faithful ministers of the word.
Our speaking should not be loose and without structure; we must have a clear line and a definite emphasis. This requires practice. As long as we have the heart and are willing to learn, everyone in the meetings can speak the word, but the speaking must have a line and a focus.
We must avoid speaking about things that are different from God’s New Testament economy. The Bible speaks of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph. 3:8) and “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19). We must learn to speak concerning things such as these, which are related to God’s New Testament economy, and not speak different teachings. In this regard, it is best to use the Life-studies. When I say this, I am not speaking like a melon-seller who exaggerates the sweetness of his melons. Last year a few brothers wrote me a letter saying that they had compared the Life-studies to several other expository books. After much comparison, they acknowledged that the Life-studies were higher, richer, and deeper. When I wrote the footnotes of the Recovery Version of the Bible, I read many expository books. I am standing on their shoulders, so I know that the Life-studies are higher. What these expositions have, I also have, but what I have, they do not have. This is only because they came before me; some were written two hundred years ago, and others were written one hundred years ago. The light they have cannot be compared to the light we have today. Even an ordinary electrician has greater knowledge about electrical lights than Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb. Hence, I advise you to save your money and not buy so many reference books and to save your eyesight and time, because the essence of all the useful expositions is in the Life-studies and footnotes of the Recovery Version of the Bible. I have studied all the famous expositors in Christianity, and I have also spent nearly eleven years writing in order to finally complete the work of the Recovery Version of the New Testament and the Life-studies. These are the best materials to use in the small groups.
Recently, the serving ones at the ministry office in the United States selected some precious quotations from the Life-studies and the footnotes of the Recovery Version of the Bible and framed them. When I read these words, I could not help asking myself, “Did I say this? Did I write this?” If the source had not been cited, I would hardly have believed that I wrote them. The treasure within them is too rich. A footnote is often written by compiling the main points from ten books. Sometimes a very long footnote required a week to write. Not only did I read the original text to find the meaning of a particular word in a verse, but I also read the comments of well-known writers on the same verse. Furthermore, I also added my own consideration. These tasks often took a considerable amount of effort. All of you are my family, so I can tell you the work that I have done; it is definitely worth your effort to extract the riches from the Life-studies.
The group gatherings should always have a goal of perfecting every believer to know and speak the truth, to grow in life and increase in spiritual stature, to live in the Body, be built up together, and live the church life, and to spread the gospel and save sinners. In other words, there are four main items: truth, life, the church, and the gospel.
I hope that after one or two years, everyone who participates in the small group gatherings will be able to speak the truth, to testify concerning their growth in life, to live the church life, and to preach the gospel. Truth, life, the church, and the gospel are the goal of our small group gatherings.
