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Today we need to consider another important subject. It is the most central lesson in the elders’ overseeing of the church. This lesson is the administration of the church.
The administration of the elders is the overseeing, the management, the building, and the leadership of the elders. The elders’ oversight, administration, building, leadership, and management of the church all refer to the same thing. However, in this lesson we prefer to use the word administration.
There is much to say concerning the elders’ administration of the church. If we think that administration only signifies the building up of the saints, we will only think in terms of the building and will not realize that it also includes the management of the church. Conversely, if we think that administration only covers the matter of management, we will not realize that it also includes the building up of the saints. But if we say administration, everything is included in a general way. Within administration there is both management and building; it includes everything. The words leadership, building, and management each refer to only one thing respectively. But the word administration immediately conveys the idea of manifold responsibilities. This is why we like to use the word administration. The elders’ administration of the church is in many areas. In the terms of the secular world it has many departments.
There is one goal in the elders’ administration, with three areas of service. There are also various matters of coordination that have to be considered. Let us now consider them one by one.
Regardless where the church appears on this earth, it has only one goal: to be a testimony of Christ and to express Christ among humanity. When Christ is lived out and expressed through His people, there is the testimony of the church. This is the goal for which the church exists on earth today. The reason God wants to have a church in the universe is for it to express Christ in this way. The reason God establishes churches in all the localities is that Christ may be expressed by the saints in these localities. This is the goal of the church. It is also the goal of the elders’ administration of the church.
The elders must realize that our meeting here does not represent any particular truth or any Christianity movement. Among all the organizations in Christianity, some represent the truth of baptism; they label themselves the Baptist Church. Others represent a Pentecostal movement; they call themselves the Pentecostals. But brothers, we have none of these intentions here. Rather, by the Lord’s mercy, we desire to recover the testimony of the church on earth. We only wish that God would have more mercy on us and recover the testimony of the church so that the Son of God, our glorious Christ, will be expressed. The churches in all the places should maintain one testimony and emphasize one goal, which is that Christ be lived out and expressed among the brothers and sisters.
From our past experiences and our knowledge concerning the truth in the Scripture, we have found clearly through our practice that the practical service in the church is in three areas:
The first is the zealous preaching of the gospel. In order for the church on earth to express the Son of God, it cannot neglect the preaching of the gospel. The church must preach the gospel of the Son of God to the sinners in darkness. If the testimony of the church is to be strengthened and built up, there must be the preaching of the gospel to bring in new souls. In the service of the gospel the church must be zealous, powerful, and effective.
The second thing is to perfect the saints. When people are saved and are brought into the church, they must begin to be perfected right away. Of course, perfecting includes many things. It includes such things as helping them to love the Lord, to deal with their past, to consecrate themselves before the Lord, to learn to study the Bible, to pray, to contact the Lord, and to pursue in life. These are the four levels of spiritual life in which we have been trained in the past.
The third thing is service. Not only do we have to perfect the saved ones; we have to lead these saved and perfected ones into the church and have them serve in a practical way.
When these three items are added together, there is the building up of the church. On the one hand, there is the preaching of the gospel. On the other hand, there is the perfecting of the saints. Then you need to bring the saved and perfected ones together to serve. In this way the church can be built up in a locality. Through the building up of these three areas of service, God’s glorious goal is achieved, and Christ is expressed. This is the testimony of the church. It is God’s goal concerning the church.
All the elders’ administration and oversight of the church revolve around this one goal and three areas of service. This is the sphere of the elders’ administration. Whatever the elders do, and no matter how much they do, in the end all the things are either for the gospel, for the perfecting, or for the service. These three items combined together produce the building, the attainment of which accomplishes God’s goal.
The oversight and administration of the elders are nothing other than the gospel, the perfecting, and the service. Following the gospel, there is the perfecting, and following the perfecting, there is the service. As to the service, it must be done in coordination. The one thing that requires the most spiritual consideration in service is the matter of coordination. The oversight and administration of the elders must be carried out in coordination. If they cannot be carried out in coordination, the elders’ administration will surely be weak. We have to realize that if the Lord is to gain the goal in the church in this age, the saints must be built up together. This building up is the coordination. The gospel brings in the saved sinners. When a person is saved, he needs to be perfected. After being perfected, he needs to serve. However, he must not serve individually but must serve in coordination. This is the coordination in service. It is the building up of the church.
Some people have taken our use of the word coordination to mean the organization of institutions. Actually, the two things are very different. The word organization is not found in the Bible, but the word coordination is found in the Chinese Union Version. The Chinese translation of 1 Corinthians 12:24 says, “God coordinated the body together.” From this verse we derived the word coordination. The Body is coordinated together by God. You can say that the Body is an organization, because it is organized together by the different parts. But God says that this Body is a matter of coordination. Romans 12:5 says, “We who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Being members one of another to become one Body is a matter of coordination. Now let us consider the various aspects of coordination.
The elders have to consider seriously everyone who wants to come into the coordination to see if each one has life. In common terms, we should find out if such a one is saved or not. Here, however, we are not emphasizing the matter of salvation but the matter of life. Today Christianity has spoiled the term salvation. It seems that salvation has come to mean only the forgiveness of sins, the deliverance from perdition, and a passage to heaven after you die. But the elders’ administration of the church is toward the goal of coordination. For this reason the elders cannot pay attention simply to an incomplete salvation. Instead, they should pay attention to whether or not a person has life. If the goal is merely salvation, there would be no need of administration, oversight, or coordination. Since everyone will go to heaven anyway, why does the church still need oversight? Why is there still the need for coordination? Hence, in order to administrate the church, you must take life as the foundation. The first consideration is that you must have life.
It is one thing to have life; it is another thing to be living. Experience shows that many who have life do not appear to be living. You cannot say that such a person is not saved, but he is dead. At least, he is asleep; he is not yet awake.
To have life is the same as what Christianity calls being saved, and to be living is equivalent to what Christianity calls being revived. Some are saved, but they are not revived yet. They know definitely that they have sinned, and they have definitely believed in the Lord Jesus as their Savior who has died for them on the cross. They definitely believe in the blood of the Lord Jesus and know that the Lord has forgiven them. They have relinquished their gross and immoral sins, and they are coming regularly to attend church meetings. However, they do not like to read the Bible, and they do not open their mouths to pray. They have no big sins, but neither have they cut themselves off from the small sins. They do not know anything about the world and have no concept about giving it up. They still live in their human relationships and worldly connections. They are saved, but they have never been revived.
On the other hand, we see some who are not only saved but are revived. They love the Lord, desire after Him, study the Bible, and pray. They do not commit gross sins. When they commit a small sin, such as saying something wrong, they deal with it before the Lord. They have given up the world, and they are living a life for the Lord. They have come alive. They are living. Once you touch them, you can tell that they are awakened people. To be revived is to wake up. They always pray for others’ souls with tears. After two months such a one brings one person to salvation. In another three months he brings another two to be saved. He is living.
Elders, please excuse me for saying these things. You have to realize that this is hard work for you. The elders should never say that there is nothing to do. There are so many brothers here. How many of them are living? Those who are not living are the ones you have to work with. You have to enliven them. This is the administration of the elders. All those who are not living need you to work with them.
Sometimes the elders may decide that their meeting place is not large enough and that they will buy a piece of land and build their own meeting hall on it. Everyone may think that this is too difficult, but I will tell the brothers and sisters that this is quite easy. The difficult part is to make the brothers and sisters who have life but who are not living to become quite living. You do not realize how much labor and endeavoring is needed there.
Here you need to take out the files of the brothers and sisters and read them carefully. Sometimes you should not read them alone but with the other responsible ones from the district. Sometimes you have to fellowship with the brothers and sisters directly to touch their real inward condition. After you have touched their real condition, you can classify them. The living ones will belong to one category. The dead ones will belong to another category. Those who are half-dead are also put into a third category. During these days I have been conducting this training. Sometimes I have to stay up until midnight to prepare these lessons. The next morning I have to rise up early again. Someone has told me that I am too tired. But I will tell the brothers and sisters that if I were to serve as an elder in Taipei, in another year I would lose another thirty pounds. To be an elder is much more exhausting than to take care of a training.
When I was taking care of the churches in northern China, we did this kind of classification at that time. We divided the brothers and sisters into twelve classes. The lowest-numbered class was the dead ones. The highest-numbered class was the living ones. In between were the half-dead ones, and the ones who had been dead for a long time and were about to come alive. After classification we should not work with the dead ones or the living ones first. Instead, we should work on the ones who are about to come alive. We looked up these people and fellowshipped with them one by one. We invited them to the love feasts and helped them solve all their problems. Sometimes we could not even help them ourselves, and we would ask another brother who had learned the lesson to help them. After we did this for a while, some of these came alive. They were class eleven. Now they have advanced to class twelve. Next, we should work with the ones who are worse, the class-ten ones. After a while these also will become class twelve. By that time there will be a sizable number of living ones in the church, and the church will almost become a wave offering; the meetings will become quite living. Once classes ten and eleven have been enlivened, the church is about to move on. For example, in a family the father may be class eleven. The mother may be class ten, and the daughter may be class nine. Once you have enlivened the class-eleven father and the class-ten mother, the daughter will more or less come along. She would say, “Since my father and mother are loving the Lord, I should love the Lord too!” They may have another son in the house who belongs to class eight. Even he will become alive now. If this goes on, by the time the sixth class has been worked with, the church will no longer be a wave offering but a heave offering as well, and there will be a real revival. Most people will have become living, and the remaining few, even if they are not living, will be made alive together. This is very easy. I wish to tell the brothers and sisters that this was the revival of Chefoo in 1943. The brothers and sisters became alive one after the other, and there was no way for the church to fail to be revived.
If the elders would classify the brothers and sisters according to their condition and would try to make the dead ones alive, how busy they would be! I worked in this way before the revival in Chefoo. For three years I went to the meeting hall every morning at 10:30 and stayed until 11:30 each evening. This was what I did the whole day long, considering what kind of leading each person needed and whether I should personally lead them or have others help them. Some who are sitting here can testify the kind of stirring, visitation, and fellowship there was in those days. How did we arrive at such a state? It was because one man was there continually stirring others up. To use the language of the world, he kept promoting until everyone had to act and go out. I worked in this way for three years. By the end of 1942 there were at least eighty or ninety brothers and sisters out of one hundred who were very living. In a short time the revival of the church broke out.
I am very clear about the condition of the meetings in all the places today. Although everyone has life, the big question is whether or not they are living. The dormant ones are, of course, not living. But even many of the ones who are able to come to the meetings are not living. How much work there is involved to cause these brothers and sisters to come alive.
Perhaps someone would feel that this is too artificial. If you say this, I can only plead before you in tears that you are too spiritual. If no one beseeches with tears and prays in earnestness, and if no one seeks after the sinners through storm and rain to preach the gospel to them, will they be saved merely by everybody being so spiritual? Let me say this: if you can weep for three days and three nights and then work for three days to bring a person to salvation, even if this is artificial, it is still the right thing to do. When God works, He needs man’s cooperation. We have never seen a place where God has worked while those under Him were lazy. On the contrary, we have seen everywhere that those who are greatly used by the Lord are all diligent. God’s work requires man’s cooperation.
In Taipei there are over three thousand brothers and sisters who do not attend the meetings regularly. Even of those who come, I am afraid that less than half are alive. This is one chief work within the elders’ administration. You should find it unbearable to see so many brothers and sisters not being living, yet you are still serving as an elder in peace. You must have a burden within to beseech the Lord and to find a way. I wish to tell the brothers that if you serve as an elder in this way, very soon the fat ones will become the thin ones. This is not a joke. Church administration is not an easy matter. It has to do with the life and death, the blessings and woes, of a large number of people.
The elders have to spend time on this point also. They cannot be loose. You have to know the condition of all the ones who have come alive, their heart toward the Lord, their education, their background, their finances, their family, and their relationship with those around them. Even their physical strength, their health, and their mind must all come under your consideration. In order to bring people into the service, you have to be like a foreman. Not only do you have to call together the workers, but you must have the blueprints, the places to work, and the arrangements for the work. You have to consider the kind of people to send to a certain place and the kind of arrangements that need to be made. Please imagine how much strength, time, and energy it takes to do this! This is the church’s administration.
From the spiritual point of view, you still have to look to God very much to inquire concerning His will and to consider how matters should be handled. You have to consider what needs to be done first, what kind of arrangements you need to make, and what kind of people you should bring in. You must not only look to the Lord yourself but must fellowship with those who are serving together with you. There are many things that you cannot see through by yourself. For example, if you want to bring a brother into the service, not only do you have to fellowship with the elders, but you must ask those who are frequently in touch with this person. You have to find out through whom this person was saved and who has been in touch with him all the time. You have to ask about their feeling concerning this person. You have to be thorough to this extent before you can be safe.
I want the brothers and sisters to realize that this kind of work is not at all wasted. When you bring one such person into the service, you are actually rendering much unspoken influence to the ones who have helped him to come to salvation and the ones who are in frequent contact with him. When you do this, the church will become living. It is not your teaching, exhortation, or encouragement to such a one to be living; that is useless. It is your working. When one by one the people become living, the church will be filled with the spirit of service.
During the time from 1940 to 1945, when I was in the administration of the church in Chefoo, I often had my coat pocket full of papers; it contained all kinds of lists. On one list was the schedule for the whole church, what the church should be doing during those days. On another list were the items that needed to be done according to that plan. Still another list enumerated all the items needed. Still another list had all the places needed, and another list, the kind of people needed. On more lists were all the names of the people. Whenever I had time, I would match the names with the needs. Perhaps when I woke up in the morning, I would suddenly feel that a certain person was not suitable. I would immediately mark this down and make the correction. This correction would result in a vacancy. I would immediately look for another person from the list. If I could not find one from the list, I still had to look for one among the brothers and sisters.
Brothers, the arrangement of the service must be done in such a way before it can be weighty. You cannot lightly say, “Let us bring someone into the service.” Neither can you make an announcement, saying, “Brothers and sisters, come and serve!” If you do this, those who are led in this way will not have respect for you. They would feel that you who bear the responsibility are too light and loose. You must be like King Solomon inviting the Queen of Sheba to come and see. When the queen saw his orderly arrangement of matters, her heart was full of respect. With some people, regardless how high their worldly position is or how much achievement they have in education, when they enter into the service, they spontaneously become very respectful. You must command the respect of others. Otherwise, how can they take your leading? By doing this, you are opening up a way and paving a path for others to enter into God’s riches.
The elders cannot bring people into the service and leave them there. They must pay attention to the function in these ones. For instance, when you bring someone to clean the windows in the meeting hall, you should not merely pay attention to whether he is cleaning them or not. You have to pay attention to his function. If you ask him just to clean the windows, you are misusing him and are damaging him. Some are brought into the service this way, but they soon leave the service. They have no interest in the work, because they have not realized their function. This is the result of inaccurate leading. Not only do you have to bring someone in, but you must observe him while you are bringing him in. You must find out what kind of function he has and through which kind of service he should be perfected. This is the perfecting of the saints spoken of in Ephesians 4. The perfecting there emphasizes the perfecting of the function. We have to spend time to perfect others.
When the brothers and sisters have realized their functions in the service, the gifts will be manifested. At that time the elders will have to encourage them to develop their gifts. There is much to say about this encouragement.
You may have to help a person renew his consecration before the Lord. He is a living person and has been brought into the service already. Surely he is consecrated already. But if you have learned the lesson, you will realize that such a one still has some problem with his consecration. There is a problem of degree in his consecration. There is also a problem of nature, of place, and of sovereign right in his consecration. Perhaps he has to learn these lessons over again. We can sense that this brother has life; he is living, and he has been brought into the service. He has some function and some gift, but there is reservation in his consecration. He has only consecrated to a certain extent, up to a point that he cannot get through. Here the elders have to help him pass through the hurdle of consecration afresh.
Some brothers cannot have their gifts realized because there is a problem with their character. A brother’s character may be somewhat lazy. If you can make him somewhat more diligent, his gift will take form.
Some people may be holding on to some hidden sin. They are not completely cut off from it, and they have not dug everything out completely. You cannot say that they do not love the Lord or that they are not consecrated. They have been brought into the service, and their function is somewhat manifest. Their gift is more or less evident. But somehow, something is missing. It seems that their gift has taken form, yet it is not mature. After probing here and there, you finally discover that this brother still has a hidden sin. If you help him to take care of this, you will be encouraging his gift to be realized. If you can help him solve the problem of his sin, you will see that his gift will immediately take shape. Perhaps by next week his preaching may become more powerful than that of anyone else.
Brothers, please observe that, although there are many brothers and sisters in all the local churches, the manifestation of the gifts is very scarce. What is the reason for this abnormal condition? It is because the elders who administrate the churches have not done a work that is in depth or to the point. To those who have learned the lesson, it seems that there has never been any work done upon the churches. Everywhere is desolation. There is only a group of people being piled together; everyone merely comes together for the meetings. At most, there is some arrangement as to the time of meeting and some announcement as to the nature of the meeting. You cannot detect any administration that is carried out in depth. Therefore, very few gifts are manifested. If the elders can touch the brothers and sisters to find out if they have life and if they are living, and if the elders can bring them into the service, perfect their functions, and encourage their gifts, you can be assured that there will be many gifted ones in the church.
Some brothers and sisters give you the impression that they are very good. They have life and are living. They are brought into the coordination; their functions are realized, and their gifts are manifested. But they have not passed the hurdle of experiencing Christ as life and as their inward fullness. The elders must spend time again to fellowship, pray, and talk with them. They must study the Bible with them and trust that the Holy Spirit will open their understanding to see that the gifts are just the glass containers and that only Christ is the content. Now the question is: every time the gift is exercised, what is in the container? You have to show them that the content of the gift must be Christ. Perhaps there is the need for another consecration here. The last consecration was for something else. This time they have to consecrate their gift. They have to say to the Lord, “Lord, I know that I have all these, but I am still empty inside. I do not have the fullness of Christ. Lord, I am consecrating myself to You again.” You have to help them to go over the hurdle and to know the meaning of Christ as life so that they can enjoy the riches of Christ.
By that time the elders have to help such brothers learn to fellowship with the Lord. This is what we have said many times — to eat, drink, and enjoy God, to touch Christ every day, to have fellowship with Him, to absorb Christ, and to enjoy Him.
Up to this point, a certain number of brothers and sisters will be brought to a point where their functions will be manifested and their gifts will be realized. Furthermore, they will be able to minister their portion of Christ. They will be able to live in the fellowship and to eat, drink, and enjoy the Lord. How glorious is such a work in the church!
Although these brothers and sisters are useful by this time, you will find out that they are not entirely clear in the understanding of the truth. You still have to perfect them in many ways concerning the truth. I can never forget the help I received from one brother ahead of me. Shortly after I had come in contact with him, within less than half a year, he sent me a Bible from far away. This was the New Translation by J. N. Darby. This version gave me a lot of help. I have to admit that before this time I did not know that there was such a version in the universe. Later, I left my job and served the Lord full time. In 1933 I went to Shanghai. I can never forget that one day this brother came with two sets of books. When he saw me, he said, “Brother, all these are yours.” After he said this, he went downstairs. When I looked at the two sets, I found that one was a book on the New Testament by Dean Alford. This was the authoritative word study of the New Testament. The other book was the Synopsis of the Books of the Bible by J. N. Darby. At that time I felt that these two sets were too precious. I can tell you that for over three days I did not eat well, not because I was too sorrowful but because I was too happy. Every word written in these two sets was like gold to me. They rendered me immeasurable help during those years. I am very clear concerning the perfection that this brother rendered me.
I can still remember that one time I went to his living room. He came down from upstairs. The minute he sat down, he asked me, “Brother, what is patience?” I was trembling all over at that time. I could not answer him at all. He was rocking in his chair and asking, “What is patience?” I said, “Isn’t patience to bear with others when they mistreat you?” He said, “No. Patience is just Christ.” After he said this, he stood up and said, “Let’s go.” He took me to the car and drove me home. When I arrived home, I was enlightened within. What is patience? Patience is just Christ! You do not know how much help this word has rendered me.
Two days later, I was again in his home. He asked, “What are you reading in the Scriptures these days?” I replied, “The book of Acts.” He then asked, “What else are you reading?” I said that the book of Colossians seemed very interesting too. He said, “Oh, these two books are the most difficult ones to match together! But actually, only these two books match one another. Acts reveals how Christ is the Head, and Colossians shows what kind of Head He is.” I wanted to hear more, but he would not say any more. I can tell you that when I went home to read these two books again, I got the light, and I saw that, indeed, only Colossians can match the book of Acts. Acts portrays a resurrected and ascended Head, whereas Colossians shows how rich the Head is and how He is everything. I must say that I had received this brother’s perfecting. His influence was very great, and the results were also very great.
Oh, brothers, the administration of the church is not a simple matter. The matter of coordination alone includes so many things.
