Search
We need to see the relationship between the church, the workers, and the work. In our fellowship, messages, and prayers, we often use three terms — church, workers, and work. When brothers and sisters go out to propagate, the responsible brothers may announce, “The church in our locality has decided to set apart one thousand dollars each month for the spread of the work.” Some saints have then asked, “What is this money for, and how will it be used?” This question demonstrates that the brothers and sisters are not clear concerning the relationship between the church, the workers, and the work. Hence, we need to explain this matter clearly. For this, we need to spend much time studying the New Testament. This will help us to see the matter clearly so that the saints in all the churches may know this truth.
For two thousand years, since the passing of the apostles, the church has not been clear concerning this matter. The Roman Catholic Church and the various Protestant denominations have deviated in this matter from the teaching of the Bible. Some groups have deviated to a greater extent and others to a lesser extent. It is truly difficult to find a group of Christians that has not deviated in the matter of the relationship between the church, the workers, and the work. In order to see this matter clearly, we must see the composition of the church. We use the term the composition of the church for the purpose of helping the brothers and sisters understand that, simply put, the church is composed of all the saved ones. If there were no saved ones, there would be no church. All the saved ones joined together are the church. Hence, the church is a composition of all the saints.
The church is not simple, because the church is universal as well as local. If we carefully study the teaching in the New Testament, we can see two aspects of the church — the universal aspect and the local aspect. For example, based on the context, the word church in Ephesians 1:22 refers to the universal church, whereas churches in Galatians 1:2 and church in Acts 8:1; 13:1 and 14:23 refer to local churches, churches in specific localities.
The universal church is unique; there is only one church in the universe. This one church is the bride of Christ. A husband should have only one wife; hence, the fact that the church is the bride of Christ speaks forth her uniqueness. The church is universal. Furthermore, the church is the Body of Christ, and there is only one Body of Christ. Hence, the church as the Body of Christ refers to the unchanging universal church. With the universal church there is no distinction of time and space. The word universal includes all times and all places, encompassing both time and space. In the Chinese language universe means the totality of time and space. All the churches at all times and in all places form the universal church, which is the unique and universal Body of Christ, the bride of Christ.
On the other hand, by reading Acts and the Epistles, we can see that the church is referred to in the plural. Both Acts 15:41 and Galatians 1:2 speak of churches. This shows that there were many churches and that these churches were local. There is a church in Manila, a church in Hong Kong, a church in Taipei, and a church in London. There is a church in each of these places. All these churches in different localities are referred to as local churches. The totality of all the local churches is the universal church.
The universal church is like the moon. There is only one moon. Whether it is seen in New York or in Manila, it is the same moon. Likewise, there is only one church in the universe, the universal church, which is the bride of Christ, the Body of Christ. Nevertheless, she was expressed in Jerusalem over nineteen hundred years ago and in many places throughout Europe over fifteen hundred years ago. Today she is expressed in many places in the Far East. In the universal church there are numerous local churches, because there is a local church in every locality in which there are believers. All these local churches combined together are the universal church. The church in Hong Kong, the church in Manila, and the church in Taipei along with all the other local churches are the universal church.
In the previous section we addressed the difference between the universal church and the local church. For the past two thousand years the church has not been able to properly solve the question of how the workers are related to the local church. The term workers can be used both in a narrow sense and in a broad sense. In a broad sense, all those who serve God are workers. For instance, whenever we go out to preach the gospel and do the Lord’s work, we are His workers. In a broad sense, it is a fact that all the saved ones are God’s servants. However, when we say that the apostle Paul was a servant of God, we say this in a narrower sense. The same principle applies to the term workers. The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, “We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9; cf. 2 Cor. 6:1); moreover, he told Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman” (2 Tim. 2:15). Workers and workman as used in these verses are undoubtedly used in a narrower sense.
In this chapter we are speaking of workers in the narrow sense of the word, not the broad sense. In a narrow sense, according to the biblical revelation, these workers are those sent by the Lord; that is, they are apostles. Throughout church history people have held an inaccurate concept concerning apostles. When I was young, I heard a preacher solemnly say that throughout the ages there have been only twelve apostles and that once the twelve apostles passed away, there have been no more apostles. At the time I thought that this concept was scriptural, but the more I read the Bible, the more I felt that it was not true. For example, both Paul and Barnabas were apostles. Those who hold the view that there were only twelve apostles claim that Paul simply filled the place of Judas. If this were the case, there would still be thirteen apostles, because Barnabas was considered to be an apostle. Acts 14:4 clearly uses the term apostles when speaking of Barnabas and Paul; hence, Barnabas also was an apostle. Moreover, Silas was an apostle (15:22), and there is clear evidence that Timothy also was an apostle (Rom. 16:21). This proves that there were many apostles in the apostles’ time. If there were not many apostles, there would not have been the need to speak of false apostles. Revelation 2:2 says that there were false apostles: “those who call themselves apostles and are not.” There is only one president in the Philippines; as a result, there is no need to speak of false presidents. However, if a nation has three or four presidents, it would be easy to have false presidents.
When some in Corinth questioned whether Paul was an apostle, he said, “If to others I am not an apostle, yet surely I am to you” (1 Cor. 9:2). According to Revelation 2:2, the church and the believers are able to try those who call themselves apostles in order to verify whether or not they are apostles. These verses indicate that there is not a limited number of apostles. They also show that apostles are not limited to a special group of people.
On the one hand, apostles are weighty people in the church; on the other hand, they are not a special group of people. According to the Bible, an apostle is simply a worker who is sent out by God. An apostle is a person who is called by God and sent by Him to preach the gospel, save sinners, and establish and edify churches. Therefore, workers in a narrow sense refers to those who are sent out by God, that is, the apostles, as spoken of in the Bible. Later, in Europe the word missionary, a term derived from Latin, emerged. This word means “sent one.” In recent days, when people are sent out to preach the gospel by either the Roman Catholic Church or various Protestant denominations, they are referred to as missionaries. Because most missionaries have come from the West, there is a new term in Chinese — Western missionaries.
In fact, the word missionary is equivalent to the New Testament word apostle. Both missionaries and apostles are people sent by God to preach the gospel and establish churches. When we speak of workers, we are referring to apostles, those sent by God to preach the gospel and establish churches.
Some people may ask, “Are there workers in the local church?” If we read the entire New Testament carefully, we will see that there were no apostles in the local church. The sphere of the work of an apostle is extra-local. Acts 13:1 says, “Now there were in Antioch, in the local church, prophets and teachers.” Surprisingly, there is no mention of apostles in the church in Antioch. Neither does one find apostles in other churches. However, 1 Corinthians 12:28 says, “God has placed some in the church: first apostles...” How can we explain this? On one hand, there are no apostles in the local church; on the other hand, the Bible says that God has placed apostles in the church. If we read these portions carefully, we will come to the conclusion that although there are no apostles in the local church, there are apostles in the universal church.
There are many local churches in the universal church, but there are no apostles in the local churches. The apostles are only in the universal church. In the apostles’ time there were two regions: the Jewish region and the Gentile region. Peter and John were apostles among the Jews in the Jewish region, and Paul and Barnabas were apostles among the Gentiles in the Gentile region. If we read the New Testament carefully, we can tell whether a church was composed mostly of Jewish believers or Gentile believers. The universal church consists of these two regions. In each of these regions there were particular apostles. The churches in these regions were established by the apostles laboring among them. Hence, within the Jewish and Gentile regions there were many local churches.
By reading Acts, we can see that Peter and John, as apostles in the Jewish region, established churches in that region. They established the church in Jerusalem, and through the laying on of hands, they established the church in Samaria. Paul and his co-workers established churches in the Gentile region. Hence, in the universal church there are two regions and many localities. Workers labor in a region and establish churches locality by locality.
Churches are local, whereas workers are extra-local. Thus, we need to consider the relationship between the church and the workers. When an apostle is raised up, it means that this apostle has been sent to establish churches locality by locality. As a result, the local churches, the elders, and the deacons are all established by the apostle. Hence, an apostle can be said to be the highest authority in the work.
Apostles do not belong to any local church; they are workers laboring extra-locally in order to care for and minister to the local churches in every place. All the churches everywhere are equal; there is no headquarters. This is truly wonderful. In the Bible we cannot find any headquarters. This is different from the Roman Catholic Church, which takes the Vatican as its headquarters. This is also different from Protestantism, in which various sects and denominations each have their own headquarters. In the Bible the church did not have a headquarters. All the local churches, regardless of their size, were equal, autonomous in administration, living directly under Christ the Head, and directly responsible to the Head. The church in Jerusalem did not control the church in Samaria, nor did the church in Samaria control the church in Jerusalem. Today, in like manner, the church in Manila should not control the church in Hong Kong, nor should the church in Hong Kong control the church in Manila. The church in Manila should not control the church in Iloilo, nor should the church in Iloilo control the church in Manila. Although the church in Manila is much bigger than the church in Iloilo, the two churches are both equally subject to Christ the Head. This is the relationship among the churches in all the localities.
The relationship between the local churches and the workers is related to a local church’s being established and edified by a group of workers. If a local church is established and edified by a certain group of workers, it should recognize the spiritual authority of these workers. These apostles, or workers, have spiritual authority in relation to the churches that they establish and edify. A proper local church will receive the authority of these workers and be led and edified by them. This is the relationship between the local churches and the workers.
Although there is a work that involves the co-workers going out to labor, there is no such thing as the work being an organization. For the work to be an organization is degradation. Once there is organization, the work becomes the missions of Protestantism. In Protestantism there are not only missionaries but also missions. A mission is a work that is an organization; such organizations are unscriptural. In the Bible there are apostles, but there is no organization of the apostles. There are workers and there are local churches, but there is no such thing as the work being an organization. Perhaps some might ask, “Since there is no such thing as the work being an organization, why do we still say that there is a difference between the work and the church?” The answer depends upon our understanding. If our understanding is that the work refers to an organization, it is wrong to say that they are different; however, if we are speaking simply of the work, it is correct to say that there is a difference between the church and the work. There is no organization; there is only the work. This is the correct understanding.
This shows that the local churches, the workers, and the work are one. The work refers to what the workers do, not to an organization. The work is in the hands and on the shoulders of the workers; it is entirely borne by the workers. For instance, two workers may preach the gospel among some people and begin to labor in a certain place. Hence, they are workers, and what they do is the work. When some are saved, the workers will produce and establish a local church. Later, they may go to another place to preach the gospel. The two brothers are workers, whereas the churches that they raise up are local churches. These brothers are responsible only to carry out the work. Hence, in this example there are workers, churches, and the work. We should never forget that when we speak of the work, we are not referring to an organization but to the work itself. The relationship among these three things is that the workers carry out a work to establish local churches.
For example, a certain brother, after being saved, may meet in the church in Manila. He regularly preaches the gospel, and sometimes he stands up to prophesy and teach. He is in the church, but he is not a worker, because the Lord has not sent him out. However, one day he may sense that the Lord is calling him and sending him to Zamboanga to preach the gospel and establish a church there. At the same time, he may receive confirmation from a group of co-workers that this is the Lord’s commission for him, that he needs to undertake this commission, and that he has this gift. The co-workers may also send another brother to go and labor with him. As a result, they go to Zamboanga. At this point these brothers do not belong to a local church; they have become workers in the work. After a period of time they may establish the church in Zamboanga with over one thousand saints meeting together. Because of the need, one of the brothers may not be able to leave but may need to stay in the church in Zamboanga in order to serve together with the brothers. He may eventually become one of the elders and responsible ones there. At such a time he is again part of a local church.
We also would like to bring up the matter of financial support. First, there are no headquarters among the churches, nor is there an organization of the work. Hence, there is no financial center or financial control among us. If there were a headquarters, there would be a financial center; if there were an organization of the work, there would also be financial control. However, since there are no headquarters or organization of the work, we have no financial control and no financial center. Every believer is free to be led by the Lord in the matter of giving material supply to the local churches. For example, the saints in the church in Manila have absolute liberty to be led by the Lord to give material supply to meet the local need. At the same time, every brother and sister in the church in Manila also have absolute liberty to give material supply to any local church. They do not need to ask the elders or the workers for permission, nor should anyone interfere or intervene in regard to their giving. Hence, if a brother in the church in Manila has the Lord’s leading to supply the church in either Hong Kong, Taipei, New York, or London, he has absolute liberty to do so, and no one should exercise control over this matter. We have neither a headquarters nor an organization; rather, there is absolute liberty. All the saints are absolutely free to supply any local church.
Second, all the saints are absolutely free to supply the workers. Suppose there are more than ten co-workers in a certain region in the Philippines. The brothers and sisters have the absolute liberty to support them. No local church is responsible for their support, nor is there an organization of the work that is responsible for their support. The workers look to God directly, just as the local churches also look to God directly. Hence, the saints may follow the Lord’s leading to support the workers and do not need to be limited to any region. There may be two or three co-workers who, because of the Lord’s arrangement, live and serve full time in Manila, yet when the brothers in the church in Iloilo open the offering box, there are a few envelopes designated for these co-workers. Likewise, by the Lord’s arrangement there may be several co-workers serving in Iloilo; however, the brothers and sisters in Manila may give an offering to take care of these ones. This would be a beautiful thing. We have neither a center nor an organization to control or manage the matter; rather, it is the saints who manage the matter before the Lord directly.
Perhaps some brothers and sisters may ask, “Since the local churches support the co-workers financially, why is there still a need to give financial support to the work?” The significance of this question has two aspects. First, some brothers and sisters may pray and develop a feeling for certain co-workers and sense that they have a need; as a result, they may make an offering and clearly designate it for these co-workers. This is how the saints, under the Lord’s leading, directly care for the needs of the workers. Second, some brothers and sisters may not be clear regarding the needs of the work or know which co-worker has a need. They may not even know the names of the co-workers; hence, they may designate an offering only as being for the work. When a church receives such an offering, it will be given to the senior co-workers because they know the condition of the co-workers in various places and can distribute it on behalf of the brothers and sisters. This does not mean that there is an organization of the work that collects offerings; it simply means that there is a service related to offerings. This is the second aspect.
It is best if the brothers and sisters pay regular and close attention to the co-workers among the churches, especially in regard to where they go, how much burden they bear, and how much need they have. It is pleasing to the Lord if every brother and sister takes care of the co-workers in such a way. Out of their care for the co-workers, the brothers and sisters should follow the Lord’s leading to give to certain ones, and thus there is no need to designate that the offering is for the work. This practice would save the senior co-workers the trouble of distributing the offerings. However, although we care for the workers who go out and for their work, sometimes we may have the capacity to offer a sum of money yet not know where it should be used practically. For this situation we can take a simple way; that is, we can put money in an envelope and designate it for the work. This sum of money will then be handed to the senior co-workers after the brothers take it from the offering box of the church. These co-workers will not keep the money for their own use; rather, they will distribute it to the workers according to the need in the work. At the same time, if we have the intention to give an offering for the work, we should indicate clearly for which work the offering should be used. For example, two brothers may want to give particularly for the work in a certain local church. Hence, they should indicate clearly that it is for the work in that specific locality. Suppose a saint has a burden for Cebu; he should then write on the envelope, “For the work in Cebu.” If his concern is for the work in Iloilo, he can write, “For the work in Iloilo.” Then when the senior co-workers receive the money, they will distribute it according to the designation.
There is one final matter. A local church may decide to give one thousand dollars each month for the work. This sum is what the church has decided to give; it is not something that the church owes the work, nor is it a salary that the church gives to the workers. The elders should be very clear that they are setting aside one thousand dollars each month from the offerings of the church to support the work of propagation and the workers who go forth. However, the workers and the work they support are matters that require much prayer before the Lord. Although a church has decided to designate one thousand dollars each month for the work, if the church does not give this amount to the work, it does not owe the work. There is no such thing as a church owing the work. Even though a decision was made, if the church never gives the work anything, it still does not owe anything to the work. This is because there is no organization among us. When saints who love the Lord see some brothers and sisters being called by the Lord to spread the Lord’s work in a distant place, they may personally want to express their desire before the Lord by having fellowship with these brothers and sisters through the giving of material supply. This applies to an individual as well as to a local church. Either an individual saint or a local church can give money each month in order to fellowship with the workers in the matter of material supply; however, there is no obligation as in an organization.
If the Lord does not give the church the capacity, it should not give even one dollar, much less one thousand. If the brothers and sisters disagree with and disapprove of the co-workers and their work of propagation and are not inwardly moved to give, they can look on without rendering any help. They may do this, and they are not wrong. We are not in an organization; rather, we are before the Lord. The local churches, the co-workers, and the work are absolutely before the Lord and are not part of any organization; therefore, they have complete liberty in the matter of taking care of one another.
Individual saints can supply the local churches, and the local churches can supply individual believers who are in need. Likewise, both the local churches and the individual believers can supply the workers, and when the workers see that the churches or the believers are in need, they can also supply the churches and take care of the brothers and sisters. Individual saints, the churches, and the workers in every place can take care of other workers and the propagation work in other places. There is no authority or restriction as in an organization; everyone has absolute freedom to live before the Lord.
Perhaps some may think, “What if the workers fail to receive material offerings?” We do not need to worry about this; this is a matter of their faith in the Lord. Perhaps some may say, “What if some receive too much?” We also do not need to be jealous; this is a matter of their being accountable before God. However, we should remember that a proper local church does not accumulate when it has received more than is needed; likewise, a proper worker does not save up for himself when he has received more than he needs. If the workers and the churches live before the Lord, when they receive more than is needed, they will keep only enough to meet their expenditures and give away the surplus. I can boast that for the past thirty years, the co-workers in China have never saved up for themselves. Their money is always in circulation.
Perhaps we may have had only one thousand yuan, but the money circulated to the point that it was as if we had twenty or thirty thousand yuan. For example, ten brothers and sisters may have given one thousand yuan to a local church. However, the local church may need only one hundred yuan. As a result, the church might then give the remaining nine hundred yuan to three co-workers. The three co-workers might each spend one hundred yuan and have a remainder of six hundred yuan. Thus, when they see brothers and sisters in need, they can give them some money as well as send a portion to co-workers overseas. When the overseas co-workers receive the offering, they might not feel that it is needed because the Lord has already given them enough. If they sense that other local churches have a need, they can send it to them. The money given by the ten saints was one thousand yuan, and when the local church received this amount, it was recorded in the account book. Then when a portion of it was sent out, three hundred was recorded in each of the account books of the three co-workers. Eventually, after repeated recordings, the total of all the recordings would be twenty or thirty thousand yuan.
For this reason, when we were in mainland China, there was no way to calculate how much material supply we actually received. Every one of us was supplying others; hence, we truly saw the Lord’s presence in the matter of finances. It seemed that even a little money became an abundance. This practice is very different from the practice of storing up treasures. According to such a practice, if an individual has excess money, he stores it up; if a church receives extra money, it deposits the money in the bank. In contrast, our money was always in circulation and never stopped at a certain place. Because of this, we were able to express the Lord’s abundance. We did not have a headquarters, organization, or center, and there were no statistics. We did everything before the Lord.
