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I would like to point out two important matters. First, God’s intention is for the church to be one. God cannot permit two churches to exist in the universe. God’s intention is to have only one church. Moreover, God wants only one expression of this church in each locality. He does not want two or more expressions.
Why does God want only one church in the universe and only one expression of the church within each locality, rather than many churches in the universe and many expressions within each locality? The reason is that oneness is the nature of the church. If the nature of oneness is damaged, the oneness of the church is damaged. For the sake of its nature of oneness, the church must be one at every level of its manifestation. The church must be one universally, and the church must also be one within a given locality, however small it may be.
Second, God desires that every saint in the Body of Christ be a member who has a function and fulfills his function. A saint under normal conditions, unless he fails to grow in life or is hindered in his growth, should be a functioning member, not a nonfunctioning member.
It is truly difficult to carry out these two matters simultaneously. If we divide the brothers and sisters into many small churches, each with eight to ten people or each covering a small street or alley, then everyone will be able to function. The smaller a church is, the more the brothers and sisters are able to function. Conversely, the larger the church, the more difficult it is for every saint to function. Hence, it seems that God has intentionally given us a dilemma. On the one hand, He wants every member to function, and on the other hand, He wants the church to maintain its oneness and not be divided. If God’s Word were to say that it was right to divide the church into many, it would not be difficult for everyone to function. However, God wants everyone to function, yet He does not allow us to be divided. This creates a problem for us.
The principle of the church not being divided is carried out with relative ease in a small locality, but it becomes quite difficult to carry out in a large locality. If a brother moves to a small city, a smaller place where people gather and reside, it will be relatively easy for him to keep the oneness and not divide, because the number of people is small. However, if he moves to a big city, a place as populated as Taipei, it is not as easy to keep the oneness and not divide. However, God desires that every one of us function and that there be only one church. This is quite difficult for large local churches.
We are heavy in heart these days because even though the church is large, it cannot be divided, and everyone needs to function. Let us use the church in Taipei as an example. In the church there are seven to eight thousand brothers and sisters, among whom one thousand five hundred to two thousand meet regularly. It is truly difficult for every one of these two thousand saints to function and maintain the church’s nature of oneness. To practice these two aspects simultaneously is troublesome to us.
The burden in this chapter is not to fellowship regarding the practice of these two matters; rather, it is to point out God’s intention in requiring us to practice both of these matters simultaneously. For example, in a small city there may be only twenty to thirty brothers and sisters. Each one is able to function, and they are kept from being divided. Even if a person wanted to divide this small church into smaller churches composed of just eight to ten people, I believe that the saints would not want to do this. In a big church, however, it is difficult to maintain the oneness and at the same time have everyone function.
Why did God ordain this? What is His intention? His primary intention is that in this difficult situation we would learn spiritual lessons. No matter how big a church may become, it cannot be divided. At the same time, every saint in the church needs to fulfill his function. Because the brothers and sisters are in such a “tight spot,” they must genuinely learn spiritual lessons. Strictly speaking, it does not require that much to learn to be an elder, a deacon, or a full-time serving one in a small locality; however, to be an elder, a deacon, or a full-time serving one in a large locality requires a person to learn many lessons in regard to many matters.
In a large church life we need to be subdivided into districts. If we do not have district meetings, many brothers and sisters will not be able to function. Although it is right for us to divide ourselves into districts, it is not right to divide the church. God allows us to have separate district meetings within the church, but He does not allow us to be divided into many churches within the same locality. Although the saints within one locality compose one church, they may meet in different districts. This is a solemn matter. Recently, the brothers have experienced a sense of heaviness. They do not know how to divide the saints into districts without seemingly dividing the church. The brothers are not sure what to do in order to help the saints in different district meetings and yet continue to maintain the oneness of the church. The more district meetings there are, the more difficult it is for the elders and those responsible for the districts.
Let us suppose that a certain brother who is responsible for a district meeting used to be an elder in a small local church. Because there were only twenty to thirty saints, it was easy for him to serve there. Later, due to his job situation or other reasons, he moved to Taipei. Because he loves the Lord and has some spiritual weight and function, he was asked by the church in Taipei to be a responsible one in a district meeting. However, there is a great difference between being a responsible one in a district meeting in a large church and being an elder in a small church. Things may be simple in a small locality, but they are not so simple in a large locality. One surely needs to be spiritual to be an elder in a small locality. However, in order to be responsible for a district meeting in a big locality, one needs to be even more spiritual. This is because in a small local church, it is possible to make decisions or act in an independent way, but as a responsible one in a district meeting within a large local church, one cannot make decisions or act in an independent way. Whatever the responsible one does, he needs to care for the oneness of the church.
Many times the responsible ones in the districts may have this kind of thought: “It seems that because the brothers do not let me make decisions or carry things out by myself, they are not allowing me to fulfill my duty. Since they do not let me make decisions and act independently, they are not allowing me to fulfill my ministry. This being the case, I might as well not be a responsible one in a district meeting.” It seems that if we do not have a position, we do not need to do anything. If there are thirty district meetings in the church in Taipei, and every responsible one takes this kind of attitude, instead of thirty districts we will immediately see thirty churches. This is the practice of the Congregationalist churches and the Baptist churches, and this practice is called congregationalism. Congregationalists advocate that each congregation is a church. They do not practice having one church in a locality with many district meetings; rather, they have many congregations within a single locality. Each congregation is a small church, and they are all independent of one another.
Congregationalism is a practice that came out of private churches, which in turn came out of state churches. Congregationalism is the product of a particular environment, or background. Those in the state churches believed that there should be only one church and that the church should have organization and various ranks. Those with a higher rank ruled over those with a lower rank. Some people, however, felt that this practice was not right, and with the background of the state churches, they conceived of another “ism” and produced another result. They held that Christians in every place should live before the Lord individually; however, for the convenience of meeting, they should come together to form a self-governing congregation. Since they considered each congregation as an independent unit, they naturally believed that there could be many churches in one locality. Congregationalism is very close to the teaching in the Bible, but those who advocated it did not see that the church must take a locality as its ground, not a congregation.
Congregationalism is right in a certain aspect, that is, it advocates that each congregation is independent in administration and lives directly before the Lord; however, it does not realize that there should be only one church in one locality. The truth is that the church in a locality should live directly before the Lord, having its own administration and no organization ruling over it. However, a church should not be divided into several churches within one locality. Regardless of the size of a locality, according to the revelation in the Bible, there can be only one church within a locality.
The reason we encounter difficulties is that God’s goal is for us to learn serious spiritual lessons. Formerly, big Chinese families liked to have several generations living under the same roof. In contrast, people in modern times like to have small families. Such families are more convenient and free. Two families may love one another, and if there is no relationship in organization or responsibility between them, they will live peacefully. If, however, they both live in a big house with all kinds of relatives, there will be many troubles due to their living together. Although there may be troubles, if the families do not divide, it will force them to learn certain lessons. We may use another illustration. If a woman is married to a man who has no relatives, she will become the queen of a small family; however, if she marries someone in a big family, she will have to learn lessons every day.
The important principle we must learn is the lesson of oneness. Whether we do well and have the Lord’s presence after we have subdivided from halls into districts depends not upon how good or bad the arrangement is or how right or wrong the system is but upon whether the saints, the elders, and the responsible ones in the districts have learned the necessary lessons. If we have not learned these lessons, the situation will be dead, chaotic, or rigid.
For the elders of the church in Taipei to be in so many different districts in a large church, they absolutely need to be spiritual. If an elder in a small local church is not that spiritual, it will not have too much impact, but in a large church with many district meetings and complicated affairs, the elders must be spiritual. If not, several negative results may be produced. First, the elders may become jobless, having nothing to do, because everything will be arranged and managed by the responsible ones in the district meetings. Second, the elders may hold on to all the authority and immediately cause a hierarchy to be produced. They may want people to obey their arrangement in everything; thus, they will need to manage and direct everything. Hence, if the elders are not spiritual and focus only on arrangement and management, a hierarchy will surely be produced. Third, the elders and the responsible ones in the districts may have many troubles and disputes with one another. It is important that the relationship between the elders and the responsible ones be proper. If they have not learned the lessons well or adequately, the result will be either confusion or rigidity in the church.
In the same principle, the more that district meetings are produced, the more the responsible ones need to be spiritual. If they are not spiritual, the following will result: First, the responsible ones may not fulfill their duty and function. This will happen if they think that they should not do anything, because they cannot make any decisions. Second, they may become mechanical by trying to act only according to the elders’ decisions, because they think that they should not and cannot do anything without the elders’ consent. Third, they may become independent in their decisions and actions and not arrange or manage the affairs of the districts under the elders’ supervision. This will produce confusion in the larger sphere of the church.
We need to see the aspect of the oneness of the church and the aspect of the functioning of all the members. Locally, the church is one. Since there is only one church, the elders, the responsible ones in the districts, and all the other responsible ones in the church must learn to keep the oneness. In order to keep the oneness of the church, we must learn certain serious lessons. In addition to keeping the oneness, there needs to be a proper practice; that is, not only do we need to function, but we also need to bring all the brothers and sisters into function.
In the constricting environment formed by the need for all the members to function and the need to maintain the church’s nature of oneness, we can learn the lessons. We need to be broken and subdued. Whether we are elders, deacons, responsible ones in the districts, or responsible ones in smaller groups, we need to learn the lesson of not allowing any of our actions or attitudes to damage the oneness of the church. We always need to examine ourselves: “Does my opinion or my decision damage the oneness of the church?” In the present situation we have serious lessons to learn. If we do not learn the lessons well, we may end up being unbalanced; either we will not keep the oneness of the church, or we will hinder the manifestation of the saints’ functions in an attempt to keep the oneness of the church. We should not be unbalanced; rather, we should take care of both aspects at the same time. We all need to learn the lessons.
If there are problems one day, they will not be the result of the arrangement or the methods but the issue of not having learned the necessary lessons sufficiently. If we have learned the spiritual lessons, nothing will be a problem. In other words, whether or not there are problems depends entirely upon whether the responsible ones are spiritual. The elders will not have problems if they are spiritual, nor will the responsible ones in the districts have problems if they are spiritual.
The condition of Christianity today is that there is no oneness and that the members do not have the opportunity to function. This is contrary to what God desires. People in Christianity say that they desire oneness, but actually they are thoroughly divided. They are divided because the price for oneness is great. For example, it is difficult for three brothers to live together, because they need to keep clear accounts and have clear divisions of responsibility. They cannot continually live in a confused situation. However, if they feel that it is too troublesome to live together, they may decide to live separately. In this way each will have his own living, and everything will be clearly arranged and convenient. For several decades we have been considering the matter of oneness. Today most people have a small family life, and everyone likes this arrangement. However, this is not what God wants for the church. In this matter we should not seek to please men but rather seek to please God. This requires us to learn spiritual lessons.
The open Brethren boast that they do not have disputes among themselves; however, the reason they have no disputes is that once they develop different opinions, they simply separate from one another. This is referred to as “separation without disputation.” If we take this way, once we have different opinions, we will not need to argue; we will simply part ways. Since we were originally meeting on one street, some will start meeting on another street. Gradually, when more people are added to them and different opinions arise again, some will remain meeting in their current location, and others will start meeting on yet another street. The result of the continual “separation without disputation” is that eventually there may even be three different groups meeting on the same street. Each will not argue with the other, but neither will they be one with one another. Since they have different views, they think they do not need to stay together. Consequently, they simply start a new group as needed. Although they contact one another, they do not interfere with others’ administration, and they even boast that they never have disputes. Actually, by meeting in this way, they do not need to pay a price, because they are never confronted with disputes.
We need to see two common errors. First, people in Christianity are not restricted by locality and are sectarian because they are not willing to be broken, to have their flesh dealt with, and to learn the necessary spiritual lessons. Second, most people in Christianity do not need to serve because they have turned the service over to a small number of people. Consequently, most people have stopped fulfilling their obligations and charge a few to bear all the responsibilities. The majority have lost their function and have been replaced by a minority. The situation produced by these two errors is not normal and must be corrected. If there is inadequate correction in regard to these two errors, God will not be able to reach His goal, His heart will not be satisfied, and the genuine oneness of the church will not be expressed.
We have decided to break up the bigger district meetings into many smaller district meetings due to the fact that many brothers and sisters do not have an opportunity to function. They have lost their function. In order to enable all the brothers and sisters to take up their responsibility and fulfill their function as members, we want to break up into many smaller district meetings. Doing this involves a number of practical difficulties. For instance, it will be difficult to maintain the nature of the oneness of the church in regard to the management and administration of the church. Although there is a need to break up into smaller district meetings, there is also the need to keep the oneness. It is easy to take care of one and miss the other. However, if either the oneness or the functioning is damaged, the church will suffer loss, and God will not be able to obtain what He desires.
In order to take care of these two matters, we should not rely on arrangements, systems, or human methods. All arrangements, systems, and methods are supplementary. The Spirit and life are the real need. This is similar to the physical body being supplementary to the spirit and soul. Once the spirit and soul depart, the body immediately becomes worthless. In other words, a good system, arrangement, or method still needs the Spirit and life. Once we are short of the Spirit and life, even if a system, arrangement, or method is good, the result is still a corpse, not a living body.
I hope that the brothers and sisters will see this matter. May the Lord have mercy on us. In the arrangement of the responsibility for the district meetings, the more responsibility a saint has, the more he needs to learn the necessary lessons. The heavier the responsibility he has, the more he needs to receive a strong breaking. In regard to responsibility, we should pay much attention to procedure, but in another sense, we should focus altogether on the Spirit. Procedures are supplementary. In every procedure there must be the Spirit and life; otherwise, the procedure will be dead. When we serve in the church, for the sake of keeping the oneness of the church and avoiding friction, we should try our best to coordinate according to the existing procedures. However, the procedures are not our way. Our way is the Spirit and life. We must learn to live in spirit and in life.
Recently, one of the saints told me, “I feel that I cannot serve now.” “Why not?” I asked. He said, “I do not have the way to serve.” Again I asked him, “Why not?” He said, “The responsible brothers have made no arrangement for me to serve.” On one hand, it is good that he acts according to the arrangement of the church. This is right according to procedure. On the other hand, it is wrong for him to act this way, because it indicates that he is altogether operating according to procedure and not according to the Spirit and life. Toward this kind of brother or sister, my reply is always, “You feel that there is no way for you to serve, but my feeling is that your concept is wrong. You should not consider the arrangement of the church to be your way. Your way must be in the Spirit. If you pray to the Lord and sense a burden to preach the gospel to your friends and relatives, who will prohibit you? If you contact the Lord in the morning and sense that you should go to visit some newly saved brothers and sisters, who will condemn you? If you pray something in the prayer meeting from your spirit that touches everyone’s spirit, will they not say Amen? If you are led in the fellowship meeting to rise up and give a testimony, and the brothers and sisters are all supplied, who will oppose? There is only one way of arrangement, and that way is in the Spirit.”
However, once we have preached the gospel and saved a number of people, there should be a procedure for handing them over to the church. We should never think that since we have preached the gospel and led some to believe and be baptized, we can then meet with them apart from the church. If we have not been asked to bear responsibility in a district meeting, we should not appoint ourselves as a responsible one. We should not try to establish a fact and then seek the recognition of the elders and the saints. If we appoint ourselves, everyone will recognize that this is our flesh. If we think that the church is not proper, we should help the church. If we think that the church is not spiritual, we should minister to the church. The church includes each one of us, and we are constituents of the church. Thus, we should help the church and minister to the church.
All spiritual supply in the church of God does not need to be rendered according to procedure. If we sense a need, we should rise up to supply and support it. When there is a flood, there needs to be a channel to let it flow out. A flood cannot be blocked. One who has learned this lesson does not act according to orders passively. Rather, when he has a feeling in his spirit, he preaches the gospel to others and leads them to be saved; when he has the burden to supply others, he ministers to them from the Word. He neither murmurs nor retreats but is simple and pure. Even if the church has not arranged for him to do anything, he saves some and hands them over to the church. Although the church has not given him any instructions, he endeavors to render spiritual supply to the church.
This simple speaking is to demonstrate that the service in the church cannot rely on procedure. If we have truly learned spiritual lessons and fulfill our spiritual function, we will know a proper procedure, and we will not damage the oneness of the church. We should never commit the error of leaning toward either extreme. We should not consider that everything is a matter of procedure and that whatever the arrangement is, we should simply follow. In other words, we preach the gospel only if it has been arranged that we preach the gospel, and we pray only if it has been arranged that we pray. This is to lean toward the extreme of being rigid and dead. We should not act in this way. Likewise, we should not say, “I do not care for arrangement. I just care to do whatever I think is best. If I want to preach the gospel, I will do it. All arrangement is but the human will. I will live in the Holy Spirit and not care about arrangement.” This is the flesh. If we are like this, the church will certainly be chaotic and disorderly. This is a serious lesson for us to learn as we are constricted by the matters of everyone functioning and the need to maintain the oneness of the church. The bigger a local church is, the more difficult the lessons are; however, the more difficult the lessons, the more valuable they are to learn.
I truly see a bright future ahead of us. There are many brothers and sisters who have received the Lord’s mercy to learn the serious lessons necessary to meet in one accord and to function in serving the Lord. One day there will be a testimony in the universe of several thousand people functioning yet still maintaining the oneness of the church. What a beautiful matter, what a bright testimony, and what a strong expression this will be! There is no problem on God’s side; rather, our future testimony depends entirely upon how many of us are determined to learn. We should all be willing to rise up to learn so that we can carry out our function while maintaining the oneness of the church. We should not live according to procedure but be led by the Spirit. In this way a strong testimony will surely be produced. We believe that in these end times God desires to, is able to, and will accomplish this matter. May we be the group of people who allows Him to have a way in us.
