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In our fellowship concerning how to lead the young people, we need to look at five matters. First, the serving ones should focus on the material and skills needed in the work with the young people. We should study and discuss the material to use in the young people’s meeting and whether the material that we used in the past is appropriate and practical. If a businessman wants to manufacture a good product, he must conduct substantial research in order to have the proper skills to make a product. Similarly, we need to study and find the most effective way to work with the young people. This cannot be worked out in a short period of time. We need to study together and experiment in various places to see whether a particular way is practical and effective. Then we should follow up with more study and improvement.
Second, we need materials, including outlines, sections, and lines of study. We hope that the serving ones will consider the matter of materials thoughtfully and use them in a flexible way after digesting and assimilating them. Third, the serving ones must learn some hymns, because there is a need to lead the young people to sing in the meetings. Hence, the serving ones must familiarize themselves with the hymns that the young people sing. Fourth, the serving ones must pray much for the young people. Fifth, the serving ones must learn to blend together in spirit. When we come together, we should not behave as if we were sitting in a meeting of a secular academic organization, waiting for others to speak and taking notes. Every meeting should be an opportunity to fellowship and blend in spirit. We should be free to open our spirit and fellowship our feelings and problems. When we pray, we should release our spirit without hesitation. We should learn these five matters in order to lead the young people.
The young people’s work among us began in 1935 or 1936. Before 1936 there was not much work with the young people. In 1932 Watchman Nee went to Tsinan, the capital of Shantung Province, and preached the gospel to a group of medical students at Cheloo University, and many were saved. Shortly thereafter, a group of believers began to meet in Tsinan. This was the first time that there was a work among the young people. However, the scope of the work was not big, because it was limited to the medical school in Tsinan.
In 1936 we began to work more aggressively with the young people in Beijing. Before the Japanese army invaded China, the top educational center was in Beijing, where the largest number of students and the best universities were located. At that time the Lord opened a door to some of the best universities in Beijing. The first door opened to us was at Peking Union Medical College (PUMC). At that time PUMC was a renowned medical school in the world. Many of the nurses there were sisters, and some students and doctors also began to meet with us. At the same time two very good national universities, Tsinghua and Yenching, were also opened to us by the Lord. From that time onward, I began to bear a substantial burden for the young people’s work. Later, the work continued to spread among the young people. However, the work was mainly among vocational nursing schools, and there were quite a number of nurses among us who were sisters. In Tientsin, Tsinan, Shanghai, Nanking, and Soochow, nursing students were the main target of our work among the young people.
From 1946 through 1948 the young people’s work in Shanghai expanded and became more solid. At that time there were quite a number of young brothers studying in Chiao-tung University. In addition to this school, there were students at Shanghai Medical College and the National Defense Medical Center in Shanghai. The Lord also opened the door to Central University, and many were brought to salvation. In this way we gained experience and knowledge concerning how to choose the right material and how to apply the proper skills.
After we came to Taiwan, the brothers began to work with the young people. In the beginning I was with the brothers in their fellowship. As I became busy with other matters, however, I was not involved in the young people’s work very much. In recent years the young people’s work in Taipei has developed, and the burden for the work has increased greatly. Therefore, the elders feel that we should consider the needs in this work.
Whenever I go abroad, whether to Manila or Hong Kong, and wherever there is a large local church, I encourage them to pay more attention to the young people’s work. In recent years many young people have been gained by the Lord in Manila. The situation in Hong Kong is also good. During this past winter the number in the young people’s meeting in Hong Kong reached nearly three hundred. The church in Hong Kong is smaller than the church in Taipei; nevertheless, they have gained over two hundred fifty students. The church in Hong Kong continues to preach the gospel to young people because gaining students has a long-term effect. Once a student is gained, the growth can be endless. When a student is gained, he can gain two or three of his fellow students, and these two or three can gain some as well. Thus, the number can continue to multiply. Furthermore, when young people are gained by the Lord, they also affect their families.
All the serving ones know that there is a bright future in the young people’s work. The young ones who are fifteen years old now will be very useful in ten years. Then after another ten years some who are thirty-five will be ready to be elders in the church. The future is unlimited. The Chinese have a saying that the young generation holds a vast potential for greatness; this is surely true. The saints who are in their fifties are often set in their ways; it is not so easy for them to change. The young people, however, can be raised up relatively quickly to be productive. This is the reason we should pay attention to the young people’s work.
According to our experience, we must impart spiritual content into our young people. This spiritual content must be related to spiritual knowledge on one hand and to spiritual life on the other hand. These two aspects are indispensable in leading the young people. We should not lean too much toward knowledge or too much toward life; we must be balanced. Those who serve the Lord know that according to God’s law in the universe, everything is balanced. The more we touch the Lord’s service, the more we realize that something is effective only when it is balanced. For example, God created man with two hands and two feet. There are countless other examples of balance in the universe. For instance, in a family there is a husband and a wife, and in society there are men and women; this brings balance to human situations.
In our work and in the administration of the church, we should keep the principle of being balanced. In the Old Testament God used the kingship and the priesthood to rule over His people. The priesthood balanced the kingship, and fellowship balanced authority. Today we should lead the children of God in the same way. I treasure very much what the apostles said in Acts 6:4: “We will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.” The apostles did not just give messages to care for the ministry of the word; they also continued steadfastly in prayer. Their service was balanced.
In our service with the young brothers and sisters, we should keep the principle of being balanced; we must instruct them in matters related to spiritual knowledge and to spiritual life. We should not focus on knowledge and then on life; rather, we should give the young people knowledge and life in a way that these aspects interact with each other, being both a cause and an effect, and balance each other. The content of what we give them should be absolutely spiritual; however, in teaching, we should adopt the way of instruction. Our time of leading the young people should be educational with two-thirds of the time being like a teaching meeting of the church. Our teaching and speaking depend on the Spirit, but when we teach and speak, our words must be logical and follow a line of thought. Both logic and a line of thought are needed in order to touch a person’s rational mind; hence, our teaching must be educational. Nevertheless, our way of teaching should not be exactly like a worldly education, because worldly education has knowledge but no life. The messages we speak have a spiritual content, but this spiritual content must be imparted through material that is educational.
When we give a message, we must touch the parts of a person’s soul, because people are moved and inspired through the soul. If we cannot speak a message in a clear way to a person’s mind, he will not be touched. If we give a confusing message, we should not expect people to be touched in their spirit. Hence, when we give a message, we must enable people to understand in their mind even though we use our spirit. A good message will open a person’s mind and enable him to understand, because the spoken word has been mingled with the spirit. A message should not only make a person clear in his mind but also touch his spirit through his mind because the word has been released from the spirit.
In order to give a good message, the speaker must have a sharp and clear mind. He should have a definite idea concerning the line of thought, the main points, and the word that should be spoken first. Then when he speaks, his words will enlighten people’s thoughts and minds. A good message should also have the Spirit, because the Spirit imparts spiritual content through the speaking that is related to the line of thought. When a speaker speaks, his words should follow a line of thought to open people’s mind so that they may understand. At the same time, the Spirit will touch the spirit of the hearers through these words, causing them to have a response in their spirit.
When we lead the saints to study the Bible or a spiritual topic, we must have an educational focus. We need to realize that the young people are currently receiving an education; therefore, they have a predisposition to receive instructions. The schools they attend, from elementary schools to college universities, are all educational in nature. If our speaking in the young people’s meeting does not fit with their educational experience or is not educational in nature, they will feel that the content is outdated. Hence, we should not ignore their educational disposition when we seek to impart spiritual knowledge and life into them. We can compare this situation to moving forward on railroad tracks that have been laid. We need to move forward on the tracks; we do not need to find another way.
Young people receive an education in a progressive way. Consequently, they should not come to a meeting merely to listen to a message on randomly chosen topics. Rather, they should go through a definite learning process. For example, young people in Taiwan attend junior high school for three years, high school for three years, and college for four years; there is a continual and definite progression in their learning. Similarly, our leading should progress over the course of several years, and we should speak to them in ways that correspond to their academic level. It would be ideal if we could teach them progressively and enable them to reach new levels of understanding each year. When a young person graduates from junior high school, he should also be led from a “junior high” understanding of matters related to spiritual knowledge and spiritual life to a “high school” level. He should similarly progress from a “high school” level to a “college” level when he graduates from high school.
Many of the families in the church in Taipei have children who are in the sixth grade. When these children begin junior high school, we should have a course of spiritual education for them. When they begin high school, we should have another set of spiritual material for them, and when they are in college, they should receive four years of advanced spiritual education. If our young saints receive a spiritual education in this way, we will see great results in ten years. This is not too difficult.
Based on the disposition of young people to receive an education, we should use our spiritual materials effectively and teach them according to modern, instructional methods. In both the East and the West, educational systems utilize modern instructional methods, and we should do the same. While the material should be absolutely spiritual, the method of instruction should be modern.
For example, proficiency in mathematics requires a system of instruction. If an educator wants to teach the next generation a proper understanding of mathematics, he must consider the entire educational system; that is, he must consider what should be taught in elementary school, in junior high, in high school, in college, and even in graduate school. In this way he will be able to pass on mankind’s accumulated knowledge of mathematics to the young ones of the next generation. This is true in regard to any field of knowledge, and this is the practice in modern educational systems.
We should adopt this way of instruction in regard to the spiritual material that we present to the young people, approaching it from the aspect of spiritual knowledge and of spiritual life. I hope that some brothers or sisters will work on compiling materials on knowledge and life. They also should consider the appropriate content for a young person in junior high, high school, or college. There should be a definite progression in the material. From the start of junior high to their graduation from college, we should use these ten years to infuse the content of our spiritual material into the next generation. I do not have the time to prepare such material. I can only present this to you in order to see if something can be worked out.
Our young people’s meetings need to address our lack of leading that is appropriate to various age groups. The leading for each age group should be different. Junior-high students should be led in a way that is suitable to the junior high level, and high-school and college students also should be led in their respective ways. Therefore, in our preparation of material for these respective age groups, we should be flexible. For example, an elementary student will learn a basic outline of history, but in junior high school, high school, and college, more historical details are added to their studies. Concerning the topic of the divinity of the Lord Jesus, junior-high students may need only two verses from the Bible, while high-school students can be given more verses. College students have the ability to consider this topic as it is presented throughout the entire Scriptures. Although the topic may be the same, the depth of the material should increase as the age of a young person increases. This is the principle of using material flexibly.
We should follow this principle when we cover material related to spiritual life. When we teach the junior-high students to know the flesh, we should use material that is easy and simple. However, we should use deeper material with the brothers and sisters who are in college. Although we may be speaking about the same topic of knowing the flesh, the material that we use with each group should vary in weight, depth, and quantity. We should use material flexibly.
Even though we know that we need to use modern instructional methods, it is still difficult to have proper material. We should consider the progression of the topics to cover. The skills required to prepare this material is a major issue as well. It would be very good if some saints received a burden to compile this material, because there is indeed such a need.
The young people’s meeting can stress matters related to spiritual knowledge one week and to spiritual life the next. It does not matter which aspect is covered first. Nevertheless, the material must be given in the way of education, and the person who speaks must also exercise his spirit. Young people need to receive material in the way of education, and in order to understand the material, there should also be exercises. This is the new way of education. Our exercises must be more serious than those in the schools. The young people meet once a week, and our time with them is precious. Hence, we should teach them seriously. We do not need to teach them many things at once, but what we teach should be thorough.
Concerning instruction in matters related to spiritual knowledge, it is profitable for junior-high students to read the books in the Bible sequentially. However, it is more profitable to lead them to study the Bible according to topics. Spiritual knowledge can be divided into four major topics: Christ, redemption, life, and the church. The entire Bible is focused on these four points. All the verses in the Bible can be classified according to these four topics. These four topics can also be linked by one sentence: Christ came to accomplish redemption so that man may have life for the producing of the church. All our instruction related to spiritual knowledge should convey these four points. We can even use these four points to compile a curriculum for junior-high, high-school, and college students, leading them to know Christ, redemption, life, and the church.
Regarding our leading of the young people in matters related to spiritual life, we can speak according to the four stages of spiritual life. The first stage is the salvation stage — our being in Christ. The second stage is the revival stage — our abiding in Christ. The third stage is the stage of the cross — Christ living in us. The fourth stage is the stage of spiritual warfare — Christ being fully grown in us (see The Experience of Life). This is a brief sketch. The important points in life are very fine, but we cannot speak of them in detail now.
