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The Bible speaks of the church as a family, a household (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19). The population of a family is not very large in comparison to the population of a kingdom. A family is different from a kingdom; a kingdom is a unit involving many people, but a family is not. Nevertheless, the Bible speaks of the church as God’s household and also as God’s kingdom (Matt. 16:18-19). A family is built upon the unit of an individual, whereas a kingdom is built upon the unit of a family. A healthy family is composed of healthy individuals, a healthy society is composed of healthy families, and a strong country is composed of healthy societies. On the one hand, the church is God’s kingdom; on the other hand, it is God’s family. The base of God’s kingdom is built upon the family. Degraded Christianity has neglected the aspect of the family, but we also have not emphasized the family since we divided into individual halls, and our increase has been very low. We should come back to the beginning, to the unit of the family. When the family unit is strong, the kingdom is strong.
The components of a family are not differentiated based on gender, age, or strength. Only an army differentiates between age and strength, not a family. Brothers who work for the Lord often want the church to be like an army with all the members being orderly and each one being a fighter, but this is not a family. Thus, some people have an erroneous view of the small group meetings: Some support the small groups out of a desire to become a leader, some regard everyone in a small group as being a soldier in an army, and still others think of a small group only as a gathering of ordinary people who cannot speak well. We should not have the thought of going to a small group meeting in order to hear someone speak. We need to turn from these concepts because they contain many “germs” and “diseases.”
We must change our concept concerning the small groups. We must see that the apostles established churches, not an apostolic work. After the apostles established a church, they did not exalt a group of elders to a high position. When a pastor or preacher in Christianity goes out to work or to establish churches, the more he works, the more things end up on his shoulders and under his protection. People in society regard a certain group as a “church” established by Pastor So-and-so, and they see another group as the “church” of Preacher So-and-so. When this preacher leaves, the people immediately become a group of orphans without a father. After not too long, many groups disperse and cease to exist. Among us, the more some elders administrate the church, the more the church is put into their pocket. On the one hand, the attitude among the brothers is very good when they actively administrate the church; on the other hand, they should not put the hall that they are serving into their own pocket to the point that other halls are influenced. The New Testament shows that the church is the church of God (1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32), the church of Christ (Rom. 16:16), and the church of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33); the Bible does not speak of the church of the apostles or the church of the elders.
The apostles said that they preached Christ Jesus as Lord and themselves as slaves (2 Cor. 4:5). The apostles are not the lords of the church; they are household slaves in God’s house. The workers are not the masters of the church; they are slaves to all the saints. The saints are God’s children. When someone becomes an apostle, a co-worker, or an elder, he is only becoming a slave to God’s children. This is the truth in the Bible.
In Matthew 20 the Lord Jesus unveiled that He would go up to Jerusalem to be crucified, but the disciples were not able to receive His word. The mother of John and James even selfishly asked the Lord to let her two sons sit on His left and right in His kingdom. When the disciples heard this, they were indignant concerning John and James (vv. 17-24). Then the Lord spoke to the disciples, saying, “The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant” (vv. 25-26). In Matthew 23 the Lord said to the crowds and the disciples that the scribes and Pharisees loved “the place of honor at the dinners and the chief seats in the synagogues and the salutations in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi. But you, do not be called Rabbi, for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers” (vv. 6-8). In verse 11 the Lord said, “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” As the Lord was giving these teachings, Peter must have been deeply impressed. Therefore, in 1 Peter 5 he says, “The elders among you I exhort:...shepherd the flock of God...[not] as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock...And all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another” (vv. 1-3, 5). These words remind us that the elders and apostles are not masters. The masters of the church are, first, God; second, Christ; and third, the saints. The ones who administrate and lead the church and even those who raise up churches are slaves. The apostles are slaves, and the elders are also slaves. Only the saints are the masters.
In Christianity it is not only the workers, the clergy, and the ones administrating the church who do not keep their position; even the saints have also forsaken their own position. The saints willingly forsake their position as master. We must always remember that the church is the church of God, the church is the church of Christ, and the church is the church of the saints. The church is absolutely not the church of the co-workers, nor is it the church of the elders. It matters greatly that we have a correct understanding of the church. When we own something, we do our best to preserve this possession. For example, if we own a house, we will do our best to preserve the house, repairing damaged places and fixing any leaks. In contrast, we do not care as much for a house that we rent. We say, “If there is a leak in the house, let it leak. If the house is damaged, let it be damaged. As long as I can lie down and sleep, this is good enough. This is not my possession. It belongs to someone else.” As saints, we must see that we are the owners of the church.
We all must have a new thought and a new sense — we are the owners of the church. The church as God’s kingdom is based upon the church being God’s family. It is impossible for the kingdom to be strong without the family being strong. In order for our family to be strong, every saint needs to be an owner. The co-workers are only household slaves. Those who serve the saints are not masters; the saints are the masters of the church. We must not allow degraded Christianity to influence the atmosphere among us by uplifting preachers, elders, and ministers and forgetting that the real masters are the saints. We are endeavoring to change this concept. If we do not have a change in concept, we will never escape the realm of degraded Christianity. We must see this great light and serve the saints under the shining of this light.
Acts 14 records that Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, Lystra, and other places (vv. 1-7), preaching the gospel and establishing the church in each place. Probably in less than a year, they went back to appoint elders in every church (vv. 21-23). No doubt these elders were all “baby” elders who had been saved for less than a year. Paul and Barnabas labored to enable the saints to understand that they had no intention of building the church upon themselves. Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel so that people would be saved, established churches in every place, appointed some to be elders, and then turned over the local church to the elders in that locality. Their practice was different from Chinese parents who always consider their sons and daughters as children. A father feels that his sons cannot do anything well, and a mother always says that her daughters cannot cook. The parents are unwilling to let their sons and daughters do anything. As a result, their sons and daughters actually do not know how to do anything; they are like handicapped persons. But under Paul, even “babies” became elders. In the beginning these elders might not have known how to do anything, but the more they tried, the better they became. In 1975 we had a change of system in the church in Taipei, hoping that such a change would produce new elders, but until now, we have only a few new elders. We have thousands of brothers in the church in Taipei, but we do not have new elders; we need to change. Those who are fathers need to step back and manage less so that the children will have an opportunity to do things.
In the New Testament the Lord never appointed a leader. He appointed twelve apostles, but He did not appoint a chief apostle, nor did He appoint ones to call a meeting. In Acts 6 the church appointed seven brothers to serve tables (v. 3), yet there is no indication that one of these was the leader. Paul and Barnabas did not appoint “chief” elders. In our practice of the church life, however, many of us have a concept that one of the elders is the chief elder. This concept is different from the divine concept, the biblical concept. In the Old Testament God revealed His heart’s desire through the Urim and the Thummim in the Holy of Holies, and then His desire was passed on to the people through the high priest (Exo. 28:29-30; Num. 27:21). His people were under His divine rule; there was no king in Israel. Regrettably, the people wanted to imitate the Gentiles; they wanted a king to rule over them. This thought offended God very much because they were denying that He was their King. God eventually gave them a king, Saul, but he caused them much pain (1 Sam. 8:4-18). Setting up a king is against the principle of the divine rule. In the church we must reject the thought of having a king. Even more, we must not have an ambition to be a king.
Some think that we need a strong leader among us. They think that someone should be set up as the head in order for everyone to have a sense of responsibility. This is altogether a human concept. When we practice the small groups, no one is the head, yet everyone should have a sense of responsibility. We need to change our concept to see that the church is the church of all the saints. Every brother and sister must bear responsibility because we are the owners of the church. The church belongs to all the saints.
Thirty years ago the Lord used this ministry to establish churches from place to place in Taiwan. Humanly speaking, I have the full right and ground to speak. However, I can testify that I have never interfered with anything here in Taipei. During the twenty plus years that I have been working in the United States, I have also never interfered with anything concerning the churches in Taiwan. I work in America, and the local churches there can testify that I do not control them. My house is by the meeting hall in Anaheim, but I do not know the entire situation of the church in Anaheim. The church in Anaheim is the church of the saints. It is not my possession. However, I am concerned that some co-workers and elders do not have this concept. They may think that they have a proper concept, but the things that they do indicate otherwise. Forty-six elders have been newly established in the church in Taipei, and they have been dispersed among twenty-one halls. I hope that the elders in each hall would administrate their hall seriously, not for the sake of their own hall but for the whole church, and not only for the church in Taipei but, even more, for the Body of Christ.
Administrating any organization involves both manpower and financial resources. If a person does not have manpower and financial resources, it is difficult to administrate even a small factory. This fact causes brothers to compete for manpower and financial resources for their hall; that is, the elders try their best to keep the people and not let them go. Whenever these elders come to the elders’ meeting, they employ many arguments to strive for more financial support. Brothers, we need to remember that when we administrate the church, we are administrating for Christ’s universal Body, not just for our local church.
The co-workers always want to have a wealth of talent in the area of their service. This desire is so strong that they often interfere with the movement of the saints. Even if the co-workers want their service to be the best so that the Lord would be glorified, this creates problems. If a brother in a local church has a burden to move to South America, the co-workers should not restrain him; rather, they should thank the Lord and encourage him, giving him an allowance for travel, family support, and three years’ living expenses. If the co-workers are willing to do this, the church will be blessed. As a co-worker, we should not have the concept that the top ones, the best ones, must remain in the church where we are serving. If we think this way in our heart, the Lord will deliberately do something different.
When we administrate the church, we must have a Body-consciousness and not rely on our personal assessment of matters. According to our concept, Jacob was very bad, yet the Lord said, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:13; cf. Mal. 1:2-3). According to our view, we want to administrate our church well, but God wants to build up the Body of Christ. On the earth there are over six hundred churches. From the beginning I have treasured the churches and treated every church the same. I hope that we would all have a Body-consciousness. Our service in a local church is not just for the service in our locality but for the Lord’s Body on the whole earth. I hope that the co-workers, elders, and even every brother and sister would have this attitude, spirit, feeling, and flavor.
The basic principle for the building up of the church is to build up the small groups. We need to pour out all our effort in order to build up the small groups, and everyone needs to take part in this. When we go to a small group meeting, we should not have the thought that we are going there to take the lead. We should go to a small group meeting to strengthen and enrich it but not to be the head. When we go simply to function and supply the meeting, the Lord will regard us as a pillar who is strengthening the group through our function, even if we have no sense that we are a leader.
The Lord did not set up any person to be the head, because this prevents the members from developing their spiritual function. In this process of development there will surely be stronger ones who bear more responsibility and become pillars. This principle of not having any head other than Christ applies to the small groups, the halls, and the church. If we apply this principle, the Lord can have a way, and we can come out of organization. This light among us should be very bright. In the church we have no organization, and we have no hierarchy. We do not have saints who control from above, nor do we have saints who follow from below. Our relationships are not based on the status of being superior or inferior. We have no organization, but we do have strong contact and fellowship.
Through the past decades and a long period of suffering, we have discovered many shortcomings in our way of arranging leadership. As a result, ordinary brothers and sisters have not been perfected, and the leading ones have not been perfected as well. According to the New Testament, the Lord never set up leaders. By the Lord’s grace, the function in the saints should be allowed to develop. Some will be manifested to be stronger, and some will be manifested to be weaker. Although the stronger ones can bear more responsibility, even the weaker ones will be able to care for a portion of the responsibilities.
I hope that all the brothers and sisters would embrace this attitude and have this kind of spirit, that is, to positively join in and contribute to the small group meetings, functioning according to the gift that the Lord has measured to them. If the Lord has given more measure to some, they will spontaneously function as a pillar in the small group. As long as we faithfully put forth what the Lord has given to us, our function will be fulfilled. Then the Lord will gain ground in us, and the church will receive the benefit. If everyone is like this, there will be orderliness, and the measure of everyone’s gift will be manifested.
The basic supply in a meeting comes from God’s Word, and the basic vitality, motivation, and power in a meeting come from the Holy Spirit. The Lord has given us two great gifts: one is His divine Word, the Bible, and the other is the Holy Spirit, who is the source of our motivation, vitality, and power. There is a need for the word of the Lord and the Spirit in order for a big meeting or a small group meeting to be rich and strong. Furthermore, the Spirit depends upon God’s Word. Some think that if we have the Holy Spirit, we have the Lord’s Word; this is wrong. Among all the denominations and groups in Christianity, the charismatic movement is the poorest concerning the truth because they ignore the Lord’s Word and emphasize only the Holy Spirit. The result of paying attention to the Spirit without the Lord’s Word is poverty. The Bible says that the word of the Lord is related to the Spirit. John 6:63 says that the words the Lord speaks are spirit and life. We have been blessed in the Lord’s recovery because of the Lord’s word and the Lord’s truth.
In the small group meetings, we must promote and use the Lord’s Word. To make our meetings strong and rich, we must learn to use the Life-studies. The Life-studies can assist us in our Bible study. The Life-studies are in our hands; we need to learn how to use them. A small group meeting should be able to finish one Life-study message in two meetings. When we attend a small group meeting, we do not have to divide the message rigidly, reading four pages one time and four pages the next time. Instead, we should consider the sections. For example, the first time we come to a Life-study of a new book, we have to read about the background of the book. Although the message may be lengthy, we do not have to spend too much time on it. For the second meeting, we can study the subject. Although the content of the subject may be brief, we may need to study it more extensively than the background. If we intend to study the Life-studies well in the small group meetings, we need to speak the points of truth in a message properly, emphasizing the important points and spending more time on them. In this way the message can be studied thoroughly.
It would be even better if every brother and sister read the message before the small group meeting so that there is some digestion and preparation. During the meeting, the brothers who are stronger in Bible truth, richer in life, and better in utterance should bear the responsibility to explain the new terms so that everyone can receive the benefit. When it comes to crucial verses, there may be some spontaneous pray-reading, and if some are touched, prayer can be offered. Some, after hearing the words of the message, may recall past experiences and offer testimonies and fellowship. Still others, having eaten and having been satisfied, may recall a song that everyone can sing together with grace in their hearts. We should not, however, carelessly select a hymn to sing. We all need to practice the way to gather in our small groups; this practice is like playing basketball, which requires much practice.
The building up of the church is based on the small groups. In order to build up the church, we must build up the small groups. The small groups must be built up by all the brothers and sisters, not the co-workers and elders. The small group meeting is the touchstone of whether or not the church is being built up. The church is built on this foundation.
First, the small groups need to restore those who have not been meeting for a long time. We hope that all the brothers and sisters would be mobilized to seek out those who have not been meeting and restore them to attend the small group meetings.
Second, we need to motivate all the brothers and sisters who have a house to open their home at least once every two weeks. We should have a gospel meeting in the homes every other week. We need to gradually educate the saints in the group meetings, providing them with gospel materials and encouraging them to open their homes and to speak for the Lord. From house to house, every house should preach the gospel.
Third, we need to do our best to keep people coming to the meetings. When a person comes, we should stick to him in order to keep him. We can definitely do this. At one time we baptized hundreds of people, but after half a year less than ten people remained, because we were relying on the elders and co-workers. The responsibility for keeping people cannot rest with the elders, co-workers, or a few people. The responsibility for keeping people must rest with the small groups, that is, with all the brothers and sisters. This is a great responsibility for the small groups.
Fourth, we need to strengthen and uplift the content of the small group meetings. To have rich meetings, we must bring the Lord’s word richly into the small groups in a living way.
Fifth, we need to help the small groups reach God’s purpose for the church, that is, for the Lord to gain a living Body to be the expression of His fullness. If we practice in this way, the small groups will be rich and strong, and the Body of Christ will be built up.
