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During the past few months the Lord led me to visit Japan, the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and several places in Southeast Asia. After this trip to America and Europe, I spent time before the Lord to consider the situation in those places. I feel that I should fellowship with the brothers and sisters about the situation in the different places and my personal impressions.
During the trip I was surprised to see that Christians highly regard any group of believers who meet in a way that is similar to the way we meet. Whether the group is large or small, strong or weak, it is highly regarded, and it often has good meetings. This surprised me, and I feel that believers think too highly of us.
The churches in Taiwan have an extraordinary reputation. The regard that the Christians abroad have for the churches in Taiwan may even be too high. Whether or not a saint from Taiwan has spiritual weight, the local believers regard him as a spiritual giant. A brother may not even be in the meetings in Taiwan, but if he goes overseas and says that he is from Taiwan, the local saints will hand everything in their meetings over to him. He then has to take the lead and minister the word to supply the saints. This situation has revived and uplifted some brothers who did not meet regularly when they were in Taiwan. Even if the brother says that he does not know what to do and that he cannot speak, the local saints are satisfied if he gives a report concerning what he has seen and heard in Taiwan. These two points indicate that the esteem for us is too high and inaccurate.
Our first stop was in Japan. We spent most of our time preaching the gospel in Tokyo, and we spent a few days in Osaka. We were in Japan for two weeks. There are over thirty saints in the bread-breaking meeting in Tokyo, and there are one and a half households in Osaka. During this trip my impression of Japan changed. In the past I considered that it is difficult for the Japanese people to receive the gospel and that it is not easy to lead them spiritually. Such an impression was not founded. While I was there, I contacted several people and saw that my previous impression was inaccurate.
It was easy for us to preach the gospel in Japan, and it was easy for people to be saved. Since the Japanese people have good character, once they receive the Lord, they diligently study the truth and are willing to pay a price to know the truth. This makes it easy for them to love the Lord. When our brothers went to Japan, they did not have gospel preaching meetings or give messages. They only contacted the Japanese people directly and led several of them to salvation. The ones whom they contacted had never heard of the gospel or the Lord’s recovery. One brother has a university education, and we conversed with him in English. He is not satisfied with merely being saved; he has a heart for the Lord and a desire to pursue the Lord. Besides him, there were other believers in various places. Two of the saints in Tokyo are Japanese.
In matters related to science the Japanese people are inclined to follow the West, but in matters related to religion they are inclined toward the Chinese people. Consequently, it is easier for a Chinese brother to preach the gospel and labor for the Lord in Japan than it is for a Western missionary, because of the similarity between the Chinese and the Japanese dispositions and daily habits. Many Chinese people develop intimate relationships with their Japanese friends. Therefore, Japan is a vast field for the gospel. We do not need many saints to go there. If five or six co-workers go to Japan and labor with the saints who are already there, we should be able to gain many people rather quickly.
It is even worthwhile to labor with the ten thousand Chinese people in Tokyo. The brothers can labor in the Chinese communities. It would be easy to spread the gospel from the Chinese communities to the Japanese people. It is difficult to preach the gospel directly to the Japanese, because they value friendship. But it would be easy to reach them through their friends, that is, through the Chinese people residing in Japan.
The brothers in Japan desire fellowship. They hope that brothers will go to Tokyo to labor for the Lord. They are willing to prepare everything, including the necessary paperwork. They are willing to receive co-workers, and they hope that some will migrate for the sake of the work. I agree with their feeling, and I hope that when we fellowship about this matter in the next co-workers’ gathering, some brothers and sisters will be burdened to go to Tokyo for the Lord’s work. I believe that immigration procedures will not be a problem, that the Lord will confirm this matter, and that everything will be arranged in a good way. The brothers and sisters should pray concerning this matter. Our work is not for our personal interest or for our own meeting but for the Lord’s interest on the earth. Our work is for His gospel and His kingdom.
After leaving Japan, we went directly to America and stopped briefly in Honolulu. When we arrived on the West Coast, we visited San Francisco. Most of the meetings in America that are similar to ours do not have a large congregation. The largest group, which is in New York City, has about eighty or ninety saints. The second largest group is probably in San Francisco. There may have been two other groups of about the same size—one in the south and the other in the north. These groups have thirty to forty believers. The group in the north and the group in the south consist of mostly Caucasian saints, and the group in San Francisco has only Chinese saints who are mainly from Taiwan, particularly from Taipei. The core of the group in San Francisco is mainly made up of students who study at the University of California. There is much work to be done there. They need co-workers who can work with the Chinese-speaking people and then spread the work.
After San Francisco we went to Los Angeles. The meeting in Los Angeles is probably larger than the one in San Francisco. When they first began to meet, two Chinese brothers took care of the meeting. Now a brother from London labors there. There are only a few Chinese brothers and sisters in this group; most of the saints are Caucasian. Afterward, we went to the southwest corner of America.
We then visited the Northwest and learned that there is a group of Chinese brothers who meet on a university campus. An American brother is taking the lead in that group, and they have a few American students. This group is doing well, but they do not have a formal meeting.
From there we visited several places, including Chicago and Detroit. We also went to Pittsburgh and met two families there. One family came from Hong Kong, and the other, from Shanghai. These two families meet together every Lord’s Day and listen to a message that was given either in Hong Kong or New York City. We spent a short time with them. Their condition is good, and they are learning to live before the Lord.
The meeting in New York City has a history of at least twenty-five years. However, their meetings are not stable and even stopped for a period of time. About half the saints who meet regularly are Chinese, and the other half are Caucasian. During the period when their meetings stopped, the Chinese saints continued to meet because they had a Chinese-speaking meeting. Before our visit, the Chinese and Caucasian saints met together only to pray and listen to a message. They did not break bread together. After our visit they began to have the Lord’s table together. Now their meetings are lively and strong. However, there are only eighty to ninety saints meeting in a city as large as New York.
A large portion of our trip was spent in America, specifically in New York City. We stayed there for a longer time because I had some personal things to take care of, and my wife needed medical attention. We also visited the capital of America, Washington, D.C., where there is a small meeting that is stable. One brother in this meeting is originally from Shanghai; he and his wife migrated to Washington, D.C.
During this visit my view concerning the situation in America changed. In the past I considered Americans to be materialistic because they pay too much attention to material things and worldly enjoyment but are indifferent to religious things. However, the few people whom I contacted gave me a different impression. According to my observation, there is much work to do in America, and our work would be effective.
Compared to Japan, which is a Buddhist country, America is a genuine Christian country. Before the Korean War less than half of the American population attended Sunday service. In other words, out of every one hundred Christians less than fifty regularly attended a Sunday service. However, because the Americans suffered many casualties in the Korean War, they were stirred up to attend Sunday service in search of consolation and peace. Since that time onward, the number of Americans who attend Sunday service has increased to more than sixty percent of the population.
Most of the Christian groups in America preach an orthodox gospel. There is an increasing number of modernists, but there are still more orthodox groups. Over the past ten years, especially after the truce in Korea, several evangelists have emerged from the Assembly of God. Because they work in a way that is according to the common sentiment of the American people, some of them have congregations of over ten thousand people. While I was in New York City, a group called Jehovah’s Witnesses held a gathering, and about thirteen to fifteen thousand people attended. This group has increased because their work fits in with the way of the Americans.
Even though people are being saved, on the spiritual side there is a lack of spiritual depth among Christian groups in America. There is a group in New York City that was started by A. B. Simpson, who founded the Christian and Missionary Alliance. That group teaches the believers’ co-crucifixion with Christ. Mrs. Penn-Lewis also taught this. Many believers regard this teaching to be the deepest among Christians in America. The messages that we gave in New York focused on how God came in the Son to be man’s life. After more than ten meetings an older sister, who labored in China and met with us, came to me and said that no one in America speaks about taking Christ as life. This comment shows the situation in America. The orthodox gospel is preached in America, but there is not much depth.
It is not easy to find a group of believers who teach the orthodox truth and also have spiritual depth. We have to admit that there is a need for the Lord’s work in America. Hence, America is also a large field for the work.
Our impression of America is that as long as what we have is genuine and good, the Americans will receive it, and the result will be rich and solid. The brothers in San Francisco and the church in New York City want us to help them. It would be good if some of the saints or some co-workers would be burdened to migrate there to meet this need. Some of the saints may be concerned about the language, but this is not a great problem. The saints who go can focus their labor among the Chinese people, and after three to five years the language issue will be resolved.
I initially planned to visit South America, but because of time constraints I was not able to go there. Even though I did not go to South America, I received information concerning the situation there. The saints in South America want some saints to migrate there. If any of the co-workers have a burden, there is a need.
There is a need for some co-workers to go to Brazil and live in São Paulo to propagate the Lord’s work. A report in Church News says that one of the brothers there has a meeting in his home, and about thirty or forty Christians from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Manila have attended this meeting. They do not have a meeting that is only for the overseas Chinese. A co-worker or a strong brother who moves there and begins a meeting will meet the need. The gospel can then gradually spread from the overseas Chinese saints to the Brazilians.
In Brazil there is freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of press. Even though many countries in South America are Catholic, they cooperate with Protestant countries who send missionaries to them. The strongest Protestant meeting in Brazil has a large gathering and is led by Westerners, not Brazilians. Therefore, Brazil is a large field for the Lord’s work. Some of the Chinese there are from Taiwan and Hong Kong. If we labor among them, we can spread the work even to the Japanese people. There are seven to eight hundred thousand Japanese immigrants there, and their number is increasing by thirty to forty thousand every year. The Japanese people in Brazil are also a good field.
We stayed in South America until the end of July and left there on July 31.
We arrived in London on August 1 and immediately held a conference. After the conference we went to Denmark for another conference.
Every summer there is a conference in Denmark with an attendance of seven hundred to a thousand believers. This year the attendance was higher. Most of the believers who attended are from state churches. However, a number of them are under the leading of a Western brother and have had a solid spiritual background. They do not hold the concept of a state church.
About forty believers who were in the congregation are more enlightened. They came from Norway, Sweden, and other countries. Because the believers were from many countries, the messages were translated into Danish on the podium and then translated into English and German among those in the audience. There were three meetings a day in the conference: in the morning, afternoon, and evening. However, due to the work of the Holy Spirit, all the saints focused on the meetings in the afternoon. The meetings in the morning and evening were mainly miscellaneous fellowships. The meetings in the afternoon emphasized God in Christ as life for the building of His house, His temple, and the Body of Christ. These messages stressed life and the building up of the church. These two points had an impact on the saints and stirred them up.
During the conference all the fellowship was on how to enjoy Christ as life and how to build up the church in every place, and most of the questions were concerning the church. This was the work of the Holy Spirit. The saints wanted to know what they should do after the conference and where they should meet. Instead of saying what they should do, I advised them to pray and follow the Lord’s leading, just as Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans and went to the place that the Lord called him to.
After the conference the leading brothers requested that we stay for two more days to fellowship with several leading brothers and sisters. That time of fellowship was a crucial turning point, and we saw a special work of the Holy Spirit. There were no debates. All the fellowship was about the practical way to go on. The Holy Spirit was working in many of the saints before the conference; therefore, after we arrived, they spoke about only the practice. We shared our experience with them, and they treasured every point. The saints had never heard what we fellowshipped and fully accepted what we said. After that we returned to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark.
In Copenhagen the leading brothers requested that we spend one evening to fellowship with some brothers who desire to pursue the Lord and another evening to fellowship with the young saints. There were close to two hundred young saints who were truly pursuing the Lord. The brothers requested that I speak to the young saints concerning how to coordinate in service. The young saints do not have their own meeting, but they want to begin a meeting, and they also want to learn to coordinate in service. My fellowship with them covered many aspects of how to coordinate and serve together.
Shortly after we left, the saints in Copenhagen began to meet in twenty-one homes. I heard that they have a good situation. Many of them love the Lord and are good material with much potential. Most of the saints are middle-aged. There are not many older saints.
We stayed in Denmark for about ten days and saw that there is much work to do there. Their situation exceeded our expectation. This proves that the Holy Spirit began His work long before we arrived. This does not apply only to Denmark. The Lord’s work can be seen in all of Scandinavia, including Norway and Sweden. We met many promising brothers who requested that we send them The Ministry of the Word so that they can translate it into their language. If time permits, we will visit them again, because there is much work to do there.
Two brothers from Norway came to meet us, and we had good fellowship with them. The impression I have from the trip to Denmark is that all the places in Scandinavia need to be led to know Christ as life so that God’s house can be built up in every locality. The Scandinavian countries have state churches that are formal and dead. Hence, many people become “homeless” once they believe into Christ. There is a need for them to know life so that God’s house can be established in every locality.
After our fellowship in Denmark, we returned to London and stayed there for ten days. We had good fellowship in London also. The brothers and sisters felt that the messages met their need. There is much that can come out of the situation there.
Most of our time in Europe, about four weeks, was spent in England. After England we went to several places in Europe, including Rome. In Rome we visited several archeological sites. We saw the places where Christians were martyred and some underground caves where Christians held meetings. We also visited several Catholic cathedrals, as well as St. Peter’s Basilica. We were not actually interested in the cathedrals. We preferred the places where the believers sacrificed themselves because of their love for the Lord. The places where the martyrs fought with wild beasts still exist. These sites are now used to promote Christianity.
Everything that Catholicism embraces and promotes belongs to the physical realm and is therefore superstitious. For example, there is a statue of Peter in a cathedral that tourists and Catholics from South America and even South Africa pay tribute to. People are eager to touch and even kiss the foot of the statue. As a result, two toes on the statue have almost disappeared. Many people go to kiss and touch this statue. This is a superstitious practice.
From Rome we went to the northwest part of Greece, which has rich soil and pleasant scenery. We were told that Paul preached the gospel there. Since the city of Corinth was close by and we have read the Epistles to the Corinthians, we stopped for a brief visit. After Greece we went to the Middle East.
Our aim in going to Israel was to see the city of Jerusalem. The old city of Jerusalem is in the hands of the Jordanians. The Israelis live close to the old city, which is near the center of Jerusalem. Even though there is only a short distance between these two parts of the city, the Israelis and the Jordanians are enemies and do not communicate with each other. The United Nations finds it hard to reconcile the two nations; at best, the United Nations can only restrict them from taking action against one another.
We visited most of the places recorded in the Bible, such as the Mount of Olives, Mount Zion (which is Mount Moriah), the Garden of Gethsemane (where the Lord Jesus was betrayed), and the places where the Lord was judged and crucified. We also saw where He ascended. On the Mount of Olives there is a big rock with a footprint, which is said to be the last place the Lord Jesus stood before He ascended into heaven. Of course, this is superstition.
We visited the city of Shechem, and we saw Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, where the children of Israel stood to bless and to curse after they heard the law. According to the Bible, the good land is a land flowing with milk and honey, but the land that we saw is desolate and barren. The area near Jerusalem is very desolate. There are no trees, grass, or even dirt; there are only large and small rocks.
The people in Israel are poor and live a difficult life. They are poorer than people in Asia. It seems as though the environment is attacked by the wind. The wind blows for ten months every year, and then the rain comes to wash the dirt away. As a result, not much soil is left on the ground. There is no grass or trees, because no vegetation can survive with such little soil. The more the wind blows, the less soil there is, and the more it rains, the more the dirt is washed away. Under these circumstances it is difficult to develop anything.
The foundation of the Old Testament temple is on Mount Moriah. This is where Abraham offered Isaac. David also offered sacrifices on this place. The Arabs occupy Mount Moriah, and they built a Muslim holy site there. This is the second most important Muslim site. The most important site is in Mecca. The dome of the mosque on Mount Moriah is overlaid with gold. The Muslims occupy that place and will not return it to the Israelis, but the Israelis regard it as their own place of worship.
God’s judgment and curse need to be feared. In His wisdom God destroyed many Jewish and Christian archeological sites so that people would not worship these sites. God used the Roman general, Titus, to devastate the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and He used the Persian Empire, the Arabs, and the Turks to further devastate the city. Now few archeological objects remain. From Israel we bypassed Iraq, which has the city of Babylon, and Iran, previously Persia, and arrived in Pakistan.
From there we went to Burma and then to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. There is a meeting in Bangkok with a regular attendance of about fifty to sixty saints. One of our brothers is serving there. We stayed in Bangkok for three days and saw how the Lord has blessed them by adding people. The church in Bangkok has about one hundred saints. We held a conference there, and on the last day of the conference the meeting hall was filled to capacity and overflowed into the courtyard. Bangkok is an area for the work. There are three million overseas Chinese in Thailand, and at least eighty thousand of them live in Bangkok. Several million people live in Bangkok. There is a need for the saints who can manage both the Swatow and the Amoy dialects to migrate there. The brothers there hope that some co-workers will receive a burden to labor there.
Other places in Southeast Asia requested that we visit them, but we were limited by time. All these places have a need and continually ask for help. Twenty-four serving ones would not be able to meet this need.
On October 4 we arrived in Hong Kong and stayed there for twelve days. The brothers arranged for us to be in meetings until we boarded the plane. This is a rough sketch of our trip abroad.
In our visit to the different places we observed that believers do not know Christ as life, and they do not have the building up of God’s house. Suppose some brothers go to Japan because of the need there. They must help people know that God in Christ desires to be man’s life, and they must build up the house of God so that God has a dwelling place on earth and God’s children have a home. There is such a need in Japan. When we visited Japan, we went to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe. These places are close to each other and conveniently located. However, the Lord’s testimony is not in these three cities.
Furthermore, even though the United States is a Christian country, there is a need to help people know Christ as life and to build them up as God’s dwelling place locality by locality. This also applies to Europe. In a message I gave in Europe, I said that it is difficult to find a place in Scandinavia that resembles God’s house. God’s children are stirred up, but they feel as if they are homeless. Hence, the knowledge of life and the building up of the church are needed everywhere.
There is nothing in southern Europe, because the influence of Catholicism is very strong there. Spain, Portugal, Italy, and even France are Catholic countries. Greece is located in southern Europe, and it is spiritually and materially desolate. The entire situation in Europe is desolate. Thus, there is a great spiritual need in Europe. There is also such a need in different places in Southeast Asia.
Every place needs to know Christ as life and to have the building up of God’s dwelling place so that the believers can have a home. There is a need for life and the church. Even though we often feel that we are weak and poor, God has bestowed His grace upon us. It is difficult to find a place that is as blessed as we are.
On the one hand, we know that this way is one hundred percent of the Lord, but on the other hand, it is difficult to see anything like this in church history. Furthermore, we seem to be the only believers who are taking this way. We are sure that this is of the Lord, but when we are weak, we ask whether we are wrong or if we are too much. Otherwise, why can we not find a similar situation in church history, and why is there not another group to confirm this way? We seem to be the only ones who are taking this way.
We visited many countries on this trip and were strengthened in our inner realization. We also received a burden to see the need in every place. Japan, the United States, Scandinavia, and South America need a testimony like ours. This is the only thing that can meet the need of God’s children today. The genuine need of God’s children is to know Christ as life so that God can build up a house on earth among His children and so that His children can have a home.
Many Christians receive help from the messages that they listen to, but they do not know what their need is. We should lead them to know that Christ is our life. They also need to see that the result of Christ being our life is that God’s house is built up for His children to have a home. Only these two things can satisfy the need of God’s children. God’s children in Japan, the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia confirmed this way of life. After we saw that this is the need in every place, our realization was strengthened, and we were encouraged.
We need a clear understanding that Christ is our life for the building up of God’s house. At the beginning of this chapter I said that Christians highly regard any believers who meet the way we do. We believe that it is of the Lord that the churches in Taiwan, especially the church in Taipei, are highly regarded by other believers. If we are faithful to the Lord, He will give us a strong and definite leading, and some of us will go to other places. We need to grasp this opportunity.
We have trained many saints. Some of the saints who are trained serve full time, and others have a job. There may be more saints who can serve full time and then go to serve in other places. Some saints can meet this need. As more saints rise up to meet this need, there will be a steady flow of saints who leave their jobs and serve full time. We cannot study indefinitely. We must have graduates. Every school must produce graduates. Similarly, it is not normal for the children in a family to not grow up. Therefore, we need to continually produce co-workers who can serve full time in other places.
In view of the overall situation, it is profitable for the brothers and sisters to consider migrating to other places. Some of them may get jobs abroad. This is an age of mobility that is not stagnant. Active people are mobile.
These are impressions from my trip abroad. We need saints to go out. The more the saints go out, the more the way will be opened to us. All the saints need to go out. This will profit the saint, his family, the church, and even the country. I do not want to exhort you too much. This is my fellowship in response to the request of the brothers. If ten to twenty families and a few co-workers migrate to Brazil, they could start meeting immediately. This would be a good testimony, and the result would be good.
Furthermore, the literature work needs to be strengthened. In the past only a few saints helped in this work. The few publications that we put out are of three categories: The Ministry of the Word magazine, booklets, such as Enjoying God, and Church News. All three categories are effective. Hence, we need to strengthen the literature work in order to propagate overseas, and we need to increase the circulation of Church News. The serving ones also need to put out some publications in English. This will cause our testimony to spread.
In conclusion, there are three crucial matters: co-workers need to go and labor, brothers and sisters need to migrate, and the literature work needs to be increased and spread. In order to fulfill these needs, there is the need for more manpower. I believe that there will be no shortage of manpower. We should not fear a shortage of manpower, because some saints are going out. Rather, we should believe that as more saints go out, more will be added to the labor. The brothers and sisters need to pray concerning this matter. We should all go before the Lord to seek a burden. It may be that some saints will receive the burden and be sent out by the Lord and labor for Him. Other saints may be led by the Lord to migrate abroad. Still others may be burdened to give money to meet the need. The Lord will surely give us a strong confirmation since this is His leading. The direction of the Lord’s leading over the years is not merely limited to the island of Taiwan. The Lord is preparing us for the spread of His testimony in the last days.
Over the years we never advertised ourselves; nevertheless, during this trip the Lord opened many doors for us. Before we went on the trip our consideration of the actual situation was limited. What we saw, however, exceeded our expectations.
The high regard Christians have for us causes us to be humble. It is unprecedented for a meeting and all the speaking to be handed over to someone else. But this was our experience in every place where we visited. This was of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit confirmed it. This fellowship is to give us an impression and to show what the Lord has done.
The Lord’s work exceeds all our expectations. He has given us a broad and effective way. The brothers and sisters need to be strong and brave for the Lord’s sake and receive His burden. Many places need our help. I do not want to initiate anything, and we do not want mere activity. This fellowship is for us to receive a burden and bring the blessings that we have received to the places that are in need.
