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In the administration of the church, the elders’ meetings are very important. Regardless of whether a locality has many elders or only three to five, we should learn how to have the elders’ meetings properly. The Lord’s leading of the church is entirely through the elders’ meetings. In the Old Testament the Lord’s leading of the children of Israel was through the priesthood. When the priesthood became improper, the children of Israel lost God’s leading. The priesthood was able to help the children of Israel move forward only when it received revelation from God.
The priestly service was a priesthood, and the children of Israel understood God’s will through the Urim and the Thummim (Exo. 28:29-30). When the high priest wore the breastplate with the Urim and the Thummim and entered the Holy of Holies to meet with God, he was actually bringing the children of Israel before Him, seeking His leading in order to understand His will. The Urim was an illuminator, and with the function of this illuminator, the twelve precious stones on the breastplate of the high priest were under God’s shining. The twelve precious stones on the breastplate were engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, which contained eighteen of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It was necessary to add the Thummim, a precious stone on which the remaining four letters of the Hebrew alphabet were engraved. In this way the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet were present. When the high priest came before God to seek His will, he wore the breastplate with the Urim and the Thummim. This breastplate was like a divine typewriter, typing out God’s speaking word by word, sentence by sentence. God used the Urim and the Thummim to speak to the children of Israel. This is very meaningful.
If we want to know how to lead, we must bear God’s people on our breast as letters of the alphabet and read their condition before God. This principle is absolutely applicable to the elders’ meetings. In every elders’ meeting, the elders should bear the entire church on their breast and shoulders. The breast is related to love, and the shoulders are related to strength. The elders should use the Lord’s strength through the Lord’s love to bear all the brothers and sisters before Him and to read their condition before the Lord. If we want to know how God is leading His people, we should read them like letters of the alphabet. The elders must bring the condition of the brothers and sisters and read them one by one before God as if they were letters of the alphabet, understanding each word and sentence. When the elders meet together, they should maintain this kind of feeling by the Lord’s power and love, bringing the brothers and sisters before the Lord, looking at each one and reading them; in this way the elders can obtain the Lord’s leading.
Based on our experience, what is most lacking in the elders’ meetings is prayer; our prayer for the elders’ meetings is not adequate. When the brothers release a message, they feel a burden and pray desperately, seeking the Lord’s leading and shining in order to receive a living word. Every brother who has released a message can agree with this. However, before the elders’ meetings, the brothers who are elders do not pray as much as the brothers who release a message. This shows that the elders do not view their responsibility and burden as elders to be as important as releasing a message. Consequently, they do not have adequate, desperate prayers. Strictly speaking, all the elders should pray not only during the elders’ meetings but even before the meetings, praying for this great matter of the elders’ meetings.
Currently, in the church in Taipei there are three to five thousand brothers and sisters, requiring the leading of more than fifty elders. This is not a small matter in terms of leading. Furthermore, the elders come together only once a month, meeting twelve times a year. Hence, before every corporate elders’ meeting, everyone should have a very heavy feeling, knowing that they bear a heavy burden, and they should pray desperately for this meeting. They should pray not only for the hall that they lead but for all the halls, in other words, for the entire church. There should be thorough prayer before the Lord for the church’s burdens and needs, including its many problems.
What the brothers need the most in the elders’ meetings is to be filled with a spirit of prayer. If this is lacking, the elders’ meetings will become a social group or a club that everyone comes to in order to discuss certain matters. In the elders’ meetings the brothers’ spirits should be open to the Lord and mingled with the Lord’s Spirit. Everyone should enter into the Holy of Holies and be filled with God’s shining and God’s speaking. In this way the elders’ meetings will have spiritual value. If all the elders meet in this way, our flesh, temper, and disposition will have no place. We often lose our temper because we lack prayer.
Prayer can be likened to shaving in the morning. The hair on our face grows every day, and our flesh, temper, disposition, and even anger can also grow. We should not think that just because a person has believed in the Lord for fifty or sixty years that his flesh cannot grow. When we do not pray or are not in the spirit, our flesh, temper, and disposition will come out. Prayer is our “razor”; the more we pray, the more we are “shaved.” The Spirit within is constantly shaving the “hair” of our flesh, temper, and disposition. If we lack prayer before the elders’ meetings, it will be difficult to avoid the flesh during the meeting. In the elders’ meetings there should absolutely be no exercise of our flesh, temper, or disposition. Any exercise of these is a failure to the uttermost. In particular, there should be no anger, because it is a back door through which Satan can enter. Once this door is opened, Satan can have his way and corrupt the church to the uttermost. Therefore, we must practice how to have elders’ meetings. On the positive side, we need to pray, and on the negative side, we need to put aside our flesh, temper, disposition, and anger. We need to pray not only before the elders’ meetings but also pray much during the meetings.
There are a few things that everyone needs to learn related to the elders’ meeting. First, we must learn how to bring up matters for discussion. Using the terms associated with a secular meeting, this means that we need to learn how to bring up a proposal. Second, once a proposal is brought up, we must learn how to discuss it. Furthermore, we need to learn how to make a decision. Finally, we need to learn how to implement the matters that have been decided. The progression of elders’ meetings should generally consist of these four things. After a matter is brought up in the elders’ meetings, everyone should discuss it; that is, they should fellowship about the proposal thoroughly. I am more inclined to use the term fellowship rather than discuss. We need to fellowship thoroughly concerning the matter, make a decision, and implement it definitively. The church in Taipei currently has more than fifty elders; once a matter has been decided, it is not possible for every elder to carry it out. Hence, once something has been decided, we should designate one or several elders to carry it out. In addition, we need to discuss and decide on the location and the timing of the announcement of any decision. We must learn how to do these things.
In the local churches, no decision should be made by one elder; this violates our practice and contradicts our principle. The matters of a local church must be determined by all the elders; everyone must hold fast to this principle. We should not think that it is sufficient for one brother to make decisions, even if he is qualified, experienced, or the most trusted and respected. This will harm the church and damage the proper system of the elders’ administration in the church.
If one elder can take the place of the eldership in deciding matters, this will be a great weakness in the administration of the church. In the long run, this way will produce much evil fruit. The most damaging aspect will be that the eldership will not be built up. This will be a great loss to the church. At the same time this way will not produce new generations by bringing younger ones into the responsibilities related to being an elder. Consequently, the elders must avoid having one elder decide matters outside of the elders’ meetings. In principle, everyone must learn that the matters of a local church must be brought up in the elders’ meetings for thorough fellowship before decisions are made and carried out.
The elders must develop a habit of being prepared because there is only one elders’ meeting per month in Taipei. Before the elders’ meeting, the elders should prepare and consider what should be done during the meeting. The elders should look ahead and consider the matters that should be brought up not only related to their hall but also to the entire church. They can prepare a small notebook to record these matters one by one. If all the elders do this, everyone will use the time adequately to fellowship each matter one by one, to make decisions, and to practically carry out what has been decided in the meeting. In this way no one will move independently, such as one hall doing something without the elders in the other halls being aware. We should never move individually. Even though we have more than twenty halls, we are the church in Taipei, and we should move as one.
Every hall should know what is happening in the other halls, but this means that all the elders must discuss, decide, and implement. Each matter in the church should be brought to the corporate elders’ meeting and thoroughly discussed before any decision is carried out. This requires that all the elders be in one accord and in a spirit of harmony, putting their shoulders under the one Ark and bearing it together. In this way the entire church will know what one hall is doing, and all the elders will know what the other elders are carrying out. In this way the administration of the church will be transparent, the administration of the church will be solid, and there will not be any room for the enemy to attack and disturb.
In the elders’ meetings we should not propose matters lightly or casually, and when fellowshipping about matters that have been suggested, we should not have an insistent tone. We must take care to not give others a sense that our proposal must be done. We should not come with a demanding or forceful tone. We should have an objective spirit when we bring matters before the brothers. It should not be a problem if the brothers decide to do or to not do something. When we bring matters up for all the brothers to evaluate together, we should trust in God’s sovereign authority. If something comes from the Lord’s leading, the brothers will surely approve it; if the brothers do not approve it, this indicates that the Lord is not leading in this way yet, that the time is not right, or that the environment is not yet ripe. We should believe in the Lord’s sovereignty. When we bring matters up, we should not have a threatening, compulsive, or demanding tone, insisting that certain things be done; this way of doing things is according to one’s flesh and natural disposition, and we must avoid it.
During the fellowship in an elders’ meeting, everyone should listen attentively when an elder brings up a matter. In the church in Taipei we should never think that a matter is not relevant because it does not apply to our hall and that we can simply allow others to decide and carry it out. Please remember that we are not bearing responsibilities only for our hall but that we are bearing our hall’s responsibilities on behalf of the entire church. Hence, when the elders of the church in Taipei come together to fellowship, a matter brought up by the elder in a particular hall should be considered by everyone. Everyone must fellowship over it thoroughly, understanding it seriously and in detail and receiving a burden together.
Furthermore, in bringing up and fellowshipping matters in the elders’ meetings, we should never think that speaking more means making many mistakes, that speaking less means making fewer mistakes, that speaking nothing means making no mistakes, and that therefore it would be best to say nothing even if we know something. This concept in society should not be brought into the church. We also must not think that those who are younger do not matter and should not say much. Such views should be completely eliminated. God has given us a sober mind and ears that can hear; moreover, we have a spirit within, and we have His Spirit in our spirit. Those who are a part of the eldership must function; this is a duty.
Regardless of whether the eldership is large or small, whether it is a small church with three elders or a large church with more than fifty elders, the eldership will suffer loss if everyone does not exercise to function. Each elder must exercise his portion. In regard to making proposals and fellowshipping, no one should be limited in his speaking, but his speaking should be in spirit. I hope that we will not bring in the customs of society.
The last time I came back to Taiwan, I led the church to practice the small groups. Someone asked which New Testament book should be read in the small groups; I suggested the book of Romans. Coming back this time, as I was speaking with the brothers, someone told me that they were reading the book of Romans for the third time. The elders should have taken the responsibility to tell me that Romans had already been read twice in Taipei, even recently, and that it was very good. If they had fellowshipped this, I would have responded immediately and changed the reading to the book of Galatians or to another book. They should not have thought that my coming back to take the lead meant that what I said could not be changed; this is a wrong concept. This is an example of something that should have been fellowshipped but was not.
I hope that everyone will learn to have much fellowship. Only through thorough fellowship can matters be transparent and be taken care of in a detailed, comprehensive way, because what an individual person knows is very limited. This does not mean that we should debate or express our disapproving opinions; it is wrong to have an attitude of debate. We should not come together to debate or to express opinions but rather to bring up matters and allow everyone to seek the Lord’s leading together. This is fellowship.
Furthermore, if someone does not speak up during the discussion in the elders’ meeting, he should not say anything after the meeting has ended. Everything should be spoken clearly in the open in the elders’ meeting. Every sentence should be completed in the meeting. If not, there is no ground for anyone to say anything after the elders’ meeting. For example, we spoke of having a preparation meeting for the small group meetings in order to prepare materials and topics for the small group meetings. We also considered that Thursday evenings would be the best time for such a preparation meeting. After we decided to do this, someone waited until after the meeting to ask whether this would be a corporate meeting or a meeting in separate halls. In doing this, the brother broke the principle of speaking openly during the elders’ meeting and not waiting until after the fellowship and decisions to bring up questions. In the elders’ meeting that brother should have said, “I feel that bringing the core members of four hundred small groups into one hall would be rather difficult. There are too many people, and some live far away, making it inconvenient.” If he had such a feeling, he should have brought it up immediately; only this is fellowship. Not bringing up matters until after a meeting and then discussing it behind the backs of all the elders must be avoided.
We have a natural habit of not speaking up publicly out of a fear of offending others, a fear of saying the wrong thing, and even a fear of shouldering the burden and responsibility. Instead, we like to talk behind the back of others. This is the case in both the Far East and the West. Hence, in the United States I have made it clear to the brothers that they must fellowship if there are issues; they should not have private conversations over the phone. Everything must be brought up and fellowshipped in the elders’ meetings. There is no need to discuss anything privately; everything should be brought up in the elders’ meetings. There is no need to mention names; simply discussing the principles is sufficient. We should not avoid problems or try to be the good guy. We must get out of the habit of not speaking openly in the elders’ meeting and having private discussions outside of the elders’ meeting.
When a brother brings up a matter in the elders’ meetings, we should immediately be alert in our spirit, listen properly, and pay attention with our whole being. Even if it is a matter related to a certain hall, it actually concerns the whole church. As an elder, we have the responsibility to listen and observe. If we have a feeling, we should speak boldly. We should not worry too much about what we say. Our intention should be to simply state facts, not to suppress or oppose others. We should believe that a brother’s speaking is not intended to suppress others. We should not be suspicious of one another. If there is a situation involving mutual suspicion and suppression, the elders’ meetings will become degraded and corrupt. This would be a shame, and it should not happen.
No matter who speaks among the elders, we should not be suspicious, thinking that the speaking is directed toward a particular person. A suspicious attitude will give Satan the ground in our corrupted flesh. In the elders’ meetings, everyone should have the absolute freedom to speak their feeling. However, we should not speak with a tone that tries to subdue others, strongly expressing either approval or disapproval. We need to bring up our feeling by stating only the facts of the matter.
In the New Testament, only Acts 15 gives an example of fellowship and discussion among the early apostles and elders. In the record in this chapter, the brothers came together to fellowship regarding the matters of circumcision and the keeping of the law. When Peter rose up to speak, his speaking was based on the facts (vv. 7-11). Then Paul and Barnabas told of the signs and wonders that God had done among the Gentiles through them (v. 12). These matters were brought up in a pure way. We should note the phrase when much discussion had taken place (v. 7). Even though the word much indicates that considerable discussion had taken place, the content of the discussion was not recorded. Only the facts that Paul, Barnabas, and Peter spoke were recorded. Later, James, who was quite respected, rose up and told the brothers what they should do based on his opinion (vv. 13-21). In the end everyone decided to do this. This is a very good example of discussion in an elders’ meeting.
Even though I feel that they did not discuss matters fully in Acts 15, this is still a very good example. Despite not discussing the matters thoroughly and not completely satisfying God’s heart’s desire in their decision because there was still a flavor of keeping the law that violated God’s New Testament economy, everyone, including Paul, had no argument and accepted this decision. Although this decision did not completely satisfy God or those who knew God’s New Testament economy, we cannot say that the Holy Spirit was not working in this discussion and decision.
Verse 28 says, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” This shows that the Holy Spirit concurred with the decision of the apostles and elders. In this instance Peter testified, Paul and Barnabas testified, and then James made a decision. Indeed, they gave the Holy Spirit some ground, and the Holy Spirit was leading them, even though they did not give the Holy Spirit the absolute ground. We cannot say that their decision did not have the working of the Holy Spirit; neither can we say that their decision was perfect. The Holy Spirit goes along with us according to how much ground we give Him. This is the principle of incarnation; if the cooperation that we render to God does not reach a certain level, the Holy Spirit cannot do much.
In the elders’ meetings of the church, the way and process of the meetings, the way of bringing up matters, and the way of discussing matters should not be worldly. The elders must be in the spirit, fearing God, and their wording and terms should be careful, not casual. Even if there are only three elders meeting to discuss matters, the terms and utterances in their speaking should be appropriate and accurate because these are matters being considered before God; that is, the elders are bringing the saints in their locality before God to seek His leading. Hence, whether in our wording or in our way of speaking, we must be careful and not casual. We must never consider the discussion in an elders’ meeting to be a casual matter.
The matters that have been decided in an elders’ meeting should not be disclosed by anyone prior to being publicly announced, not even to an elder’s wife. When the elders meet to discuss matters, it often involves the saints’ personal matters, reputations, families, and status and position in society. Sometimes it even involves legal issues. In the elders’ love for a particular saint and in their desire to perfect him, there will be a need to discuss and fellowship about his situation in the elders’ meetings, but if the elders leak this information, it will affect the saint’s personal reputation and may even damage his family and go against the law. Such things have occurred in Christian groups. Thus, we should not disclose someone’s shortcomings or weaknesses to others. This can be likened to a doctor who examines and treats patients but then discloses their condition to others. This involves the law, and the brothers must be careful.
The decisions in an elders’ meeting are not a small thing. If the elders go home and tell their wives, thinking that such speaking is a trivial matter, great problems and difficulties will frequently arise. For example, the elders may decide to have a special meeting on Wednesday and to announce it on the Lord’s Day before the special meeting. If a problem comes up before the Lord’s Day, the decision may need to be changed, but if an elder tells his wife, who then leaks the news, many will know before the announcement is made. Then, if the circumstances change and there is a need for a different announcement, problems will arise. Hence, the elders’ decisions should not be casually spread; we should be willing to wait for the open announcement. This is something that we all must learn. We should never think that this is a small matter and be careless.
We must remember that among the governments in the world there are both dictatorships and democracies. However, the administration of the church is neither a dictatorship nor a democracy. Rather, it is a theocracy; that is, it is under God’s administration. Our meetings are according to the Lord’s promise in Matthew 18:20: “Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.” How does God administrate in the church? We should trust that the Lord is in our midst whenever the elders meet. Thus, our suggestions and fellowship will allow the Lord to speak. More than twenty opinions can be blended into eight opinions, eight opinions can be blended into three, and three can be blended into one. We should acknowledge that the Lord is leading us; we do not have an individual dictator or a corporate democracy. Rather, the Lord as the Spirit is with us. Through fellowship the Urim and the Thummim will operate and produce a decision; such a decision will be according to the divine administration, not according to a dictatorship or a democracy.
The brothers must put this speaking into practice. In practice we should know the fine operation of the Urim and the Thummim. We should not be careless in anything. If someone is careless in using a typewriter, he will make mistakes. The priesthood of the eldership is the unique way for the entire group of responsible brothers to seek the Lord’s leading together. When we have a final blended opinion as a decision, we must carry it out immediately. When determining who should carry it out, we need to consider the nature of the matter that has been decided and determine who would be the most appropriate one to carry it out. We can also have brothers coordinate together to carry it out. Then we need to determine how to carry it out. If there is the need to announce it to the brothers and sisters, we should determine the day and the meeting in which it should be announced, whether it should be before or after the meeting, how to phrase the important terms, and so on. These matters should be fellowshipped clearly, and then a decision should be made. Then, when a decision is announced, the person making the announcement will not be representing himself; rather, he will be representing the decision of the elders’ meeting. The elders must learn these items in order to have a proper administration in the church.
