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Scripture Reading: Rev. 22:12, 20; Luke 18:16-17; 2 Tim. 3:15; 1:5; 2:2
We all need to know what age we are in, what the present revelation is from God, where we should be, what we should do, and what flow we should enter into. Time is short, and the day of the Lord’s second coming is approaching. We must no longer be drugged by the religious things. We need to wake up to see where we should be and what we should do. This is a serious matter. The Lord Jesus likened this age to the age of Noah, saying, “Just as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage...until the flood came and took all away” (Matt. 24:37-39). We must not be here unclear, drugged, and befuddled by the present situation. We must see what the age is, where we should be, and the way we should follow. (The Testimony of Jesus, p. 32)
We must be those who know the age. If we truly know the Bible, we will be able to see what kind of age we are in according to the prophecies in the Bible and the world situation today. When I was first saved more than sixty years ago, I loved the Bible very much and studied the Bible diligently. At that time some books concerning prophecy had been published in Europe, so I bought some and read them. There are many prophecies related to the world situation, especially prophecies regarding the Jews, the Middle East, and the Persian Gulf nations. These prophecies speak mainly about two matters. The first matter is the restoration of the Jewish nation, and the second matter is the return of Jerusalem into the hands of the Jews. (Being Up-to-date for the Rebuilding of the Temple, p. 61)
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We cannot continue to work as we have in the past; we must change our ways. In the past we neglected the work with the children, the young people, and the sisters. We highly regarded a general work, but we paid little attention to the young people’s work, and we merely prayed for the children’s work. Now we must concentrate our efforts on the children, the young people, and the sisters. Moreover, the messages we give must minister Christ as the Spirit in a simple and direct way. We should focus on these primary matters and nothing else. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, p. 270)
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When I returned to Taiwan ten years ago, I was very clear, saying, “Your eyes have to be open. Do not be too busy outwardly. You should work on the young people, the junior highers, and the high schoolers. You should also work on the children until each week there are at least ten thousand children being taught by us. Those who are six or seven years old now will be high schoolers in ten years. If you are willing to do this, you can definitely succeed.” The brothers told me at that time that there were twenty-three thousand names on the list of the church in Taipei, comprising at least eight thousand homes. If each family has one or two children, there should be twelve thousand children. When they asked me concerning a place for the children to meet, I said, “There is no need to go to the meeting hall, and it is not necessary to meet on the Lord’s Day. You can meet on Saturdays or in the evenings. You can simply meet in the homes of the brothers and sisters. Out of the eight thousand families, you can choose three to four hundred homes to be the places for the children’s meetings, with each home holding thirty children. If you continue in this work, you will see how much you can accomplish!” Starting from 1966 and 1967 I have been talking about this very matter and have been expecting the church to practice it, because we do have the basic strength to work it out. If we had worked from that time until now, 1977, ten thousand children would have become high schoolers of sixteen to seventeen years of age. Immediately, there would be ten thousand “seeds” in different high schools. At that time, I also said that we had to work on the junior highers, the high schoolers, and the college students to gain several thousand in each category. In this way, the number of children and young people added together would be at least twenty to thirty thousand. Moreover, children increase endlessly. When these ten thousand get into high school, another ten thousand will take their place. It is a pity that you did not practice what I said! (The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstand, pp. 55-56)
The first matter for the sisters’ service is the children’s work. Concerning the children’s work, within me there is truly a heavy burden. All the churches must have a children’s work. According to statistics, forty-five percent of the population of Taiwan is under fifteen years of age. This is roughly six million people. Many local churches have quite a few families with children. I estimate that there are about ten thousand children in the church in Taipei and about the same number of children in the churches in the rest of Taiwan. If we work with these twenty thousand children, they will all be young brothers and sisters after six to seven years. This is what the sisters should do.
In the past the church in Taipei did not pay adequate attention to this. Of the ten thousand children in Taipei, only about five hundred come to the meeting on the Lord’s Day; eight to nine thousand children are without any care. In spite of all the effort we use to preach the gospel in Taipei, we may not be able to bring three or even two thousand people to salvation in a year. If we cultivate our ten thousand children, they will all become young brothers and sisters in six or seven years. This means that we will have an average increase of a thousand people every year. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 304-305)
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Some may think that it is easy to care for the children who are between the ages of five and twelve by simply giving them a piece of candy. However, to handle the children in this way will not yield a good result. According to my observation, the most difficult work to do effectively is the children’s work. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, p. 311)
Whether or not we succeed in the children’s work depends partly on the teaching material and partly on the brothers and sisters who take the lead. The responsible brothers and the co-workers in every place must see the importance of the children’s work in God’s family. How can a family not take care of its children? This should be a great matter to us. No family will disregard its children; as a priority a family looks after its children, raises them, and teaches them. Hence, we must serve the many children in God’s family.
From this time onward, the co-workers should give more thought to the way they lead people to know the Lord. They must pay attention to the sisters and the children. The co-workers should not say that they are not gifted for these two aspects of the work and therefore cannot do the work. If they cannot do it, they must learn how to do it; they should always learn. The co-workers do not need to be personally involved in doing the children’s work. They can meet with the leading sisters in a locality and entrust the burden for the children’s work to them, and they can encourage them. They must lead the church to receive a burden for the children’s work. The church should concentrate its effort on this work.
The leading sisters in the churches must receive a burden for the children’s work. Under the arrangement of the church and the leading of the elders, they should concentrate on the children’s work and lead all the sisters to participate. The elders are too busy to take care of the details. Instead of waiting for the elders, the sisters should pray much and make plans. They can then present their plans for the children’s work to the elders for their approval. This is just like a family in which the husband is busy with his job and cannot plan the details for the household. The wife can make plans and carry things out with the consent of the husband. In this way the wife does not do anything independently and will still be able to take care of the details of the household in a timely way. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 1, pp. 313-314)
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During these years, among a few churches, often I have emphatically charged the brothers and sisters that they must take care of the young people...The reason I purposely encourage young people is that I clearly realize one thing: if a church cannot raise up the young people, this church has no future...The church needs the second generation. The future of the church hinges on the young people. (The Elders’ Management of the Church, pp. 108-109)
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The future of the Lord’s recovery is very promising. At present, in the United States there are at least seven thousand seeking saints in the Lord’s recovery. Over the next ten years, many of our children will become members of the church. When some of them are in their twenties, they will be quite useful to the Lord. Brother Nee, for example, was raised up by the Lord when he was only nineteen. (Life-study of 1 Peter, p. 285)
In whatever a person does, the most important thing is to have a heart. Without a heart, a person will not want to do anything, and even if he does something, he will not be enthusiastic in doing it. Of course, this is also true with the young people’s work. If you want to do this work, you must like the young people, care for them, and be concerned about their affairs. This may be considered the minimum “capital” required for the young people’s work. If you have no interest in the young people and have no heart for them, doing the young people’s work only out of reluctance, then it is useless.
Sometimes our heart may arise from our preference. When we like something, naturally we will have a heart to do it. Sometimes the heart we have may come from our knowledge. When we see the importance and value of a certain matter, we will spontaneously have a heart for it. According to my observation of the real situation among us concerning the young people’s work, I see that some brothers and sisters are doing it out of their preference. Because they are naturally inclined to the young people and they enjoy contacting the young people, they come to do the young people’s work. We cannot say that this is wrong. We have to admit that no matter how much grace we have received and how great the spirituality we possess, we are still human—we still have the part that is human. But here we have to say that it is not weighty enough to do the young people’s work with such a heart. If we truly want to do the young people’s work, and do it in a weighty manner, we must let God open our eyes to see the preciousness of the young people and their importance in God’s hands. If we see this, we will appreciate this work, and spontaneously we will have a heart within us for it.
If we read through the Bible carefully, we will discover a fact: It is not easy to find a case showing that God called an old person to do a new thing or a thing of great consequence. This may discourage the older brothers and sisters, but it is something undeniable. Indeed, we cannot see that God ever called an old person to do a new thing. Seemingly, Moses received God’s call when he was eighty years old, but if we carefully read the Bible, we will see that actually the first time he received God’s call was not when he was eighty years old. Rather, when he was still young, God’s calling had already begun in him. If you read on, whether it was Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, or David in the Old Testament, or whether it was the twelve disciples called by the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, when they were first gained by the Lord, none of them was an old man. Not only is this true in the Bible, but even in all of church history it is hard to find a strong illustration to show that God called an old man when He had a new and important thing to do. We can say that virtually everyone used by God to begin a new thing or chosen by God to turn the age was a young man.
I would like to give you a testimony. Thirty years ago the Lord’s work in China had a new beginning. In that period of time God did not call any old people. All the ones who are around fifty years old and who are standing firmly to serve before the Lord today were still young people who, thirty years ago, were around twenty years old. They were raised up by the Lord in the schools for that new work. Brothers and sisters, if you see this, you will treasure the young people before God.
Furthermore, nearly every work that the young people were called by God to do was a work that turned the age. God called Moses to turn one age, and He called Joshua to turn another age. Obviously, His calling of Samuel turned another age. The prophethood, priesthood, and kingship all hung on this young man Samuel. He was truly one who turned the age. David was also one who turned the age. Furthermore, we can see that Daniel and his three friends were young ones among the people in captivity. Through them God turned that age of captivity. Then in the New Testament, the first to emerge was John the Baptist. We know that he was a young man called by the Lord. God used him to turn the age at his time. We can go on to look at Paul, who was an apostle especially used by God. The Bible says that he was a young man when he was visited by the Lord (Acts 7:58). We all admit that Paul was a man who turned the age. I dare not overstate the case, but my feeling is that the work which the Lord started among us in the East thirty years ago also considerably bore the nature and element of an age-turning work. For the carrying out of all these works of great consequences, God always called young men.
I would like to tell you, brothers and sisters, that because we saw this, we have been paying much attention to the young people’s work for nearly twenty years. This is not to say that one young person’s soul is worth two older persons’ souls. This is not what I mean. What I am saying is that a person has to be gained by the Lord at a young age if he will have some usefulness in God’s hands or a future in God’s work. This is an obvious fact...
Quite often I have said that for salvation, for the receiving of grace, and for the enjoyment of the Lord’s salvation the older ones are absolutely precious. However, for usefulness in the Lord’s hand, for the spread of the Lord’s kingdom, and for the propagation of the Lord’s work, the responsibility undoubtedly falls on the shoulders of the young people. If the Lord delays His coming back for five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years and He wants to accomplish something, the commission will have to be entrusted to the young people. Concerning those of us who are already over fifty, we all hope that we may be alive to see the Lord come back and not have to pass through the Jordan River of death. Nevertheless, we have to admit that the conditions today, such as the “greenness of the crops,” the desolation of the church, and the scarcity of overcomers, tell us that the Lord cannot come back so soon. It is not that the Lord does not want to come back. Rather, He desperately wants to come back soon, but our condition does not allow Him. Therefore, seeing such a situation, we believe that there may be still a considerable amount of time in which the Lord wants to accomplish something on the earth.
Of course, we should also believe that the Lord may come back tomorrow. Nearly two thousand years ago He already said, “Behold, I come quickly!” In His estimation a thousand years are like one day; with Him there is no time element. On our side, however, if the Lord delays, I cannot believe that a number of us who are now over fifty will still be alive thirty years later. Some of the brothers and sisters are even older than I am and are in their sixties, and others are in their seventies. In any case, if the Lord delays His coming back, I am afraid we cannot wait that long and will all be gone. May I ask, who then will continue to do the Lord’s work? You may be very spiritual, even too spiritual, and say, “The Lord will be responsible for all these matters.” Of course, this is true; the Lord will be responsible. There is no denying this. But one thing is clear: Whether He takes direct responsibility or He wants you or me to do something for Him, the way is with the young people. Twenty years from now those who will be useful to the Lord are those who are in their twenties or younger today.
It is a universally accepted fact that a person receives education for twenty-five years, gains experience for another twenty-five years, and then becomes truly useful in the final twenty-five years. Three twenty-five years make a total of seventy-five years. I hope all our young people will live for seventy-five years—twenty-five years to receive spiritual education, another twenty-five years to gain spiritual experience, and the final twenty-five years to be used by God. I also hope that those who are in their fifties now will take good care of their health for the Lord’s sake. However, brothers and sisters, please consider: Unless there is a group of young people who are saved to receive proper spiritual help today, how can they gain the experience and be used by the Lord in the future? If there are no young people gained by the Lord today, after our departure there will be no one to succeed us. Then there will be a gap.
Let me give you a testimony. Thirty years ago when the Lord raised us up in China, it was truly a hard time for us. Since there was no one who could help us in our service, we had to strenuously grope around in every matter. At that time we had left Christianity behind; therefore, even in the matter of how to meet we had to feel our way around little by little. Now, after more than thirty years, the young people then have become old people. If the Lord does not have a group of young people today to receive help, after some time, when we pass away, will there not be a gap? This will not only delay the day of the Lord but also diminish the effectiveness of our work. If there are young brothers and sisters raised up by the Lord, and if we are preserved to give them an absolutely positive leading instead of erroneous limitations, then there is no need to wait until the Lord takes us away; even today they can become useful in the Lord’s hands.
We already saw this clearly more than twenty years ago. Therefore, from that time on we paid a great deal of attention to gaining the young intellectuals in the universities and hospitals. Thank the Lord, this work had good progress from 1936. The Lord gained a good number of young people from the Union Medical College in Peking, from a certain hospital in Tientsin, from the Ch’i Lu University in Tsinan, from the College of Nursing in Shanghai, and from some universities in Nanking. Many young medical students, resident physicians, nurses, and even professors became our brothers and sisters. About ten years later, among us nearly all the co-workers and responsible ones in the churches all over the country were the young people gained at that time. Therefore, after the War of Resistance against Japan [1937-1945] was won and the country was restored, then the Lord brought us back to Shanghai where there was a small work of revival again in the regions of Nanking and Shanghai. At that time we concentrated nearly seventy to eighty percent of our efforts on the young people. Within those two to three years all the work among the college students received much blessing from the Lord. Many young ones were gained by Him. By saying this much, I hope that the brothers and sisters can see the importance of the young people’s work. This should create a heart in us to appreciate the young brothers and sisters.
I would say to you, brothers and sisters, that I love the older ones. The Lord can testify for me about this. But I also would ask the older ones to forgive me because I would also say that I really appreciate the young people’s work. Some spread words about me, saying that Brother Lee only cares for the young people’s work and that he has chased all the older ones out to the street. I deny this; I never had that intention. However, for the future of the Lord’s work, I would ask the older ones to pray much for the young people. The future of the work and the usefulness in the future, no doubt, are with the young people. From the view of saving souls, we should treat older ones and younger ones equally. From the view of the future of the work, however, we should put our emphasis on the younger ones. If the church or the work fails to gain young people, it will be like a family that has only some childless old people: an old grandfather who is eighty-five years old, a father who is sixty years old, and a son who is nearly forty years old. There are no younger ones under them; there are no crying ones or shouting ones. Rather, everyone is well-behaved. This is abnormal.
Sometimes when someone says to me, “Brother Lee, it seems that our church is in a mess and is not very orderly,” I would say, “That is actually a good sign.” When you visit a family, if you see some are crying, some are shouting, some are fighting, some are doing somersaults, and some are rolling on the floor, that is a good sign; it indicates that the family is flourishing. If a family has only an eighty-five year old grandfather, a sixty-year-old father, and a forty-year-old son, certainly no one will be rolling on the floor. Even if any of them desires to roll on the floor, he would not have the strength to do it. Therefore, all year round they live in quietness, orderliness, and loneliness. Brothers and sisters, we can be sure that such a family does not have to sell its house; the house will become someone else’s house before long. In the same manner, when you visit a church, if you see throngs of young people there, then you should praise the Lord that the church has a future. You do not need to ask whether those young people are good or bad. Just as in a family, it does not matter how naughty the children are; they are still better than none. If there are no children, the family is doomed to hopelessness. Some children who are undesirable today may become desirable tomorrow. There is always hope.
In summary, we need to gain the young people in the church and in the Lord’s work. Anyone who works for the Lord with insight needs to pay attention to this matter. If you see this, your heart will be burdened to love the young people regardless of whether they are good or bad. Having a young one who is not very desirable is better than having none at all. May the brothers and sisters as the Lord’s lovers all love the young people for the future of the church and for the Lord’s work. (How to Lead the Young People, pp. 1-15)
