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Scripture Reading: Acts 2:46-47; 5:42
In this chapter we want to see how to take care of the home meetings and small group meetings.
Whenever we attend a home meeting or a small group meeting, we should avoid the preaching or teaching of the pastor or preacher type. This means that we should not behave ourselves as a preacher or a pastor. Do not make your preaching in the type of a preacher, and do not make your teaching in the type of a pastor. When we go to the home meetings, we should be only in the type of what we are, that is, a brother or a sister. This is not easy for a person who has been a preacher or a pastor for a number of years. When this person speaks, he may have the tone of a preacher. Among the preachers in Christianity there are different types. The Baptists, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians have different types of preachers. Whenever a Pentecostal preacher speaks, he does not need to tell others that he is a Pentecostal. His way of speaking and his tone make it clear that he is a Pentecostal preacher. In the Lord’s recovery all of us have to be common Christians. We are simply brothers and sisters.
The leader type is mainly among us in the Lord’s recovery. Basically speaking, we do not have the pastor or preacher type, but we do have the leader type. When certain brothers speak in the meetings, most of us realize that they are leaders in the local churches. When a brother is in the leadership for a certain amount of time, he may build up a type. It is also possible for us to speak in the type of our national or cultural background. A Chinese, Japanese, or Korean brother may speak in the type of China, Japan, or Korea. We in the Lord’s recovery must learn to come out of all kinds of types. We need to speak only as a brother or a sister.
In the home meetings and small group meetings, we must learn the skill not to do everything in the meeting but to lead the new ones to partake of the meeting. We need to be consulting persons when we go to the home meetings. The new ones need to be impressed that the meeting in their home is their meeting. We should tell them that it is not our meeting and that we are not coming to hold our meeting. We are coming to help them have their meeting.
If we go into someone else’s home, and the family does not know how to cook, we must remember that the kitchen is not ours. We should not cook for them, but we should teach them how to cook. We should help them to do all the cooking. If we feel that we are the experts, we may not allow anyone to do anything. Instead, we may do everything for everyone else. The daughter of a mother who is an expert in cooking may not know how to cook well because she has been replaced by her mother. Since the mother is an expert in cooking, she may not let the daughter cook that much. This is the leader type. The leader type does everything for everyone. In the practical service of the church, the leader type may not allow anyone else to clean the restrooms or vacuum the floor. His attitude is, “You don’t know how to do this. I know, so let me do it.” These leaders do everything. In everything they are the experts. To them the others do not know how to do things. Only they know how. Others among us, instead of being leaders, are managers. They take the pretense that they are the “overseers.” They are the superintendents watching how others do things.
I have two concerns about your going to the home meetings. One concern is that you will go in the type of a leader, and the other concern is that you will go in the type of a manager. Both are wrong. If both these types are wrong, how should we behave ourselves? It seems that if we do anything, it is wrong. It also seems that if we do not do anything, that is wrong. If we speak, we speak wrongly. If we do not speak, that is also wrong. Since this is the case, we may feel that we do not need to go to the home meetings or small group gatherings. But to do this is even more wrong. Then what shall we do?
We need to go to the cross. Christ has dealt with all the negative things on the cross, and through His death on the cross, He has released the divine life within Him into us so that we could become His many members who constitute His Body. When we are experiencing the cross, nothing of us remains. Whatever we have, whatever we are, whatever we can do, and whatever we have accomplished should all go to the cross. Nothing of us should be left. The cross takes away everything negative and releases the divine life. When we go to a home meeting or a small group meeting, we should hold an attitude that everything of us should be crossed out. Only one thing should be released through us and out of us—the divine life. I do not mean that we should not act or do anything in the meeting. But we should not do anything in our natural way, by our natural life, and with our natural strength. We should be in fear and trembling that we would offend the Lord by doing anything with our natural strength. Anything that is natural, that is not holy or separated, and anything that we do by our natural strength should be crossed out.
Do not replace the new ones but lead them to bear the responsibilities of the meeting. Lead the new ones to do everything in the meeting. During the initial stage of the first three or four weeks of meeting with the new ones, it might be awkward because many of them have never been in a Christian meeting. They do not know how to pray, how to speak the word of God, or how to sing a hymn. Thus, you have to teach and instruct them like a mother teaching her children to speak or to walk. You have to consider all the new ones as little babes.
In the past we did not help the new ones that much because we did everything for them. We merely charged them to come to the meetings, and we let them observe the meetings. That way was not so profitable or life-giving. Rather, that way somewhat annulled and deadened people. To some extent it also kept people away from the meetings. We have found the secret to having remaining fruit. To have remaining fruit, we must bring the meeting to the new ones’ homes. We should not ask them to come to a meeting, but we should bring a meeting to their homes and help them to carry out a meeting in their homes. We need to impress them that the meeting is not our meeting but their meeting.
We should always fellowship with the new ones in the initial stage about how to meet. We do not need to have a formal program for the home meetings and small group meetings. In the initial stage of meeting with the new believers for the first one or two months, you may stop in the middle of the meeting to have a little talk. Because there are only three to five people in a home meeting, it is easy to stop the meeting and talk a little bit. Then the meeting can resume. In one meeting we may have to stop three or four times in the initial stage. Otherwise, we will make ourselves the pastors, and the new ones in our home meetings will be our audience like a congregation in Christianity. The meeting should always be carried on in a conversational way. Do not make it so formal or legal. Sometimes you may stop the meeting for three minutes to fellowship in order to guide them, lead them, and bring them into the real practice of meeting. From the very beginning of their Christian life, we must give them the impression that the Christian meetings are gatherings in which every attendant participates.
For the first three terms of the full-time training in Taipei, we did not instruct the trainees to bring the newly baptized ones to the regular church meetings, because at that time the church meetings were still somewhat in the old way. Once the new ones are brought to a meeting with a large congregation and a good speaker, they will be damaged, and it will be hard to change their concept. Good mothers know that it is wise to keep their children away from wrong things and sinful things. Once a child sees some wrong, bad, sinful things, it is really hard to wash away the impression. Thus, it is profitable to keep the newly baptized ones meeting in their homes according to the scriptural way so that they acquire a taste for this way. All the children who are raised in Japan have the Japanese taste. If they come to live in the United States, it is hard for them to get rid of their taste. Likewise, if the new ones are brought up in the new way, they will not have a taste for any other way.
When you teach the new ones, do not give them the sensation that you are now going to teach them. Rather, render some short teachings of the crucial things to the new ones spontaneously. As you are talking to them, you can insert some teaching. Spontaneously, you may open the Bible to 1 Corinthians 14:26 and ask them to read it. Then you can say that this verse tells us that when we Christians come together, each one has something. You may ask the three-year-old girl of the family, “Do you have something?” She may say, “Yes, I have a little song.” Then you can say, “Sing it to us.” Do not take care of your teaching at that time. Always give them the opportunity to function. This is why the home meeting should not have a prearranged program. We need to take every opportunity to train the new ones to function.
When some of the saints have gone to visit the home meetings, they have gone with a prearranged program. When they entered the home, the little girl may have been singing. Then they told the little girl to stop and sit down so that they could carry out their prearranged program. This is not only very poor but also a killing. Do not stop her singing but utilize her singing to start the meeting. If you take care of this principle, you will learn a lot.
After the little girl finishes her singing, the mother may ask you what the passover is in the book of Exodus. Do not tell her that this is too deep for her and that we had better not touch it. This kills the meeting. Even if they ask about the New Jerusalem, you should not tell them that it is too deep for them. Talk with them about the New Jerusalem. The seeking new ones can pick up any new term. It may be hard for us because we are too old, too conservative, and too filled up. We may not be poor in our spirit. Instead, we may be overloaded with old concepts and past experiences. Some of the brothers may not understand a certain revelation from the Word even after it is shared a number of times. But it is easy for the new ones who are seeking and simple to receive any new thought from the Word. It is amazing how little children are able to learn a language without formal instruction and without a dictionary. Within a short time they know what the words mommy and daddy mean and are able to say them.
In the home meetings, the new ones will follow whatever we say. They do not question and critically discern everything that is said. Many of us, however, have become accustomed to the doctrines in the Scriptures and are too full in our spirit. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3), because the scribes and Pharisees were filled with the traditions and practices of Judaism. There was no emptiness, space, or capacity in them for the Lord’s new teaching. This does not mean that we should have a poor spirit but that we should be poor in our spirit. We need to be emptied and unloaded in our spirit to receive the new things, the things of the kingdom of the heavens.
We should also help the new ones to read the Bible daily and use it for their sharing in the meetings. There are two ways for us to help the new ones read the Bible. We may teach them in a formal way, but this is a killing way. Instead, we should teach them in a spontaneous way in our talk, our fellowship, with them. If we help them in a spontaneous and informal way, they will begin to read the Bible daily. When we see them after a couple of days, we can informally check with them to see if they are reading the Bible. By talking to them, we can find out whether they have read the Bible or not. In the home meetings we should not do anything formal or legal.
We should help the new ones to call, speak, or sing a hymn without any formality. We should set the example by calling a hymn first, but we should do it in a wise, proper, and living way. Otherwise, our calling can offend people. We should set up a proper pattern for them and then lead them into this practice.
You need to help the new ones to pray, not only in the meetings but also in their daily life. Again, you have to carry out this kind of teaching in a spontaneous way. Do not exercise yourself as a teacher who is teaching them something crucial. That is wrong.
We also have to help the new ones to follow the Lord’s anointing within them and the flow of the meeting. This is something deeper. We still can impart this truth by conversing with them in a spontaneous way. We can tell them that we Christians all have the Lord within us and that the Lord is the anointing. If they do not understand the word anointing, we can tell them that this is the same as oiling. If a piece of machinery is too dry, we oil it. We can tell them that the Lord is within us, and He is always oiling us to make us run so smoothly. We may even check with them, “Before you called on the name of the Lord, did you ever have this inward feeling?” When they say no, then we can say, “How about today?” They may say that they do have a good feeling within them now, and they may also tell you that they feel at times that something within is rebuking them. They may say, “I have the feeling that a living person is in me.” We can tell them that this is very good and that they now have the real experience of a Christian, but we should not teach them too much.
In the home meetings, we need to help even the children to call, speak, or sing a hymn and to quote or speak the word of the Bible. Suppose that you have baptized a couple, and they have a nine-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl. If you go to help them have a home meeting, you must train even the three-year-old girl. You can tell her that it is easy for her to call a hymn in the meeting and that it is even easier to sing a hymn. You may say, “You know when you are going to have a home meeting and that some brothers will come to help you. Before we come, you can sing a hymn.” If you tell the little girl this, she may be singing when you enter the home. Take her song as the start of the meeting. All the little ones like to sing. You may not need to help the little girl sing a whole verse or stanza of a song. If you can help her to sing one line, she may be happy. The little ones can be a very good help to the home meetings. You also can help them to pray. They can pray a simple prayer such as, “Lord Jesus, You are so good. I love You, and I know that You are with me.” You can instruct the nine-year-old boy to speak some verses, to read some portion of the Word. In this way all the members of the family participate in the meeting. If we do this week after week with this family, they will accumulate many divine riches.
You should have a definite goal for the meeting and never let the meeting end in emptiness. Go to the meeting with a purpose and keep at least ten minutes of the meeting to fill the new ones with some riches of your purpose. You may stay there for seventy minutes, but you should reserve at least ten minutes for your purpose. We need to consider the way the Lord was on this earth when He talked to people. The four Gospels show us that the Lord talked to people without forms, legalities, or programs. He was always flexible. In any situation and with anyone, a profitable and building-up word proceeded out of His mouth. We must learn to talk to people in this way.
If there is a deviation in the meeting, you should always try to overcome it in a pleasant way. Do not do anything to give people a bad feeling, but always do something in a pleasant way to arrive at your goal, to reach your destination. You are not going to the meeting to have fun with them. You have a purpose to accomplish. You have to reach your destination.
Do not go to someone’s home to have a legal, formal meeting. Go there to spend one hour in an informal way. Talk to the new ones in a conversational way, and let them say something. As you are meeting with them, one of them may remark that his shoes are too old and that he needs a new pair. Overcome this deviation in a pleasant way. You may say something about their need for a new pair of shoes, and then bring the meeting back to the Bible. They will be happy. Do not set up a program with a schedule. If you have a prearranged program, you will have a legalistic attitude to stop any distraction that comes in. If they ask any questions about a different portion of the Bible, you will tell them that it is too deep for them or that it does not fit their situation today. If you have the attitude that only what you are doing is the best, you will kill everything. Go to the homes with no regulation, form, or program. Whatever they do, do it with them. But always hold your purpose and bring them to your goal.
We should always endeavor to share some spiritual reality in life or in truth to swallow up the emptiness. The meeting may have been going on for close to one hour, yet you should still grasp the last ten minutes to minister some reality either in truth or in life. At the end of a meeting you may raise up the word redemption. Then you can speak a little bit about how the Lord died on the cross to accomplish redemption. You can say that we needed redemption because we got lost. We needed to be brought back to God, so the Lord Jesus shed His blood on the cross to take away our sin (John 1:29), to deliver us from the penalty of God’s righteousness (3:18; 5:24), and to repossess us, accomplishing an eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12). Such a short speaking within three minutes ministers a truth to them. In this short time you can impress them with the word redemption.
How many among us can give a clear word on the truth concerning the Lord’s redemption? In the last thirty years, how many saints have been raised up that can teach others? Most countries on the earth basically practice a similar educational system of kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school, high school, and college. There are also advanced degrees such as a master’s degree and a Ph.D. But in the church we have been speaking to the dear saints for years, and not many have come to the full knowledge of the truth. We have to realize that our way in the past was wrong. We need to be brought into the full knowledge of the truth, and we also need to bring the new ones into this full knowledge.
For the long run, we need to use some materials such as Life Lessons, Truth Lessons, the Life-study messages, or other spiritual publications in truth or in life. We have pointed out that this kind of material can be considered as a “cane” in the initial stage to help us in the meetings. For many years we have been in an old way of meeting in which one person speaks and the rest listen, so we must use a “cane” to help us have a new start. I feel that it is best to use Life Lessons first and after a couple of months to use Truth Lessons since they are much deeper and richer.
The new ones whom we contact will be from different backgrounds. Some who have a high education will like to read things. You can give them Life Lessons, but they may feel that this is not sufficient to nourish them. They may want to have some strong food. If you give them Truth Lessons, they may feel very good at first because this is deeper. But after a while they may want you to give them something even richer than this. Then you can give them the Life-study messages. This will satisfy their hunger. Some new ones will like to read to such an extent. Many people are tired of reading the newspapers. They want to read something in a new field. They will be so happy to read the Life-study of Matthew or the Life-study of Genesis. This is not too deep or hard for them because they have such a large capacity.
You should not do anything in the meetings in legality or formality without the living flexibility. Suppose you have been meeting in a certain home for fifty minutes, and a little girl in the family turns on the television. Would you stop it? Most of us would think that the television being on would kill the meeting. But I would say that it is better not to stop it. You have to learn the skill to turn the meeting back to the Spirit from the television. You can even use what they are seeing on the television, whether it is good or bad, to turn the meeting back. Turn the meeting back wisely. Because we have been drugged with the religious thought and concept, we like to be legal. We always like to see things moving in the lane of religion. We all need a change in this matter.
We should take care of the sicknesses, sufferings, troubles, problems, and physical needs of the new ones in a balanced way for their benefit, edification, and building up. Of course, our work is not a work of charity but a work to bring God’s salvation to the sinners, to impart the pneumatic Christ into the believing ones, to minister the divine life to them that they may grow in Christ, and to build up the local church for the building up of the Body of Christ. Yet in carrying out such a divine work for the testimony of Jesus Christ, we have to help the ones who are under our work in their sicknesses, sufferings, troubles, problems, and physical needs. We have to learn how to stand on the Lord’s word and exercise our faith and even lay our hands on the sick ones to heal their sickness. We have to learn also to share their sufferings, troubles, and problems by praying for them and doing the best to comfort them and whatever we can in the capacity that the Lord gives us to take care of their circumstances. We also have to help them in their necessities materially after the Lord’s leading and according to the prosperity by which the Lord has blessed us (Acts 11:29).
We should not think that it is hard to help the home meetings. The Lord told us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt. 11:30). We need to practice taking care of the new ones in the home meetings and small group meetings until we become experts. We have to practice and exercise in a regular way by caring for the new ones in the home meetings week after week. This has to be our habit. We should pick up one or two new ones and consider them as our babes. If we care for them week after week, practicing the points of fellowship in this chapter, we will learn a great deal. By practicing this fellowship, we can keep the new ones living and seeking in the church life. I believe that many of us, as we endeavor in the new way, will even be raised up to train the new ones.
We need to practice constantly, week after week and year after year, to care for the new ones and to raise them up. If we go to visit people about two weekends every three months to get about two new believers, we will have six to eight under our care within a year. Their spiritual education will come from our care. Our meetings with them will become our meeting life. If we are faithful to consistently care for the new ones whom we have gained, our fruit will remain. If fifty out of one hundred saints meeting together can practice visiting people according to this fellowship, and two of the six to eight new ones whom they have baptized remain, the church can be doubled within one year.
The traditional way of meeting with one speaker cannot meet all the needs of the new ones or of the saints. The specific needs of someone who has been saved for thirty years and another one who has been saved for only three days cannot be met in a large meeting. Our old way of meeting was a deadening way because we met in a way that could not meet the needs of all attendants. The patients in a hospital are not served with the same food or the same medicine. The appropriate food and medicine is dispensed to them according to their condition and need. This is why we need to come back to the way of meeting revealed in the Scriptures.
Question: How many visiting saints should go to the home meetings?
Answer: It is always good to have two or three visiting saints go to the home meetings. It is not as good to go by yourself. For more than three to go would also be good if it is possible. Those who go must bear the burden to “play ball” in the home meeting. You must tell the new ones how they should participate in the meeting by either praying, calling a hymn, or singing. Train and instruct them to join in with your speaking. By your training in meeting after meeting for a couple of months, they will eventually join you in speaking spontaneously. After half a year at the most, they should be completely prepared to participate in the regular meetings.
Question: How can I care for a Spanish-speaking believer, not being able to read the Spanish Life Lessons with her?
Answer: This is a difficult problem. There were hundreds of English-speaking saints in our training in Taipei. Some of the Chinese-speaking saints were able to understand English and translate for the English speakers during the preaching of the gospel. This was good. But when we began to take care of the home meetings, the English speakers were not able to do much for the meeting. It was too difficult to translate for them, so we decided to not keep the English speakers in Taipei to help with the home meetings. They could have helped only if they learned Chinese. The problem of different languages, which comes from Babel, is difficult. Some brothers and sisters should do their best to learn Spanish. If there is a will, there is a way. You are not too old for this. Do your best to help the situation.
The things that I have fellowshipped with you in this chapter and in other chapters are just some principles. In the practical steps, you still need to pray and look to the Lord for His instant guidance and to follow His leading and guidance in whatever you do and say in any kind of meeting. Please do not make any proposed principles a legality. We must hold a spirit of learning all the time regardless of how much we have learned and experienced. We must be poor all the time in our spirit for receiving further revelation of the Lord.
