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In this chapter we would like to fellowship concerning visiting people for gospel preaching and having home meetings for raising the new believers. We have been studying these matters for over three and a half years. We have learned much and have picked up many good points related to these practices.
We practiced visiting people for gospel preaching for nearly one and a half years in Taipei. Within the three terms of our training there, about twenty-six thousand people were baptized, mostly through the trainees. Through our practice there, we have learned much and have discovered many secrets. What we have learned will help you to save your time and to be saved from many troubles.
In Taipei we first endeavored to determine whether visiting people by door-knocking would really be workable. We found out that visiting people for the preaching of the gospel really works. We also found out that door-knocking can be done quickly but that we do not need to go too fast. We were too quick in our door-knocking. In a good sense, we realized that we should not have had that many baptisms. Eventually, thirty-eight thousand people have been baptized in Taipei, but our manpower can take care of only about six thousand. To take care of six thousand people as newborn babes needs manpower. Without the manpower, it cannot be done. About thirty thousand baptized ones have been left without much care. This became a burden to the feeling of the serving ones and to the entire church. Those thirty thousand confessed the name of the Lord, they called on this holy name, and they were baptized, but there has not been the adequate care for them. This was not pleasing and encouraging to us. Therefore, we have made a strong decision that from this term of the training we will instruct the trainees and the local saints that knocking on doors to get people saved and baptized and setting up home meetings to take care of them should be done in a proper proportion. We will proportion our time for these two things. We should not spend ninety-five percent of our time on door-knocking and baptisms and only five percent of our time and manpower to take care of the new ones. This is not wise. From now on we should not go too fast, caring only for the number of baptisms.
What we are fellowshipping here is a result of our study. This is not a law or a constitution for the Lord’s new move. We do not have anything constitutional, but we have a living spirit within us. Whatever we practice should be very flexible. In the past three and a half years we have shifted our practice one way and then the other. We have shifted our way in the training more than five or six times. We have to do it this way. Students of science must change their way in the laboratory many times in order to discover principles and rules. Through our practice we have learned something. But after one week our practice may change again. The coach of a basketball team will change his ways quite often. He will be very flexible, not caring for his instruction but for getting the ball into the basket. He cares only for how many goals his team gets.
What we are doing now, we have never done before. We did much preaching forty years ago, but we never practiced the present way. The present way was quite new to me, and it is still new to me because we have not picked up the adequate experiences. Only experience will teach us things in a practical way. To talk is one thing, but to practice is another. Your talking with many opinions is not needed if you have not lifted your finger for this work. We must put not only our finger but also our entire being into this. This is what we did in Taipei.
Before we began to practice the new way, we had no assurance that we could gain people through preaching the gospel by visiting them in their homes. We did not know how many we would get. The year after I left mainland China, I went to the Philippines and began to charge the saints in the local churches to bring at least one sinner to the Lord each year. All the attendants in the meetings felt that this would be easy. Everyone said that they could gain one person in three hundred and sixty-five days. Every year for eleven years I stayed in the Philippines for three or four months. In not one of those years did they make their goal. It was altogether a failure. Among the hundreds of saints who did love the Lord, not more than ten made the goal. Afterward, they had no assurance or confidence that this could be worked out.
However, since we have picked up the new way and practiced it, we have the scientific assurance. I can assure you that as long as you knock on doors to preach the gospel in a proper way, you will gain one person for every twenty doors that you knock on. If out of twenty doors there is not one son of peace (Luke 10:5-6), something is wrong. It is easy to knock on twenty doors in one and a half hours.
As a rule, each gospel team that goes out should be composed of three persons of different ages, a young one, an old one, and one in the middle. Ideally the youngest should be a sister, the middle one a brother, and the third one an older brother or sister. The older one is for the opening of the doors. If a team of three young men goes out, almost no doors will be opened to them. People may be afraid of them and not dare to open their doors. However, if an older brother or sister would go with them, many doors will be open. Many doors are open especially to an older sister. We have found out that the older sisters are very valuable in visiting people with the gospel.
At the beginning of our training, we knew this in principle. We arranged for every team to have an older one. Eventually, we discovered that the older ones are welcomed everywhere. The older one should knock on the door while the younger ones stand back. Once inside a house, it is best if the young sister speaks. We have found on many occasions that the most prevailing ones to bring people into the faith were the young sisters. The brothers are mostly good for putting people into the water of baptism. When the young or middle-aged brother would go to baptize people, either the young sister or the older brother or sister should help to prepare the water.
There are a few instructions we should follow in door-knocking. First, at each door knock three times, not using more than half a minute. If the door does not open, immediately turn to the next door. Do not waste time. Then when a door is opened to you, and you enter and begin to speak, learn to sense whether there is the possibility that this person will get baptized that day. You may sense that there is no possibility on that day, although he might be a son of peace two weeks later. Perhaps you will find out that he just quarreled with his wife. While you were knocking, they were still quarreling. When you entered, you entered into a fighting situation. How could this person be a son of peace this day? Even if he was chosen, this may not be the time for him to be called. Do not foolishly waste your time. After five minutes at the most, you could realize that was the wrong time to talk to him. You should not stay, but nicely tell him that you will come to visit another time.
Perhaps you may find a Christian who has been in the faith for ten years, attending a denomination. This one may be very talkative and tell you that he loves the truth, admires your practice of visiting people, and many other things. When you hear this, simply greet the brother and leave. Usually, you will gain nothing by talking with such a person; you will waste your time.
Perhaps you will have knocked on nineteen doors without gaining one person. Quite often nothing happens up to the last door. One hour and ten minutes might have been used, with less than a half hour of your time left. Do not give up. Try two or three more doors. Quite often the Lord would test us. Up to the last door there may be only ten minutes left, but when you get into this door, everything is in the heavens. Here is a son of peace, and the rest is easy. I have often heard this kind of testimony. One sister suffered six nights without getting one person. She prayed and fasted, and eventually the seventh night her team baptized about six people. In the first home there were three baptisms.
In every team that goes out for the gospel, there should be at least one local saint. Saints from other localities or full-timers may be gone the following week, and the new babes would be left as orphans. We must be clear that when we knock on doors, we local saints are the nursing mothers of the new ones whom we bring to the Lord. After going out to knock on doors, we will have new babes to take care of. Whoever is gained will be our child.
We can visit people about two weekends every three months to get about two new believers. Every three months we should go out to knock on doors. We do not need to go out every week. In the first three months we will have one or two new ones to take care of. Then in the next three months, we will bring in another one or two. We will then have three or four under our care. In each three-month period, we will gain one or two new ones. In this way the saints will preach the gospel by visiting people throughout the year. Each one will have some babes under his care.
Suppose that everyone who means business with the Lord for His recovery would preach the gospel in this way. This would be wonderful. At least one-fourth of the church would do it, so out of one hundred meeting together, twenty-five will go out. Each of these twenty-five will gain about four persons, or about one every three months. I believe that each one will get more than four, but there will be four who remain. You may get seven or nine, but at the end of the year four will still remain. Do not forget the Lord’s word in John 15:16: “I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” To go forth is to visit people; to bear remaining fruit is through the home meetings. I have found through the years that the most confident way to gain people is by knocking on their doors and that the most certain way to keep those whom we gain is through the home meetings. To go out to knock on people’s doors is the scientific way to get the increase, and to have the home meetings is the scientific way to have remaining fruit. Twenty-five out of one hundred saints, each bringing in four persons, will yield an increase of one hundred percent, a onefold increase.
In Manila when I proposed to the saints to bring one sinner to the Lord yearly, I did not have the assurance that they could do it. However, I have the assurance that this can be done in the new way. It depends upon your doing. I do not expect that all the saints meeting in a local church will go out for the gospel. This is not possible. Some might not be so strong, some might be sick, and some might be otherwise occupied. However, in general, twenty-five percent of our manpower can gain a onefold yearly increase for the church.
This way is not too hard. Every team that goes out for the gospel will get one person if they do it properly. Within two and a half hours you can knock on thirty doors. You have to manage your time. Do not stay in a home more than five minutes unless you find a son of peace. This son of peace is worth staying with for one hour. Your staying with him will lay a good foundation and will open the entire home for further visits.
After baptizing a new one, immediately have the first home meeting with him for one hour, teaching him concerning the Lord as the life-giving Spirit indwelling his regenerated spirit and leading him to pray by calling on the name of the Lord. You should stay there for at least one hour; the longer you can stay with him, the better. Do not be greedy for numbers. You have one person already, and you should be satisfied. You have one treasure; do not let it go. Stay with this person to give him his first lesson, taking as much time as the situation allows.
The first lesson is to tell this new one that the very Savior in whom he has believed and whom he has received, Jesus Christ, today is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Do not consider this as a deeper teaching. This is not a deeper teaching. Charge him to learn the “alphabet.” Of the ABCs, this is A. Do not be afraid to spend too much time. The longer the time is, the better. Tell him that the Lord Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit. As the Spirit, He is just like the air. He is everywhere; He is omnipresent. Tell him that the Lord as the Spirit is now within him. Then tell him that he also has a human spirit and that this is the right organ for him to contact God. Most people do not know that each human being has a spirit as a particular organ for him to contact God. Illustrate to him that if he did not have two eyes, he could not realize color, and if he did not have two ears, he could not realize sound. If he does not exercise his spirit, there will be no way for him to realize that God is Spirit. Tell him that the Lord Jesus today is the life-giving Spirit, that he has a spirit, and that this divine Spirit abides in his spirit.
After this, tell him that to pray is simply to call on the Lord Jesus who is now the Spirit within him. Then lead him to pray by calling on His name. Tell him that from that day he is a person who has Christ the Lord within him. He is not a non-Christian, who does not have the Lord Jesus within him. Rather, the Lord Jesus is in him. Bring him into such knowledge and lead him to pray. Tell him that in any problem he might face, he should call on the Lord and pray. This must be included in the first lesson.
When you speak with a new one on each point, you have to open a proper verse to him. Concerning the Lord being the life-giving Spirit, you must open to 1 Corinthians 15:45b, point it out to him, and help him to read that portion: “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Ask him to read it, once, twice, and a third time. Also, ask him to read loudly, not merely shouting but as a calling. Lead him to say, “How good, Lord! Now You are a life-giving Spirit!” You may also choose a verse concerning the human spirit. You can use John 4:24: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” Tell him that this spirit is his human spirit. Give him verses in this way, but do not give him too many—at the most three or four. Read these verses and help him to become familiar with them. We must do this one thing immediately. Do not wait until the next day to do it. Even if he would say that he does not have much time, still beg him to do it. Tell him that you want to spend this golden time with him for his sake and his benefit. We have found that this will render much help. Immediately after his baptism, in the first meeting, build up such a practice. This is what will help him to lay a very good foundation. Many times in the past, we gave this first lesson too late.
Continue to have home meetings with the new ones once every three days for the first month to raise them in the Lord. You need to go back to visit the new ones within three days. In one month’s time you should visit them ten times, three days apart. Then after the first month, change to visiting them once a week. Continue to have home meetings with them once a week for two or three months. During these two or three months, you will look into their situation. Different persons will have different situations. According to their situation, you should try to help them realize that Christians should be flocked together. Christians cannot be independent, separate, or far away from other Christians. They need to meet with other Christians. Try your best to bring them into one of the nearby small group meetings. Also try during these two or three months to bring them into the bigger meetings, especially on the Lord’s Day. However, in the first month when you visit them ten times, you do not need to bring them to the small group meetings or the bigger meetings unless they ask about them.
They may ask if you have a church. Do not say that you do not, asking, “What do you mean by the church? Do you mean the church building?” If they ask if you have a church, you should ask them if they would like to go. If they answer yes, then make arrangements to bring them the following Lord’s Day. This is just to fit in with their feeling and their need. You have to take care of a new one in this way. Otherwise, you will spoil the entire situation.
We hope that within half a year everyone will be brought into the regular church meetings. But we still need to go to help them in their home meetings up to the end of one year. Also, we should lead them to practice what we are doing in preaching the gospel and helping the home meetings. After one year we must have the confidence that they have been brought into the church life and can serve the Lord in the church on their own without our help. At that time we can make it clear to them that they should serve the Lord in the church and do the things that we have been doing. This implies that within that one year, especially in the second half of the year, we must teach them as a coach how to go with us to knock on people’s doors for the preaching of the gospel and how to take care of the home meetings. We should instruct them and lead them to do what we are doing, hoping that within one year they will be raised up in the church life.
According to our experience in Taipei, the newly baptized believers were of different kinds. Some did not like to read much, and others were very good readers who would receive any kind of book. What you do with them must be based upon your discernment and realization. To visit the home meetings, you must exercise with much wisdom. In Colossians 1:28 Paul says, “Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” We need the wisdom. The longer you stay with a new one, the better, but you need to exercise your discernment as to whether that person is one who likes people to stay with him. If you realize that a certain one is this kind of person, and he invites you to stay after his baptism to eat with him, do not reject his offer but stay there in faith for dinner. However, in your discernment you may realize that another person would not like to have a guest stay longer than one hour. In that case, do your best to finish within one hour. Do not spoil their taste. Your activity and action should be based upon their disposition and how much they can receive. Do not forget that this may be the first time for them to contact Christians. They do not know much about Christian things, so do not give them a negative, disappointing impression. Rather, in everything you do in your contact with them, give them a very positive impression that would not bother them or spoil them.
This requires our practice. In the use of medicine, doctors take care of the health and condition of their patients. Do not be negligent or careless. You must learn how to discern your patient. We should consider all the new ones as our patients and ourselves as the doctors going to care for them. We must exercise our wisdom to discover the real situation.
What books or other publications you give to the new ones also depends upon their condition, your knowledge, and whether or not you have that book. For this reason you must know the Life Lessons, the Truth Lessons, the Life-study messages, and our other books. It is better to go to the new ones with these publications; then when you discover what their need is, perhaps after five minutes of contact, you will have all the right “medicine” with you. You can dispense the right medicine for the right sickness with the proper dosage according to their health.
We also need to be like a teacher in a school who presents things to the students according to their level. A first-grade teacher presents mathematics to a certain degree and extent. A second-grade teacher gives the pupils something further. When one teaches higher grades, he still teaches mathematics, but his teaching has come up to a higher level. The teaching will be according to the pupils’ grade. This way of teaching is needed with the new ones.
Do not say that since you are not “professionals,” you cannot do this. We all like to be healthy, so we are learning what to eat. There is much learning to do even in the matter of eating. My wife is learning about healthy food and how to cook, and I am learning from her how to eat. She may cook properly, but if I eat improperly, this will spoil her cooking. Therefore, the two of us must match in our learning. This is an illustration of how we must learn to care for others.
We should mean business for the Lord’s present recovery. In the Lord’s recovery there is a need. Christianity has proved that their old way is not workable. The Southern Baptist denomination, which has had annual increases in membership since 1926, recorded a gain of only seven-tenths of a percent from 1986 to 1987. We could not survive if we had only this much increase; we would die out. We need at least thirty percent increase in order to survive to do something for the Lord’s recovery. Without new people, what can we do? We have the best teachings and the healthy food, and everything is so excellent, but without new people, we are finished. Look at our situation. It is not dying, but the low rate of increase is bothersome. The old way will not work. How could we trust in the old way? We must change to a new way. We must come back to find the God-ordained way revealed in the holy Word, and we have found this way in the past three and a half years. What we have been speaking in this period of time is altogether biblical and according to God’s heart and will.
The first step in this way is to visit people for gospel preaching. Many verses in the Bible tell us that we have to go to people. “How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the news of good things!” (Rom. 10:15). It is a shame that we have been here for years yet have not knocked on so many doors. Many people are living around us. The “fish pond” is right before us, but we have not fished. Rather, we invite the fish to come to us; this is ridiculous. We must drop the old way.
All the home meetings should be considered as church meetings. We must meet in the homes regularly. We must reconsecrate ourselves for this. In this consecration we should promise the Lord that every week we will separate and sanctify at least one evening, preferably two, for the Lord’s move. Every week we should spend two evenings, two and a half hours each, for the Lord’s move. First, we go out to knock on doors to gain the people; then we continue to visit them for their home meetings. I have the assurance that this way is workable. We will gain people, and we will have remaining fruit. We may have a onefold increase yearly.
We must do the gospel work without analyzing, like a farmer sowing seed. For a farmer to try to determine what will grow and what will not grow means nothing. He must simply till the ground, water the plants, and let them grow. Some will grow very well, and others will not grow well. In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, the first sowing was in vain, the second group of seeds did not have deep root, and the third group of seeds was choked by the thorns. Only the last seeds, one-fourth of those sown, grew well. We do not know which will grow. Experts tell us that before wheat and tares blossom, no one can tell them apart. The two look very much alike in stature, color, and shape until they blossom, the wheat with golden yellow fruit and the tares with black fruit.
Today we cannot say what will happen. We must simply do what we should according to the Lord’s word. He said, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation” (Mark 16:15), and we go. He said, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Matt. 28:19), and we do it. He said, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16), and we do our duty to help people to believe and be baptized. We do not care who is who. Our goal is simply to dispense the Lord Jesus through the gospel to all people. What will come out is not in our hands. It is in His hand. We simply do it.
The earth is full of “fish.” Whether you use your time to take care of a hesitating one depends on how much time you have. If one is hesitating, why do you have to spend your time on him? Go to other fish. Some fish are jumping into the boat. Why would you not rather take care of this kind of fish? Do not analyze how to work with the hesitating ones. Let them stay where they are. Farmers do not sow seed into soil when they know that it does not grow anything. There are many people on this earth today. Go to others who are not hesitating.
