Search
A person who serves the Lord has a relationship not only with his community and with the church but also with his fellow workers.
Just as one person cannot play ball alone but must play with others as a team, so a person cannot serve the Lord alone; he must have co-workers. It is not enough for one who serves the Lord to have a proper relationship only with the community and the church. There is still another relationship that is more direct than the relationship with the community and with the church. That relationship is the relationship among the co-workers. This is the most difficult relationship because the sphere of the work of the co-workers is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is universal, whereas the local churches are local. A full-time serving one in the college work in Taipei is in direct coordination with the brothers and sisters in Taipei who take part in the college work, and he must maintain a proper relationship with them. However, he must also maintain a proper relationship with the other full-time serving ones who are in coordination in the college work in other localities. If this relationship is not proper, the work will be hindered. In addition to the college work, there are co-workers serving in junior high schools, in high schools, in the community, with the small groups, and in the children’s work. He must also maintain a proper relationship with all these serving ones.
Our view must be broadened. Not only should the co-workers in the smaller sphere of the church in Taipei have a proper relationship among themselves, but the co-workers in all the churches in Taiwan should also maintain a good relationship. This can be compared to the members in our physical body. All the members, whether big or small, must maintain a good relationship with the entire body. Once there is a problem in a part of the body, the whole body suffers. We should not think that having a problem with those who coordinate with us is only a personal matter that will not affect others. Any such problem will affect the whole Body.
According to God’s sovereignty, His move is matched by the developments in the world. The developments in communication and transportation have made the earth smaller. Events that take place in one part of the earth are immediately known in other places. The Lord has had mercy on His recovery. Even though the total number of saints in the recovery is not large, in the past twenty years this testimony has spread to all the six major continents—Australia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. Hence, we are serving as co-workers not only in Taiwan but also in all the continents. There is a coordination among the co-workers. This coordination, which is similar to the coordination of our physical body, is universal. This is the Lord’s doing. The Lord has given us a picture in the physical realm and the reality in the spiritual realm. Therefore, once we enter into the coordination of co-workers, our relationship becomes broader. We are serving in Taipei, but we are also related to those who are serving in New Zealand, because whatever we do will affect them either directly or indirectly. For this reason, we must broaden our view.
More than twenty years ago a group of brothers who were in their thirties were affected by negative things, and as a result, the Lord’s recovery suffered a big loss. Eventually, they went out from among us. This is a warning, and we must learn from it. By now they are middle-aged, and if they had stayed, they would have been very useful. They would have gone to either Europe, Africa, South America, or Australia. That would have been glorious! Regrettably, they left the work. The Lord has measured a glorious work to us. These brothers are not ignorant of, nor can they deny, the fact that Christ has only one Body. However, since they are unable to do the work of the Body, what they can do is very limited.
When we enter into this work, we must see that we are not individual Christians. We are related to our community and the church, and we have entered into the coordination of the workers. Such a coordination is in the principle of the Body. There are many serving ones whom we have not met, and what we do is directly or indirectly related to them. If we have truly received and learned something from the Lord, others will be willing to receive the supply from us wherever we are.
The relationship among the serving ones begins locally and then spreads. The Body of Christ is universal. The work is also universal. We must learn this lesson from the beginning of our service. We should never have problems with our fellow workers. When we have a problem with a co-worker, we have a problem with all the co-workers. If we have a problem with a worker who is beside us, we have a problem with all the co-workers in Taipei. If we have a problem with the co-workers in Taipei, we have a problem with all the co-workers in Taiwan. We must pay attention to this matter. It is very serious.
In the coordination we should not have the thought that if one place does not suit us, we can move to another place. If we leave, we should not expect our work to be blessed by the Lord or that our conscience will be clear. Instead, our conscience will not be sensitive to the Lord. Moreover, it will be easy to regard a new place as our domain. Furthermore, as a result of fellowship and communication among the churches, the saints in the new locality will not be supportive.
In another ten or twenty years the Lord will lead many among us to go abroad to other continents and work for Him. By that time it will be very common to serve full time. Hence, we must begin now to lay a good foundation. First, we should maintain a good relationship with the unbelieving ones in our community; we should not be rude to them. Even if others in our community are pagans, we should not be rude to them. Concerning our relatives, we should conduct ourselves according to the teaching of the Bible and try our best to maintain a good relationship. Second, we should be the same in the church. We should not have a different attitude toward the saints who do not meet with us; rather, we should maintain a good relationship with them. Third, we should maintain a good relationship with the serving ones. This relationship is not only local or limited to a country; it is universal.
Many of the full-timers among us are not novices. They have received some training and have also spent many years serving in the churches. I hope that these ones will pray and seek the Lord’s leading concerning the propagation. Gospelizing Taiwan is not a slogan; it is the present direction of the work. There is no arrangement, no centralized authority, and no uniform practice among us. We follow life, and we allow every saint to be led by the Spirit. It is best for two brothers and perhaps one sister to go together. With regard to their livelihood, we have fellowshipped that the full-timers should be supported; that is, their daily necessities should be taken care of by their localities. But there will be other needs related to the work. Hence, we should exercise faith and believe in God. On the one hand, the saints should pray for the co-workers who go out to labor for the Lord, and the saints should support them financially. On the other hand, those who go out should have a spirit of suffering. Yes, the church will take care of our need, but we still need to give everything to the Lord; we should learn to have faith, to pray, and to look to the Lord. The church cannot go with us, but the Lord is going with us, and the prayers of the saints will go with us as well.
When I arrived in America in 1963, my pockets were empty, and the situation was rather difficult. I still did my best to take care of the needs of the other co-workers. I would rather have suffered lack than have the other co-workers suffer. This is the kind of spirit we should have.
We must seek the Lord’s leading and pray for the places that need co-workers. We should also fellowship with one another and with older co-workers. We should not wait for the church to seek the Lord on our behalf. We should seek the Lord in order to know where to go. We are the ones seeking the Lord, and we are the ones fighting the battle.
When we go to a new place, we must learn to establish a good fellowship with the local saints and maintain a proper relationship with them. However, we should not depend on them for everything. When I went to America, I was already sixty years old, but I had to learn to cook for myself. We must learn to take care of our practical needs and the needs of the saints. We should learn to do everything necessary to carry out our function. We should even learn to write tracts to take care of the local situation. In America some sisters worked during the day and served in the meeting hall at night. The Western missionaries who went to China served in the same way. Therefore, we should not expect others to do anything that we are unwilling to do. At present our urgent need is to pray. The kind of people we will contact when we go out and the way to contact them are the matters that will need further prayer. May the Lord lead us.
