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In this chapter we want to spend some time to study further the things we should do in the present stage. At present, we have over eighty meetings in different districts in Taipei. We call them simply the district meetings. Hence, in the present stage we have the home meetings, the group meetings, and the district meetings.
First, we will consider the situation of the brothers and sisters, district by district. We also have to consider the distribution of the elders, the co-workers, and the full-time trainees. Then we have to take a look at the home meetings established among the new believers in each district. According to the present arrangement, to have the church meetings and church services in the communities is a clear and accurate way. This is much more practical and suitable than the former arrangement of meeting and serving in the meeting halls.
For the district meetings the elders, co-workers, full-timers, and the college students should all live in the Lord’s Spirit in their daily living. When these four groups of people come to the meetings, they will spontaneously have something to supply others, be able to function, and be able to speak for the Lord. What I observed here last Lord’s Day was quite good. I heard that the other districts were also quite good. The elders and co-workers all spoke in the meetings, and their speaking was fresh, high, living, and rich. The full-timers and the college students were equally fresh in their speaking. This is a very good situation. But I hope you will be careful not to go to either extreme of not speaking at all or speaking too much. We should not give the other brothers and sisters an impression that we are monopolizing the meeting. In Taipei the elders, co-workers, full-time trainees, and college students make up about one quarter of the total number of attendants. It would, of course, be very good if this one quarter would function. But we must also remember that our functioning is only to take the lead and not to replace the saints. If this quarter replaces the three quarters, this will become the old system again. Formerly, it was one speaking. Now it is a group speaking. This is still not what we are after.
We can encourage the elders, co-workers, full-timers, and college students to speak one by one in the meetings. Since we are just beginning to change the system, there is the need for you to take the lead to give the brothers and sisters an example and a model to follow. However, while you are doing this, do not replace the others. I am afraid that after hearing my word, you will not function at all next week in the district meeting. That would be what the Bible describes as “a cake not turned” (Hosea 7:8). We as the cake must be turned repeatedly. So we still should speak in the district meetings, but we should not give others the feeling, “These are the trained ones; we cannot match their speaking; we might as well let them speak.” If they have such a feeling, that means we are dominating the meeting. We must guard against this danger. Therefore, I point this out from the beginning, that we are to take the lead and not to replace others.
Another thing I have discovered is that, whether in the training meetings or in the church meetings, the young sisters are always stronger than the young brothers. I believe the main reason might be that the Bible calls the woman “the weaker, female vessel” (1 Pet. 3:7). As a result, the young sisters are unwilling to be considered weak. Hence, either they will not speak at all, or they will speak impressively at the first try. Actually, there is somewhat a feeling of inferiority with them. Also, by nature males are inferior to females in singing and speaking. Girls also speak earlier than boys do. This may be one of the reasons for the sisters’ aggressiveness. Therefore, in the matter of speaking, we must stand against our natural self. Those who by nature want to speak should refrain from speaking, and those who by nature do not want to speak should speak. I am saying this to adjust you. I hope that you will not feel troubled. You must contribute your portion in a proper way.
The New Testament shows us that every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered disgraces her head (1 Cor. 11:5). This means that when speaking in the meetings, the sisters should not forget that they are still sisters. Some words, if spoken by brothers, will not sound strange. Even if they jump a little, that will not surprise others. But if the sisters, even though they are young, jump and speak in a wild way in the meetings, people will feel that it is inappropriate. This is because in God’s creation there is the distinction between male and female. I hope that the sisters would all function in the meetings. You have the riches, and these riches should be exhibited, the more the better. However, in functioning, do not forget that you are sisters.
Hebrews 10:33 says that we are “being made a spectacle.” The church is a spectacle, or a show, for all to see. It is impossible to avoid criticism or praise. But I hope that we can carry out this exhibition well, and that we can meet in a proper way that will make people feel good and comfortable. Such a meeting will be an edification to people. For this, speaking in the meeting is the best opportunity to practice speaking for the Lord. I feel that the brothers and sisters should seize this opportunity, not just to shout and yell but, rather, to practice speaking the Lord’s word. Whenever you practice speaking for the Lord in the meeting, it is best that you speak for only three minutes. At most you should not exceed five minutes. If you still have something to say, sit down first. Then speak after another one has finished speaking. In your speaking you should practice speaking in a manner that is concise, simple, and to the point. This is a good opportunity to practice. I hope that you would do your best to carry this out.
Following this, let us take a look at the group meetings. As early as thirty years ago we realized the importance of the group meetings. The greatest usefulness of a group meeting is to bring in relatedness. A group meeting can keep people, uphold people, and relate people. No meeting can be as practical as a group meeting in communicating with and blending together the brothers and sisters. The home meetings consist basically of family members with, at most, a few friends and relatives. And the district meetings have forty to fifty people and do not afford as much opportunity for contact. But the group meetings have at most a dozen people. The opportunity for contact is great, and all are close to one another and see one another every week. This makes it easy to have the sense of being members one of another. We all know that no member of the body can be alone or isolated. The more the members of the body fellowship and mingle together, the healthier the body will be. This is like the constant physical exercise of a man improving his blood circulation. In the same way, in the group meetings where the number is not big, the members can easily contact and fellowship with one another and be mingled together. Once there is the mingling, many problems are solved. Human relationships are delicate. If people are too far apart, it is easy for misunderstandings to occur, but if they are too close, it is easy to have problems. The best way is to have contact yet with discretion. The group meeting has just such a function.
In the past we already knew that to keep the saved ones, we had to bring them into the small groups. Now in taking the new way, after three years of study we are more clear concerning this point. From now on, our practice will consist of the home meetings on the small scale and the district meetings on the large scale. Between the home meetings and the district meetings are the group meetings. The home meetings are the foundation. If there has not been a meeting in a brother’s or sister’s home for a while, this eventually will become a weak point, a leak, not only to the brother himself but to the church as well. For the church to be strong, it is best for all the brothers and sisters to have home meetings. For the district meeting, however, we have made the decision that the basic number is fifty. Once the number exceeds eighty, it should be divided into two districts. Meanwhile, between the homes and the district must be the groups. Without the groups, there will not be any link or any means to uphold the brothers and sisters.
According to our experience, among the three kinds of meetings—the home meetings, the group meetings, and the district meetings—the most difficult one to have is the group meeting. The district meeting has at least thirty to forty people; it is not that difficult to take care of. But the group meeting has at most a dozen people; it is not that easy. Thirty years ago we depended very much on the small groups. Looking back, I feel that the small groups then were not properly arranged. They were not like gardens but rather like wild fields. Some small groups would not subdivide, even though their number reached more than a hundred. As far as I am concerned, I did not gain any experience from the former small groups. Therefore, how to have a group meeting is still a difficult problem to me. Many among you have attended three terms of training, have worked in the communities for a year and a half, and have experienced much. I would like to listen to your fellowship.
First, I would ask how you bring people from the home meetings to the group meetings and how you make them interested in the group meeting. Second, when they come to the group meeting, how do you conduct the meeting? Do you conduct it in an orderly way? Or do you let it run its free course? Third, if there is a good number in the group who will not go to the district meeting, how do you help them read the Bible, pray, break bread, and even have gospel activities? After having listened to the fellowship of the brothers and sisters, I feel that the situation is very complicated. Concerning the group meeting, I still have not arrived at a conclusion. Hence, we still need to spend time to study the matter.
Another question that we need to pay attention to is this: when you full-time trainees go out to set up home meetings and group meetings, how do you link yourselves to the local saints? In the group meetings it is better not to distinguish between the original ones and the new ones. We are all brothers and sisters. You have to do your best to put the two groups of people together. The newly baptized ones are under your care. You know their situation very well. But the saints who have been saved and meeting in the halls for a long time do not know their situation very well, nor do the saints know how to be related to them. This requires you to bring both those who have been saved for a long time and the new ones into the same group so that they will have more opportunities to know each other.
Moreover, when you go to conduct the group meetings, you should also consider how to bring the more experienced saints into the group meetings to share in the responsibility. Besides this, we also need to study the length of the group meetings. In the past, due to our shortage in manpower and the large number of baptisms, we could not afford to have more than half an hour for the home meetings. Now I feel that half an hour is definitely not enough for your group meetings. You cannot expect to accomplish anything in such a short time. You need at least an hour. We also need to consider how often we should have the group meetings. Should we have one a week, or one every two weeks? Also, concerning the breaking of bread, some are not willing to go to the district meeting to break bread. Should we break bread in the home meetings or in the group meetings? All these practical questions await our study. There is another important matter that requires our study—the content of the group meetings. The key to keeping people in the group meetings is the content of the meetings. If the content is not right, the meetings will not last for long.
As to how many meetings the new ones should have each week, we must make that decision according to their condition. At present, we have three meetings each week. They are the home meeting, the group meeting, and the district meeting. Is this too much for them? Or, should we be less rigid about the home meetings, not so formal, giving them the freedom to meet either in the morning or in the evening? Should we make the group meetings more fixed, and encourage them to have it once a week? This way, psychologically, they will not feel that there are too many meetings. Or, should we have the district meetings once a week, with the home meetings and group meetings being conducted alternately once every other week? All these points are worth studying.
At present we have made a general arrangement for all the serving ones in the different districts. We have also tabulated the number of new ones, co-workers, elders, and full-timers in each district. For example, in a certain district we may have one hundred fifty saints originally and four hundred newly baptized ones. That makes a total of five hundred fifty saints, including old and new ones. We estimate that each full-timer can take care of twenty new ones. While you are taking care of these twenty new ones, you should find a way to join the new ones with the old ones in the district. These old ones are experienced and should be brought in to coordinate with you. Their time is not so flexible as yours. The working ones have to go to their offices, and the sisters have to take care of their housework. You have to work according to their schedule and see how to put the new ones into the group. Only when these groups have been formed will there be a stable condition. All the districts should do their best to carry out these points.
Once you actually work with a group meeting, you will find many problems. For example, you may be a twenty-five-year-old brother. When you go out to knock on doors to preach the gospel, you may baptize a fifty-five-year-old college professor. After this, you may begin to have home meetings with him. Gradually, because of the difference in age, it will become difficult for the two of you to communicate with each other. Then you will need an older saint to coordinate with you for the situation. But he will have to be trained also. Otherwise, he may be able to get along well with the new one, become a friend and develop a good relationship with him, yet not render this new one much perfecting. This matter also requires our attention.
If there were not a church here in Taipei, it would be very easy in taking the new way to propagate with three or five saints to knock on doors and preach the gospel to save people. But the church in Taipei is an old church. Among the ten thousand saints here, about three thousand attend district meetings. Besides, during the past year and a half the full-time trainees went to knock on doors to preach the gospel, and they gained over thirty thousand people. Out of these, about two thousand meet regularly, while another two to three thousand are unstable. If we add the new and the old together, we will have over eight thousand people. The urgent need is to care for them and to perfect them in the small groups. Moreover, there are still many unsettled issues concerning how to cause the useful ones to function and how to train the ones who are not so useful to become useful. Therefore, concerning this matter, every elder, co-worker, and full-time trainee must bear the responsibility.
One may say that we are all learning here. I am happy for you, because there is a rare opportunity for you to learn to serve the Lord in this environment. This will expand your horizons and enrich your experience. You can practice speaking for the Lord in the district meetings on the one hand and learn to take care of home meetings and group meetings on the other hand. Not only do the brothers and sisters have spiritual needs; they also have psychological and physical needs. Meeting all these needs necessitates the whole church to go on together. But how to take the whole church on so that the whole church will be on the right track, how to help the saints to have a life in the Word, in prayer, and in the enjoyment of the Lord’s table, as well as how to have gospel activities, these are your responsibility. The success of this matter depends totally on the carrying out of the group meetings. We will have to apply all that we have learned in these two years to the group meetings. We must spend most of our time and manpower on the home meetings and the group meetings. This does not mean that we will no longer preach the gospel. The door-knocking to preach the gospel must not stop. We still need to teach new trainees how to knock on doors, to preach the gospel, and to get people baptized. We must even take the newly saved ones out to knock on doors to preach the gospel with us. When we carry out the group meetings and bring the new ones to serve, this includes the matter of knocking on doors to preach the gospel.
In conclusion, the church in Taipei is a big church. According to the present situation with the meetings, we have the home meetings, the group meetings, and the district meetings. The whole church is divided into more than eighty districts, under the twenty-three meeting halls. The meeting halls are mainly for administration, and the spiritual caring, nourishing, educating, guiding, and serving are all carried out in the districts. Hence, what we need to study the most is the matter of the various kinds of meetings. We need to do more research to find out the proper way to have the home meetings, the group meetings, and the district meetings. Meanwhile, we who are coordinating in the services, the regular serving ones in the church and the full-timers in the training, are all within the boundary of the church in Taipei. All these people are like materials piled up on a site and not built up yet. We still do not have a definite way to coordinate them together. Therefore, we must spend time to study to find out what we lack and what we must avoid. Then from the information gathered through experiments, we will find the proper way and apply it to the practical need of the church.
