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In this chapter we will study the way to take care of small groups. Since October of 1984 when we first mentioned the change of the system, we have been practicing small group meetings here in Taipei. At that time we had a slogan: “The heaven can be annulled, and the earth can pass away, but the small group meeting must not be forsaken.” Afterward, we were divided into four hundred small groups, and the number of attendants was between three thousand and thirty-five hundred. After promoting these groups for more than a year, from 1985 to the spring of 1986, the number of attendants in the small group meetings rose to over five thousand. From this we can see the effectiveness of small groups.
In the second half of 1986 we began to conduct formal trainings, and we tried our best to bring the local saints into those trainings. At that time there were over a thousand saints who had attended the evening trainings at various times. Most of these were the nucleus of the church in Taipei. The four hundred small groups were on their shoulders. As soon as they came forward to attend the training, the small groups were left untended. As a result, during the last year, although the small groups still existed, they were in a situation where they were left to themselves.
In spite of this, these first small groups are still a foundation. They are still quite useful. At present in the church in Taipei there are about thirty-five hundred saints who attend meetings regularly in the halls. The number of those who were brought in through gospel preaching by door-knocking in the communities and who have meetings every week is about two thousand. The two groups comprise more than six thousand people. It is not much of a problem for those who have been meeting in the halls to come to the group meetings or district meetings, because they are accustomed to them already. However, of the two thousand new ones, only seven to eight hundred are willing to go to the district meetings; the rest are not willing to leave their homes to meet in other places. Under these circumstances, we cannot expect these new ones to raise up small groups within a short time. Therefore, we still need to take those who originally attended the meetings in the halls as a foundation. By making a new arrangement for these small groups, we can gradually bring the new ones into them.
Today the housing situation in Taipei is very different from what it used to be. In the old days we mostly had single houses clearly separated from one another. But now we have large apartment buildings within which are many dwelling units. When we have meetings with singing and praying in the homes, it is difficult not to disturb the neighbors. Hence, it is not easy to open up a new place for meeting. In addition, it is also quite difficult to ask the new ones to willingly open up their homes to have group meetings week after week. Therefore, a meeting place for the small groups also becomes a problem. As for the original four hundred groups, because they had been established a long time ago, the neighbors are more accustomed to the noise of our meetings. For this reason we still need to utilize the original groups. However, it does not mean that we should never set up new small groups in the communities. If our newly baptized ones live far away from the existing groups, or if there is not a group that is suitable for them, it would not be easy to bring them to the group meetings. In such cases we have to open up new small groups for them. This matter is related to the exercise and practice in our training. When you go to take care of home meetings and from the home meetings develop small group meetings, you need to consider the practical situation. For those living in remote places, there is the need to establish new small groups. It is not necessary for the training center to promote this, nor is it necessary for the elders or the district leaders to arrange for this. You workers need to make the decision according to the practical situation.
After the change of the system, our principle is freedom of development. Since you are the ones taking care of the home meetings in a practical way, and you understand their actual situation, you can work according to the practical needs. If the new ones live far away from the original small groups, and it becomes difficult for them to attend, you need to set up new small groups for them. If their situation is not appropriate, and if no one has picked up the burden to start a new group, you need to help them travel a little farther to go to the most suitable place to attend group meetings. They can see the meeting for themselves and have a taste. In this way they will be raised up gradually and will have the desire to establish small groups.
Now let us consider the content of group meetings. Although in 1986 the number in the small groups increased from three thousand to over five thousand with an increase rate of seventy-five percent, the content of our group meetings has never been uplifted. Our past method was simply to have some refreshments and some casual talk. These activities occupied a large portion of the time. Although it is difficult to avoid having casual talk, I would like you to do your best to avoid this. However, you should not avoid it to the extent that your behavior is as cold and stiff as a piece of rock or a piece of steel when you go to meet in others’ homes. You can be assured that this will not work. We are human, and no human being can be without warmth. As long as we are living persons, we have humanity. Only a dead person would fail to greet others or smile at them. We, however, are living persons, and sometimes we would even smile at cats and dogs. Therefore, we always need to remember that we are going to contact people; since this is the case, we need to do it with a humanity that is adequate.
Christianity has been on the earth for almost two thousand years. Their way of gaining people in general is through preaching, on the one hand, and through the use of other things, on the other hand. These other things are the leaven hidden in the fine flour, as mentioned in Matthew 13:33. In the Old Testament the fine flour is for the meal offering (Lev. 2:1), and the meal offering signifies Christ as food for both God and man. Concerning the meal offering, God has a strict ordinance that no leaven is allowed. In conjunction with this, things that will ferment, such as honey, are also not allowed (vv. 4-5, 11). Only salt is allowed in the fine flour, because salt kills germs. In Matthew 13 the Lord Jesus likened Himself to the fine flour, whereas the woman is the great harlot in Revelation 17, who is the Roman Catholic Church. She has mixed the pagan practices, heretical doctrines, and evil things into the teachings concerning Christ and, thus, changed the nature of their content. In all of the works of Christianity today, there is not much that is without leaven. For example, in the Chinese Christian work in the United States, the thing most commonly seen is social friendship, which is something of leaven. Their workers only render help to people outwardly; they do not bring people into Christ, nor do they bring Christ into people. The messages given do not have much truth, and they gain people mostly through social activities. I am afraid that about eighty percent of those attending their meetings are there for social friendship.
Apparently, Christianity has brought in many people. Actually, their gain is not that large because those who go to them are mostly there for some outward help. This is like what the Lord Jesus said in John 6, “You seek Me...because you ate of the bread and were filled” (v. 26). The crowd did not desire the Lord or seek after Him in a genuine way. The situation today is the same. There are, indeed, many hardships in human life. However, when you go to help the new ones, you need to weigh carefully how much outward help you should render to them. You should not think that as long as you do your best to help others, it will be effective. You have to realize that there is no end to people’s demand for help. Therefore, we need to set a limit to this kind of thing, and the limit should depend on the circumstance. If we cannot bring a person into Christ in a practical way, though we have tried our best, we simply have to put this one aside temporarily. We cannot spend all of our effort only to care for this kind of person.
Therefore, when you go out, you should not be bothered too much by these things. On the one hand, you should not be cold and stiff toward people; you always need to cause people to feel warm. On the other hand, you should not be snared by this; otherwise, you will not be able to do anything else. This is something that we have been guarding against for years. It is not that we have no heart to help others, but sometimes we do not dare to do too much. This is the principle of the Lord Jesus. When the crowd who had been fed with bread came to force Him to be king, He retreated to the mountains, by Himself alone. The next day they looked all around for the Lord Jesus. Later they found Him by the sea. Then the Lord told them that the Son of Man came not to feed people with bread but to dispense Himself as the bread of life into men (John 6:24-27). What He did the day before was merely a symbolic act to show people that they are hungry and that He is the bread that came down from heaven to give life to man.
In the same principle, it is not that today we do not care for people; rather, we care for people within a limit. Most people consider the church as a charitable organization with a goal of seeking the welfare of the society. You cannot say that this is absolutely wrong, but this is not the commission we received from God. The commission that we have received from God is to dispense the Triune God into people to be everything to them. This, then, is the real blessing to man. We must hold on to this point firmly.
Concerning the content of group meetings, I would say that in principle we should have freedom for development. When you take care of a group meeting, you need to consider the practical environment and the need. The purpose of our training is to train you to be quick in response and to supply people according to their need. You should not pick up only one prescription and try to apply it to all sick people. You need to be able to diagnose people to identify their needs. This is why you have much to learn. When a new small group is raised up, or when an existing small group has a new beginning, the brothers and sisters in the group should first have some simple fellowship concerning when each one was saved, how each one is doing, and what needs or problems each one has. After you understand the situation, then you can do your best to supply each one according to the needs. This is one way. Besides this, you may share in the meeting in a spontaneous way what you have enjoyed in fellowshipping with the Lord and reading the Lord’s word recently. At the same time, you can fellowship with those serving together and check the feeling of each one concerning whether to use Truth Lessons or Life Lessons. You do not have to be so legal to start from lesson 1. You can select one topic or one lesson according to the need and then labor together. You can also use other spiritual publications. The New Testament Recovery Version will soon be published in Chinese and made available. By then you can use that also. While you are using these materials, you should not forget that the basic principle of the group meetings is the Word, the Spirit, singing, and praying. You must conduct the meetings according to this principle.
In carrying out the group meetings, we should put all the elders, co-workers, full-timers, and trainees into the groups. In 1985 and 1986, when we were working on the small groups, not many elders participated. Even the co-workers felt not to be involved. I hope this time that the elders would all attend the group meetings. The co-workers should not be an exception. All the other trainees, especially the full-timers, are required to attend. You are the definite members of the small groups. Hence, the group meetings cannot be all on the same day of the week. Formerly, the group meetings of the church in Taipei were all on Saturday evenings. If someone attended one group, he could not attend another group. This time we will not set a day for the group meeting. During the week we can have group meetings at various times. If you have the burden, you can attend two or more group meetings. Not only should we be flexible about the day; we should be flexible about the time as well, not all meeting at 7:30 P.M. Some groups can meet at 6:30 in the evening. Some can meet at 7:30. Some have to meet at 8:30. Due to late working hours, some can even meet at 10:30. The time and the date can be arranged individually. Therefore, you can come to my group, and I can attend your group. In this way there can be flexibility in the use of personnel. Hence, this time I do not agree with any legal arrangement concerning the date, the time, and the persons for the group meetings. Rather, those taking care of the small groups should be free to make their own decisions.
Now, in Taipei, you full-timers are mainly those taking care of the small groups. You have a few hundred in number, and all of you need to enter into the small groups. In the future the group meetings will be mainly led by you. Leading these groups is much more complicated than what you have learned in the trainings you have received before. I hope that this aspect can be taken more into consideration in this training to give you some guidance. For example, in the existing small groups there are two kinds of older people. One kind is those who are old spiritually. The other is those who are old physically. You will have to learn much about how to fellowship with them and develop their organic function. Some do not regard young people. These problems related to age differences are unavoidable. When you young ones attend the group meetings with older ones, you need to learn not to have feelings toward such situations. Remember that your status is different from that of the others. They can speak lightly concerning this and that, but you are there with a commission. You have forsaken everything to serve full time on this line. You go to the group meetings with a purpose. No matter what others think of you, you have to exert your whole strength to reach your goal and not stop short. However, you should not be rigid and unbending either. Here are many details that you need a lot of time to learn.
In addition, there may be another kind of atmosphere in the small group. Some who are your age may not be cooperative. They wait to see what you can do and what you will do. In this atmosphere you have to imitate the feeling of the Lord Jesus when He was on the cross. He knew that His going to the cross was to die for sinners and to accomplish God’s redemption. You have to realize that to go to the group meeting is simply to go to the cross. Especially you young full-time trainees have to be prepared to be crucified.
There is also another group of people in the small groups, the middle-aged sisters. They are very discerning and observant. They want to see how you trainees speak, what you wear, and how you respond. This is like the Lord Jesus being examined by the Pharisees and the Sadducees a few days before His crucifixion. When you go to the small groups, you have to be prepared to be examined by others. When I first came out to serve the Lord, I was about your age. I have tasted all these things, and I know all these stories. We who are working for the Lord are really under the observations of a thousand eyes and have a thousand fingers pointing at us. Whatever we do, others would have something to say. Nevertheless, you young ones should not let others despise your youth; rather, in every respect let your progress be manifest to all.
This is a training. I would like to present all the situations to you so that you will know where you are, what you are doing, and what your goal is. We who serve the Lord must learn the lesson not to react to any outward circumstances. You must not react to the dealing of the older ones. You must not react to the dealing of those of your own age. You must not react to the dealing of the middle-aged sisters. No matter who is dealing with you and in what aspect, your secret is not to react. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was like a deaf person, not hearing the slandering of man and not reacting to slandering words. If you react, you will be affected, and your small group will not be able to meet after a few times.
We who serve the Lord would all like to be welcomed. We hope others would be nice to us and honor us. The real situation, however, is exactly the opposite. Before you were serving the Lord, others may have considered you to be quite good. Once you serve the Lord, others will have a lot of criticisms about you. Psychologically, the brothers and sisters may admire you for giving up your future and consecrating everything to the Lord at such a young age, yet on the other hand they would scrutinize you to see how you do. The best thing to do at this time is not to react but to be deaf and blind. Do not react when others treat you well. Do not react when others treat you poorly. Do not react when others exalt you, and do not react when others trample you under their feet. The first lesson for us full-time serving ones is not to react.
The second lesson we need to learn is to supply others. We need to supply others with truth and life. In brief, we need to supply others with Christ. Whether we are attending the group meetings, the home meetings, or the district meetings, we have to do this. The apostle Paul served the Lord according to this principle: it was not his concern to be welcomed by others or to be exalted by them. Therefore, he did not care about others’ contempt or indifference. His heart had only one desire: to supply others with Christ and to receive a supply from them. We who are serving the Lord today should be the same. You go to the meetings to supply others and to be supplied by them. You should receive from whoever can supply you, no matter who he is. If you do this, the group meetings will surely be successful. The older saints, the younger saints, and the middle-aged sisters will all receive a supply from you. You must learn this.
Now let me come back to point out your shortcomings and weaknesses. When you young people speak, often you do not consider your own status and position. When you hear something from me, you go out and speak the same thing. As a result, many times you cause trouble. This is because you are not me. Moreover, my words are spoken with various considerations. Sometimes it is also difficult for me to give a message. I am a straightforward person. Some words I need to say. But when you young ones hear them, you go out and repeat them. This is very inappropriate. You need to know that the church in Taipei is a large church today. There are all kinds of people here. We need to be careful about our words and our conduct. As to a rebuke from the brothers and sisters, the best way to handle it is not to react. At the same time, we need to learn more, pray more, and contact the Lord and have fellowship with Him more. We need to give more ground to the Spirit so that we may be filled with Him; for only in the Spirit is there the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the wisdom of Christ. I hope that these things would become your practice during the time of your training. Take care of the home meetings, and at the same time practice these things.
I have also heard that with some teams, the members cannot coordinate together. If the members of the same team cannot coordinate together, how can you take care of the groups? This time, our arrangement of the groups includes all the elders, co-workers, full-timers, and trainees. The majority of your work as full-timers is to care for the home meetings with a view to the group meetings. Therefore, you will encounter all the lessons that I have just mentioned. What each group should do, and what materials should be used in the meetings are details that can be left to the fellowship of the leading ones in the district meetings. When you leading ones come together, surely there will be opinions. It is not easy for all to be in one accord. Here are many lessons that are hard to learn. But we have the Lord, the killing of the cross, and the resurrection life. By these we can keep the oneness of the Body of Christ. In this oneness we can live and work together.
