“[W]e must avoid not caring for the atmosphere and flow of the meeting. The Christian meeting has a flow, an atmosphere…

We have said already that the Christian meeting may be likened to a basketball game. Each team has five players, so there are ten people playing in the game, but they have only one ball and can use only that ball. This is the rule. However, one of the players may simply ignore this rule, so while the game is going on, he is playing with another ball by himself on the side and is even enjoying it. The same situation is frequently seen in the meeting. A certain brother may stand up and speak something of his own and may go on speaking until it is impossible for the meeting to proceed, yet he continues to enjoy his own speaking, caring neither for the atmosphere nor the flow of the meeting. We must not do this. We all love the Lord, the church, and the meetings. Yet when we come to the meeting, we must care for the atmosphere and the flow of the meeting. We must not put on a one-man show, not caring for others’ feelings; this will easily bring in death.”

(CWWL, 1985, vol. 5, “Speaking for God,” ch. 6)