Shepherding

The slower, the better

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PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISITING PEOPLE

The instructions I am giving now concerning the new way are different from what I spoke in Taiwan. In Taiwan I charged you to visit people and to get them baptized immediately. But today I do not encourage you to get people baptized in a quick way. Also, when you visit people, do not speak too quickly to them concerning the Bible, God, Christ, or salvation. If you do, people may think that you are too religious and that they cannot come up to your standard. They may be turned away by your enthusiasm. In your first visit with someone who has been recommended to you, do not stay very long; the shorter the visit, the better. A short visit will give the one who is visited a good taste so that he will welcome another visit. Do not spoil the taste of those whom you visit. On the first visit do not speak too much concerning spiritual things.

As you visit a second or third time, you may begin to say something concerning Christ. You may need to go a few times before you are able to get a person saved. The principle is: the slower, the better; the slower it is, the safer it is. The slower the pace is, the more certain it is that you can gain that person.

(Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, Chapter 3, Section 3)

Shepherding works.

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“Shepherding works. We should not desire to be giant speakers to make a name for ourselves. People may be attracted to come to listen to us, but who will take care of them afterward? The way of having large gospel campaigns does not work. In some places this has been tested out. We may have big gospel meetings with many people, but eventually not many of them are added to the church. Also, we should not use famous or well-known people to testify in our meetings. This will not save people to be added to the church. Even if someone is the president of the country, he should be in the meeting just as anyone else. The way that can save people effectively must be by small vital groups, and everyone in this small vital group must be a shepherd. After a short time the church will be revived. No other way is more prevailing than this shepherding way.”

(Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John, ch. 13)

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The genuine care for one another needs to be recovered among us

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“Verses 24 and 25 of Hebrews 10 are the basis for our practice of the group meetings. These verses say, “Let us consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works, not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near.” These verses first say that we need to consider one another. This implies that we have a genuine care for all the members of our vital group. To care for one another means to consider one another. Today we may not care for others. We do not really care whether or not a certain brother comes to the meeting or whether or not a certain sister is sick. The genuine care for one another needs to be recovered among us.

Proper wives always have their husbands in their consideration. A sister may make sure that her husband has a coat to wear as he is leaving the house. This means that she is considering her husband, caring for her husband. We need to have this kind of practical care for one another. To consider one another in a practical way is to love one another. We say that we love one another, but in what way do we love? We may not care for anyone in a practical way. Love means practical care and consideration. When we consider one another, we incite one another to love and good works. We stir up one another. If someone cares for me, that spontaneously stirs me up, incites me, to love and good works. To love here is not an infinitive. Love is a noun, just as good works is a noun. We incite one another to love and good works by caring for one another, considering one another.

We need the intimate fellowship with one another with the practical care and shepherding. One sister may point out that another sister in the group is absent because she is having some particular trouble. After sharing with the other group members the nature of the problem, the group can pray for her and fellowship about how to give her the practical care and help.

If a brother has lost his job, we should pray for him. We should also consider his material situation. This is real love. James in his Epistle says, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food, and any one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, yet you do not give them the necessities of the body, what is the profit?” (2:15-16). In his first Epistle, John says, “Whoever has the livelihood of the world and sees that his brother has need and shuts up his affections from him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and truthfulness” (3:17-18). If we see brothers who are in need and merely tell them that the Lord will take care of them, that is not love. That is vain talk. We should care for one another, consider one another, in a practical way.

This kind of care stirs up our love and our good works. These good works may refer to small things or big things that are related to God’s economy. A saint in your group may not think about God’s economy. God’s economy seems too abstract and unattainable to him. He thinks that we talk much about God’s economy but that this has nothing to do with our present need in our daily life. Through our loving care for this brother, he will be incited to consider God’s economy. Without such a loving care and consideration of one another, we may be very indifferent toward the things of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church. But once a brother is loved in some practical care, that impresses him and incites him to think about the Christian life and about God’s economy. When a brother who is Italian cares for another brother who is Chinese, this is a marvelous testimony. This shows that the different races are swallowed up in the new man and testifies of the practical love among the members of the Body of Christ.

Paul says that we should consider one another so as to incite one another to love and good works, not abandoning our own assembling together. Today our vital group meeting is our own assembling together. For the Hebrew believers at Paul’s time to abandon their own assembling together would have been to return to the Jewish way of meeting and to abandon their assembling together as Christians. Paul exhorted them not to abandon their own assembling together as Christians. Hebrews 10:25 says that in the group meetings we should exhort one another, and so much the more as we see the day drawing near.

The first thing we have to do in the vital group meetings is to have a thorough fellowship together so that we can know the members of our group in an intimate way. The more thorough our fellowship is, the better. Do we know the occupations of the saints in our vital group and where each one works? Do we know the first and last names of every member of our vital group with their proper pronunciation? By considering these questions, we can see that our fellowship has not been thorough. To love one another involves a lot. We need to endeavor to know one another intimately in the Lord. If someone is absent from our vital group meeting, we should immediately ask where he or she is. We say that our group should be blended, but our blending has not been completed, because we do not know each other thoroughly. When you take action together in serving the Lord, you will see that this is very important. Week after week we have been meeting together, yet we still do not really know one another.

We should know each other’s situation and condition in an up-to-date way. Then we will realize there is the need of practical care. If we realize that a sister is sick, we can fellowship about how to render the proper and practical care to her. We can fellowship about who would be burdened to go or about who could and should go. In the larger prayer meetings of the church, we pray in a general way, but the prayer for one another in the groups is specific with a view to the practical care and shepherding. We may pray for a few minutes, and then we can arrange for some person or persons to visit our sister. This is the shepherding. Later, the one who visits should let the group know the situation of this sister. This is what is implied when we say that the group meetings are eighty percent of the church life.

The new ones whom we bring to our group meetings will not merely be taught by us outwardly. They will observe our practice. This is similar to the children in a family learning things by observing the way the family lives and acts. The new ones will follow the pattern that they see and hear in our vital groups. This is why we must learn how to fellowship with one another and how to get ourselves released.”

(Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, ch. 17)

What kind of small group meetings should we have?

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In the past, we may have heard, to some degree, something concerning the practice of the new way among us. It is very unfortunate and heartbreaking that several churches have wrongly understood the new way that has been brought in and have also spoken mistakenly about it. The new way is not door-knocking alone; it does not consist merely of knocking on doors to visit people for gospel preaching. That is only the beginning of the new way. To practice the new way is to come back to the Bible and take the way ordained by God for the New Testament priests of the gospel to carry out the work of the gospel. This way includes primarily four major steps. The first step is to personally visit people for the preaching of the gospel to lead sinners to be saved through regeneration and then to offer them to God as sacrifices. The second step is to go to the homes of the new believers to nourish and cherish them that they may grow in life so that they can present themselves as living sacrifices to God. The third step is to ask the new believers to participate in small group meetings so that they all will be helped and instructed, and so that everyone opens himself and everyone fellowships. Such opening and fellowshipping bring in mutual interceding, mutual caring, and mutual shepherding. Moreover, these small group meetings afford everyone the opportunity to ask questions concerning truth and life. During this time, no one leads the meeting or acts as the only person who answers questions, but all of the attendants answer according to the measure and depth of what each one knows. Everyone speaks a brief word and adds to the speaking of others. In less than ten minutes, seven or eight people can answer a question in a complete way so that everyone learns and everyone is taught.

If we have this kind of small group meeting, week after week, for fifty- two weeks yearly, how much and how greatly we will be benefited! These meetings are neither the worship services in the denominations nor the meetings among us for listening to messages. In the small group meetings there are no religious ceremonies nor predetermined programs and procedures. Instead, everyone who comes to the meeting begins the meeting while still in his home or on the way, coming with singing and praying. Whoever comes into the meeting can simply sing and pray without waiting, and when others come, he can begin to open up himself for mutual fellowship. If there is any problem or need, they simply pray for one another. In this way, spontaneously there is care and shepherding. Any question concerning truth and life can be brought out for all to answer and to teach and learn from one another so that all may be perfected. The fourth step is to help the perfected ones to be God’s prophets speaking for the Lord in the meetings, speaking the Lord into people, so that all the saints are supplied and the Body of Christ is built up. This is the culminating step.

PRESENTING OURSELVES TO TAKE THE NEW WAY ORDAINED BY GOD

These four steps taken together constitute the new way of which we have spoken in these days, that is, the way ordained by God from the past unto eternity, which He has revealed in the Bible for us to take. I fully realize that this way does not seem convenient to many of our dear saints, but the commission that I have received from the Lord is not to speak messages that are convenient to the brothers and sisters. If so, I would have failed the Lord and cheated you. At this time I am speaking sincerely and faithfully concerning what the Lord intends to recover in us. The proper church life in the Lord’s recovery today is one in which every believer is a New Testament priest of the gospel….If we are willing to do these things, we become the genuine New Testament priests of the gospel to carry out the entire gospel work; that is, to deliver a God-chosen and called one from the position of a sinner to become a child of God and a member of Christ, and to help him to grow, be perfected, and eventually prophesy for the Lord for the edification of the saints and the building up of the Body of Christ. If we truly do this, God’s New Testament economy will be accomplished quickly, and the day of the Lord’s coming will be near. May the Lord bless us.

(The Church Life in the Lord’s Recovery Today, Chapter 3)

The group meetings should be eighty percent of the church life

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The group meetings should be eighty percent of the church life. If we do not build up the group meetings, the church will be very weak. Among us there are some older saints who love the Lord and the church but do not have the habit of attending the group meetings. They have the habit of coming only to the Lord’s table meeting, the ministry meeting, and sometimes the prayer meeting. Some may come only to take the Lord’s table on the Lord’s Day and leave an offering in the offering box. To charge, encourage, and exhort them to come to the group meetings will not work since they do not have such a habit. However, some of the older saints do have the burden to come to the group meetings. Many of them, though, have been in the traditional, old way for years. Their traditional way of meeting may be compared to speaking English with a foreign accent. Because of my old, traditional background, my English is somewhat poor. It is difficult for me to get rid of my old way of speaking. Likewise, it is difficult to drop the traditional way of meeting.

These older saints with the traditional ways will eventually be in the same group meetings as the newly baptized ones. The way to build up the group meetings, therefore, is first by going out to gain new ones. It is best not to raise up a group meeting with the older saints as the foundation. We should first go to gain new believers. After one or two new ones are gained, we should go to their home to feed them in their home meeting. This home meeting will become a group meeting. Then we may invite some older saints to join us. In this way we will have a mixed attendance with some new ones and some older ones.

We must let the new ones know that we do not care as much for the big meetings as we care for the group meetings. The group meetings are the “lifeline,” the “pulse,” of our church life. At the same time we should have a thorough fellowship with the older saints in the group, either in our home or in their home. We can tell them that they should forget about the old way of meeting and that they need to pick up the new way. In the first few group meetings we need to explain what the new way is and how to have a group meeting. We should explain that we come together not in formality but in a released spirit to fellowship, pray, care for one another, and shepherd one another.

Even though our current group meetings may have the element of oldness, we should not dissolve them. This will not be good for the attendants in those meetings. We still need to maintain the present meetings, but at the same time we should form a group in the new way. Our time and energy should be concentrated on the new group meeting. If some saints would raise up group meetings in the new way, after a few months many others will follow them to do the same. At that time the meetings in the older way will fade away by themselves.

We should not depend upon the church to arrange a group meeting for us. If we want a family, we should simply get married and bring forth children. We do not need to wait for our parents to arrange a family for us. An arranged family is not a genuine family. We need to produce the group meetings ourselves. Then we must learn the new way to have the group meetings. It is not sufficient to maintain a number of home meetings with only two or three members present. These smaller meetings will not be as effective as the group meetings and will not last for the long term. We need to go along with the need of the new ones, but in going along with their need, we must bring them into the new way. Then a proper, genuine group meeting will be built up with them. A group meeting formed and built up in a proper, spiritual way will endure for the long term. The church life depends upon this kind of group meeting. We need to learn the best way to have the group meetings, and we need to spend time to labor according to what we have learned.

(The Practice of the Group Meetings, Chapter 1, Section 4)

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Fellowship on opening our homes with Andrew Yu in Diamond Bar, 9/11/2011

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What is to practice the church life according to the God-ordained way?

  1. Work the truth into all the saints
  2. Work the church life into the homes
  3. Work the gospel into our living

In order to do this, we need to move away from the “meeting” mentality to the “person” mentality.

Four new words to replace the word “meeting”:

  1. Prayer (together in the homes)
  2. Care (for one another in the homes)
  3. Share (the Lord’s riches in the homes)
  4. Bear (fruit in the homes)

This is the essence of the church life!

“Do you know what is the universal language? Not Chinese, not English. Love! Love is the universal language. It transcends all barriers. It doesn’t matter. You know as long as you love, I don’t care what color of skin you are. Then you open up, and then you have the real Body life.”

It all depends upon love

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[Luke 15] Verse 20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately.” That the father saw the son a long way off was not an accident. From the time the son left home, the father must have gone out to look and wait for his coming back every day. We do not know how many days he watched and waited. When the father saw him, he ran to him. This is the Father’s heart. The father interrupted the son while he was speaking his prepared word. The son wanted to speak the word he had prepared, but the father told his servants to bring the robe, the ring, and the sandals and to prepare the fattened calf. A teacher among the Brethren told me that in the whole Bible we can see God run only one time, in Luke 15, where the father saw the returning prodigal son. He ran; he could not wait. This is the Father’s heart.

To speak truthfully, we have lost this spirit among the co-workers, elders, and vital groups. We do not have such a loving spirit that loves the world, the worst people. We classify people, choosing who are the good ones. Throughout my years I have seen many good ones. Eventually, very few of the good ones remain in the Lord’s recovery. Rather, so many bad ones remain. In the beginning I also was one who classified them as bad, but today many bad ones are still here. If it were according to our concept, where would God’s choosing be? Our choosing depends upon God, who chose His people before the foundation of the world. The Bible says that God hated Esau and loved Jacob. If we were there, none of us would have selected Jacob. This man was too bad. We would have selected Esau, the gentleman. From his mother’s womb, Jacob was fighting, and when he was born, he grabbed his brother’s heel. Eventually, he did everything that caused Esau to want to kill him. His mother Rebekah knew this, so she sent him away to his uncle’s house, but when he went there, he did the same thing; he cheated his uncle by getting four wives from him. This is to live like a gangster. None of us would have chosen Jacob. It is not up to our choosing, our selection. It is based upon God’s eternal selection.

…I want to shepherd and disciple you from the Bible so that you can see this matter and have a change. I am discipling you to change your concept. The God-man concept is that Christ came to save sinners, especially the top sinners. He saves the “gangsters,” even the leader of the “gangsters,” Saul of Tarsus. Paul said, “Faithful is the word and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost” (1 Tim. 1:15). Paul could say this because he was the top sinner opposing Christ. He rebelled against Christ, but while he was rebelling, Christ knocked him down, called him, and saved him. Jesus Himself said, “Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill…I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:12-13). That is why He was there among the sinners and tax collectors, eating and feasting with them, reclining at table and enjoying with them.

If we lose this spirit, whether we are elders, co-workers, or serving ones, we are finished. This is the main reason why we are so barren, bearing no fruit for so many years.

…Whenever we criticize others, we miss grace and instead suffer God’s resistance. We all must learn to shepherd one another. This does not mean that since I am shepherding you, I do not need your shepherding. I need your shepherding. We all have defects and shortcomings. Everyone has defects. Therefore, we have to humble ourselves to meet God’s grace. This strengthens our spirit to visit people and to take care of people regardless of whether they are good or bad. Regardless of what they are, we must go to visit them and keep visiting. According to their statistics, the Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on six thousand doors to visit people in order to gain one. They do this legally, but we do not. We have no such law forcing others to go out. However, I am trying my best to help the church to build up the vital groups with such a shepherding spirit full of love and care for others.

We need to have this kind of love and go to tell all the dormant ones who think that the church condemns them that the church does not condemn anyone. Rather, the church wants to see all the dormant ones come back. If they all would come back, I would weep with tears of thanksgiving to the Lord. The Lord can testify for me that I do not condemn anyone. We have no qualification to condemn anyone. Without the Lord’s mercy, we would be the same as the dormant ones. Therefore, we must love them. It all depends upon love, as the wise king Solomon said, “Love covers all transgressions” (Prov. 10:12). We love people. We love the opposers, and we love the top rebels. I really mean it. We love them and do not hate them. Who am I? I am not qualified to condemn or to hate. Am I perfect? Even the prophet Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, said, “Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell” (Isa. 6:5). Who is clean today? If we criticize people and say something bad about them, we are not clean.

(A Word of Love to the Co-workers, Elders, Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord, chp. 2)

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Old Way/ New Way

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 Old Way New Way
Caring for the meeting Caring for people
Being isolated in my home Opening my home to saints and /or visiting saints in their homes
Only staying in or thinking about my district/locality/state/country Blending, visiting, migration; praying for the Lord’s move all over the Earth; being Body-conscious
Being set, settled, and occupied Being open to migrate
Big meetings Twos and threes
Charismatic speakers Every member functioning
Scheduled activities / special events Everyday activities done together
Big Small
Meeting hall Homes
Individual spirituality Corporate building up
Criticizing the elders and/or other saints Being a pattern of the healthy church life
Spiritual giants Vital groups
Trying to become a five-talented member Investing my one talent
Regulating behavior Growing in the divine life
The principle of the tree: outward display, deeply rooted in the earth, a lodging place for birds (Matt. 13:32) The principle of the mustard seed: small, sojourning, good for food
Having meetings Wanting to be with the saints
Taking care of meetings Taking care of people (saints, new ones, unbelievers)
Hierarchy/clergy-laity Mutuality
One-directional working on a few “promising” ones Mutual caring among all
Top to bottom: having a top-down one-directional organized church structure Bottom to top: everyone actively initiating and functioning
Small to big: making one home meeting bigger and bigger Few to many: multiplying one home into many homes
Meeting once or twice a week Contacting saints regularly throughout the week (because I need them)
Dressing up and putting on a performance for the big meetings Being genuine with one another, getting to really know one another, loving one another
Brothers doing everything, sisters being left out (including husbands and wives) All members especially sisters functioning, couples and families serving together, brothers heading up and covering
Inviting new ones to our meetings and conferences Visiting new ones where they are, especially in their home
Only meeting with saints who are from my cultural background or language Being open to blend with all the saints
The 20% church life The 80% church life
Brothers being 2/3 of the saints Sisters being 2/3 of the saints
Looking to a “pastor” or leading brother to run the home meeting and give a teaching/message Every member functioning in mutuality in the homes, learning by asking and answering questions
Focusing only on college students All saints being cared for
Living to our children Living with the tabernacle (Christ and the church) as our center
Not letting others care for our children Caring for one another’s children so the sisters can make it to the meetings
Barrenness Corporate bearing of remaining fruit
Formulaic meetings (pray-eat-sing-read) Organic functioning of every member, following the leading and flow of the Spirit
Focusing on the Lord’s Day meetings Daily church life
Following our jobs Following the Lamb

What is the foundation of the church meetings? ​

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“THE HOME MEETINGS BEING THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH MEETINGS

When the church was established, three thousand people were saved, and later five thousand men were baptized (v. 41; 4:4). Altogether, at least eight thousand people received salvation. How did they live the church life? The church met together, but how did this many people meet? In other words, what was the foundation of their meetings?… What is the foundation of the church meetings? The eight thousand who were saved met in the temple and from house to house, from one house to another (2:46; 5:42). When they were in the temple, mainly Peter, John, and the other apostles spoke. But there was no way for Peter and John to meet with all eight thousand people, comprising a minimum of a thousand homes; the believers needed to meet from house to house.

Acts 5:42 says, “Every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ.” Those who were saved for even a day or two began to meet in their homes, and they did not speak the teachings of Moses or Elijah. Every household was speaking what they heard from Peter in the temple.

The crucial point is that the meetings in the homes were the foundation of the church meetings. A big meeting in the temple was not the foundation. The believers who were produced by the speaking in the temple were brought to meetings in individual homes. In other words, the building up of the church did not depend on the big meetings in the temple; rather, the building up of the church depended on the meetings in the homes, the meetings from house to house.

In Acts 8, not long after the eight thousand were saved, a great persecution arose in Jerusalem. The believers all left Jerusalem, and only the twelve apostles remained. It is hard to believe, but the Bible says that “all were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles” (v. 1). The propagation of the gospel and the spread of the testimony of the church did not depend primarily on the apostles but rather on the newly saved ones who were dispersed. We have to believe that even in their dispersion, they were not able to hold big meetings because of persecution. It should be clear that big meetings were not the foundation of the church. The meetings from house to house, the meetings with three to seven people in the homes, were the foundation of the church. The big meetings are like skating in an ice rink; it is easy to skate in, and it is easy to skate out, but the home meetings can actually keep people. This light is very clear in the Bible.

THE SMALL GROUP MEETINGS STARTING IN TAIWAN

In the Lord’s recovery we saw this light from the beginning. Thus, we encouraged the saints to migrate for the gospel…. In Taipei we first began to meet in one hall. When we gained more people, we met in several locations. When even more were added, we divided them into homes and then into groups for visitation and shepherding. These homes and groups brought in tens of thousands of people and were able to retain them. From 1949 to 1957 the number of saints in the churches on the island of Taiwan increased from four or five hundred to forty or fifty thousand; there was nearly a hundredfold increase. However, in 1958 we were distracted and started to go downhill. This downward slope was not steep; rather, it was a gentle decline. However, we have been going downhill for twenty-seven years.

GOING DOWNHILL BY PAYING ATTENTION TO THE BIG MEETINGS AND IGNORING THE HOMES AND GROUPS

When we began to leave the big meetings, which were according to the practice of the denominations, we began home meetings and small group meetings; it was not an easy mountain to climb. But before we could reach the peak, we were distracted and could not climb any further; instead, we went downhill. We went downhill to such an extent that we paid attention only to big meetings and eloquent speakers. Good speakers attract people, and the saints acquired a habit of listening to sermons. Before going to a meeting, we often would ask about the speaker. If “Paul” was speaking, everybody would go, but if “Mark” was speaking, many would say, “I don’t have the time to go.” Thus, the foundation of the church gradually shifted from small groups in the homes to speakers in a big meeting. This is like degraded Christianity.

MEETINGS WITH SPIRITUAL GIANTS NOT RETAINING PEOPLE

In Christianity there is little emphasis on home meetings or group meetings. Mainly, congregations hire a pastor who has a seminary degree, some human capability, likableness, and eloquence and who can speak on many topics. With such a pastor, the congregation will flourish and prosper, but if the pastor is not capable or eloquent, the congregation will dwindle. This is the general situation in Christianity; there is some growth, but the direction is ultimately downhill. It is hard to retain people by relying on gifted preachers or spiritual giants. When a great preacher comes, tens of thousands may come and listen, but when he leaves, everyone leaves as well. When the great preacher leaves, the thin ice that everyone is skating on melts.

People hold revival meetings in Christianity because they are deflated. The purpose of a revival meeting is to give a heart-strengthening injection. The foundation of today’s Christianity is not with small groups but with big meetings. When I was young, I went with my mother to a Sunday service for nearly twenty years. I never talked to anyone, and no one talked to my mother and me. Everyone was dressed up and sat quietly in the pews. There were hymn numbers posted on a board, and someone would begin the service by calling out these hymns. After the singing, someone would preach a sermon, and then someone would make announcements. Finally, there was a benediction to end the service. After the benediction everyone got up and left. I did not say anything to anyone, and no one spoke to us; we simply went our own way. There was no mutual fellowship, much less a steadfast continuation in the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42).

Sixty years ago the Lord showed us the mutual fellowship of all the members of the Body. This cannot be practiced only through big meetings. Even if we met in this way for ten years, it would not be easy for every member to be contacted. However, once we meet in a home, there is a need for everyone to speak. Even if we have never had a thorough conversation with another member, we will spontaneously have many such conversations in the homes. This is the advantage of the small group meetings.
….
HOME MEETINGS AND GROUP MEETINGS BEING THE FOUNDATION TO KEEP PEOPLE

Big meeting halls have their usefulness, but if we focus only on this aspect, we will not have the foundation of the church. Our current way is like skating in an ice rink, and it is easy for people to skate out the door. If we bring people to the home meetings and group meetings, they will be rooted and grounded. Only the home meetings and group meetings can keep people. This is God’s wise design; it is not a method conceived by man.

The Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, and He led the believers to meet from house to house. The beginning of God’s work always reveals what is best, because after His work is handed over to man, it begins to go downhill. The beginning in Acts was the best. Now the big meetings are like a skating rink, and many skate in, but many also skate out. In Acts there were meetings from house to house as a foundation to bring people into the church. Once a person met from house to house, he was surely kept. This is God’s wisdom.

…. I beg you all to pick up the burden to pray and to strive together. Do not belittle the small group meetings. Whether we can succeed, that is, whether the Lord can work out a way among us, depends on our efforts now. Otherwise, the Lord will have to look for some other people, and we will go downhill, becoming yet another group in Christianity.
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SMALL GROUPS BEING THE WAY TO BUILD UP THE CHURCH

In the church all the brothers and sisters love the Lord, and based on this love for the Lord, I have the burden to lead you. Since you love the Lord, you must mean business with Him; your love for the Lord should not just be vain talk. The Bible shows that the Lord has only one way to build up His church, to reach His goal—the small group meetings. The building up of the church cannot be accomplished with big meetings. The big meetings of Christianity are like the age of the judges, who were like spiritual giants. When Samson rose up, it was good. When he died, Israel declined (Judg. 13—16). The age of the judges in the Old Testament prefigures today’s Christianity. If we pay attention only to big meetings and neglect the home meetings and group meetings, we are returning to the old way, reenacting the age of the judges and depending on spiritual giants. We must change our concept. We do not want judges; we want homes. Every home and every group must be strong, and we must be strong in order to have strong homes and groups.

It is preferable for a small group to have no more than twelve people. Five or six is the best, seven or eight is fine, and even eight or ten is good. Because we love Him and mean business with Him, we should daily pray, read the Word, learn the truth, see the light, experience Christ, and labor on Christ. Then when we come together, we will have experiences to share, rather than being an “audience” waiting for others to speak.
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SIX COMMISSIONS FOR THE SMALL GROUP

First, we must change our concept; this is the most difficult thing. We must realize that the small group meetings are not a method or merely an additional meeting. We should neither uplift the big meetings nor despise them. We need to regard them equally. Presently, we need to stress the small groups because the saints still overemphasize the big meetings. We need to be balanced. We should not consider that recovering someone means to bring a person back to the big meetings on the Lord’s Day. Of course, this would be good, but it is not required. As long as a saint can come to a group meeting, this is good enough.

Second, the group meetings should strive to recover those who have not been meeting for a long time. In Taipei there are tens of thousands of brothers and sisters who have not been meeting. The three to four thousand who meet regularly should be in group meetings in order to recover those who have not been meeting for a long time.

Third, we need to preach the gospel widely. The home gospel must go out from the small groups. The community gospel must go out from the small groups. Even the campus work can go out from the small groups. The small groups are the foundation. When the small groups are not strong, it is hard to perfect people to help with the gospel on a campus. If the small groups are not strong, who can shepherd when there is a need for shepherding? If the small groups are not strong, the children’s work also will not be carried out. In order for a nation to be strong, its families must be strong. Likewise, for a church to be strong, the home meetings and group meetings must be built up as the foundation, the base, of our spiritual work.

Fourth, the small groups must be able to keep and uphold people and cause them to want to come back. We have to work on the small groups to the point that they have the power to attract and keep people. Fifth, we need to strengthen the riches in the small group meetings. The content of the small group meetings must be rich. When the small group meetings become rich, we will attain the highest goal of expressing Christ.

The small group meetings are not easy to build up. This great and high mountain is not easy to climb. When we change our concept and begin to recover those who have not been meeting for a long time, to widely preach the gospel, and to uphold, strengthen, and enrich the content of the meetings, we will reach God’s highest goal for the church—expressing Christ. May the Lord have mercy on us. May we all pray for this matter.”

(On Home Meetings, chapter 1)

How should we fellowship?

/ livinglywrong

“After we come together, we should spontaneously fellowship. The fellowship will bring in the need for intercession, and from this fellowship and intercession the mutual care, concern, and shepherding will develop. After that there will be some studying and teaching of the truth, with the rendering of some help in life…. All this must be done in an organic and spontaneous way. The mutual fellowship should be open and spontaneous. The mutual intercession also should be sincere and spontaneous…. This kind of organic meeting is what Hebrews 10:25 describes as ‘our own assembling together.’ Such a meeting is like a family gathering with spontaneous, mutual fellowship in which some may ask questions and others may all answer. There is mutual teaching and mutual learning…. Whether a person has been saved for a long time or for a short time, he can speak like all the others.”

(CWWL, 1989, vol. 2)