However, I do not have the intention of entirely stopping the big meetings. Changing the system should not be like jumping from the seventh floor straight to the ground floor, without using stairs at all; that is to commit suicide. Rather, for the past two years we have been changing the system and simultaneously building a staircase on which all the saints can walk down properly instead of lingering on the seventh floor with a wait - and - see attitude. What we have seen before the Lord is that one day in the Lord's recovery there will be mostly home meetings and not many big meetings. Perhaps once or twice a month the whole church will come together for a meeting like the one mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14. That will be such a glorious situation!

In the past we had a meeting at a big stadium with ten thousand people, which was marvelous and impressive. However, if there were no home meetings as supporting pillars, that kind ofbig meeting would not be a glory but a deformity. We must have home meetings before we can have big meetings. Our labor is not in the big meetings but in the home meetings. It is only after we have constantly labored in the home meetings that one day we can have a big meeting as a harvest. This is the same as the children of Israel celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles after laboring throughout the entire year to obtain a harvest which they enjoyed as a feast before God when they came together. It is also like the American Thanksgiving Day which was originally celebrated after the harvest was taken in; the families gathered together to enjoy the fresh produce in their homes. Perhaps we could follow the children of Israel to have three big meetings in each year of labor and work. These would be times of joy and exultation.

This is why we must change our concepts. I say again that we are not jumping off a building and committing suicide; rather, we are willing to turn around and walk down the stairs. Instead of finding excuses for yourself, you should follow everyone else down the stairs. The Chinese all used to wear long gowns, but today it is difficult to find anyone in a gown, because everyone is now wearing Western clothes. This proves that people can change. Even though it is difficult to come down the stairs, as long as we are willing to walk, we will be able to slowly get down to the ground floor.

If we are to walk, however, we must change our concept. In the past our Lord's Day meetings had two or three hundred people, and the speakers were all experienced and spoke every sentence well and in a touching way, so that even the gospel friends were helped. Now as we are changing the system, the big meetings have become small and the saints are scattered. Moreover, our baptisms are not what they used to be, with baptism interviews to determine if the candidates are clearly saved before we baptize them. Now we just need to preach The Mystery of Human Life to them, lead them in prayer, and baptize them in the bathtub after they have believed. It seems that the change in system is turning the church into a mess. Please do not be worried. Instead, you must wait patiently. I believe that after three to five years many homes will have been raised up as the supporting pillars of the church.

Things in the physical world are symbols of things in the spiritual realm. A country's strength and a society's health are entirely determined by the strength and health of the families. According to the Chinese tradition, the children are raised by the parents in the homes; they are taught, they live, and they grow up at home. Then after they are married, they do not need to ask an expert on "family - forming" for guidance. They know spontaneously how to form a family and build up a career. This is because they have been with their parents since they were small and therefore have a thorough understanding of what a family is all about. This is just what we have seen before the Lord. The Christian "society" - the church - is not composed of church buildings. Rather, it is constituted with households. The household is the basic unit of salvation and service, and it is the constituting element of the church.

According to the statistics, there are 500,000 households in all of Taipei. In this past year we have knocked on the doors of 150,000 households, and the number of people baptized through door - knocking is more than 5,700. We rejoice because the more we go out door - knocking, the more effective we are. For example, in the most recent time of door - knocking there were 321 people who went out, and the result was that 157 were saved and baptized.

THE HOMES AS PILLARS SUPPORTING THE CHURCH

Going out to knock on doors to bring people to salvation, establishing home meetings in the homes of the new ones, and teaching them to read the Bible and pray are just the initial steps. In the same way, a baby still needs a lot of nourishment and care after its birth. We all know that if a child is to grow up to maturity, after it is born, it needs to be nourished and taught. It is easy to give birth, but it is not so easy to nourish, and it is even more difficult to teach. Therefore, we must look at these things point by point to see how to carry out the proper nourishing and teaching. We will begin with the homes as a starting point.

We need to come back to the Scriptures to see the matter of meeting in the homes. For more than fifty years I have been studying the practices recorded in the Bible concerning the way for Christians to meet. The Bible does not have a clear word concerning this point; it shows us only a few patterns. Concerning the meetings, Hebrews 10 : 25 says that we should not abandon our own assembling together, and 1 Corinthians 14 : 26 tells us what things we should do when the whole church comes together, but it does not explain how to do them. These two passages are both words of teaching. The patterns given to us in the Bible are mainly in the book of Acts. Acts tells us that the early church met in the homes, from house to house ( 2 : 46; 5 : 42; 12 : 12 ).

Thus, according to this small but penetrating light in the Bible, the earliest church life was entirely carried out in the homes. It was altogether not like the situation today. Today there are a great many church buildings everywhere but few proper, living home meetings. I dare not say that they are absolutely nonexistent, but I can say that there is nothing concrete. In the age of the apostles, as soon as the church was formed, several thousand people were immediately brought to salvation. One time there were three thousand, and another time there were five thousand ( 2 : 41; 4 : 4 ). Then they simply met from house to house. When they met, they did mainly four things: preach the gospel, teach the truth, pray, and break bread. This is the light of revelation in the Bible, the clear leading of the Holy Spirit, and even more, the proper practice ordained by God.

Due to the degradation of the church, this kind of condition was gradually lost. As a result, organized Christianity was formed. Once there was organization, the result was the establishing of large corporate meetings, followed by the need for preachers. After the organization, the officers, and the preachers were brought forth, the clergy was produced. Once there was the clergy, the believers were divided into classes. Those belonging to the clergy were the speakers, while those belonging to the non - clergy were the listeners. Thus, Christian service and functioning in the meetings were completely taken over by a small number of people. Even today this kind of situation still exists everywhere, especially in Catholicism. Most Catholics know only to go to mass, but they are not able to perform any function as members. The situation in Protestantism is also like this.

As far as we are concerned, the situation in Taipei a few years ago was just about the same. We frequently had large meetings with just a few people doing everything. This kind of condition made me very concerned. Therefore, I received a burden from the Lord and saw that we must overturn these things. The first thing we must do is to overturn the big meetings.

Next, our attitude must be one of humility and courtesy. We need to be humble and courteous to people, especially in our speech. Therefore, the training also teaches us how to speak properly. Do not think that the training only teaches the skill of door - knocking. The training is mainly for teaching us what to say and what to do when preaching the gospel so that people will be open to receive. Thus, the first requirement is a neat appearance and the second is an attitude of humility and courtesy. These two things are outward matters. Concerning the inward matters, the intrinsic thing is that when we go out door - knocking, we must pray first and we must pray thoroughly, confessing our sins, repenting, and being filled by the Lord. If we are not filled with the Lord inwardly but have only given ourselves a proper outward appearance, then we are only actors putting on a show with stage make - up, and what we do is not of any value. Therefore, we must have thorough prayer and be filled with the Lord inwardly, then we must have a proper outward appearance before we will be ready to go out door - knocking.

Moreover, we must learn how to coordinate together. We should never choose the ones with whom we coordinate. When the training or the church assigns the teams, we should not choose to be with the people we like. Usually when we go out door - knocking there are three people to a team with one elderly person, one middle - aged person, and one young person. The function of the elderly person is not to speak but to knock on the doors. This is very valuable. After the door has been opened, the young saint should open his mouth and introduce himself. After getting inside the door, the elderly saint is responsible for standing to the side to nod and smile in support, while the young brothers and sisters are responsible for explaining the truth. This seems to be the opposite of the worldly way, but it is very effective.

If a person gets saved and wants to be baptized, it is best for the elderly brother to pray and do the baptizing because he is weightier and more experienced. People will feel more at peace receiving it from him. But if there is an elderly sister present, she should help prepare the water and the clothing and just assist on the sidelines during the baptism. We must pay attention to all these little points. We should never think that it is all right to ignore them. They can have a great influence on what we are doing.

When the working saints go out door - knocking, they should mainly learn to speak. Do not speak your own words. Speak what the training teaches you to speak. Therefore, you must pay particular attention to the preaching and speaking of the trainees in order to learn from them. Furthermore, you should coordinate together to go into the houses, and to sit with people while they are listening, praying, and being baptized. Learn a few times and you will do well in the end.

LEARNING THE NEW WAY FOR OUR SERVICE

In conclusion, for many years in the church life we have been loving the Lord, attending meetings, serving in various areas, reading the Bible, and praying, but within us there has always been a feeling that something is lacking. Now with the practice of the new way, we have been given the opportunity and the way to serve that can fill up our inward lack. Therefore, we must seize this opportunity. Second, the new way is focused on the individual homes, and its practice has four definite steps. The first step is to go out door - knocking and to baptize people; the second step is to establish a home meeting immediately in the new ones' homes; the third step is to teach the truth in the homes to build up the new ones in the habits of reading the Bible and prayer. In this way they will not repeat our mistake of listening to others give messages for thirty years without being edified or understanding the truth. On the other hand, we also need teachers to teach the new ones and to help them to properly use the lesson books. These teachers, however, should not teach according to their own opinions. Instead, they should teach in a living, interesting, and weighty manner in order to supply the new ones. The fourth step is to bring the new ones into the knowledge and living of the practical church life. In the end, they will not just be baptized; they will learn the truth in their homes to be supplied and grow in life. They will also live in the practical church life and coordinate together in the service.

At present, we already have more than one thousand home meetings. Although many of us have picked up the burden to become door - knockers, we should not go to the homes of the new ones to "lead" a home meeting. Instead, we should go to meet together with the new ones and teach them to do what we do. This will be the only way for us to continue increasing and spreading.

The Bible clearly reveals that God's economy has the home as its focus. The controlling vision of our change of system is to take the focus off the meetings and place it onto the homes. Our hope is not that the new ones would be saved and immediately come to the meetings. We also do not want to continue building meeting halls in every place. Once there is a meeting hall, then an organization might be produced, and it may gradually turn into a situation in which one person speaks and everyone else listens. This would be going back to a condition under the influence of Christianity's old way. If there are no meeting halls but only home meetings, it will be easy for everyone to function. However, we cannot have the church life only in the homes. There is still a need for all the saints to be connected and joined together ( Eph. 4 : 16 ). Thus, we are still researching into a properly balanced way. I ask you all to pray for this matter and to do your best to cooperate in thoroughly changing from the old way to the new way. This will not only give the saints the opportunity and way to function, but also it will bring in the real multiplication and increase to carry out God's economy.

It is very hard to change one's concept. I myself have been making the turn for five years. From 1980 to 1984 I was constantly studying why in the Lord's recovery we would preach the gospel and labor hard every year, but our numbers would not increase. It was not only like this in Taiwan; it was also the same in the United States. This question pressed me until I had no other way but to return to the Bible and spend time studying it diligently. In the end the Lord showed me the concept of the "home." According to the revelation of the Bible, God Himself came down from heaven to be incarnated and at His own discretion went from one home to another to seek sinners. The Lord Himself went to the home of Zaccheus. He also made a special trip to seek the sinful woman by the well in Samaria. The New Testament clearly shows us that the home is the center and that the gospel is a matter of being delivered to the home and not a matter of inviting people to come and listen. If today God were to invite us to where He sits in the heavens, we would never find a way to get there. Instead, He came down and brought the gospel to us, making it so available for us. Because we have acted against this principle, we have not had the Lord's blessing for a long time.

When I saw this clearly, I made a thorough repentance to the Lord. Thirty years ago when I was still living in Taiwan, I saw people riding bicycles with a sign that said, "Delivering Shots to Your Home." This meant that a person did not have to go to the doctor's clinic, but the doctor would come to the person's home and give him the shot. Now America has home delivery services for food, which make it very helpful for business. If you make it convenient for people, they will welcome you. In the same way, if our hope is that the Lord's recovery will increase and spread, then we must change our concept. Instead of inviting people to come and hear the gospel, we should deliver the gospel to their homes. This will help us to increase.

THE PRACTICAL AND DETAILED WAY FOR DOOR - KNOCKING

There is a practical and detailed way to do anything, and as long as we copy it exactly, studying and practicing according to the pattern, we will be able to do the thing in the right way. Before we go out door - knocking, we must dress properly. Our appearance should not be too conservative, nor should it be too modern and stylish. Rather, it should be neat and proper, serious and appropriate. Even our hair must be brushed and tidy. If we do this, people will open their doors to us. Suppose three people are in a group to go out door - knocking; one is an American hippie with long hair and an unkempt beard, another one is a Taiwanese hoodlum with shoes but no socks, and the third one is a Hong Kong gangster holding a cigarette in his mouth and wearing a pair of dark glasses. When these three persons go out door - knocking, people will certainly be frightened and think that they are there to rob them or to do some other evil thing; they would definitely not open the door to them. But if the same three persons go out door - knocking with a clean and neat appearance, wearing proper clothing and walking in a proper way, then people will certainly open their doors and welcome them.

Practicing to build up a proper, neat character is the topic of a required course in our full - time training. The trainees are required to go to bed early and to get up early. Every morning they have to straighten their rooms and have morning watch, then they go out jogging for bodily exercise. Once the training center asked all the trainees to put their shoes outside their bedroom doors before they went to sleep. The seven hundred fifty trainees fearfully did as they were told. After the trainees had gone to sleep, the trainers came and polished their shoes until they were bright and shiny. The next morning after rising, the trainees saw that all their shoes were black and shiny; they were both touched and ashamed. Because of this kind of training, the character of the trainees has been gradually built up to the extent that they can gain others as soon as they go out. Therefore, if we want to participate in the hosts of Calvary to go out door - knocking to gain people, the first thing we must do is have a proper appearance.

The examples given to us in the Bible are not at all like this. In Acts 8, Philip preached the gospel to the eunuch, and in a very short time, perhaps only fifteen minutes, he baptized him. When Philip explained the passage in Isaiah, "As a sheep He was led to slaughter," he preached Jesus as the gospel through it. Immediately, when the eunuch saw some water, he wanted to be baptized. Therefore, Philip said, "If you believe from all your heart, you will be saved." The eunuch answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" ( vv. 30 - 37 ). Philip baptized him immediately.

According to our concept, after baptism there needs to be some edification of the new believers; otherwise, the new ones will not be able to stand firm. But after the eunuch was baptized, the Holy Spirit immediately caught Philip away without giving the eunuch the slightest chance to receive any edification. In the end, the eunuch returned to Ethiopia, which is a Gentile nation even today. This life pulse of the church has continued without break until this present day. Therefore, I exhort the elderly brothers and sisters to give up the old methods and learn this new way. It is like a military academy; the military teaching and training of forty or fifty years ago are useless today because everything has changed. This is why we say, "The new way gains new ones, and the new ones walk in the new way." We must be a new man - new both inwardly and outwardly - in order to be able to walk in the new way. We should not begin to walk in the new way and yet inwardly still be filled with the old things.

I want especially to mention the booklet called The Mystery of Human Life. When we go out door - knocking, we must take this booklet in addition to the Bible. After two years of use, it has been translated into all the languages spoken in the countries where there are churches in the Lord's recovery. This booklet speaks of the four keys for opening up the mystery of human life. We only need to learn how to speak according to this booklet, and we will obtain the secret. Whoever has the experience of going out door - knocking can testify that the more they speak according to the words in this booklet, the easier it is to bring people to be saved.

It used to be that baptizing people was not to be done carelessly; rather, baptism had to be carried out by the elders. However, sometimes when a person had to wait, he would wait so long that he disappeared. In the northern Chinese dialect we have a very interesting expression called huo ho, which means "optimum cooking temperature." This Chinese expression means that when we do something, we must seize the best opportunity. We may compare this to a housewife who heats the oil in the wok to just the right temperature and prepares to stir - fry some vegetables, but delays for three minutes in order to answer the phone; as a result, the vegetables do not taste as good as they should. In the same way, we should lead a person to baptism once he believes in the Lord. If there is a waiting period, then his baptism may be frustrated. The Bible says to believe and be baptized ( Mark 16 : 16 ). It is a spontaneous matter to baptize someone immediately after he has believed.

I was the one who designed and taught our previous way of practice, including the interview for baptism and the procedure for baptism, so I am the one best qualified to overthrow it, and I should overthrow it. In the past we rode in ox carts, so I certainly had to teach you how to ride in an ox cart. Now we have changed our mode of transportation to the automobile, so we should not do things in the same way as when we used carts. Rather, we should learn the new way; we should learn to drive an automobile. We should not think of driving oxen while riding in an automobile even though we are accustomed to driving oxen. In the past when the women sewed or embroidered, they did it all stitch by stitch. Now they have sewing machines, but they may think that the clothes they make do not look nice enough. Actually, the problem is that they are not attentive enough when using the sewing machine. If we are really willing to humble ourselves and diligently learn anew, rejecting our old habits and customs, then we will certainly do things faster and better .

This is why we must change our concept and act contrary to our natural disposition to force ourselves to set aside two or three hours a week for door-knocking, despite wind or rain. We should go out door-knocking week after week without ceasing. This is not at all a matter of whether or not we have time; rather, it is a matter of whether or not we are willing. If we are willing and if we care for this matter, then we will certainly have time to do it. Everyone likes to be free. Anything that one must do week after week becomes a burden. Even cleaning the house is like this. It takes ten minutes at the most to dust a table and no more than twenty or thirty minutes to vacuum the floor, but we may feel it is a burden to dust even weekly, much less daily. If there is no regulation and we are free to do whatever we like-making phone calls, reading newspapers, and going window-shopping as we please, not having to do a single thing that we dislike, then we will not feel anything is a burden. This is the condition of our natural man, so we truly need a strong turn. If we can all exercise to turn to our spirit and do things according to the feeling in our spirit, we will discover that going out door-knocking really is an opportunity given by the Lord for us to take a deep breath to fill up the empty hole within us.

DILIGENTLY LEARNING IN THE NEW WAY

The Lord has shown us that the church today is walking on an extraordinary, new way. Since it is an extraordinary way as well as a new way, much learning is needed for its practice. It is just like any technology, invention, or product of this modern age which requires serious training with practice before it can be used correctly. Take transportation, for example; it takes about one hundred days to walk from the east coast of America to the west coast. Everyone can walk, so learning is not required. As long as a person walks, he will arrive some day. However, if he wants to arrive more quickly, he must drive a car, and that takes much learning.

Likewise, when we bring up the matter of door-knocking, everybody knows how to do it. However, learning is necessary to do it correctly. Therefore, we will form teams by combining the regular saints and the trainees. In doing this we hope that the saints will learn from those who have already been trained. Door-knocking can be successful only if we are willing to humble ourselves and learn from others. It is a big mistake if we think that because we are older, it is easy for us to learn the new way by simply listening to a little explanation. Doorknocking involves many details; hence, we need to practice with the experienced ones so that by our personal experience we may learn the secret. In this way, we will soon taste the sweetness.

Many saved ones can testify that after they were baptized, they were really joyful. This corresponds with what the Bible says. Acts 8 says that when the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, Philip was led by the Holy Spirit to approach his chariot and ask him, "Do you really know the things that you are reading?" He said, "How could I unless someone guides me?" Then he invited Philip to come into his chariot and explain it to him ( Acts 8:27-31 ). They had not gone very far, and perhaps because Philip had talked to him about the matter of baptism, when the eunuch saw some water beside the road, he said, "Look, water. What prevents me from being baptized?" (v. 36). Philip did not delay either, and he immediately baptized the eunuch. The Holy Spirit does things in a marvelous way; as soon as the eunuch came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit caught Philip away, not leaving him with the eunuch. Still, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing (v. 39).

According to our old way of doing things, whenever we spoke of preaching the gospel, we first had to go out and invite people to come and hear the gospel. Then when they came, we were busy turning the pages of the Bible for them and helping them to listen to the message. After someone believed, we still did not let him get baptized immediately. First he had to attend four meetings on the truth of the gospel. Then we had to visit him in his home, and finally he had to have an interview for baptism. If the result of the interview was that he was unclear about the gospel truth, then he could not be baptized and had to wait for the next interview. He could be baptized only when he was clear about the gospel truth. Many times people were hindered from being saved because of such a delay.

Two weeks ago, an elder who came from a certain locality in America heard the messages about door-knocking and went out to knock on doors for two days; however, he did not gain a single person. Inwardly, he could not take it, and he went to the Lord to ask for the reason. Surprisingly, as soon as he prayed, he felt that he had to immediately make a thorough confession of his sins. So he did just that; he made a thorough confession of his sins. Afterward he went out door knocking and gained two people. Now he also has become "addicted" and does not plan to return to America. He wants to stay to continue door knocking.

Prayer along with a thorough confession of sins is a crucial point. Door knocking is not a light matter. If you want to be effective, you must confess your sins. You should not do this in a superficial way; rather, you must thoroughly and completely confess your sins and totally empty yourselves so that you may be filled with the Holy Spirit. In this way your going out for door knocking will certainly be effective.

TESTIMONIES HAVE SERVING ACCORDING TO THE GOD-ORDAINED NEW WAY

There are two hundred fifty trainees from overseas, one hundred eighteen of whom have requested to stay in Taiwan. They cannot bear the thought of leaving so many whom they have gained through door knocking and who need care. In one time of fellowship with the elders, a leading brother from America testified that he had attended a few home meetings since coming here and felt that they were very good. Now he does not feel satisfied unless he goes to a home meeting every evening. For this reason, I exhort all the elders and co-workers to taste this heavenly flavor first, to take the lead to go out door knocking, and to attend the home meetings.

Furthermore, this new way is very effective. Not only are people gained quickly, but many of them also have a strong testimony. An eighty-six year old sister who was newly saved through door knocking is very thankful that some of the trainees brought the gospel to her. In order to show her appreciation, she has given many snacks to the training center. Some other trainees knocked on a door last week and led the father of that household to salvation. When they went back this week, the son also received the Lord, and the father baptized him. There have also been cases in which the husband is saved one week and baptizes his wife the next week. Moreover, after this last conference meeting, one of the saints from America got lost and asked a policeman for help. All the way to the stadium he preached the gospel to that policeman. After arriving there, the policeman went in with him and was baptized. He also promised to have a meeting in his home. Such testimonies are very encouraging.

There was another sister who went out door knocking for four days without gaining anyone, but she still went out patiently on the fifth day. On this day she gained a person who was baptized through her door knocking. In a short time she gradually brought the five members of that family to be saved and baptized. Among these five was one young person who came to see her this afternoon, expressing a desire to attend the full-time training. There is not just one testimony like this; there are many. The young people whom these trainees have brought to the Lord are also willing to be like the trainees and to do what they do. This is a very sweet matter.

EVERYONE BEING A DOOR-KNOCKER

I believe that we all love the Lord and have inwardly aspired to serve the Lord. Now there is a way set before us through which we can realize our aspiration. Perhaps we will not all be full-timers, but we all can be door-knockers. This does not demand a great deal from us. We just need to be willing to go out for the Lord to knock on doors for two or three hours every week. There are one hundred sixty-eight hours in a week, and we need to consecrate only two or three hours, so this price is not too high. Do not think that we are so busy that we do not have time to spare. Actually we usually do things however we want and do not keep track of our time. For example, we read the newspapers as we like, chat with people as we please, and can be on the phone for a long time without feeling that our conversation is too long and without getting tired. It is only when we come to serve the Lord that we calculate the time carefully. This is the stratagem of the enemy.

By the Lord's mercy I was saved before I was twenty years r I was saved, I really loved the Lord, and I especially His Word, to such an extent that the Bible never left my hands. However, I had no place to meet because there was no that could help me. Later I met with the Brethren assembly and felt that it was not bad because they devoted themselves exclusively to expounding the Bible. I was very interested in this, so I followed them in their constant study. In those days, because I loved the Lord, it seemed that there so much energy within me. Yet there was no outlet. At time there was not the practical service. Nevertheless, week I attended five meetings regularly and was not by wind or rain. Sometimes it was very cold and heavily, but I went to the meetings as usual. On hand, such an experience was truly enjoyable. On the hand, I did not have the slightest opportunity to function, nor was I involved in any service

Thus, when I look back on my past experience, I have 'deep realization that if a person is saved and loves the but does not have the place or opportunity to serve Lord and to function, then he will feel depressed and able. I believe that we have all had this experience. Although we may have shared something in the meetings, more we continued with simply sharing, the more it seemed all we could do was just this little bit, and inwardly we always felt unfulfilled and dissatisfied.

In John 4 the disciples went to buy food, and the Lord Jesus sat alone beside a well. Eventually, He led a Samaritan woman to salvation. When the disciples returned, they said, "Rabbi, eat." The Lord said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." The disciples were surprised and said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?" The Lord answered them, saying, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work" ( vv. 31-34 ). I believe that many of us have a feeling of this kind: We go to meeting after meeting, listening to message after message, yet we feel as if a bowl of rice has been set before us but we have not eaten any of it. It was not until twenty years ago, when the Lord led us to begin the practice of pray-reading and to have the saints share at the end of the meetings, that we were able to have some enjoyment. At that time, the brothers and sisters felt it was truly enjoyable to stand up to share, and they would race to be the first. Gradually, however, we have been losing this taste.

I believe that most of us in the churches love the Lord, but we always feel as if something is missing. In our church life it seems as if there is a hole which we are unable to fill up. If I asked you whether or not you love the Lord, you would all certainly say that you do love Him. However, if I ask you if you feel satisfied, I am afraid you would all say that despite the fact that you meet frequently, have heard many messages, and share or testify regularly, you are still not satisfied inwardly. It seems there is so much energy within you, but there is no place in which you can use it, and there is so much vitality, but there is no outlet for it. You have no way to describe or explain these feelings. Now the church is changing the system to take the new way particularly for the sake of affording a way for that strong, inward impulse of love for the Lord to come out and so that we can be satisfied daily.

THE PROPER PRACTICE OF THE NEW WAY

Whoever has experienced this can testify that it is not good enough just to stand by and watch others go out door-knocking, visiting people, and leading them to be saved and baptized. Once you have led someone to be saved and baptized, however, you will jump for joy and be very satisfied. There is an elderly sister in the church in Anaheim who is more than seventy years old. After hearing about the practice of door-knocking, she tried it once and immediately gained one person for baptism. As a result, she has become "addicted" and feels as if she is floating on air. Whenever she meets people, she does not speak about anything else but how satisfied she is that she has gained a person through door-knocking.

The practice of the new way is not simple. Take door knocking as an example. One person's door knocking is different from another person's door knocking. When a street-sweeper goes door knocking, the feeling he gives others in his demeanor will be different from that of a college professor who goes door knocking. In the same way, when the elders take the lead to go out door knocking, they will be somewhat more weighty than most of the saints going out by themselves. Therefore, the elders must learn to lead. They should not be elders as in the former days, only sitting at a desk in the business office busying themselves with the miscellaneous affairs of the church. Instead, they should go out every day to knock on doors, care for people, teach people, and perfect people. Moreover, according to the Bible, the elders should not lord it over the flock but should become the leading sheep as patterns of the flock ( 1 Pet. 5:3 ). Likewise, the co-workers should take the lead to go out door knocking. There should be no silent spectators among us. On the contrary, we should actively carry out these principles of twenty people producing one full-timer and four people producing at least one doorknocker. Moreover, all the saints should rise up to support, pray, and coordinate fully with monetary contributions so that the door-knockers, especially the full-time serving ones, can go forward with all their might without having to worry about their livelihood. Simultaneously, the co-workers and elders should take the lead to preach the gospel of the Lord's recovery, and all the saints should rise up as one man to allow the Lord to have the free way in this age to advance His economy.

THE PLAN TO EVANGELIZE TAIWAN IN FIVE YEARS

I am certain that if we faithfully go to practice and labor, the great project of evangelizing Taiwan in five years will be a success under the Lord's gracious leading. According to our original calculations, we would need two thousand five hundred full-timers for this evangelization project. Yet after our observations and experiences, at present I would say we need only one thousand to evangelize the entire island of Taiwan in the remaining few years. The brothers and sisters must pick up the burden to expend their energy by praying and offering their money for this matter so that the move to evangelize Taiwan, which began in 1985, can be accomplished by 1990.

If some full-time serving ones from other countries can participate in the move to evangelize and "churchize" Taiwan in five years, the results and the glory will be promising. We now have people of every color from the six continents on earth who have entered into this move. This is a very encouraging matter. I hope that the saints in all the local churches would say amen from the depths of their being to the Lord's new move today and that they would put forth their best effort to successfully carry out the unique, new way given to us by the Lord.

Most people consider Christianity a religion. In the Bible religion is a negative term, not a positive one. In other words, the Bible actually depreciates religion; religion has no position in the Bible. Therefore, is so-called Christianity really a religion? According to the orthodox, scriptural teaching, Christianity is actually not a religion. The suffix -ianity was brought in by translators. In the Bible there is only "Christ" without the "-ianity." Christ is a living Person who is the embodiment of the Triune God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-and who passed through death and resurrection to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit in order that we can breathe Him in and be filled and occupied by Him. I believe that when we meet together, He is with us, and He is also moving in many ways, giving grace to each one of us. This is the Christ mentioned in the Bible and the Christ whom we preach, believe, worship, and serve. He is not a religion, not even so-called Christianity; rather, He is the living Christ as the contents of our faith.

On the other hand, according to the degraded and deformed situation of Christianity, it has truly become a great religion, of which the largest sect is Catholicism and the second largest is Protestantism. In Protestantism, there are many denominations and sects. This is a universally recognized fact. May we all understand that we do not represent any kind or any sect of Christianity. We represent the church of God, which is the church as the living Body of Christ constituted with all the saints, that is, have His eternal life.

If we want to carry out the gospel, truth, life, and the church, then we must rely on the Holy Spirit and the word of' God, and we must pray with all prayer and petition while laboring diligently. Over these past sixty years we have not been satisfied with the result of our experience. If we look back at the past two thousand years, the result of what Christianity has practiced has also been disappointing. Now the Lord has given us a definite new way for accomplishing His commission to us, which is the way of door-knocking, visiting people, establishing home meetings, teaching the truth, and bringing people into the building up of the church.

However, this kind of practice needs sufficient manpower. This is due to the fact that door-knocking is not an easy matter, visiting people is not a simple thing, teaching the truth and ministering life are even more difficult, and bringing people into the Body of Christ to live together in the 'practical church life is the most difficult of all. These matters will require not only time but also manpower. Therefore, after much prayer and study before the Lord, we have seen that if we are to carry out the Lord's commission, we will need three practical areas of coordination. First, those who meet regularly must produce one out of every twenty to be a full-time serving one who is supported by the other nineteen. Second, they must produce one out of every four to be a door-knocker who would spend at least two hours every week going out for door-knocking, caring for others, teaching the truth, fellowshipping with others, and ministering life. Third, in addition to the general offerings, everyone must give everything they have to support this move, not just with prayer but even more with monetary supply. This will be the strongest backing for this move.

Under normal circumstances, every full-timer who sets aside the Lord's Day for meeting and goes out six days for door-knocking and visiting people two to three hours a day will be able to gain at least one person each week for baptism. Those who go out two hours each week will be able to gain one person for baptism every two months. According to this principle, we will have a fourfold increase yearly. If we are faithful, this will not be merely wishful thinking but will be something attainable. I hope that we all will receive this commission and begin offering all that we can and all that we have for the gospel and for human souls.

The purpose of the practice of the new way is to practically carry out the gospel, truth, life, and the church, which God has commissioned us with. Our hope is that the new way would gain new ones, and that the new ones would walk in the new way.

Through more than sixty years of experience, during which we have carefully analyzed the practices of the Christian denominations and have studied the divine revelation again and again, we have found the way, which is according to the Bible and ordained by God. This way is testified to and is according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and it is most effective. We call it the "new way." Over the past two thousand years, there have been some who have seemingly taken this way but have not considered it to be the unique way ordained by God. Practically speaking, this new way has four steps. First, we go out knocking on doors and visiting people to preach the gospel and to lead them to be saved and baptized. After the experiments in the first term of the full-time training, this point has been proven to be workable. We have all heard the testimonies of the full-time trainees. There are even some who gained one hundred twenty people in a little more than two months and brought them to be baptized. This is a tremendous accomplishment.

Second, we must lead people into the knowledge of the truth. When we speak of the truth, we do not mean the ordinary, shallow truth spoken by most people, but the truth revealed in the Bible concerning God's eternal economy. God's eternal economy is that God in His Divine Trinity passed through various processes to dispense Himself into men that they may be regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, conformed, and glorified to become the many members of Christ who constitute the Body of Christ as the corporate expression of God on earth. After we go out door-knocking to preach the gospel, we must establish meetings in the homes of all the newly baptized ones and begin to teach them this truth. This truth is the essence and the center of the Bible. This truth concerns what God intends to obtain according to His heart's desire. Christianity, however, has continually ignored this truth.

From my youth until the present, I have been studying the Bible for more than sixty-one years. The more I have studied it, the more I know the mystery it contains. This mystery is about God's eternal economy, which is truly a great matter. Within God there is an economy; by passing through various processes, He intends to dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people, uniting them with Himself as one entity and constituting them into the Body of Christ as the expression of God on earth. The saints should all study this truth thoroughly. They should understand it to the extent that they can open their mouths and easily teach it to the new ones. They should also make every new one someone who teaches others after just a few months of home meetings. If they do this, then in a very short time many people will know the truth of this mystery and all the other truths of the Bible. This is what we mean by our commission concerning the truth. The truth includes all the riches of God with light, life, power, and all spiritual things. When we teach the truth to people, they will spontaneously be fed and supplied with life, and they will be able to grow in life. The life spoken of in the Bible refers to the uncreated, eternal life of God. This life is not something outside of or apart from God. This life is just God Himself. Therefore, this life is the Spirit, and the Spirit is Christ. When we say that we minister life to people, we mean that we minister the Spirit and Christ to them. Life, the Spirit, and Christ are all appositives referring to one substantial matter-the eternal life. Therefore, we should all jump with rejoicing because we have obtained this eternal life.

God, however, does not stop here. He has a unique purpose in dispensing His life into us. His intention is that we, the regenerated ones, may be sanctified, renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of His firstborn Son and that we may be constituted as His Body, the church, the golden lamp stands appearing in each locality to express His glory. Thus, our fourth commission is to build up the new ones-those who were baptized, have been edified in the truth, have grown in life, and are being transformed-into the Body of Christ as the corporate expression of God.

We must clearly recognize that the burden and commission which we have received from the Lord are not just to go out door-knocking and to lead people to salvation. Rather, we must gain a group of new ones who will be for God's economy. Today the world population is about 4.6 billion, and the number of Christians and Catholics added together still does not equal one-third of the entire world population. All the rest of the people are non-Christians. Moreover, the Christian group in Taiwan with the greatest number of people is the Presbyterian Church, and they have only a little more than 100,000 believers. The local churches are the next largest with 40,000 or 50,000. The third is the True Jesus Church with 20,000 or 30,000. The total added together does not even equal 200,000, as all the rest of the Christian groups have just a few scattered members. Taiwan is such a modern place, yet it has so few Christians. Therefore, when we go out door-knocking, our principal target is still non-Christians. If we do knock on the door of a Catholic or a Christian, we should not try to change them, nor should we reject them. We should just give them The Mystery of Human Life. If they would not receive it, we should politely go away. We must always remember that in the entire world there are more than 3 billion unbelievers who are the main target of our door-knocking. We must let Christianity go its own way. We will gain new ones for the Lord's recovery.

This is why we need to be trained. This training is not to train us in methods or techniques but to train us in the truth, that we all could be filled with the truth. Then when we go out door-knocking we would not just gain some people but would help them to know the truth. I have said before that if we take four thousand as the basic number for Taipei and practice according to what we have fellowshipped, then in four years we should be able to gain 2.7 million people. Then Taipei would really be evangelized. I do know that among those whom we gain, probably only a small number will be reliable and stable. Nevertheless, even those unreliable Christians who do not come to meetings are beneficial to us.

In the place where I am staying there are several potted plants. One day I saw an orchid on my coffee table that had roots, branches, and leaves, but only one flower. I realized that any particular thing needs many outward items to support and cultivate its inward substance. In the same way, if 2.7 million people are baptized, then most of them are "roots," "branches," and "leaves," but very few "outshine" others to be the "flower." Therefore, we should not be worried if the new ones are unreliable or if perhaps there are some false ones among them; sometimes false Christians are beneficial to us. Even at the time of the apostle Paul there were some unreliable ones in the church. Paul was one who received the highest revelation and who led the Corinthians to salvation, yet the Corinthians turned around and said that he had been crafty and taken them by guile for the purpose of getting their money (cf. 2 Cor. 12:16). I believe that God has a record of this, so there is no need to worry. We just need to allow those predestined to salvation to be saved and let those who would oppose do so. Our goal is that all the people in Taipei would be saved.

In 1949 I began the work in Taipei, and the whole meeting hall was full of people on the first day. Because everyone of them had come with a different purpose, I told them, "You go to a certain kind of restaurant to eat a certain kind of food. We do not have a Shantung restaurant, so if some of you want to eat steamed bread, you have come to the wrong place." I expected that the numbers on the next Lord's Day would certainly be smaller and that those who came would want to eat our food, so I asked the business office to prepare cards for signing up. As expected, less than half showed up; most of the others never came again. I just worked with those who came back, and it brought in the Lord's great blessing.

In this age the Lord has certainly revealed all the visions in the New Testament to us, enabling us to clearly see God's economy. Now we should be faithful to go out door-knocking to gain some for this economy and to feed the new ones for this economy by teaching them the truth. On the other hand, we ourselves must live in this economy. In this way, we will have such a group of people under the light of the truth who are being taught, cultivated, and supplied and who in their daily lives live Christ, express Him, and have become one spirit with Him, living in the spirit and walking by the spirit. This is what the Lord wants to obtain today. When the Lord returns, these ones will be the bride for Him to gain and the first fruits who are raptured first. It is such a group of people who can cause the Lord to have a desire to come back. Where is the bride today? If the bride is not prepared, how can He come? If He were to come anyway, would He not come in vain? Only such a group of people who are constituted as the Lord's bride through practicing the new way will be able to bring in the Lord's return. I hope that we all will see this vision clearly. We must be reminded here that we are going on in the way of recovery, beginning with the step of door-knocking. If we knock on the door of a Catholic or a Christian, we should never try to change them. No matter how much they praise, ,welcome, or admire you, they will almost always return to their own fold. Nevertheless, we must be broad and do our best to help them. Our strength, however, must be focused on the unbelievers or on the newly saved ones, setting up meetings in their homes and bringing them to know the truth. If we faithfully practice according to the principles we have fellowshipped, then in a year we will certainly double our number.

In the church, regardless of whether you are old or young, you all need to bear and help one another instead of making demands on or criticizing each other. The young trainees should not overemphasize the fact that they are taking the new way and have gained so many people through door-knocking. The older ones should not shake their heads, thinking that these trainees, who have just knocked on a few doors and gained a few people who mayor may not be reliable, simply cannot compare with themselves who are so stable and steadfast in the church for so many years. Some localities have divided into parties over this matter of promoting the new way but because we know there cannot be division in the church, we still meet in one place while we sit in our parties on different sides. This is not pleasing to God, and I hope none of you would be proud or consider yourself to be stronger! than others.

The older saints should get credit for their hard work, . not for their achievement, in establishing and maintaining the testimony of the church. In this respect, the young people must honor and appreciate the older ones. The younger one must be humble before the elderly fathers. They should aggressive in the matter of door-knocking, not in the way to deal with the older saints. Some of the older saints cannot used to the new way, so the younger ones should not boast front of them. Instead, they should be quiet and not proud. Over a long period of time, the older ones will trust you and let you do as you see fit. Do not think of pushing them to follow you; their function is to be guardians of the church. You should just boldly go out door-knocking. Later, when you have brought people to salvation and have slowly brought some into the church life, the older saints will see this, and even if in the past they blew cold wind and poured cold water on you, they will be really happy in their hearts. They are only worried that you will not bear remaining fruit. Their hearts are good, so you must still bring your new ones to them for confirmation.

Furthermore, the young people must learn not to have any opinions. When I was young in the denominations and later when I came into the Lord's recovery, I never had any opinions with respect to those older than I. Today in the Lord's recovery, the saints in every local church all love the Lord and are for the Lord's recovery, so we do not need to have opinions. Instead, we should coordinate together, striving to keep the oneness of the Spirit. In this term of the training five thousand people have been saved through door-knocking, and one thousand home meetings have been established. By the end of the training, even more people will have been saved and even more home meetings will have been established. In time the older saints will feel comforted and will appreciate the new way, admitting that it is wonderful. This will keep the oneness of the church and will also keep the church in the oneness of the Spirit without any opinions.

I hope that all of us would be able to receive this balancing word. The church needs the older saints and the younger saints, just as a country needs the older people for maintaining it and the younger people for fighting. But people are very strange. When they are in the army, they always say the army is good and important, but when they are discharged, they say that the army is not good. When a person is doing something personally, he or she says that it is good. Teachers say teaching is good, and businessmen say doing business is good. When they are no longer occupying that particular position or doing that particular job, they say that it is not good. These things are difficult to avoid, so we should not be bothered by them.