THE UNIQUE WORK IN GOD’S ECONOMY
Message Nineteen
The Building of the Large Meeting Hall
for the Need of Corporate Meetings and the Long-term Training
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:6-9, 12; 15:58; 16:10; Eph. 4:11-12; Matt. 16:18; Gal. 4:19; 2 Cor. 3:8; Eph. 3:16-21; 4:12, 16
I. We need a big meeting hall that can afford us a place for corporate meetings once a month and can be used on a regular basis for the long-term training:
A. The principle in the Bible shows that we need both the big meetings and the small meetings; these meetings can be compared to the two wings of a bird or an airplane; the big meetings are one wing, and the small meetings are the other wing:
1. Our basic principle is to build up the church in the believers’ homes so that the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of the truth, and the edifying of the saints are in the homes; however, Christians still need big meetings, because the atmosphere of the big meetings can never be replaced by small meetings.
2. According to the principle in the Old Testament, God ordained that His people gather in Jerusalem three times a year; if the church is built up only in the homes, the building will be scattered, and the saints as a whole will not be able to join and blend with one another; hence, there is the need for a big meeting to join and blend the saints together.
3. Moreover, some high-peak truths cannot be released from house to house through the ministry; rather, they need to be released in the big meetings; the release of the high-peak truths in the big meetings will become the truth lessons for the saints to mutually teach and ask questions in the homes.
4. Furthermore, international conferences and trainings can also be held; this will blend the churches on the earth into one Body.
B. In the future we hope to have two thousand five hundred full-time brothers and sisters being trained each term; the place where they can meet and have training classes is a problem; if we have a place with a dormitory and a dining hall, we can accept the saints from abroad to the training.
II. Specific illustrations of the building:
A. Brother Nee purchased the training center in Kuling:
1. In the beginning of 1930, brother Nee had a deep burden. He felt that he should give special training to those brothers, who were younger than him and who were raised up by the Lord, and few sisters.
2. From 1942 to 1948, brother Nee could not minister for six years, and he operated the pharmaceutical business; at that time, I was informed that the income that brother Nee had earned during the six years in the operation of the pharmaceutical business was all used to purchase the houses on Kuling Mountain, being prepared for the training center. That was truly a good place. There is a distance between each two buildings, so brothers and sisters could have a walk during the break time. It was the most ideal place for training.
B. The purchase of the land and the building of the meeting hall in Shanghai:
1. The church in Shanghai began meetings from the end of 1926, and later developed as the biggest church in the whole country. However, in 1947 when there was a revival, the meeting hall could not hold so many people because the number in the meetings increased. So the need to purchase the land for the building of a large meeting hall was increasingly urgent.
2. It was until April, 1948 that brother Nee returned to his ministry. Meanwhile, there was an increase in number in the church, all the saints had a heart for the Lord. Eventually, we found a large piece of land with twelve thousand square feet where there was a garden villa on Nan Yang Road.
C. The purchase of the land and building of the meeting hall in Hong Kong:
1. Concerning the meeting hall in Hong Kong, brother Nee arranged a purchasing and construction group to purchase the land and build the meet hall. Brother Lee had ever told the brothers the principles concerning the purchasing of the meeting hall: first, it shall be located in the center of Hong Kong and Kowloon; second, it shall be a quiet place in downtown area; third, money should be spent as much as possible on the purchase of the land, and less money should be spent on the building of the meeting hall, in order for the convenience for its development and extension in the future.
2. However, due to the consideration of money, the brothers just bought the land with six thousand square feet. Later when they began to build according to the blueprint, they found that six thousand square feet was not enough. However, when they went back to buy more, they could only buy another three thousand square feet. So the total floor area of the meeting hall in Hong Kong is more than nine thousand square feet.
D. The large meeting hall in Anaheim:
1. That hall is quite large—about two hundred and twenty feet long and one hundred and ten feet wide. In appearance, it is wood on top and stone at the bottom. In reality, the frame of that large meeting hall was neither wood nor stone but altogether steel.
2. Because the Anaheim meeting hall is supported by steel pillars, whether it seats three thousand or four thousand people, it stands there securely like a fortress or a small mountain. It cannot be affected by anything except perhaps a very great earthquake.
E. Xinkee Building in Taipei:
1. Xinkee Building is located at Xinyi Road 460, Xinyi district, Taipei city. It is a building with 22 storeys overground and 5 storeys underground, near the planning district in Xinyi. Because it is located at the intersection of the Xinyi Road and Keelung Road, it is named Xinkee Building, which also implies “believing into Christ”.
2. At the end of 1984, brother Lee came back to Taiwan to practice the new way. In 1987 he purchased the land near the sixth meeting hall in Taipei. The floor area of the original land in the sixth meeting hall was 217 ping (1 ping is about 3.3 square meters) and that time 317 ping was purchased. It was 588 ping in total and used as the building land of Xinkee Building.
