College Campus Service

THE PRACTICE HANDBOOK FOR THE DISTRICT SERVING ONES

SERIES FOUR
SERVICES FOR SAINTS OF ALL AGES

Message Three
College Campus Service

2 Tim. 2:22   But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

1 John 2:14   I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GAINING YOUNG PEOPLE

The Lord Always Using Young People to Do Something New 

The Scriptures reveal that whenever the Lord wants to do something new or to change the age, He turns to the young people. This is a principle. There is no case in the Bible in which the Lord used the older generation to turn the age. This principle is borne out in the history of the church. Whenever the Lord wanted to do something new in His recovery, He used young people. There are at least three reasons that the Lord operates in this way. First, young people receive new things rather easily. Second, young people are not as occupied as older people. Generally speaking, older people are set in their ways and are preoccupied with old things. Because young people are not preoccupied with old things, it is easy for the Lord to gain them for His new move. Third, even if older people are not occupied with old things, it is not easy for them to learn or be trained in new things. It is much easier to train young people. It is for these reasons that the Lord goes to young people when He wishes to do something new.

The impact of any move is always with the young people. Hence, while we realize that the Lord needs the older saints and recognize that we should not neglect or look down upon them, we must realize that the impact of the Lord’s move is with the young people. 

For this reason, the future of the Lord’s work and the potential for the advance of the Lord’s recovery lies mainly with the young people. We must go on with the Lord, and we must do so in His way. 

Gaining Young People
for the Sake of the Lord’s Move in the Years to Come

The student work will require us to spend much time and pay a price. Laboring to bring thirty to forty young people to the Lord in one semester no doubt involves paying a price; however, the benefit of gaining that many young people far exceeds the cost we expend. For the sake of the Lord’s move in the years to come, we need to gain young people. If we bring in a number of college students today, after five years they will be over twenty-five years of age and will be very useful in the Lord’s hand. They first need to be saved. Then they need to be brought into the church for the church life. Here they will be trained and become burning. Eventually, the Lord will call some of them to advance the spread of His recovery. We have a good number of saints in our midst, and we praise the Lord and thank Him for His grace and mercy to us in this regard. Yet we lack a second generation. We need a good number of young people who will be trained for the Lord’. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Los Angeles Meetings,” ch. 2)

PRINCIPLES FOR HAVING A PREVAILING WORK
AMONG THE STUDENTS

The Work Needing to Be
Under the Hands of the Students

First, the work for the Lord among the students must be under the hands of the young people who are students. This point is of basic importance. The older saints sometimes think that the brothers and sisters do not know how to carry out the work. Consequently, those who are in the work try to help them. However, such “help” only kills the work. The work among the students must be under the hands of the students. The work among the students can be carried out only in this way, that is, only under the hands of the young people. young All the Saints Needing to Be Young Second, all the saints must be young. By young, I am speaking not only of age, for some people are young in age but old in attitude. 

The Work at Each School Being Taken Care of Separately

The work at each school must be taken care of separately. Simply because there are only two or three saints on one campus and a handful of saints on another does not mean that the two local schools should work together. Under most circumstances, putting two schools together does not work. Regardless of how small the number of saints may be at various schools, each school should be taken care of separately. 

The work among the students at a particular campus should be absolutely under the hands of the students who study there. The students who are studying at one college should not do a work at another. Such a work is not possible. The work on a certain campus must be carried out by the students of that college. This is a basic principle.

Praying and Fellowshipping on Each Campus

Do your best to get some brothers and sisters on each campus to pray and fellowship with you. Through this p fellowship, you and they will gradually form a nucleus. prayer and

Gaining Burdened Students to Rise Up as a Nucleus

Another basic principle is that if there is no one who is burdened at a certain school, you should not try to work there. The only way to work on a campus is if you work on certain students who can be raised up as a nucleus. No matter how much experience have working for the Lord, if you do not have burdened students you on a campus, you can do very little there. Therefore, do not try to begin a work at a campus on which no students are meeting. Simply endeavor to raise up a nucleus of students on that campus and help them to realize that they have a responsibility for their way you can burden them to rise up. Once they realize their responsibility and become burdened, they will form a nucleus. This nucleus will be the start of the work on their campus. If you bring campus. In this way to the Lord and endeavor to practice it, you will see that it really works.

Helping Those in the Nucleus
to Become Clear concerning the Church Life

Once the nucleus is formed, you need to help those in the nucleus to become clear concerning the church life. On this point, we must be unambiguous. On the one hand, the work among the students should be kept away from the church; on the other hand, the members of the nucleus, who take care of the work, should be very clear concerning the church life. Those in the nucleus must know that their purpose is not merely to bring people to the Lord but is also to collect materials for the building up of the church. Working for the building up of the church may seem to contradict the principle of keeping the campus work away from the church. Nevertheless, if you want to do a prevailing work among the students, you need both aspects. While you as students should never represent the church, you should realize that as members of the Body, everything you do is for the Body.

Having a Proper Church Life in Which They Are Preserved 

You need to have a proper place to which you can bring those whom you lead to the Lord. Many different Christian groups on the campuses bring people to the Lord; however, most of those who are saved by such groups are eventually lost because they do not have a proper church life in which to be preserved. If you are in the church life, you will gradually bring those whom you lead to the Lord into the church life. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Fellowship on Beginning the Work Among Students,” ch. 1)

FURTHER DETAILS CONCERNING
THE STEPS WE MUST TAKE

In carrying out this work, we must take several steps. These steps are based upon what we have learned from our past experience. 

Gathering to Encourage One Another and to Pray 

As we have mentioned, all the brothers and sisters who attend a given school or college should first come together, fellowship, and fan one another’s spirit into flame. It is equally important for them to pray and fast together concerning their campus. 

Acquiring a House near the Campus
That Would be a Station for the Work

It would be very profitable if the saints could acquire a house that would be a station for the work among the students. The house should be located no more than a few minutes walk from the campus. If it is not possible to buy such a house, then the church might consider renting such a house. It is best if a young couple that loves the Lord lives in this house. This couple will be able to be the students’ “godmother” and “godfather” and take care of them as parents. Many young students have no real home. Even those who still live at home want a second home. Such students might even be more inclined to listen to the young couple than to their own parents. If this couple together with all the saints help the students, take care of their needs, prepare meals and snacks for them, and even wash and mend their clothes, the students’ hearts will be touched. Then it will be easy for us to dispense Christ into them. Having a home to bring the students to makes it easy to bring people into the church life. Thus, it would be good if the church in each city would make arrangements to have such a house for the sake of the Lord’s work among the young people.

Bringing People First to Christ and Then to the Church 

When we carry out our work on the college campuses, it is best if we do not do so in the name of the church. We should allow the church to remain in the background. The students who are among us should simply introduce themselves as students on that particular campus. If people ask them who they are, they should say, “We are simply students on this campus. We are not working for any church. Rather, we are working for the Lord Jesus Christ.” To not emphasize the church is to be wise. Although the students surely have the support of the church, they should not move and act in the name of the church. 

 When we work in this way, we should first bring people to the house of the couple who live near the campus. There we can bring them to the Lord. After we have brought them to the Lord, it will be for us to train them. By this training, we will bring them to the easy church life. It is true that the couple’s home is their stepping-stone into the church life; however, when we contact people, we should not tell them that our intention is to bring them into the church in our city. This will only lead to misunderstanding and unnecessary discussion. We catch people for Christ first. Only then do we gain them for the church. 

Stirring Up the Entire Church
to Pray for the Young People

Although the church should remain in the background, we should still bring our burden for the students to the church in order to stir up the whole church to pray for what we are doing. When the church picks up this burden, the church will be behind us and will be absolutely one with us in our burden.

The Whole Church Sharing the Burden
for the Young People

All the saints should share in the burden of prayer for the work among the students. Although we thank the Lord that in the past few years He has answered our prayers, we recognize that we may have never prayed in a definite way for the work among the students. In these days we, as the church in our place, must take up the burden to pray for this matter. Each local church must pray definitely for the Lord’s move among the students. 

The churches are like fishing boats, and the schools and colleges with their students are like oceans that are filled with many fish. Just as it is relatively easy to catch fish in the ocean, it is easy to catch young people on the campuses. Today we have the church as the boat, the young saints as the fishermen, and the campuses as the oceans. Now we need to simply cast out the net to catch people. Everyone in the church needs to take up the burden to pray for this matter. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Los Angeles Meetings,” ch. 2)

CATCHING THE YOUNG PEOPLE

The Easiest Way to Work among the Students
Being to Work on the Freshmen

The easiest way to work among the students is to work on the freshmen. After students have been studying in college for two hard to get them. When the high school graduates years, it is et into college, it is something new to them. At that time it is very very you to bring them in. Spend more time on the freshmen. for easy We all have to take this word; it is something from my experience. If you are a farmer, you sow the seed. Before you sow the seed, you must select some good soil, some good land. Some places are not that good for sowing, but other places are very good. You therefore must be wise to sow in the proper place. Spend more time with the freshmen.

Every time the semester quarter starts, that is the right time. Do not be late. Even two weeks later is too late. When the new ones enter the school, you must capture them. You must take advantage of the season to bring some new ones in. Work with these few points, and put them into practice. You will see that they really work. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Various Los Angeles Meetings,” ch. 6)

Praying and Seizing The Golden Opportunity
to Gain the Freshmen

September is a golden time to catch the freshmen. Every September we should be able to catch a good number. This does not mean that we do not preach the gospel to others. Our daily walk, our meetings, and our communal life are all a type of gospel preaching. Wherever we live, we influence the community. But we must purposely form teams to go to the campuses to reach the young people. If we do this with much prayer, a good number will be brought in. Let September be the time to make contact and October the month to reap. During these months, concentrate your time and labor on reaping a new crop of freshmen. First you reap them, then you build them up. After that, you may use them to gain their classmates or roommates. We need to do the same thing year after year. I believe that each time we do this, more freshmen will be reaped. Do not miss this opportunity. We must pray and seize this golden opportunity. If we gain the freshmen, then through them we shall gain some of their parents. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, “The Spirit and the Body,” ch. 11)

Bringing Them to the Meetings of that Nucleus
to Give Them a Taste

Do not talk to people about religion, teachings, or doctrine. Do not even talk to them about the Bible (this is hard for me to say!). Instead, have some contact with them. Then, as you have a nucleus that loves one another, coordinates well together, and meets to enjoy the Lord, you can bring them to the meetings of that nucleus to give them a taste. We set up a “table” to give them a taste. Invite them to come to the “table” to taste a little. This is the most prevailing way to gain the young people in this country. After they taste something, they will open up to you, and then you can feed them something more. When the young people are fed at this table, they will seek something more. That is the right time to bring the church life to them and to bring them to the church. Eventually, all those gained by you will be members of the church. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Various Los Angeles Meetings,” ch. 6)

ENCOURAGING THOSE WHO ARE IN COLLEGE
TO TAKE ACTION WITHOUT DELAY

Coming Together to Fellowship With One Another
and to Pray With Fasting

I encourage you who are in college to take action without delay. First, all who are students at the same college and are living on or near the same campus should come together to fellowship with one another and to pray with fasting. In this way you will stir one another up to be burning in spirit and will create the proper kind of atmosphere (Heb. 10:24-25; Rom. 12:11; 2 Tim. 2:22; 1:6-7).

Bringing the Atmosphere that Has Been Brought in
Through Your Prayer and Fasting Into the Church

 Second, bring the atmosphere that has been brought in through your prayer and fasting into the church in your locality. If you do this, you will burden the entire church with this matter. Ask the entire church to rise up to share the burden with you for the Lord’s move on your campus and to pray much for it. 

Seeking the Lord’s Mind to Determine a Weekend
to Preach the Gospel on Your Campus

Third, seek the Lord’s mind to determine a weekend on which to preach the gospel on your campus. This can be done only by praying and fasting over the course of several days. Once you have set aside the right weekend, you must fellowship with the church in your place and even with the surrounding local churches so that they can invite many of the young saints to join you. If the students in Davis, California, determine to devote a certain weekend to the gospel on their campus, then through their fellowship with the other churches in California, some of the young brothers and sisters from San Francisco and Los Angeles can join them for that weekend. In this way, although there may not be many saints on your campus, you will form an army that will be able to fight for the Lord’s interests. 

If you take this way, it will be easy for you to bring eighty to one hundred students to each meeting. If you meet to preach the gospel three times on the weekend- once on Friday night, once on saturday night, and once on the Lord’s Day morning, it will be easy for five to ten people to be saved in each meeting and for at least fifteen or twenty people to be baptized after the final meeting on the Lord’s Day afternoon. Furthermore, at each meeting you will be able to collect the names of thirty to forty students on whom you can labor throughout the course of the semester. It is not too much to say that in one semester twenty people can be saved and baptized, and fifty can be taken care of. Eventually, it will be possible for you to bring thirty to fifty people to the Lord each semester. If you carry out this work in the right way, it will not be difficult for you to bring one hundred students to the lord every year. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Los Angeles Meetings,” ch. 2)

THE PERFECTING OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE

Teaching Them Instead of Replacing Them

We must pay attention to a fundamental point in the young people’s work, which is that we must bring them into working with us. We should not replace others in whatever we do. However, we often do the work by ourselves and thus replace others. This is the natural way to work. Those who have truly been trained will not take this way. The trained way is to always teach others and work with others. It is necessary for us to apply this principle to the young people’s work.

Producing Burdened Saints in the Schools

The co-worker should not go to the school to preach the gospel. Once he goes, he has failed. Instead, he should let the young brother do the work. The co-worker must work on the young brother until the young brother is raised up. The co-worker should not go to the school; rather, he must work on a young brother until the young brother is more zealous and more serious about the work than the co-worker is. Thus, even if the co-worker would stop serving, the young brother would continue to believe and work. The work must become the young brother’s and no longer the work of the co-worker. Then the co-worker has achieved his goal.

The practical way is to labor and gain one person, working on him until he is burdened to preach the gospel in his school. In other words, we should let him preach the gospel. He can save one classmate, and the two can begin to meet together. When he feels that he cannot meet the need, he will ask for help, and we should assist him. Perhaps he will bring a classmate with him. We should teach the two of them to coordinate together and to meet. However, we do not need to meet with them at school. We must learn this basic lesson.

When the young saints ask for help, we should be ready to help them. If we cannot help them, they will not ask for help again. A co-worker must develop the skill of helping the saints, or he will be useless. If the young saints learn something that they can apply, they will return for more help. Then the co-worker can give them further direction. At this point, the work will be borne by both the saints and the co-worker. The work will belong to both, because the saints carry it out at school, and the co-worker helps as needed. If we work in this way, it will be easy to gain a school.

Letting the Young People Serve
and Supplying Them

In every school we must produce young saints who are so burdened for the gospel that the work becomes theirs, and we only assist and supply them from a distance. Our work is to produce a saint who is more burdened than we are. We should work with him until he is on fire for the gospel. He should be so burdened for the gospel that even if the director of his school opposes Christ, he would find a way to preach the gospel. Our work is a success if we do not go to a school and ask the director for a room in order for the young saints to meet. This is what it means to be a capable worker. We should let the brother whom we have perfected lead his classmates. When he asks for help, we should be ready to assist him so that he can take a step forward. If we work in this way, the young saints will decide when and where to have a meeting. They will take care of their own meeting and bear the burden for the meeting. Apparently, their meeting is their work; in reality, it is also our work.

If this is the way we serve, every school will be open to us. Both university students and junior high school students can be gained in this way. Instead of replacing the students, we should serve with them and let them serve. It is not a problem for them to make a mistake. We should watch over them from a distance and render help to them when necessary.

Training the Students

We should regard the students as soldiers. If we learn this secret, our service will be ten times more effective. To engage in battle does not require a great skill, but to teach others to fight requires skill. In order to teach others, you must be the first one to learn. The more people you teach, the more you must learn. If we could adopt this way of serving, it will be easy to spread the work. There are probably three hundred and twenty thousand students in Taipei. If we gain one-tenth of them, we will have thirty-two thousand students. God is not asking too much from us. He asks only for one-tenth, but this one-tenth is thirty-two thousand. If we continue in the old way, we will not be able to gain this many.

We must let the students have their own meetings. We must even let go of the junior high students and let them have their own meetings. At the same time, we should actively supply, care for, and guide them from a distance. The university students may not require as much of our effort and time. The younger the students, the more time and effort we will need. This does not mean that we should lead their meetings. No, we should still let them have their own meetings. Guiding the students can be compared to flying a kite. A person holds the string that is attached to the kite, not the kite itself. The students carry out the work, and we supply them. The way we serve and the supply we render are the focal points of our work. These two matters are not easy to learn. No matter what the situation is, we must always have something solid with which to supply others. This supply cannot be met by giving one message a week. What we supply should meet the students’ real need. Initially, this may be difficult, but the more skilled we are, the easier it will become. Furthermore, it is very effective. (CWWL, 1971, vol. 1, “Shepherding the Church and Perfecting the Young People,” msg. 7)

Conducting Trainings and Conferences at Appointed Times

At appointed times we will conduct trainings and conferences. In this way the young people will not only spend their time in the church life, learning how to practice the church life, but they will also attend conferences and trainings, where they will be trained. Then after their graduation from college or graduate school, they will be useful in the Lord’s new move.

We have a good number of saints in our midst, and we praise the Lord and thank Him for His grace and mercy to us in this regard. Yet we lack a second generation. We need a good number of young people who will be trained for the Lord’s spreading of His recovery throughout many countries. What the Lord is doing among us is new. As the Lord’s recovery it is vital that we have young materials. Therefore, we have to take up this burden. 

Taking this Way Bringing in the Lord’s Blessing

We must all be clear about the Lord’s move, and we must all be burdened for it. Our heart is that we would not waste our time in the church life. If we mean business with the Lord, let us redeem the time and take advantage of the opportunity to do whatever we can for the Lord’s move among the As to the details of how to carry these things out, the responsible brothers in each locality will help the local saints. Furthermore, all the saints should coordinate among themselves and be related to the church. Although the church should be in the background in our work on the campuses, we need to work in a way that brings all the saints in the church into this present burden. If we take this way, we will bring in the Lord’s blessing. Let us pray for His work among the young people in these days. young people. (CWWL, 1967, vol. 2, “Los Angeles Meetings,” ch. 2)

Discussion:

1.    How to lead college students to have a corporate living?

2.    How to perfect students to do the campus work?

3.    How to encourage students to attend the conferences during winter and summer break?

4.    How to encourage students to join the full-time training after graduation?