LESSONS ON THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY

Lesson Fifteen

The Vital Groups (1)—The Burden and the Vitality

Scripture Reading:

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Rom. 8:4 That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water gushing up into eternal life.

John 21:15 Then when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs.

2 Tim. 2:2 And the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses, these commit to faithful men, who will be competent to teach others also.

Rev. 14:4b-5 These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth no lie was found; they are without blemish.

I. The burden of the vital groups—John 15:5; Rom. 8:4; John 4:14:

A. A vital group is a group of normal Christians who will bring the recovery into another age.

B. The main extract of messages on vital groups from 1992 to 1993:

1. Abiding in the Lord—John 15:5.

2. Walking according to the spirit—Rom 8:4.

3. Flowing rivers of living water—John 4:14.

C. Rising up to pick up the way to be vital.

II. The vital groups being the life-line of the God-ordained Way—Acts 2:46-47:

A. Our present situation being very desperate.

B. The group meetings should constitute eighty percent of the church life.

C. The spreading which the Lord wants being in the homes—Acts 2:46-47.

III. Our attitude for the vital groups—Acts 20:31-35:

A. Only through labor will we know how to practice the vital groups—James 5:7.

B. Our failure being that we did not labor:

1. If we do not labor persistently, we will not have a proper result.

2. The way of the labor being to labor by all means and at any cost—1 Cor. 15:10.

3. Our labor should be a labor of love—1 Thes. 1:3.

4. Our labor in the Lord will never be in vain—1 Cor. 15:58.

C. We must be desperate—Acts 18:5; 2 Cor. 5:14:

1. The furtherance of the vital groups unto the increase should be a matter of life or death with us.

2. We should be desperate for the Lord’s interest on the earth today; this is our destiny—Acts 20:20, 31.

D. We should not have any excuse for ourselves, but we should have a positive, fearless, and laboring spirit to accomplish the Lord’s commitment to us—Acts 20:24; Col. 1:28-29.

IV. The obligation of the vital groups—shepherding and teaching—Luke 15:4-7, 24:44-49:

A. The Gospels unveil the shepherding and teaching of Christ in His ministry for the fulfillment of God’s eternal economy:

1. Shepherding outwardly—Luke 15:4-7; John 10:9, 11, 16.

2. Comforting inwardly—John 14:16-17, 20.

3. Teaching to strengthen the shepherding and to carry out its goal—Matt. 5-7, 13, 24-25; John 1-7, 14-17.

B. The essential functions of the gifted persons in the Epistles being to shepherd and to teach—John 21:15-17; 1 Cor. 4:17b; Acts 20:28.

C. The shepherding and teaching in the eldership:

1. The obligations of the elders in the church are:

a. Shepherding as Christ did and as the gifted persons do—John 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 5:2-3.

b. Teaching to strengthen the shepherding and to carry out its goal according to what Christ taught in the four Gospels and what the gifted persons taught in the Epistles—1 Tim. 3:2b, 5:17b; Acts 20:27-28.

2. The elders shepherding the churches by taking the lead should not lord it over them but should become patterns of God’s flock—1 Tim. 5:17; 1 Pet. 5:2-3.

V. To be vitalized—Rev 2:4-5; 1 John 1:9; Rev. 1:2-3:

A. In order to be vital, we first must have a thorough fellowship with the Lord.

B. To be stirred up in the first love for the Lord through repenting prayers—Rev. 2:4, 5; 2 Cor. 5:14-15.

C. To make a thorough confession to the Lord—1 John 1:9, 3:2-3.

D. To have close, intimate, and thorough fellowship with the Lord and with the seeking saints—1 John 3:23-24.

E. To reconsecrate yourself to the Lord:

1. In presenting your body as a living sacrifice—Rom. 12:1.

2. In being transformed by the renewing of the mind from being fashioned according to this age—Rom.12:2.

3. In not being slothful in zeal, but burning in spirit to serve the Lord—Rom. 12:11.

F. To be the overcomers in the church life:

1. In the age of the overcomers according to the Lord’s calling—Rev. 1:2-3.

2. As today’s Zion in today’s Jerusalem (the church life)—Rev. 14:1-5:

a. The high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of the church, the holy city.

b. To consummate the holy city (the church) and to bring in the consummated New Jerusalem in eternity.

VI. The vital groups should be composed of people who are overcomers, those who are vital—living and active—Rev 3:1-2; 15:16; 14:4b, 5:

A. To be vital is to be living:

1. This is versus the deadness of Sardis—Rev. 3:1-2.

2. Only one thing today can make us living, and that is prayer; we must pray unceasingly.

B. To be vital is to be active—to have the dynamic activities:

1. This is versus the lukewarmness of Laodicea—Rev. 3:15-16.

2. We need to pray for our dynamic activities, for our function in the vital group.

3. A vital group being living and full of activities.

 

Excerpts from the ministry:

THE BURDEN OF THE VITAL GROUPS

A Vital Group Is a Group of Normal Christians
Who Will Bring the Recovery into Another Age

Now I would like to ask, “What is a vital group?” You may say that a vital group is a group that is living, burning, and bearing fruit. But this may be a doctrinal answer without vision. Actually, a vital group is a group of normal Christians. Today most Christians are abnormal, including a number of us in the recovery. My burden in endeavoring to carry out the vital groups is to change the generation. When I went to Taiwan in 1984, I told the leading elders that I could not go on in the present dormant situation of the recovery. We need to come out of the deadness of Sardis (Rev. 3:1-2), the lukewarmness of Laodicea (w. 14-16), and the barrenness of the degenerating believers (John 15:2a). I want to bring the recovery into another age with a new generation, a new people. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups: chap. 5, pp. 60-61)

The Main Extract of Messages on Vital Groups from 1992 to 1993

Acts 4:31 says that when the disciples prayed, “the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.” At that time the disciples were a group of Galileans living in Jerusalem under the threatening of the persecuting Jewish religionists, yet they did not care for anything except the Lord. They only loved the Lord. They were pursuing after Him. They did not know anything else but Christ the Son of God. All day long, they prayed unceasingly. They gave thanks to God in everything and were happy and rejoicing. Thus, they did not quench the Spirit (1 Thes. 5:17-19). Rather, they fanned their spirit into flame (2 Tim. 1:6-7). They were such persons. They were filled with the Spirit, not only inwardly but also outwardly. They had the fullness of the Spirit. A cup which is half full of water does not have the fullness of water. If water is poured into it to make it full, the water will flow out of it. Those dear saints in Acts 4:31 were full of Christ, so they were bubbling. They spoke the word of God with power.

What I am sharing here is the main extract of my messages for these past two years. Do not forget that to be a believer in Christ is to be a part of Christ, a member of Christ, a branch of Christ. You are a branch of the vine tree. A branch of a tree is just a part of the tree. What do we as the parts of Christ need to do? We need to abide in Him as the tree, to be one with Him in the union of life, to live, to act, and to have our being in everything according to the spirit. We need to pray all the time, thanking God for everything all the time. Then we will have the fullness of the Spirit and we will flow Christ by speaking….

Each one of us should be bubbling with the Lord by speaking. If we are not like this, we are a flat tire. We are not full, because we do not pray. We do not pray, because we are apart from Christ. We do not flow, because we do not have our life according to the spirit. We need to be addicted to Christ. We need to abide in Christ, keeping ourselves in the life union, the organic union, in Christ. We need to walk, live, and have our being according to the spirit. Then we will speak Christ every day and everywhere. This is what we want to see. This is a vital group of Christians. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups: chap. 11, pp. 120-121)

Rising Up to Pick Up the Way to Be Vital

Perhaps many in your locality are merely living a routine church life. All of these routine church life people are defeated ones. They are not overcoming. But you have to rise up to pick up the way to be vital. Then you will be a vital person in your local church to produce and build up a vital group. The Lord will then gain some overcomers in your locality, and there will be a way for the Lord to accomplish His eternal economy. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, An Introductory Word, p .20)

THE VITAL GROUPS BEING THE
LIFE LINE OF THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY

The group meetings are the life line of the God-ordained Way. As long as we have not touched the group meetings, we have hardly begun to practice the God-ordained Way. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 1)

Our Present Situation Being Very Desperate

We need to realize that our present situation is very desperate. We have been speaking concerning the God-ordained Way in both Taiwan and the United States for seven and a half years, but we have not seen a definite result. The word that we released has been more than clear, stressing that the group meeting is the crucial matter in the Lord’s ordained way. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 1)

The Group Meetings Should Constitute
Eighty Percent of the Church Life

We said that the group meetings should constitute eighty percent of the church life, and we also said that the gospel preaching, the nourishing, the cherishing, the feeding, and the perfecting should be done in the groups. But where are the groups, and where are the group meetings? We heard and received the word, and we even prayed much concerning this matter, but where is the definite building up of the groups? Among the churches there are some group meetings, but these are not the group meetings we intend to build up that can occupy eighty percent of the church life. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 1)

The Spreading Which the Lord Wants Being in the Homes

The New Testament makes it clear that the first stage of the Christian meetings was in the homes. According to Acts 2:46, on the day of Pentecost the believers met from house to house. This means that they met in homes, from home to home. The Greek phrase translated “from house to house” implies that wherever there is a home of a Christian, there should be a meeting. In all the Christians’ homes, there should be meetings. Although I stressed this again and again, today we may still prefer to have big meetings. If we gather together only in big meetings, the proper church life will be hindered. When clumps of grass are scattered about, they grow and spread, but when they are piled together, they die. We may prefer to have the facade of a big meeting, but the Lord is not for that. The Lord is for His spreading, and His spreading is in the homes. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, pp.1-2)

OUR ATTITUDE FOR THE VITAL GROUPS

Only through Labor Will We Know How to Practice the Vital Groups

This is why the new way is not a difficult way; it is just a laboring way. You must labor. You cannot be a pew member like those in the denominations, nor can you be in our former condition, participating only in miscellaneous affairs such as cleaning and ushering. When the church was going to preach the gospel, you would only invite a few to come to listen to the messages. At that time, the brothers and sisters among us could still be somewhat relaxed. But today we cannot do that anymore. You must be revived every morning, and you must be overcoming every day. In addition, you have to learn the truth, experience life, pick up the burden, and pay the price to care for people. Only then will the new way be successful. (The Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the Body of Christ, p. 50)

Our Failure Being That We Did Not Labor

In the past I said that one-third of the saints in a local church should go out regularly to contact people for the gospel, and that by doing this consistently they could expect to bear three remaining fruits yearly. If this could be realized, the churches would double each year. If we labor in this way fifty-two weeks a year, we should easily gain three remaining ones for the Lord in a year. However, if we take it easy and do not labor, we may not gain one remaining fruit in ten years. If we labor a little, but labor wrongly, we still will not bear remaining fruit. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, pp. 29-30)

If We Do Not Labor Persistently, We Will Not Have a Proper Result

Some of the saints may take my word concerning the groups and attempt to practice it, but after a short time their practice may not have a positive result and they may become disappointed. The probable reason for their failure is that they did not labor. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 30)

The Way of the Labor Being to Labor
by All Means and at Any Cost

Merchants labor because they are desperate; that is their livelihood. However, we are not desperate. Whether we gain one this year or do not gain one, we can still live; we can still come to the Lord’s table to enjoy the Lord. If we do not bear one remaining fruit in five years, that does not seem to concern us; but if a businessman does poorly even for half a year, he may have to close his doors. I would like to impress you with the fact that the people of the world are busy, but in relation to the Lord’s work, many of the saints are not busy. The worldly people are industrious, but many of us are not. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p.30)

Our Labor Should Be a Labor of Love

Our labor should be a labor of love. This love indicates that we love not only the Lord but also the saints. We love the stronger ones, and we love the weaker ones. We love sinners; we love our friends; and we love our relatives, our classmates, and our colleagues. We simply love people. Love is the motivating power of our labor. Because of this love we prefer to put aside many other things and to labor. We do not know who the fruit will be and from where and when it will come. We only know to labor. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 128)

Our Labor in the Lord Will Never Be in Vain

First Corinthians 15:58 says that our labor in Christ will never be in vain. Only the Lord knows what will be the issue of our labor. We need to labor in Him until the day we see Him at His return. We have started, and we still have to grow. We should have the assurance that the Lord has done something with us because we have been pursuing Him and seeking Him. On the one hand, we should not analyze. On the other hand, we should not be satisfied. We must go on to grow, to progress, to mature. Then we need to make a resolution to contact people every day. This is the unique duty, responsibility, and work we have to finish in our Christian life. We must produce some children, and we must have some children, four or five, under our care. The only way for us is to contact people, and the only secret of our success is to have constant contacts for our whole life. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 102-103)

We Must Be Desperate

The Furtherance of the Vital Groups unto the Increase
Should Be a Matter of Life or Death with Us

We all have to hate deadness, lukewarmness, and barrenness. We must seek to be vitalized in desperation, considering this to be a matter of life or death. The practice of the vital groups will not work if we take it lightly. We must fellowship about the matter of barrenness with our companions. Then the Lord may lead us to make a decision to fast once a week. When Brother Watchman Nee was a student, he decided to fast and pray every Saturday for the next day’s preaching of the gospel. We may also feel led by the Lord to fast and pray for our fruit-bearing.

We must carry out the practice of the vital groups in desperation. We should pray desperately for the Lord to give us some fruit and remove our barrenness. This should be a matter of life or death with us. If we are desperate, I believe that the fish will come to us. The Lord will send them to us. But if we are indifferent, no fish will come to us. The hardest thing is for us to be made desperate. The most crucial thing for us today is to be desperate to conquer the deadness of Sardis, the lukewarmness of Laodicea, and the barrenness dealt with by the Lord in John 15. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 41-42)

THE OBLIGATION OF THE VITAL GROUPS—
SHEPHERDING AND TEACHING

The Essential Functions of the Gifted Persons
in the Epistles Being to Shepherd and to Teach

Among the four kinds of gifted persons, the ministry of the first three, that is, of the apostles, prophets, and evangelists, depends upon shepherding. This is confirmed by the Lord’s charge to Peter in John 21:15-17. The functions of these leading gifted persons depend upon shepherding. Without shepherding, the apostles, prophets, and evangelists cannot function.

Acts 20 says that while Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, he sent word to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. He told them that they should shepherd God’s flock, which God purchased with His own blood (v. 28). The shepherding of God’s flock was on Paul’s heart. Many think that Paul was a great apostle doing a great work as a great career. But Paul considered what he did as shepherding the flock of God. We have to be revolutionized in our logic and consideration. We should not think that we are going to do a great work for Christ like certain spiritual giants. These so-called giants actually did not accomplish much for God’s interest. Instead, they only made a name for themselves with little result for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Paul also wrote fourteen Epistles to the churches and individuals concerning God’s eternal economy with Christ as its centrality and universality and the Body of Christ as its central line to consummate the New Jerusalem. What Paul taught was the same as what the Lord Jesus taught. (The Vital Groups, pp. 59, 61, 62)

The Shepherding and Teaching in the Eldership

The obligation of the elders in the churches is to shepherd (1 Pet. 5:2a), as Christ did and as the gifted persons do.

The elders are also obligated to teach to strengthen the shepherding and carry out its goal (1 Tim. 3:2b; 5:17b) according to what Christ taught in the four Gospels and what the gifted persons taught in the Epistles. First Timothy 3:2 says that the elders must be apt to teach. This means that teaching is their habit. Some elders have a quiet disposition. These ones especially must deny themselves to be apt to teach, and to be apt to teach is to be apt to talk. This is not to talk about vain things but about the truths of God’s economy. We have to be equipped by the Lord’s grace to speak for Him. We should speak the high peaks of the truth of God’s eternal economy. Paul also said in 1 Timothy 5:17 that the elders who labor in the word and teaching are worthy of double honor. In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus to tell certain ones not to teach anything different from God’s economy. He also charged the Corinthians to speak the same thing so that there would be no divisions among them (1 Cor. 1:10). We all should speak the same thing—God’s economy.

The elders shepherding the churches by taking the lead should not lord it over them, God’s allotments to the elders, but should become patterns of God’s flock (1 Tim. 5:17; 1 Pet. 5:2-3). The churches have been allotted to the elders, entrusted to them by God for their care. They have to shepherd the saints, not lord it over them. (The Vital Groups, pp. 63-64)

TO BE VITALIZED

In Order to Be Vital, We First Must Have
a Thorough Fellowship with the Lord

We have made it clear that the way to produce the vital groups is that each of us must take the lead to be vital. In order to be vital, we first must have a thorough fellowship with the Lord. Then that fellowship will bring us into a kind of realization that we are totally sinful. Then we will be brought into a thorough confession of our sins. Spontaneously, we will re-consecrate ourselves. We will pray, “Lord, now I would like to consecrate myself to you anew.” Then that will bring us into a prayer life. No one can pray unceasingly without reaching this stage. When we passed through the stages of fellowship, confession, and consecration, we enter into a prayer life. It is in this prayer life that we pray ourselves into the Spirit—the essential Spirit, the economical Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit. Then we learn how to follow this Spirit exercising our spirit. If this is the case with us, we are really vital. Actually, this is all revealed, unveiled, in the New Testament, especially in Paul’s Epistles. (The Fellowship of the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 231)

To Be Stirred Up in the First Love for the Lord through Repenting Prayers

Although we were unclean and evil sinners, God had compassion on us and chose us. As we consider God’s compassions to us and meditate on the Lord’s love in saving us, we will be stirred up in the best love for the Lord through repenting prayers. This will cause us to be vitalized. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, pp. 30-31)

To Make a Thorough Confession to the Lord

In our repenting prayers, we need to make a thorough confession of all our failures, mistakes, wrongdoings, transgressions, trespasses, etc. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 31)

To Have Close, Intimate, and Thorough Fellowship
with the Lord and with the Seeking Saints

We need to have close, intimate, and thorough fellowship with the Lord and with the seeking saints. To fellowship only with the Lord is inadequate. We must also be in fellowship with the saints. We need to get companions with whom we can labor. According to the example in the Bible, Daniel had three companions (Dan. 1:6). I would encourage you to get three companions. Do not ask the elders to give them to you. Ask the Lord to lead you to someone, making this one your companion in fellowship. Then you can get a few others. Spontaneously, you and your companions will be a very good small group.

The elders should not try to form the groups in an organizational way. That does not work. They must stir up the saints to be vitalized first. Once you get vitalized, you will have the deep sensation that you need companions. Then you need to follow the Lord’s leading to gain some to join you to be a group. This will be an organic group, and eventually this group will be vitalized. Four saints grouped together is a sufficient number. Do not get more saints at this point. Instead, be vitalized to an extent that you would go fishing to get some new fish. When your organic group of four saints is vitalized, your will not need to hunt for more saints to join you. Instead, you will go fishing to get some new fish. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 31)

To Reconsecrate Yourself to the Lord

After you get your companions in fellowship, you must learn to take the lead to reconsecrate yourself to the Lord. You may have consecrated yourself already, but you need to be consecrated afresh. …You have to sacrifice your body to the Lord. This is what Paul taught in Romans 12:1. You need to reconsecrate yourself in presenting your body.… Following this you should have your mind renewed from being fashioned according to this age (Rom. 12:2). The world is the satanic system, which is composed of many ages (Eph. 2:2). An age is a part, a section, an aspect, the present and modern appearance, of the system of Satan, which is used by him to usurp and occupy people and keep them away from God and His purpose. …Our body needs to be presented to the Lord, our mind needs to be renewed, taken over by the Lord, and our spirit needs to be burning. This involves our entire being—body, soul, and spirit. We need to be persons who are fully gained and occupied by the Lord. We should not be slothful in zeal, but burning in spirit to serve the Lord (Rom. 12:11). Then we will be vitalized. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, pp. 31-32)

To Be the Overcomers in the Church Life

In the Age of the Overcomers According to the Lord’s Calling

The church life is the right place for you to be an overcomer. But this does not mean that as long as you are in the church life, you are an overcomer. It is one thing to be in the church life. It is another thing to be an overcomer in the church life. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 33)

As Today’s Zion in Today’s Jerusalem (the Church Life)

In the Old Testament, there is the city of Jerusalem with Zion as the center. Jerusalem was built on a mountain range. Mount Zion was one of the mountains on which Jerusalem was built. Zion is the center and Jerusalem is the circumference. The church life is today’s Jerusalem; within the church life there must be a group of overcomers, and these overcomers are today’s Zion. According to Revelation 14, the overcomers are standing on Mount Zion with the Lord (vv. 1-5). Actually in typology, the overcomers are today’s Zion. Then in the last two chapters of Revelation, there is the New Jerusalem. Without Zion (the overcomers), Jerusalem (the church life) cannot be kept and maintained. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 33)

The High Peak, the Center, the Uplifting, the Strengthening,
the Enriching, and the Reality of the Church, the Holy City

Zion is the high peak, the center, the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of the church, the holy city. If there are no overcomers in a local church, that church is like Jerusalem without Zion. There are some churches like this today, so they are weak churches. A local church must have some overcomers, and these overcomers are the peak and the center of that local church. They are the uplifting, the strengthening, the enriching, and the reality of that local church. If you take away these overcomers from that local church, that local church becomes like a flat tire. The full-time training is for the producing of the overcomers. Once a church has some full-time workers as overcomers, that church is like Jerusalem with the peak of Zion. The overcomers as Zion are the highlight, the center, and the reality of the church. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, pp. 33-34)

To Consummate the Holy City (the Church) and to
Bring in the Consummated New Jerusalem in Eternity

The overcomers as today’s Zion are for the consummation of the holy city (the church). They are to consummate, to finish, the building up of the local church and to bring in the consummated New Jerusalem in eternity (Rev. 21:1-2). In order to complete the building up of the Body, the Lord needs the overcomers, and the building up of the Body consummated in the New Jerusalem. This is why at the end of the Bible, in the last book, there is the calling for the overcomers. Today the way to become vitalized is to answer the Lord’s call to be an overcomer. (The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, p. 34)

THE VITAL GROUPS SHOULD BE COMPOSED OF PEOPLE WHO ARE OVERCOMERS, THOSE WHO ARE VITAL—LIVING AND ACTIVE

God’s move on the earth for the accomplishment of His economy is ultimately through the overcomers. This message is on the vital groups and the overcomers. The vital groups should be composed of people who are overcomers.

To be Vital Is to Be Living

This Is Versus the Deadness of Sardis

A proper Christian should be vital. To be vital means to be living and active. Since I am a man, I must believe into Christ. If I am a Christian, I must be in the recovery. If I am in the recovery, I must be vital. If we are not vital, we may be in the church, but we are not among the overcomers. An overcomer is a vital person.

In the seven epistles, in Revelation, the Lord condemned the church in Sardis for its deadness. The Lord said that in Sardis nothing was living; everything was dying (3:1-2). It is possible to be attending all the church meetings regularly, yet still be dying, not vital. The church in Laodicea was lukewarm. Those who are lukewarm are not active. They do not take action. To be vital is to overcome both the deadness of Sardis and the lukewarmenss of Laodicea. Maybe the entire church where we are is like Sardis, but this does not mean that we need to leave it. We may say that our church is too dead and that we want to have a living church. But on the entire earth, there is not one church which is completely living. The church may be dying, but we need to stay in the church to overcome the deadness. (The Training and Practice of the Vital Groups, pp. 15-16).

Only One Thing Today Can Make Us Living,
and That Is Prayer; We Must Pray Unceasingly

If we do not pray, we will be abnormal. In the past we were very abnormal, because we were not living. We have the Spirit within us, Christ within us, and God the Father within us, but we are not living, because we do not pray. Only one thing today can make us living, and that one thing is prayer. We must pray unceasingly.

Ephesians 4 shows us that the church is the Body of Christ and that the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father are within the Body and mingled with the Body. Thus, these four have become one: the Body, the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father. This oneness is the impact. This oneness is actually the power from on high. As the Body of Christ, we have the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father, and we are mingled with the Divine Trinity. Through our prayer, we will be ready to go to reach people, because we will participate in the power from on high as the dynamic impact. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of Vital Groups, pp. 125-126)

To Be Vital Is to Be Active— to Have the Dynamic Activities

This Is Versus the Lukewarmness of Laodicea

When we participate in the outpoured Spirit, our meetings will be dynamic, our prayer will be dynamic, our preaching will be dynamic, and our ministry will be dynamic. Everything we have will be dynamic because the Triune God mingling Himself with us is the dynamo. He is the dynamo — the “pum, pum, pum within us.” … when we come to the meeting, it seems that everyone is dying. This is according to the Lord’s epistle to the church in Sardis, in which He told them that they had a name that they were living, but actually they were dead (Rev. 3: 1-2). (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 126)

We Need to Pray for Our Dynamic Activities, for Our Function in the Vital Group

When we come together, we should pray for our being blended together. The second thing we have to pray for is our dynamic activities. We need to pray for our function, for our activities. Eventually, we need to go out to bring people to Christ and to keep people in Christ and in the church. We need something dynamic, and this needs our prayer. Before the day of Pentecost, the one hundred twenty prayed together for ten days. We cannot do anything without prayer. We need to be blended together by thorough and much prayer so that we can go out dynamically. We have to pray for our blending and for our dynamic activities. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, pp. 99-100)

A Vital Group Being Living and Full of Activities

Recently I felt burdened to use the term vital groups. My understanding in using the word vital is that a vital group is living and full of activities. You may be a living person, but if you do not know how to take an action, you are not vital. Children from the ages of five to seven are vital because they are not only living but full of activities. Spiritually speaking, we may be living but we are not vital because we are not living and full of activities. To be vital is to be living and very active, full of activities. If the saints who have the burden to be in the vital groups do not move, do not act, in any kind of meeting, the church is finished. (Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 230)

References: The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, An Introductory Word, chs. 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 12; Fellowship Concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, Mgs. 1, 4, 11, 13, 24; The Perfecting of the Saints and the Building Up of the Body of Christ, ch. 4; The Vital Groups, ch. 7.