LESSONS ON THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY

Lesson Twenty-two

Church Services (1)—Children

Scripture Reading:

Prov. 22:6 Train up a child according to the way he should go; Even when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Psa. 127:3 Behold, children are the heritage of Jehovah, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psa. 127:4-5 Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man; So are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man Who fills his quiver with them. He will not be put to shame When he speaks with the enemies in the gate.

Matt. 19:13-14 Then little children were brought to Him that He might lay His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Allow the little children and do not prevent them from coming to Me, for of such is the kingdom of the heavens.

2 Tim. 1:5 Having been reminded of the unfeigned faith in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded dwells also in you.

Acts 16:31-32 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of God to him together with all those in his house.

I. Basic and subsidiary items needed for the building up of the church—Eph. 4:13; 1 Tim 2:4:

A. The basic items: the proper study of the truth; the growth in life; and the preaching of the gospel.

B. The subsidiary items: the children’s meeting; the work among the elementary, junior high, high school, and college age students; and the gospel in the community.

C. There should be a children’s meeting in our neighborhood so that through the children many homes will be opened for the church to evangelize.

II. The importance of the children’s work—Prov. 22:6; Psa. 127:3-5; 1 Sam. 1:28; 2:26; Luke 2:40-41:

A. To cultivate and educate our children—2 Tim. 1:5; Eph. 6:4.

B. Children grow up to serve the church and shoulder great responsibility.

C. Children are a big gospel work and the easiest way to get the increase for the church:

1. They become gospel seeds in the schools.

2. To bring in other children and unbelieving families—Exo. 12:3-7; Acts 16:31.

3. Many homes will be opened for the church to evangelize.

D. Mothers must bear the burden to build up their children.

III. The principle of neighborhood children’s meetings is that they must be multifaceted—Acts 2:46-47, 5:42; Col. 3:16, 18-20:

A. The location and persons should be multifaceted:

1. Meet in the homes of the brothers and sisters—Acts 2:46-47, 5:42.

2. We must use the high schoolers.

3. The more locations to meet in the better—1 Tim. 2:4-5.

B. The day and the time should be flexible:

1. They do not need to be done on the Lord’s Day.

2. They can be on Saturdays, Lord’s Day afternoons, and even every weekday afternoon.

C. The goal and the materials should be multifaceted—1 Tim. 4:10, 16, Eph. 3:8; Col. 3:16.

IV. A few things we should pay attention to in our practice—1 The. 2:7-11; Rom. 10:17, Acts 16:31-32:

A. The responsibility of this community work with the children is with the elders.

B. The whole church should endeavor in the children’s work—1 Tim. 2:1-4; Gal. 1:4.

C. Pay attention to three aspects: teaching materials, teachers, and administrative leading—Rom. 10:17; Col. 3:16.

D. The need of prayer and coordination—1 Thes. 2:7-11.

E. The neighborhood children’s meetings are one of the best ways to preach the gospel —Rom. 15:2.

F. For children’s work we need a lot of singing—the more songs the better.

G. Singing is needed much more than talking and teaching.

H. The main thing for those caring for the children is to learn how to tell a story.

I. Spend most of the time to give the children the impression of how to be a proper human being.

J. Not much teaching is needed, but help them to grow up in their humanity.

 

Excerpts from the ministry:

BASIC AND SUBSIDIARY ITEMS NEEDED
FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH

There are a number of subsidiary things that are also needed, such as the children’s work. The children’s meeting must be built up. In addition, we must do a work among the elementary, junior high, high school, and college age students. These four levels must be built up.

The third subsidiary item that needs building up is the gospel in the community. The community gospel is a particular item that we must build up. When I labored in the church in Chefoo from 1940 to 1943, the strongest item that was built up was the community gospel. There was no need for anyone to come and preach. It was done by the housewives. Whenever we held a conference, there was no need for the elders or the other saints to help the new converts because almost all of the attendants were neighbors of the housewives who were sisters among us. There was a strong community work built up among the saints who were mainly housewives. Immediately after every conference meeting the housewives would accompany the new converts home. During this two-mile walk home which took about thirty-five minutes, there was no talk about anything else except the messages of the conference. The housewives took the opportunity that this long walk afforded to help the others. This became a custom among us. These six categories which include truth, life, evangelizing, the children’s work, the student work, and the community gospel work, should be our goal in the church life. (Talks Concerning Church Services, pp. 37-39)

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDREN’S WORK

To Cultivate and Educate Our Children

From experience we realize the importance of children. Children’s work should not be merely baby-sitting while the brothers and sisters are at the meeting. Nevertheless, due to circumstances, the work of baby-sitting is needed as the brothers and sisters have to bring their children to the meetings. However, according to the situation today, the children’s work must serve another function, which is to cultivate and educate our children.

Children Grow Up to Serve the Church
and Shoulder Great Responsibility

I will tell you some facts for you to see the importance of children’s work. When we started the work in Taiwan in 1949, the parents of a few young brothers, who are presently elders in some halls were single…Thirty years later their children have all grown up, are serving in the church and shouldering great responsibility. When I visited the Philippines…I was amazed that there was another generation of saints in the churches in the Philippines, from the South to the North. A young generation has risen up. The coworkers, elders and brothers who translated for me are all born after 1950. From this you can see that children’s work is too crucial.

Children Are a Big Gospel Work
and the Easiest Way to Get the Increase for the Church

They Become Gospel Seeds in Their Schools

We are human beings ordained by God to be fruitful and multiply. But where do we place the children we have begotten? Many years ago, we did not realize that the children are a big gospel work. We only cared to preach the gospel, while neglecting the fact that the children also are the fruit of the gospel. Noticing this situation a few years ago I told the brothers to labor on the 10,000 children in Taipei. The majority of these 10,000 children would be brothers and sisters today. We dare not say that every child will be saved, but with a minimum of 80% saved we would have 8,000. Furthermore, these 10,000 are in rotation. Every year the children grow up and leave, and every year there are also new ones coming in. After the children are saved, they become the young brothers and sisters. When they proceed to junior high they become the gospel seed in junior high. We labor on them in junior high, they respond inwardly and start to bring in their classmates. In this way it is very easy to labor on the junior high gospel. It will be hard to labor in a school where there are no brothers and sisters who are teachers or students in that school. But if we have some young brothers and sisters in a junior high, it will be like having a few “little bombs.” They can coordinate with us from within and without anytime.

While in junior high, they will bring some classmates to salvation. After graduation, they will proceed to high school and become the gospel seed in high school. In their three years of high school they will bring three times as many students to the Lord. After these brothers and sisters graduate, they will go on to college and become the gospel seed in college. This kind of multiplying is incredible. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), p. 83)

To Bring in Other Children and Unbelieving Families

Besides this, there is another function in laboring on the children’s work. We all know that children, especially those from six to twelve years old, like to make friends in school. In school they are like fish. They would rather listen to their friends than to their parents. When they bring their friends together to sing some hymns, this will cause them to have a response to the gospel. Thus, the gospel is preached to the children. Yet our goal is not merely on the children, but to reach their parents, brothers, and sisters through them.

I recall that in the early days when the western missionaries came to China to preach the gospel, the first thing they did was to establish schools because the people were not that educated. They first had to be educated before the preaching of the gospel. A hundred years ago, the educational system was not yet established in China. Many villages and towns were still in the old fashioned way of private tutoring. The Christian schools had a requirement that every student must attend every Sunday service. In their desire for their children to receive education, many still sent their children to Christian schools, despite their unwillingness to listen to the gospel or hear about Jesus….Do not despise the work of the western missionaries in China. At that time, of course, many students were not saved, but some were saved. They may not have been saved while in school, but in their jobs they were saved as they recalled the gospel they heard at school. Therefore, the western missionaries spent much energy establishing schools, not merely to educate the children, but eventually to preach the gospel to them. Today our children’s meeting must also have the same function, being able to bring in many unbelieving families. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), pp. 84-86)

Many Homes Will Be Opened for the Church to Evangelize

All of these children are linked to their parents. So through the children many homes will be opened for the church to evangelize. This is the community work. These are the warm doors and the parents will welcome us. (Talks Concerning the Church Services, Part Two, pp. 38-40, 1989)

Mothers Must Bear the Burden to Build Up Their Children

None of the saints should depend on others to build up their children. Every mother must do this, otherwise she is not a good mother and she could never be successful. Children can never be built up by anyone other than their mothers. All the mothers must be encouraged to learn in a disciplined way how to take care of the children. To depend on any kind of Sunday school or other kind of meeting to build up your children is altogether not healthy. From the beginning we have torn down this concept…The church is not going to build up your children…No meeting or work is going to build up your children. As a mother you must bear the burden to build up the children yourself. You have to discipline yourself for this work, otherwise you could never be successful in building up your children. It is a wrong concept to depend upon the church to have certain kinds of meetings to build up your children. You have to drop this thought. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Anaheim, California, Anaheim, January 30, 1978. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

THE PRINCIPLE OF NEIGHBORHOOD CHILDREN’S MEETINGS
IS THAT THEY MUST BE MULTIFACETED

Since the children’s work is so crucial, how should we do it? There is no definite way of doing it. According to my past experiences, in a large local church like Taipei, with three to four thousand meeting together, the children’s work cannot be in a single aspect. Rather, it must be in many aspects. The place, time, and date all must be multifaceted. The goal is multifaceted. Even the material used should not be uniform but multifaceted. Take the place as an example: if the children’s meetings must be held in the meeting hall, this will deaden half of the meeting. The work following after will also not be carried out. Why? Firstly, not all the children can make it. Secondly, there is not enough room in the meeting hall. In the church in Anaheim, although there are more than ten rooms for children’s meetings, yet they still could not meet the need because apart from being occupied a few hours each week these rooms, which are expensive to build, are vacant for the rest of the time. Taking this way is rather foolish. Even if we can provide that many rooms, to require all of the children to come to the meeting hall at the same time is not that easy. Therefore, the meeting place must be multifaceted.

The Location and Persons Should Be Multifaceted

During my fellowship with the brothers here, I found the most benefited advantage is that every brother or sister can open his or her house to have children’s meeting, just like what we do with the gospel. If you do not have children at home, it is up to you to open or not to open your house. However, I feel it is best for you to be burdened to open your house. Surely I know that the elder sisters are generally burdened for the children. If you elder sisters are in a situation that your children are all abroad with only you and your husbands at home, and that your condition allows, why wouldn’t you joyfully do it? You just open your living room, invite five or six children from the neighborhood, and thus have a children’s meeting in your house. As to how to teach them, you do not need to worry. We will prepare the materials. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), pp. 86-88)

Meet in the Homes of the Brothers and Sisters

When they asked me concerning a place for the children to meet, I said, “There is no need to go to the meeting hall, and it is not necessary to meet on the Lord’s Day. You can meet on Saturdays or in the evenings. You can simply meet in the homes of the brothers and sisters. (The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstand, p. 56)

To bring the meetings to the homes is the very heart of the God-ordained Way. It is a great failure in the Lord’s recovery if we cannot bring the meetings to the homes. For the past twenty years in the Lord’s recovery, we have been bringing people to the meeting halls. The more we work in this way, the fewer people we have, and the worse the condition of the homes becomes. More and more our meetings have become a kind of Sunday morning service. In Christianity, many people ‘go to church’ to listen to the music, the hymns, and to attend the “service,” but their homes are deplorable, …In the morning the family attends the service, but in the afternoon the mahjong game goes on in the homes. In order to overturn this degraded situation, we must bring the meetings to the homes. (The Ministry Magazine, Volume 3, No. 3; March 1999, pp. 14-15)

We Must Use the High Schoolers

High schoolers can tell stories in the best way. …We must use the high schoolers to teach the children. The way to raise up the children in the church is to use the high schoolers. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Anaheim, California, Anaheim, July 1, 1992. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

The More Locations to Meet Is the Better

If an elder sister could open her house once or twice a week, and invite the children on Saturday afternoons during their break time and activity time, then there would be a children’s meeting at her home. Naturally, she would contact the children’s family, preach the gospel to them, and to their relatives. This is the principle of our gospel work—the more spreading, the better; the more contact and the further connected, the better. In the long run, there will naturally be an effect. I do believe if we bring in ten children, there will be two or three saved. Even if they are not saved at the time, when they recall this later on and come back to the church, they will be saved.

If you have children at home, you can open your house, ask your children to invite other young ones from your neighborhood, show them the video tapes of the children’s meeting, sing children’s songs, and you yourself just be their teacher. Do this once a week, you will have a children’s meeting.

Now we have five hundred and fifty children in our meeting. According to statistics, these children, aging from six to twelve, are from four hundred families. If these four hundred families each open their houses for the children’s meeting, and if every house holds ten children, there will be four thousand children in the four hundred houses. Including those opened homes without their own children, it is easy to reach ten thousand children. This is also one of the methods of our gospel preaching, and it is a method with a long-term effect. Therefore, I wish the whole church would take tonight’s fellowship and put it into practice.

The meeting hall is also a place to use, but mostly for baby-sitting (taking care of children) for it is hard to divide them into groups. The reasons are: firstly, we do not have that many small rooms; secondly, we do not have that many teachers. For example, if the brothers and sisters take fifty children to the meeting, we may mix them and put them into one room to watch videotapes, sing hymns, and have some spiritual nurturing. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), pp. 87-88)

The Day and the Time Should Be Flexible

They Don’t Have to Be Done on the Lord’s Day

Children’s meeting does not need to be done on the Lord’s Day. It can be on Saturday or in the afternoons when the children return home. This is a very effective way to preach the gospel. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), pp. 87-88)

They Can Be on Lord’s Day Afternoon, Saturday, or after School

Furthermore, children’s meeting should be flexible in time. It is not a legal requirement for it to be on the Lord’s Day afternoon. Saturday afternoon is also fine. We may use the time that the children are off from school to have a children’s meeting in our home. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), p. 88)

The Goal and the Materials Should Be Multifaceted

The goal with the children should be multifaceted. Even the material should also be multifaceted and not uniform.

A FEW THINGS WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO IN OUR PRACTICE

As to how to practice, it depends on the leading ones in the children’s work to contact you, to pick up the burden together, and to labor faithfully in the children’s gospel and children’s work. If every home could be open and have children over, we will have the meeting place and the material for the meeting. This will save manpower and produce effective results. I can only point out principles, the rest depends on your practice, and on the elders from all the meeting halls to coordinate together to carry this out. Thus year after year, we will have many people coming into the church life through the children’s work, which in turn will become one of the sources of the new ones. Therefore, the outcome of this work is still the harvest of the gospel. It is worthwhile for the elders to coordinate and motivate in this endeavor.

Concerning the teachers for the children’s meeting in the meeting hall, there is no need to arrange at the beginning. Just ask some young saints who attend the meeting to help. When the children are put into a room, two or three young brothers and sisters can tell them stories, lead them to sing hymns, or show them video tapes. This kind of service does not need many people. All those who are in their twenties or thirties can take care of the children. This is an easy matter, but it needs the effort of the whole church to work out a high number. If we continue to do this, it will multiply without ceasing.

As for the teaching materials, we should also take notice and should not be just unprepared. This needs the brothers who motivate the work to compose and compile them. They need to plan, to pray, and to fellowship, in order to find some ways to share with others for reference. Whether to adopt these ways or not should be flexible and not be legal. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Taipei, Taiwan, January 1985. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

The Responsibility for This Community Work
with the Children Is with the Elders

Although people today are occupied by many things and it seems as if they are not open to the gospel, the best way to overcome this is to have a children’s meeting in our own home. The responsibility for this community work lies with the elders. (Talks Concerning the Church Services, Part Two, pp. 39-40)

The Whole Church Should Endeavor in the Children’s Work

Whether our children’s work is successful or not partly depends on the teaching materials and partly depends on the leading brothers and sisters in each locality. The responsible brothers and the coworkers in each locality need to see that the children’s work is a big matter in the big family of God. How can a family have children yet not take care of them? This should be our first priority. There is no family that does not put their children in the first place and thus take a good care of them, nourish them, and teach them. Today in God’s house, there are so many children. How can we not pay attention to serving them?

From now on, as the coworkers go to different localities to work, although they are leading people to know the Lord and helping them to grow spiritually, they should carefully consider their ways. We must pay attention to sisters’ work and children’s work. We cannot say that we do not have this gift and that we cannot do this work. If you cannot do it, you need to learn. We all need to learn. You do not need to lead the work yourself; you may ask for the leading sisters in that locality and commit the responsibility of the children’s work to them. You then just encourage them and help them. You must lead the whole church to receive the burden to take care of the children’s work and draw on the effort of everyone to do it.

You sisters here are all the leading sisters from each locality. You must pick up this burden of the children’s work. You need to put all the effort in this work under the arrangement of the church and under the leading of the elders. You need to lead all the sisters to participate in this work. The elders are too busy to take care of the practical details. There is no need to wait for them. Pray diligently, come up with a plan, and make some arrangement, then go to the elders and tell them that you plan to do it in this way and ask them whether it is good. If the brothers feel good about it, just go ahead. It is like in a family when the husband is busy with his work and cannot take care of the family matters, the wife should plan and manage them herself. As long as she has her husband’s consent, she can go ahead. In this way, she neither works independently nor causes any delay. (The Ministry of the Word, Vol. 8, The Expectation of Future Work, (in Chinese), pp. 913-914)

Pay Attention to Three Aspects:
Teaching Materials, Teachers and Administrative Leading

To have a successful children’s work you need to pay attention to three aspects: first, the teaching materials; second, the teachers; and third, the administrative leading. We have some saints especially responsible for writing and compiling the materials. What is left to each locality to do is the training of teachers and the administrative leading. You have to promote the children’s work in your locality. The brothers do the promotion and the sisters carry out the practical steps. If you are willing to take this burden and do not miss this great opportunity, the outcome will indeed be glorious. (The Ministry of the Word, Vol. 8, The Expectation of Future Work (in Chinese), p. 914)

We should not give them too much Bible knowledge. It is much better to help them to grow as a human being. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Anaheim, California, July 8, 1983. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

The Need of Prayer and Coordination

Brothers and sisters, I hope you can see that this time in our leading concerning the children’s work, the principle must be: in many ways. The place, time, method, teachers, and goal are all in many ways. Every aspect is many ways. Nothing is binding. We only desire to educate the children, and also, through them, to bring in more unbelieving families’ children, thereby bringing the gospel to those unbelieving families. This is the profitable way. I hope the brothers and sisters would not belittle this matter but rather pray for this. If you have a little strength, we hope you can join in. I especially hope the older sisters, whose children have grown up, can open their homes once a week for children’s meeting. Gather the children to your home. It is not hard to do. As to the result, it will reap results in the long run. This needs us all to coordinate. (The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), p. 90)

The Neighborhood Children’s Meetings
Are One of the Best Ways to Preach the Gospel

Even in our neighborhood there must be a children’s meeting that should not be considered as the children’s meeting of the church. This is a children’s meeting work in the saints’ neighborhood. It is easy for us to set up two children’s meetings. Every week one sister can take care of two children’s meetings with four helpers. On one day two sisters can assist this one to take care of twenty children. Maybe on another afternoon two more sisters may help to take care of another children’s meeting of fifteen to twenty children. We can collect a number of children out of our neighborhood into our home. We can ask the children to sit down on the carpet. We do not even need a piano. There is no need for materials or textbooks, but one living person. She can even sing a song to the children. Within two months we can build up two children’s meetings. Then after six months we will have six children’s meetings. One sister will not need to take care of all the meetings directly because other sisters will follow her example and have their own meetings. There may be ten children’s meetings under the direction of one sister. This would expand to over a thousand children. All of these children are linked to their parents. So through the children many homes will be opened for the church to evangelize. This is the community work. These are the warm doors and the parents will welcome us. (Talks Concerning the Church Services; p. 39)

For Children’s Work We Need a Lot of Singing—
the More Songs the Better

For children’s work you need a lot of singing. The more songs the better. Children can be easily and strongly impressed by singing songs, even slogan songs. They will never forget these for their entire life. Once a short song gets into the children, they will never forget it and it will be a basic influence on them. Children do not like to hear teaching or speaking for an hour. Such speaking will tire them out. But they will never tire of singing. The more we collect children’s songs and promote children’s singing, the better. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Irving, Texas, December 27, 1982. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

Singing Is Needed More than Talking and Teaching

In the children’s meeting, singing is needed more than talking and teaching. This is the reason we need more songs—good practical children’s songs….In principle, in the children’s meeting we need a lot of songs. All the saints who take care of the children’s meetings should learn how to take the lead to sing. Don’t sing in a formal or dead way. We have to sing in a very living way and in different ways. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Anaheim, California, Anaheim, July 8, 1983. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

The Main Thing for Those Caring for the Children
is to Learn How to Tell a Story

High schoolers can tell stories in the best way….To take care of the children’s meeting, the main thing is to learn how to tell a story, to practice storytelling. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Anaheim, California, Anaheim, July 1, 1992. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry)

Spend Most of the Time to Give the Children
the Impression of How to Be a Proper Human Being

What do we give to the children in our work? According to my observation, we first help them to be proper human beings. Let them know that man and animals are different, and that man is different from flowers and trees. Speak on this point and then mention man’s virtues and behavior. Lead them to learn to honor their parents, to love people, to be clean, disciplined, honest, and to be a proper person. Don’t give them too much religious thought and concept. (Ministry of the Word, Vol. 8, The Expectation of Future Work (in Chinese), p. 911)

Not Much Teaching is Needed,
but Help Them to Grow Up in Their Humanity

We do not need too much teaching of theology. We need to tell them that there is God and that God is the Creator. We also need to tell them that Jesus Christ is the Son of God incarnated to be a man, and that this man is our Savior. We need to tell them of the salvation of the Lord Jesus through the cross. We need to tell them these things, but not too much, because they are not mature yet. Because premature education always damages the children, we shouldn’t give them too much premature teaching.

It is best to help the children grow up in their humanity by helping them know what a proper human being is, how to honor their parents, and how to be a proper child. (This will be very much appreciated by their parents, who will eventually be so grateful for the children’s work.) To build up a proper humanity is the way to prepare them to be the best material to receive God’s grace. God’s grace is just like a color dye. When the dye colors certain textiles, the resulting quality always depends upon the quality of the textile. If the quality of the textile is high, then the resulting color will be so shining. But when the textile is poor, the result is always so dim, so poor. A man like Paul was educated and was brought up in a high standard of humanity. When he got colored by God’s salvation, he was bright. But there are some sloppy ones who have never been taught or educated. When they believe in the Lord, they also get colored by God’s salvation, but the result is just sloppy. We have to help our little boys and girls grow up in a good environment and in the education of their humanity. This we have to do. (From an unpublished message by Witness Lee in Irving, Texas, December 27, 1982. Copyright, Living Stream Ministry.)

References: Talks Concerning the Church Services, ch. 5; The Ministry of the Word, Vol. 8, The Expectation for Future Work (in Chinese), ch. 5; The Ministry Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 14-15; The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstand, ch. 4; The Message Abstracts of the Leading of the Different Services (Chinese), ch. 6.