THE PRACTICE HANDBOOK FOR THE DISTRICT SERVING ONES
SERIES TWO
THE GOD-ORDAINED WAY AND VARIOUS KINDS OF MEETINGS
Message Eleven
The Video Trainings
Heb. 1:1-2 God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, Has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son, whom He appointed Heir of all things, through whom also He made the universe.
HAVING AN ABUNDANCE OF THE LORD’S SPEAKING
We thank the Lord that the situation in His recovery is altogether different from this. We have an abundance of the Lord’s speaking. Consider how much of the word of God has been released among us in the recovery during the past years. The reason there is so much of God’s speaking in the recovery is that here we have genuine oneness. We experience this oneness and the harmony in the Spirit not only when the churches come together for a conference, but also in the meetings of the various local churches. In the meetings we have the Lord’s speaking, and we are edified, nourished, and enlightened. When the peace of Christ arbitrates in us and keeps us in a situation full of oneness and harmony, we become the place of God’s speaking, His oracle. Deep in my spirit I realize that the meetings are an oracle, a place where God can come in to speak. (Life-study of Colossians, msg. 64)
THE UP-TO-DATE WAY TO FULFILL THE LORD’S MINISTRY—
MANY BROTHERS SERVING IN A BLENDED WAY
As the Lord provides me the strength and time, I intend to continue to serve and speak in the coming days. The Lord has shown me that He has prepared many brothers who will serve as fellow slaves with me in a blended way. I feel that this is the Lord’s sovereign provision for His Body, and the up-to-date way to fulfill His ministry. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “A Letter of Fellowship with Thanks”)
SEEING THE MINISTRY OF THE AGE
In the Old Testament both Solomon and David represented the Lord. The two persons represented the one ministry in two separate ways. In the Old Testament there were many ministries. After Moses, the judges were raised up. After that, there was Solomon, the kings, and the prophets. After the Israelites were taken into captivity, the vessels for the recovery were raised up. The Old Testament is filled with different kinds of ministries. In every age there is the ministry of that age. These ministries of the ages are different from the local ministers. Luther was a minister of his age. Darby was also a minister of his age. In every age the Lord has special things that He wants to accomplish. He has His own recoveries and His own works to do. The particular recovery and work that He does in one age is the ministry of that age.
Jonathan stood between Saul and David. He was one man standing between two ministries. He should have followed the second ministry. However, because Jonathan’s relationship with the first ministry was too deep, he could not disentangle himself. In order to catch up with the ministry of the age, there is the need for us to see the vision. Michal was married to David, yet she did not see anything. She only saw David’s condition before God, and she could not tolerate it. As a result, she was left behind (2 Sam. 6:16, 20-23).
All Being a Matter of God’s Mercy
It is God’s mercy that a person can see and come into contact with the ministry of that age. Yet it is altogether a different thing for a man to take up the courage to forsake the past ministry. It is a precious thing to see, and it is a blessed thing to come into contact with something. Yet whether or not one can set aside his past ministry is entirely up to God’s mercy. (CWWN, vol. 57, “The Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry,” msg. 25)
A Christian Needing to Be in the Lord’s Ministry in This Age
Now we have already seen clearly that the ministry spoken of in the Bible does not refer to a person but to God’s building work. Moreover, in God’s building ministry there are those who take the lead in that ministry in every age. May the Lord open our eyes to see that as long as we are human beings, we should be Christians; as long as we are Christians, we should enter into the Lord’s ministry in this age.
Today there are thousands of people who believe in the Lord Jesus and are saved, but not many have entered into the Lord’s ministry of building the church. It is just like the situation in Noah’s age. There were thousands of people on the earth, but only a small number were building the ark with Noah. This is why Philippians 2:12 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” What Noah and those who built the ark with him were doing was to work out their own salvation. Yes, it was God who had saved them, but the ark that delivered them was built with their own hands by God’s grace. Today, we also need to be in God’s building ministry to work out our own salvation, that is, to bring our salvation to its ultimate conclusion so that we can be exalted by God in glory as the Lord Jesus was. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “Words of Training for the New Way,” msg. 2)
THE SPREAD OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
RELYING HEAVILY ON PUBLICATIONS
AND ON AUDIOTAPES AND VIDEOTAPES
After World War II, due to the worldwide economic prosperity, the ease of transportation, and the improvement in communication media, we have been enjoying a greater convenience than before in transmitting information. Formerly, it took half a day to make an overseas phone call, but now through the international long distance telephone, in a short time we can have a thorough discussion of affairs among a number of overseas churches. In the past, when Brother Nee released messages, there were no microphones, nor any tape recordings. The messages were recorded in shorthand, which often was not perfect. Today, we have both audiotape and videotape recordings; all the messages can be conveniently preserved. In 1958 I began to visit the Western world. Although for the most part I have worked in the United States, through the publications, audiotapes, and videotapes, the messages in the Lord’s recovery have been spread to the six major continents of the earth. Many seeking ones in different countries have received supplies of these publications, audiotapes, and videotapes.
We compiled some statistics three years ago that showed there were altogether over six hundred churches in the Lord’s recovery throughout the whole earth. Recently, we estimated that the number of churches has increased to over nine hundred. Within this three-year period, most of the three hundred newly added churches were outside of the Far East. The raising up of the church in each place was mainly through the issuing of publications and the distribution of audiotapes and videotapes, not through the co-workers’ going out to work. The videotapes, at present, are the most practical. In Mexico we have eight or nine video stations. Through the release of the messages station by station, about twenty churches have been raised up. Although the Spanish-speaking saints also emphasize publications, regrettably the Spanish translation work is still falling behind due to the limitation of time and manpower.
Recently, I received a letter from Paraguay in South America requesting two hundred fifty sets of Life-studies at one time. Another letter came from a brother who was a preacher in the Republic of Ecuador in South America. This brother’s work was quite effective. He had already baptized over two thousand people and had established over twenty churches. He said that his sister had led him to see this way, and now he needed the truth materials to supply those under his leading. He presented this need to us and asked us to supply him. Even people from India have also requested our publications. It has been due to the supply of these publications and videotapes that the Lord’s recovery has been able to spread rapidly to the six major continents.
Causing People to Receive the Supply in Life
and Edification in the Truth
Today, on the spiritual side, there is drought, desolation, and famine over the whole earth. This is the main reason that all the saints in every place over the whole globe are so thirsty for the publications and videotapes in the Lord’s recovery. In 1962 I spoke publicly in the United States, saying, “Since the end of World War II, whether in Europe or America, not many spiritual books have been published that have spiritual light and spiritual weight such that people can receive the supply in life and edification in the truth.” In the last century, especially in England, spiritual books were mushrooming like bamboo shoots after rain, being published in bundles. However, after World War II it has no longer been the same.
Among us today there are a good number of brothers from the United States; they all have to admit that even in such a vast Christian country as the United States, people are suffering spiritual famine. The Lord’s recovery has been able to spread overseas mainly because of the truth. Besides the churches in the Far East, the raising up of over five hundred other churches has been for the most part due to the issuing of publications, audiotapes, and videotapes in the Lord’s recovery.
Establishing the Ministry Station
for the Propagation of the Truth
For this reason the ministry station needs many more people to come to serve. At the beginning of April this year, I was writing Life Lessons in Taipei. Originally, I only hoped that the Chinese edition could be quickly translated into English after it was issued; that would have been good enough. Never would I have thought that among the trainees who came to Taipei from different countries, we could find some translators who could together translate The Mystery of Human Life from Chinese into thirty-four different languages. At present, some of them are still continuing the translation work and beginning to translate the forty-eight lessons of Life Lessons into twenty-seven languages. Of these, about eighteen languages have already been completed in order to meet the needs of different countries. A few years ago in the ministry station we considered gathering all the editors into one place so that as soon as the messages come out, they could immediately be translated into different languages so that the truths could be quickly spread abroad. Our purpose in establishing the ministry station was for the propagation of the truths. In this respect we have already seen a great effect at the present time.
Today the Lord’s speaking is clearly in His recovery. The saved ones in every place and many who are hungry for the Lord desire the truth and the understanding of the Bible. Therefore, when our publications went into places such as North and South Africa and Central and South America, those who pursue the truth were eager to receive them. The greatest need now is for the ministry station to quickly put out the publications, audiotapes, and videotapes. The audiotapes and videotapes are being used extensively, and the results they produce are also very significant.
At present we are promoting the new way of going out to preach the gospel by door-to-door visitation and establishing home meetings. This has created a very great need. When we go to preach the gospel by knocking on doors and go to lead home meetings, it is not adequate only to speak with our mouths; it is best to give each one a book and lead him to read it. It is even better to give him an audiotape so that he can listen to it again and again. If there are publications available for reading and audiotapes for listening, it will be easy for people to get into the truths. Our ministry station needs to do its best to supply people with publications and audiotapes.
In the New Testament Paul also had a group of people serving him, although he did not use the term ministry station. It was the same with the Lord Jesus when He was on the earth; even His food supply was taken care of by that group of serving ones. Now the Lord’s recovery has spread to the six major continents; there are those everywhere who love the Lord and hunger after the Lord’s truth. This urgent need is something that we have no way to take care of fully. It does not mean that we have no supply; rather, we have the top supply here, but these supplies are not fully distributed yet.
The Cooperation of the Church with the Ministry
The raising up of the work of the ministry and of the ministry station is entirely for the establishing of churches. If the churches cooperate with the ministry and the ministry station, their effectiveness will definitely increase significantly. Due to the extensive need, the ministry must have a group of serving ones. Today the ministry station is set up in three places: Anaheim, Irving, and Taipei, with over sixty brothers and sisters altogether. They are a group of serving ones serving the ministry, cooperating with the ministry to distribute the truths and the publications. We expect to find many more capable ones in order to meet this urgent need.
Besides these needs, there is now the full-time training being held here in Taipei. More than five hundred attended this training last semester, and over one thousand this semester. Over three hundred came from abroad, from approximately twenty-three countries. In order to meet the need for dormitories, we even purchased eleven units in the building next to hall three and spent a total of fifty million Taiwan dollars. This amount was offered mainly by the overseas Chinese-speaking brothers. We really saw the Lord’s confirmation in that, although the expenses were great, the Lord’s supply was abundant. In order to cooperate with this training, the main personnel of the two ministry stations in the United States were transferred to Taipei for remodeling hall three and hall one to meet the urgent need. Although we tried our best to avoid entangling the church, we had no other way, because we needed to use the church property as a training facility and the church members as coordinating personnel. I thank the Lord that the local churches are indeed cooperative. Not only did they send people to coordinate and serve, but they also allowed the training to have the full use of the facilities.
Everything the Work of the Ministry Accomplishes
Being for the Benefit of the Churches
The training here in Taipei has been set up by the ministry for the perfecting of the churches. We need the whole church to rise up to coordinate for the goal of gospelizing Taiwan in five years. Everything the work of the ministry accomplishes is for the benefit of the churches. Whatever is carried out here by this training belongs one hundred percent to the churches in Taiwan. There is no difference whether you come from the churches or the ministry station; we all need to put our shoulders to the work. We are in one accord doing whatever needs to be done in every aspect spontaneously and automatically.
I would let you all know that the reason we have such an effect today is not due to the labor of one person but is the result of continual development through the past sixty years. The greater part of my work is a continuation of that of Brother Watchman Nee. It was the Gospel Book Room that served him in his ministry. Besides that, no one else served him and his ministry.
In 1950 Brother Nee arrived in Hong Kong and wanted me to come from Taiwan to see him. When he fellowshipped about the matter of issuing publications, he took the opportunity to make some arrangements. It was decided that the Gospel Book Room would remain one, yet due to the political situations, it had to conduct business separately in three places: Shanghai, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Brother Nee was responsible for the bookroom in Shanghai, I was responsible for the one in Taipei, and Brother Weigh was responsible for the one in Hong Kong. However, Brother Nee wanted me also to take care of the responsibility for the publications of the Hong Kong bookroom. In addition, he made it clear that the finances of the bookroom in each place should be taken care of by each respective place. Also, he provided a very clear leading from the beginning that all the finances related to the ministry should be clearly separated from those of the church; they should not be mixed together. The ministry does not interfere with the finances of the church, and the church does not interfere with the finances of the bookroom. What is of the bookroom is altogether related to the ministry and not to the church. Therefore, when we first started the work here on Ren Ai Road, we made very clear and appropriate arrangements regarding the usage of the meeting hall by both the bookroom and the church as well as the division of the property rights. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “Words of Training for the New Way,” msg. 3)
Taking the Way of Holding Trainings
In 1962, when I began the work in the United States, I constantly held conferences. A conference in 1970 was attended by about ninety-five percent of the saints who were fellowshipping with us from all over the United States, and more than two hundred saints from abroad joined them. In that year we migrated out of Los Angeles, and our numbers increased in great waves. In 1973 we held a conference in the Los Angeles Convention Center, and we filled a room that could seat three thousand. Additionally, we had to open up two or three smaller rooms where more brothers and sisters watched on closed-circuit television. Many of the young people attending that conference were newly saved, and the situation appeared to be quite chaotic because of the number of attendees. As we were seeking the Lord concerning the situation, we saw that we could not continue in the way of holding only conferences. Our number was increasing every year, and anyone could come to the conferences without any restriction. As a result, the condition of the meetings was not ideal. Therefore, we felt that we needed to change from the way of conferences to the way of trainings. If we changed to the way of conducting trainings, the attendants would have to register first and be approved. Hence, there would be a kind of restriction. Thus, I decided to take the way of holding trainings and asked that each respective church approve the saints registering for the trainings. Every year since then, there have been two trainings—one in the winter and one in the summer.
In the beginning the trainings were controlled very strictly. Anyone under the age of sixteen or over the age of sixty was not allowed to register, and anyone who was ill or in a poor spiritual condition was not; allowed to come. Moreover, after the trainees arrived, their living was under the training twenty-four hours a day; they were not allowed to visit people loosely or to go out shopping. As soon as the trainees arrived at the registration window, they had to begin living according to the training schedule, including when to rise up in the morning and when to go to bed. They were required to arrive five minutes early for the meetings, and the doors were closed promptly at the meeting time. If anyone was late three times, he was automatically dismissed from the training. The trainees were required to prepare to be tested, and if they failed the test three times, they were asked to leave the training.
By carrying out the trainings in this way, everyone was brought onto the proper track. When the trainees entered into the meeting place of the training, they crossed over a clear dividing line, and no one was loose. Everyone’s spirit was girded up, and the result was very different from the conferences. The saints have strictly adhered to the training regulations. As the one who ministers the word, I have been greatly encouraged, and the winter and summer trainings have been able to continue over quite a long period of time. Year after year I have not had any physical problems, and the number of people attending the trainings has continually increased. Through the trainings, the truth has been constantly spreading throughout the Western world. This is not a small matter. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 2)
The Living Stream Ministry Office
Putting Out the Word of God through Video Tapes
The Living Stream Ministry office is only a business office to serve my ministry for two things: to publish the messages in book form and to distribute these messages in both video and audio tapes. That is all the ministry office should do and nothing else. I did not have much time to check on everything related to the office in the past, but the ministry office has always had this specific function and no other function. This little office is a Levitical service, serving my ministry to put out the word of God in print and through video and audio tapes. (CWWL, 1988, vol. 3, “A Timely Word,” ch. 3)
Needing to Keep Living Stream Ministry’s Regulations
If a locality wants to have the video trainings, it must keep Living Stream Ministry’s regulations; this is the proper way to do things. The reason the ministry is so strict is that we hope the saints would be willing to take twenty days a year and give them to the Lord to be properly trained in His Word. We also hope that the trainees would have some exercise for the development of their character so that they would not be loose, sometimes coming early to the meetings and sometimes coming late, looking all around the room while in the meetings, and greeting people loudly and loosely. We hope that we can give the attendants in our trainings some exercise for their character to teach them how to meet and how to study the Lord’s Word.
We hope that all the responsible brothers in all the churches will cooperate with us, since you are the “parents” in each locality. Because the church is your home and you are sending your children to be trained, as “parents” you must cooperate with the training so that it may be successful. If the “parents” have an indifferent attitude, the video trainings will not be of any benefit. We are very happy that there are saints who desire to receive the blessing through the video trainings, and we are willing to serve them, but we would ask the “parents” in all the local churches to cooperate with our “school.” You must do this if we are to be able to accept your children as students and if the video trainings are to be effective.
The Donation for the Video Trainings
After holding the trainings for a few years, we discovered that the burden of providing hospitality was too heavy for the saints in Anaheim and the neighboring churches. Approximately one thousand saints were offering hospitality to fifteen hundred guests for more than ten days twice a year. Therefore, we decided to videotape the trainings and limit the number attending the live training to about seventeen hundred. The rest of the saints in faraway places remained in their localities to take the video training. Later, many other countries were also eager to participate and wanted to hold video trainings. In this way they could save money, and they did not have to suffer the hardships of long-distance travel and trying to obtain sufficient vacation time. Nevertheless, we required the churches holding video trainings to maintain the regulations of the live trainings in order to preserve the standard of the training.
All the attendees of the video trainings are required to give a donation equivalent to ten percent of the average monthly income for their respective countries. For example, in the beginning of the video trainings in Taiwan, the donation was ten U.S. dollars. Furthermore, there had to be at least twenty participants for a locality to hold the training. Some local churches thought that if they could collect donations for twenty participants and turn in the two hundred dollars, they could hold the video trainings without being concerned about how many people actually attended the meetings. Eventually, some people came late, and others left early. Some churches did not carry out the testing, nor did the trainees testify after the messages. They conducted the trainings very loosely. This way of doing things is wrong. If this kind of situation does not improve, these churches will not be allowed to hold the video training. Not one penny of the donations collected for the overseas video trainings enters Living Stream Ministry’s accounts. We use this money for expanding the overseas video trainings and to provide financial assistance to localities that need it.
Encouraging the Trainees to Pay Attention in the Meetings
The donations required for the video trainings are merely a means of regulating the situation and for the purpose of encouraging the trainees to pay attention in the meetings. The elders and co-workers in all the churches should help the brothers and sisters to have a heart for the video trainings. If some saints truly are not able to pay the donation, each locality can take this into consideration and decide how to handle it. In the United States some students truly could not afford the donation, and after considering the matter, we told them that they did not have to offer anything. Moreover, Living Stream Ministry specially prepares places for these students to stay and provides their meals during the trainings. Therefore, each locality can fellowship with us concerning saints who truly cannot afford the donation but who would still like to attend the trainings, and we will agree that they do not have to offer anything. But our consideration concerning this must be strict. We have the responsibility to make these saints realize that they themselves must bear some responsibility and that even though they are not required to make the donation, they must have an even stronger spirit to keep the regulations. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth—concerning the Publication Service,” msg. 2)
SPEAKING THE SAME THING AND
KEEPING THE ONENESS OF THE LORD’S RECOVERY
We all need to endeavor to speak the same thing by the Lord’s mercy and grace (1 Cor. 1:10). There is absolutely no heresy among us. We do not have any basic problems among us, so it should be easy for us to avoid speaking different things and speak the same thing. Also, by His mercy we do not have any organization. No one can control the local churches. No one can control anything, because we do not have organization among us. I do not control, and the Living Stream Ministry office does not control. Mistakes may have been made in the past. But let us live in today and forget about yesterday. We do not even have tomorrow. We have only today in which to live. What happened yesterday is over. If anything was wrong in the past, we need the cleansing blood of Christ as the trespass offering. Past mistakes that have been confessed to the Lord are under the cleansing blood. We need to forget the past and go on. We should not even have any expectation about what will happen tomorrow. We do not need to worry about tomorrow. We live today. No one controls you. All the local churches have the full freedom to go on. As long as you do not do anything against our New Testament constitution, no one would bother you. Among us in the Lord’s recovery there is nothing worth worrying about because basically we do not have any heresy or any kind of organizational control. Everyone in every church has the full freedom to go on. I hope that we would be so faithful and loyal to the Lord’s recovery. We should mean business with the Lord that the Lord’s recovery will be prevailing and even flourishing on the earth for the Lord’s purpose. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1),” ch. 5)
Discussion:
1. How to serve in the video training?
2. How to encourage saints to attend the video training?
