CHANGING OUR CONCEPT—WE MUST BUILD UP PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Verses:
Dan. 2:16-17, “Daniel then went in and sought from the king that he would give him a time to declare the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions”
Matt. 18:20, “For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.”
Excerpts:
Surely, this does not mean that we no longer have “meetings,” nor does it mean that we no longer have big meetings or we do not ask people to come. Rather, it means that “meeting” is no longer the central figure. The most important central figure is every single “person.” However, many brothers and sisters still have not changed their concept.
For example, some local churches say that they are practicing the God-ordained way, but the responsible brothers still regard the Lord’s Day meetings the most. On the Lord’s Day, they dress neatly. Why do they regard the Lord’s Day meetings the most? Because the number of attendance in the Lord’s Day meetings is the most! Because the number of people in a local church is basically their Lord’s Day meeting attendance. Furthermore, whether a church is strong is also determined by the Lord’s Day meeting! When others ask about the condition of a certain church, they also refer to the condition of the Lord’s Day meeting! Therefore, we need to hold good Lord’s Day meetings. However, this is “meeting,” “big,” and “coming.” There is no question that the Lord’s Day meeting should be good. When we say “turning from meeting to people,” it does not mean that we are abolishing the Lord’s Day meeting; rather, it means that your mind, attention, and concepts need to turn from “meeting” to another direction, to be set on “people.”
This is the first thing: our concepts need to be turned completely; we need to see that the most important matter is every single member, every single person, and we must build up personal relationships with them. In order to build up personal relationships, we need to be “small.” If we are not “small,” we cannot build up personal relationships. Since you can go to where a person is to take care of him, why do you ask him to come? Actually, you want him to come to support your facade. Without the facade, will you still ask him to come? For example, if today the government stops you from having big meetings, or you yourself feel that the facade does not matter and you do not need to have a facade, you will not ask people to come. You would even give up asking people to come, and “coming” would no longer be a problem. Actually, it is tedious to ask people to come to the meetings. Therefore, the concept is crucial. This is a matter of changing our concepts! (Open Letter by Bro. Andrew Yu, February 11, 2020)
The church in Zamboanga 