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FOrming the Groups by the Way of Prayer
Verses:
John 15:16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you. (17) These things I command you that you may love one another.
Ministry Portion:
To form the groups in the new way there is no need to touch any of the existing church meetings or group meetings. We can let them go on as they have been, without attempting to change or to terminate them. If you desire to start a group meeting, you should first pray. You should not do anything without praying first. You should do everything by prayer and do everything according to prayer. In your prayer you may say to the Lord, “Lord, I am burdened to have a group meeting. Lord, give me the people. I cannot have the group meeting by myself. I need at least a few.” To form a group, you do not need a large number; even three to five saints are enough. After you pray to the Lord, the Lord may tell you to go to fellowship with a certain brother. While you are on your way to contact this brother, you should pray, “Lord, what should I say to him?” Do everything by prayer; this makes a difference.
If the brother agrees to join you, you should still pray, “Lord, what shall we do? My brother desires to join me. What shall we do?” In such a situation you should pray and not dominate the other brother by telling him what to do. Rather, you should ask him, “Now that you have expressed your desire to join me, what shall we do?” The other brother may propose that the two of you come together to pray and fellowship the next day. From the time that he says he will join you and you answer him by asking him what you should do, the two of you will be organically united in the Spirit. Your relationship will be different from what it was before. Immediately, the Holy Spirit will confirm this, making the two of you one. The two of you will love each other more than ever. Then you will learn of him, and he will learn of you.
After you pray together, in a few days the Lord may lead you both to contact a third brother. Through your prayerful contact with him, he may agree to join you. Now you have a group of three. I can assure you that if you form your group in this way, everyone who joins your group will immediately become one with you organically.
Do not do anything according to the natural concept. Do everything according to prayer. The Lord may lead you to contact another one. This one may live somewhat far away from you, and you may tell the Lord that he lives too far away. However, that is your concept. Instead of going according to your concept, you should follow the Lord’s leading through your prayer. Within a week or ten days, you may contact four or five saints who agree to join you in a group. This way of grouping together is different from the way of arrangement or assignment by the elders, and it is also different from the way of forming groups according to geography or neighborhood. Actually, both the way of prayer and the way of arrangement are needed in order to have the proper forming of the groups. In later chapters I will say more concerning the way to form the groups. (Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, ch. 2)
The church in Zamboanga 