THE PATTERN OF THE LORD JESUS FORMING SMALL GROUPS
In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves and two fish (14:14-21). This was a great miracle. The Lord commanded the disciples to have the people sit down in groups by hundreds and by fifties (Mark 6:39-40; Luke 9:14-15). In this way the huge crowd was properly arranged. Since there were about five thousand men in the crowd, not including women and children, there were probably more than ten thousand people present.
When the crowd saw that the Lord Jesus was going to distribute the five loaves and two fish to the people, there could have been chaos if they had not been seated in groups; some of the children might have been trampled to death. Under these conditions it was important to arrange the people to sit down in groups. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to maintain order. There was no possibility for a chaotic situation when the crowd was seated.
In the church service there is the aspect of arranging the saints in groups. The Lord Jesus first gave the loaves to the disciples, who then gave them to the crowd, which was divided into groups. In this way God’s miracle was manifested, but it was in an orderly fashion without any chaos. After feeding the crowd, the Lord Jesus commanded the disciples to gather up the leftovers (Matt. 14:20; Mark 6:43). This truly was a sweet service.
In Christianity arrangements are not made according to this principle. Rather, they do things in the way of organization. There is a difference between arranging and organizing. There is no organization in the church, but there are arrangements in church service. When the Lord Jesus distributed the bread, He did not call a meeting of the board of directors to elect a chairman. That is organization and is prevalent in Christianity. The church does not do things in this way; instead, the church makes arrangements according to practical needs. Such arrangements are living and are a tremendous help to the Lord’s work. When the Lord distributed the bread, He commanded the disciples to have the people sit down in groups. Moreover, after they finished eating, He did not allow the disciples to end the service in a careless way. He had them pick up what was left over of the broken pieces. When they counted the baskets, there were twelve baskets full. The Lord caused the service to be done in an orderly way. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 4, “Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 3: The Future of the Lord’s Recovery and the Building Up of the Organic Service”, ch. 3, pp. 63-64)
The church in Zamboanga 