SERVING THE LORD BY CARING FOR PEOPLE (3)
The first point for our training is to realize that in the church service we do not do anything in the way of organization. The church is an organism, and what an organism needs is life. Therefore, our church service is mainly for ministering life to others. Even the arranging of chairs and the cleaning of restrooms are not for themselves; they are for ministering life. In ushering, clerical work, and any aspect of the church service, we must do everything to minister life to others. Of course, it is good for us to do things in a proper way. Not doing things well can be a frustration, but this does not mean that merely doing a good job is to have the proper service… Even if we cannot do things very well, but by His mercy we minister life to others, the service is still successful. The main matter is to minister life to others.
Some may say that it is not we but the Lord Jesus who is the Life-giver. However, there is at least one verse in the New Testament which says that we can give life to the weaker ones. First John 5:16a says, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him.” Life here in Greek is not bios, the physical life; it is zoe, the spiritual life. This verse does not mean that if we pray for the brother’s sickness, we can impart physical life to him. It means that we give him zoe, the spiritual life. We have the privilege of giving life to the weaker ones in order to swallow up their death.
The best opportunity for us to minister life to others is in the service groups. Many saints who have a heart for the Lord have been placed in these groups under the care of the responsible ones. The leading ones in the service should not care merely for doing things properly. The main thing they must do is care in life for all the ones who serve in the groups. They must help the saints not primarily to carry out the service; rather, they should fellowship with them and minister life to them so that they may grow. If the leading ones do this, spontaneously all the saints will do the same for others. Then the entire church will be under the care of the proper ministry of life.
In order for us to minister life to others, we must do at least four things. First, we need an adequate contact with the Lord. We must all purposely go to the Lord, not to pray for other things but simply to spend time with Him… One who has life and the timely word from the Lord can speak the timely word to sustain the weary ones. This is to minister life to the weary and weak ones. We must all go to the Lord first to consecrate ourselves anew to serve Him in the church and to participate in the service and in the training. (The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church”, ch. 1, pp. 525-528)
The church in Zamboanga 