CARING FOR PEOPLE AS NURSING MOTHERS
AND EXHORTING FATHERS (3)
We have tried many ways to gain the increase, but little has worked. Recently, we changed from preaching the gospel in the meeting every week so that the saints could do the preaching in their homes. However, almost no saints opened their home for the gospel. This caused me to have much concern before the Lord. There is no way that works if we do not have a care for and interest in people. However, if we do have a care and interest, the care itself will open up a way. We should not say that we have no way or that no one will accept the gospel… If we had a burden, a care, and an interest for people, we could have brought in a hundred people in the last few months. Because some said that it was too difficult for the saints to bring people to the gospel meeting, we tried letting the saints preach in their homes. Eventually, however, there was no preaching in the homes. It is not that we are short of ways; it is that we are short of heart.
Without being conscious of it, we have drifted into a lukewarm situation. At the present time we are drifting backward. Some have said that our meetings are too formal, but it is we ourselves who have become formal. Regardless of the way we take in the church meetings, we need to be living in our Christian life. To be the same as we were last week, last month, and even last year is the real “formality.” There is no need to consider the condition of the meetings; what about our own living? A strong church can be living even without formal meetings, but it seems that now we have meetings without being living. The proper church life is twenty-five percent a matter of the meetings and seventy-five percent a matter of our living, but we have turned it around to be less than twenty-five percent a matter of our living. If we did not have the meetings, there would be no church life left.
We need the Lord’s mercy. According to our numbers, we have enough saints to begin a new church in a nearby city. Because of our shortage in life, however, we dare not do this. The Lord can testify how much I have prayed. In my prayer I have thanked the Lord for all those who have been brought into His recovery. However, many dear ones who have been in the church life for a certain time are disappointed regarding their usefulness. Some even think that they cannot be useful unless they are elders or leaders in the practical service. Let us forget about the eldership and pick up a genuine heart to love the sinners and a genuine burden to take care of the younger ones. If we have a will to do this, we will surely be able. If we will all be like the older brother who had no position but always cared for the younger ones, our whole church life will be revolutionized. We must have a change. Our success depends not on our knowledge, way, or skill but on our heart. We need to pray for this and take this word for ourselves. (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. 2, pp. 537-541)
The church in Zamboanga 