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God's Ordained Way Since 1984 in the Lord's recovery, there has been a strong move to meet in the homes according to the New Testament pattern and experience. "Home sweet home" became a motto to encourage us to place more emphasis on the home meetings than on the large corporate gatherings, which are usually held in a meeting hall. We were also encouraged not to trust in big speakers, that is, in the one-man speaking tradition and system found in most Christian settings. Rather, we were to become responsible to care for our own meetings in the homes by getting to know one another, pray for one another, and mutually teach, edify, and build up one another in spirit through the New Testament ministry and the Spirit. The move to meet in the homes was also for the sake of providing a comfortable setting for new ones and for the speaking of the gospel for fruit-bearing. In book nine of the Elders' Training fellowship, Brother Lee says, "In this chapter I would like to fellowship concerning the application of the God-ordained way, the biblical way, the new way. To know this way outwardly is not that difficult, but to apply the biblical way to meet and to serve is not so simple. This biblical way includes four things: (1) the preaching of the gospel by visiting people to get people saved for Christ (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15); (2) having home meetings set up in the new ones’ homes for nourishing and cherishing them that they may grow in life (John 21:15; Peter 2:2); (3) having group meetings to group the new ones together for perfecting (Heb. 10;24-25; Eph. 4:12-13); and prophesying, speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord, in the church meetings for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:1; 3-5, 12, 23-24, 31, 39a). None of these four items is easy." Burden for the Oversight of Groups To help the saints into the ordained way to meet, Brother Lee encouraged oversight of the groups and of each person attending group meetings. "There is no way to carry out the God-ordained way except by the individual contact with people. What is needed today is for the full-timers, co-workers, and elders to spend their time, energy, and spiritual capacity to take care of people individually." W. L. "The elders should spend time to teach each one of the attendants of the group meetings. They need to go to each of the saints homes outside the group meeting. This is why Paul said in Acts 20 that he taught the saints publicly and from house to house and that he admonished each one of them night and day with tears. Paul used both the day and the night. We mostly use our meeting time to contact the saints. We think that as long as we have attended every meeting, we have fulfilled our duty. But that is not the complete fulfilling of our duty. The fulfilling of our duty is also outside the meetings." W. L. In further fellowship on the God-ordained way, Brother Lee introduced the matter of the vital groups. This became a major burden of his to the end of his ministry. In this fellowship he emphasized the need for each saint to have a deep and thorough repentance and dealing with the Lord that we could become vital persons, desperate to gain companions in an organic way, being led by the Lord through prayer to start a vital group, faithful to shepherd one another in the group, and diligent to labor with one another to bring forth fruit, as laboring priests presenting acceptable offerings to God (Rom. 15:16). Praise the Lord! that we can gather together into His name out of so many preoccupying and distracting things and love Him preeminently and the things that concern Him regularly in Christ-centered fellowship in the homes for the Lord's move and testimony. |
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