A CRUCIAL STEP FOR PRACTICING THE NEW WAY
We have said that we must lead the home meetings properly so that the new ones will know the truth and grow in life. This is the third step of the actual practice of the new way, and it is a very important and crucial step. The success or failure of the new way completely hinges on whether or not we are able to carry out and get through this step. We now have more than six thousand newly baptized ones and have set up two thousand home meetings, so it is just as if we have given birth to the babies and have set up a good environment to care for them. Therefore, the next step is to determine how we will actually nurture and care for them.
Now that so much progress has been made in medicine, many premature babies can be raised to maturity. I have a grandson who was only as big as a little frog when he was born. When I saw him, I doubted whether he would be able to grow up, but now he is tall and husky and plays football very well with the American children. This is because his mother did a good job of feeding and caring for him. In the same way, today when we gain people through door-knocking and establish meetings in their homes, if we do not have the proper way to feed them, they will all die prematurely in about three months. Therefore, the way in which we lead and care for people will determine whether this new way for the Lord’s recovery will succeed and prosper in bringing the Lord’s recovery on, or whether this way will be a “dead end” which will cause us to “close shop.” Some may ask why we must take the new way. First, the new way is according to the Bible. Second, a review of the past thirty years of history in Taiwan shows that the lack of home meetings as a support is the reason that many were baptized but few have remained. We have also heard many testimonies from the trainees who have gone out and knocked on the doors of many dormant saints who have not been in meetings for a long time. We have had this question in our heart for a long time: over the years we have baptized more than 100,000, but where did all those people go? Five years ago there were three hundred meeting in hall one in the church in Taipei, now there are still three hundred, and I am afraid that by the end of the world, there will still be three hundred. Why is this? It is because there are no home meetings as the supporting foundation. Now the practice of the new way is making the home the focal point, so it gives us all a supporting foundation.
It is very easy to see that without a good church life, there is no way to retain people. If we use a hose to pump water out of a well and onto the ground, the water will soon seep back into its original place. The result is that while we are pumping water on the one hand and pouring water on the other, the water is simultaneously seeping back into the ground. Unless we have a container, we will not be able to keep the water from leaking away. The church life should be like a reservoir which keeps the water from leaking away whenever it rains, because the water is completely stored up in the reservoir. It is not easy to build a large reservoir, but it is very easy to find water pots. Each home meeting, even if it cannot be considered a small reservoir, can be considered a small water pot. The water which we pump up can be poured into these pots. From the beginning to the end of the year, only a small amount will leak out. For the most part the water can be stored up. In the past our failure was that we only had the big meetings and did not build up the home meetings, so we did not have a place to store the water. It was like giving birth to children with no place to raise them. Now we have found that the home meetings are the right place for the new ones to grow up and live. Therefore, we all must see clearly that the new way depends on the home meetings, and the home meetings depend on how we lead and perfect the new ones.
(The Furtherance of the New Way for the Lord's Recovery, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
