CARRYING OUT THE NEW WAY FOR THE LORD’S COMMISSION
If we want to carry out the gospel, truth, life, and the church, then we must rely on the Holy Spirit and the word of God, and we must pray with all prayer and petition while laboring diligently. Over these past sixty years we have not been satisfied with the result of our experience. If we look back at the past two thousand years, the result of what Christianity has practiced has also been disappointing. Now the Lord has given us a definite new way for accomplishing His commission to us, which is the way of door-knocking, visiting people, establishing home meetings, teaching the truth, and bringing people into the building up of the church.
However, this kind of practice needs sufficient manpower. This is due to the fact that door-knocking is not an easy matter, visiting people is not a simple thing, teaching the truth and ministering life are even more difficult, and bringing people into the Body of Christ to live together in the practical church life is the most difficult of all. These matters will require not only time but also manpower. Therefore, after much prayer and study before the Lord, we have seen that if we are to carry out the Lord’s commission, we will need three practical areas of coordination. First, those who meet regularly must produce one out of every twenty to be a full-time serving one who is supported by the other nineteen. Second, they must produce one out of every four to be a door-knocker who would spend at least two hours every week going out for door-knocking, caring for others, teaching the truth, fellowshipping with others, and ministering life. Third, in addition to the general offerings, everyone must give everything they have to support this move, not just with prayer but even more with monetary supply. This will be the strongest backing for this move.
Under normal circumstances, every full-timer who sets aside the Lord’s Day for meeting and goes out six days for door-knocking and visiting people two to three hours a day will be able to gain at least one person each week for baptism. Those who go out two hours each week will be able to gain one person for baptism every two months. According to this principle, we will have a fourfold increase yearly. If we are faithful, this will not be merely wishful thinking but will be something attainable. I hope that we all will receive this commission and begin offering all that we can and all that we have for the gospel and for human souls.
THE ELDERS AND CO-WORKERS NEEDING TO BE PATTERNS OF THE FLOCK
The practice of the new way is not simple. Take door-knocking as an example. One person’s door-knocking is different from another person’s door-knocking. When a street-sweeper goes door-knocking, the feeling he gives others in his demeanor will be different from that of a college professor who goes door-knocking. In the same way, when the elders take the lead to go out door-knocking, they will be somewhat more weighty than most of the saints going out by themselves. Therefore, the elders must learn to lead. They should not be elders as in the former days, only sitting at a desk in the business office busying themselves with the miscellaneous affairs of the church. Instead, they should go out every day to knock on doors, care for people, teach people, and perfect people. Moreover, according to the Bible, the elders should not lord it over the flock but should become the leading sheep as patterns of the flock (1 Pet. 5:3). Likewise, the co-workers should take the lead to go out door-knocking. There should be no silent spectators among us. On the contrary, we should actively carry out these principles of twenty people producing one full-timer and four people producing at least one door-knocker. Moreover, all the saints should rise up to support, pray, and coordinate fully with monetary contributions so that the door-knockers, especially the full-time serving ones, can go forward with all their might without having to worry about their livelihood. Simultaneously, the co-workers and elders should take the lead to preach the gospel of the Lord’s recovery, and all the saints should rise up as one man to allow the Lord to have the free way in this age to advance His economy.
THE PLAN TO EVANGELIZE TAIWAN IN FIVE YEARS
I am certain that if we faithfully go to practice and labor, the great project of evangelizing Taiwan in five years will be a success under the Lord’s gracious leading. According to our original calculations, we would need two thousand five hundred full-timers for this evangelization project. Yet after our observations and experiences, at present I would say we need only one thousand to evangelize the entire island of Taiwan in the remaining few years. The brothers and sisters must pick up the burden to expend their energy by praying and offering their money for this matter so that the move to evangelize Taiwan, which began in 1985, can be accomplished by 1990.
If some full-time serving ones from other countries can participate in the move to evangelize and “churchize” Taiwan in five years, the results and the glory will be promising. We now have people of every color from the six continents on earth who have entered into this move. This is a very encouraging matter. I hope that the saints in all the local churches would say amen from the depths of their being to the Lord’s new move today and that they would put forth their best effort to successfully carry out the unique, new way given to us by the Lord.
(The Furtherance of the New Way for the Lord's Recovery, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
