CONCERNING THE MONEY RECEIVED
All the local brothers and sisters can put their offerings into the church offering box. Personal offerings can be given to the co-workers. The rest should be put in the fund for the work. If anyone wants to inquire about the accounting of the money for the work, you can go to Brother Lee and Brother Tang. The accounting of the church can be found in the church business office. The out-of-town brothers should first set aside from their monthly offerings an amount for their local use. If any money is designated for the work, it should be sent to Brother Witness and Brother Tang if the money comes from the north, and should be sent to Brother Chen Keh-san and Chen Si-wen if the money comes from the south.
MAINTAINING A BALANCE
Before God, there are principles to everything we do, and we cannot do anything in a loose way. We are not like the missionary societies, who practice corporate faith. For over twenty years, we have not dared to be tough in the matter of money. But today, we see that everything else can be soft, but if we are soft on money, God’s word will be softened. If we have a wrong attitude toward money and do not take care of it properly, God’s word will be sacrificed. On the one hand, we do not want to see anyone taking godliness as a means of gain. On the other hand, we have to maintain God’s standard. We do not want to annul personal faith through corporate moves. But at the same time, we wish to see all the needs met. We hope to see that as long as there is prayer, there is answer to prayer. In this matter, we hope to maintain a proper balance before God.
DETERMINING AND ACKNOWLEDGING
THE CO-WORKERS
I have a few words to say about the co-workers. The basic need in the work is to know people. A doctor can use instruments such as the thermometer and the blood pressure cuff to measure the temperature, the blood pressure, and the pulse. For us workers, our spirit is our instrument. If our spirit has been dealt with, we will know what kind of persons others are as soon as their spirit touches ours. If you are a piece of rough stone, and another rough stone is put on top of you, the roughness of the other stone will not be accented. But if you are a smooth and flat piece of stone, and another piece of rough stone is placed on you, its angles and corners will be accented, and you will feel right away which part is crooked and which part is not flat. You may not be able to pinpoint a person’s mistakes, but when you touch such a one, you should be able to sense the uncouth parts in that person. Today in some places some brothers have accepted co-workers on our behalf and have created quite a lot of problems for us. The reason for this is that many of the ones that they have accepted are uneven and uncouth. I hope that we will have a deeper discernment concerning the co-workers. Those workers who work in different places should bring along with them letters of recommendation, without which they cannot be considered as our co-workers.
BROTHER WITNESS LEE’S FELLOWSHIP
The Gospel Work in Foochow
I have traveled along the coastal regions of China. I have also been to the inland regions. Among all these places, no place is as good as Foochow today. While I stayed in Foochow for forty days, I saw people being saved in a very quick way, and their salvation experience was quite solid. At the end of our work there, and when we were about to leave, God suddenly did a strong work. Originally, we thought that as long as we had ten or twenty that were willing to be baptized, we would baptize them. Hence, we made the announcement on Thursday, and we were going to talk with the candidates on Friday. When the time came, over eighty came, and of them over seventy were accepted for baptism. For some, as soon as they came in and sat down, the brothers were already clear that they were saved. The answers the brothers received far exceeded what they hoped for. The first time we held the baptism, there were one hundred twenty people baptized. The second week there were seventy to eighty. Other than these ones, there were many other ones who were waiting to be baptized.
(Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee's Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 72, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee)
