RAISING UP CHURCHES AND PERFECTING MEN
I hope that you would understand that the way you are taking is not the way of Christianity, nor is it the way of any work. The way you are taking is the way the Lord has recovered according to His word. The Lord’s recovery has been in Taiwan for forty years. During this time, the gospel has never been preached properly. Our burden here is to spread the gospel to at least every village and town and to raise up the Lord’s churches in those places. Although your work today does not seem to be very great outwardly and at times appears rather difficult, in reality it is very worthwhile.
Our goal is that in three years a hundred churches will be raised up in a hundred towns and villages. In every place there will be twenty to thirty saints living the church life in a solid way. Among them, at least three to five will be firm in their faith, clear in the general truth, and have a basic understanding and experience of the spiritual life in Christ and the practical living of the church. These three to five will also have some ability to speak about these matters. Moreover, they will have a stable character, being honest and faithful to others, so that they would not forsake the Lord or the church. As long as there are such brothers, you can slowly let your hands go and let them take up the responsibilities. I believe this situation will be developed within a year or so. At that time you can plan to do other things. This goal is very clear. For this reason, you have to begin perfecting others now. While you are working, you must have the discernment to see who are the suitable ones. It would also be good if you can raise up three to five sisters who can take the lead among the sisters. All these ones need your proper perfecting. For this reason, from now on, on the one hand, you have to gain new ones, but on the other hand, you have to perfect men.
SEEKING THE TRUTH
AND DIVING INTO THE BIBLE
You can see where you must give yourselves to labor from now on. First, you must grow in life. This is a basic necessity. Second, you must study the truth in depth. Every day, you must have a set time of at least an hour to study the Bible. You should study the important books such as Matthew, John, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, the four books that make up the heart of the New Testament—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians—and the book of Hebrews. You should also study 1 and 2 Peter, 1 John, and Revelation. These are the books to study in the New Testament. In your study of the Old Testament, the most basic books are those of the Pentateuch. Even if you cannot study them by yourself, you have to thoroughly read through the Life-study messages on these five books. During the past decades, I have done my best to thoroughly present to you the riches in these five books. I am standing on the shoulders of my predecessors in order to advance further. All the things presented are reliable and real. All you have to do is to dive into them.
We know that in-depth knowledge is not gained overnight. The cultivation of knowledge is a life-long matter. For this reason, you have to spend time in the Lord’s word every day. This will affect your work in the villages and will help you to know how to cultivate others to be pillars in the church, that is, those who can be leaders. If you do not do this, your teachings will be shallow, and your work will not see much result. However, if you dive into the Lord’s word daily and become fully rooted and grounded, what you speak will be different, and the result will be different. Let me repeat again. The next year is a crucial time. If you can perfect others, your work will have lasting value. And the value of your work in turn depends on the degree of your understanding of the Bible.
DOING THE BEST TO STUDY LANGUAGES
Another necessary thing for you to do is to study languages. You are all young and have learned some foreign languages in school. This is very good. Whether or not you will go abroad in the future, you must know at least two languages—your native language and a foreign language. Generally speaking, the most useful language is English. Next to English, Spanish is very useful. You should make the effort to study them. Do not simply learn them in a general way. You must study the grammar and the vocabulary. The more you study these things, the better it will be. In addition, you must learn the syntax. I hope that you would try your best to study these matters.
(The Vision of the Divine Dispensing and Guidelines for the Practice of the New Way, Chapter 9, by Witness Lee)
