THE NEED TO VISIT PEOPLE IN THEIR HOMES
WITH THE GOSPEL
FOR THE INCREASE OF THE CHURCH
The first step we need is the step of begetting. To visit people in their homes with the gospel by knocking on their doors is for begetting. We need to do this. We have to admit that we have been very low in our rate of increase. We need to drop all our vain talk and go out once a week to knock on people’s doors. Maybe the first week that we go out, we will not gain anyone, but the second week we may get two baptisms. We should not go out to knock on more doors because we have to take care of these two new ones. We have to nourish and cherish them. If one of them is not so positive or open, we can go out again to gain some more new ones. If we do not have the assurance that one out of three that we baptize will remain, we had better baptize four, looking to the Lord that we will gain one of these for the church life. If we take this way, we can surely bring at least one into the church life yearly.
If some of us do not have the strength or the heart to go out, we should joyfully support those who do. Since we all love the Lord Jesus, love to preach the gospel, and love to see sinners get saved, we should pray for the saints who go out to visit people in their homes even though we cannot go. We should thank the Lord for so many who are willing to go out, praying for them and looking to the Lord for His blessing upon the church. As long as such an activity is for the gospel of the Lord, we should thank the Lord that He has burdened so many. It is not an easy thing to knock on people’s doors. The ones who go out may get doors slammed in their faces and they may get rebuked, but they are happy to suffer such a shame for the Name of the dear One whom they love.
When I went back to Taiwan in 1984, I realized that the first thing we had to do to revolutionize our practice was to take care of the proper preaching of the gospel. We must get the increase for the building up of the Body of Christ. This is why I paid such a great price to return to Taipei to test out this matter of visiting people by knocking on their doors. The Lord’s blessing on this scriptural, God-ordained way has been proven by the marvelous results.
(Elders' Training, Book 09: The Eldership and the God-Ordained Way (1), Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
