The Vision and Blueprint for the Children's Meeting
Messages for the Perfecting of Parents — "Children's Meeting" Series
Message Two
In the course of learning to serve the Lord, the more we serve the more we come to notice one thing: how to touch the Lord's burden in this age. The Lord's work on the earth is time-related; the church on the earth has a commission. Every age has a focal point of work that has been left in trust. In the sixteenth century, all that God required of His sons and daughters was for everyone to read the Scriptures. The Bible was no longer in the hand of the priestly class; it was in the hand of every one who thirsted for the Lord — that is, the opening up of the Scripture. In that age, only this — to pay attention to justification by faith — and one became an overcomer of that age. To be justified is not to buy indulgences, building up the seven-storeyed pagoda by good deeds; it is by faith. But by the time we have come to the twenty-first century, if we are still day in and day out preaching justification by faith and the opening of the Scripture, we are no longer keeping up with the times.
What, then, in the twentieth century, in the nineties, would the Lord do on this earth among His sons and daughters? Broadly speaking: to bring His children into the building up and multiplication of the Body of Christ; then to perfect the saints, into an all-member service, a one-accord coordination that produces the building up of the Body — manifesting the universal Body and the universal new man. Narrowly speaking — do you know what the Lord is doing in the twenty-first century, in the nineties? — He is bringing in the small group. Remember: do you want to be an overcomer? — A most important thing about being an overcomer is that it is not enough to be a "good" Christian, not enough to be a meeting-going Christian, not enough to be a Christian who merely keeps up the routine — it is to be a Christian who keeps up with the times. To serve the young people, we must keep up with the times.
This age still needs perfecting. But where, today, are we to perfect men? What sort of Christ are we to attain to in His building up on this earth? Brother Nee said in 1948: "We must be typical Christians." That is, in this age there must be a type — a pattern — of the Christian of this age. In the sixteenth century every Christian had only to bear the look of justification by faith. In the seventeenth century every Christ-loving one bore the look of the mystic — they were called the mystics. Not pretended mystics — but men inwardly filled with fellowship with the Lord, undetected by others; when others wept greatly, they could shed tears; when others laughed, they could rejoice — for inside they were filled with the joy of divine fellowship. That was the seventeenth-century type of Christian. In the twentieth century, in the nineties, what is the typical Christian? — "The small-group expert." The small-group expert is the typical Christian of the twentieth century — full of one-anothering, who, the moment he comes to the meetings, breaks free of the old methods.
If we love men, the small group is sure to succeed. We really do still carry the residue of Christianity, because the entire mind of the Christian world is "the meeting." Everything is natural relationships; rarely do we find spiritual fellowship, the new-creation treasures, or the bond of spirit-loving-spirit. Now, in the Lord's recovery, we are in the midst of a revolution! Brothers and sisters, in your small group, in the children's meeting (兒童排, er-tong-pai), in the junior-high group — the children's meeting and the young people's group must succeed.
If you would press on, you must drop the concept of "the meeting." You must turn from "the meeting" to "the persons," that the meeting which exists for the sake of these persons may become a living and perfected meeting. It is not enough that the story has been told; we must take care whether the children have understood, whether they have questions, whether they are joyful — and not merely "regardless of your need, I'm just going to tell the David story; if you like it, fine; if you don't, fine — I'm just going to tell my David." If we treasure them, we shall not look down on them. Perfecting our children is so useful! When you speak to them now of the overcomers, they will yet be overcomers; when you speak to them now of the full-time service, they will yet be in the full-time service. This is most important.
I. The Outlook of the Children's Meeting
1. Looking from God's economy
In this New Testament age God's economy is to bring forth a band of overcomers in the midst of the fallen church — that is, to bring forth a band of vital members; and these vital members are the future overcomers. To bring forth overcomers, the most important thing is to nourish out healthy members; for the overcomers come out of healthy members of the Body. If a man in the church is dead and dull — meeting people without knowing how to preach the gospel, often dragged off to run after the world, with no one in his hand to care for, the Lord's Day a duty he cannot quite manage, born just standing there casting his eyes east and west — if such a state continues, he cannot become an overcomer. Why? Because the future overcomer is the present healthy member.
God's economy is to gain a company of men, to constitute these as His sons, and so to constitute the Body of Christ. When the Body has grown up and is built up, this Body composed of overcomers shall be raptured to be the bride of Christ. To put it sharply: when we speak of the healthy members, we always neglect to put the children inside; we always feel the children are the future members, and that what is needed now are us grown-ups. For this we must repent! As long as one is living today, he ought to be a healthy member.
Through the years, the reason our spiritual education of the children has been so inadequate is that we did not see them as healthy members. So we only thought of storing them up — never of perfecting them. If we recognized that, in order to attain to overcomers — by overcomers to constitute the rapture-Body, and to build up the complete Body — we ought today to nourish up healthy small members, then they would be built up in their own age. Do not say they are the future members — no! — they are the present members. As long as you let them live this out today, regardless of how young, they ought to become healthy members. In all this — the healthy members — whether grown-ups, or little children, or the saints of ancient times — most of these members go on through maturing and through martyrdom to become overcomers; but our next generation — they are the most likely — they are the band who need not pass through death, but can be alive when raptured, to become firstfruits.
Once we step into the service to children and young people, we must have the highest vision: we are here serving to nourish up, for the Lord's recovery, the second class of overcomers. The first class of overcomers has already been formed by the overcomers of every generation — possibly including the martyrs of this age, and the saints already departed. The second class of overcomers is most likely to come forth from our children's bodies; their very age makes it possible that, in this most concluding of ages, this most glorious of generations, they may not pass through death, may not even pass through marriage, or any of the other things this human life has had to pass through. They shall become a band purchased from among men; they shall become a band of pure overcomers; they shall become overcomers who, from their childhood, will love Christ.
Do not look down on them. The age of committing sin keeps falling lower and lower; the age of loving the Lord also falls lower and lower; the age of becoming a wicked one falls lower and lower; and the age of becoming an overcomer likewise falls lower and lower. Hallelujah! It is in this dark age that we must all the more take hold of these children to become firstfruits. In our training in Anaheim, almost every time Brother Lee would have the young people stand up and exercise. Do they understand romance? Do they understand what it means to call Christ "my Husband, and I am His bride"? — but do not ask whether they understand; their spirits understand. So today the test is not so much for the grown-ups; mostly we test the students, because Brother Lee much loves the students, the young people; sometimes when he sees a small one, short and small, like a child, stand up — Oh! — Brother Lee is delighted. The smaller the one, when he speaks the way of the truth — Brother Lee rejoices the more.
Brothers and sisters, we likewise are joyful. Last year, year-end, were you not joyful? Did you not shed tears? Do not look down on them. Do not say, "Oh — once they go home they revert to their old selves!" — I know all about it; no problem — that they will revert to their old selves is a certainty. If they did not revert, I'd say something is wrong! How could they have the strength to keep that up so long? But understand this: the moment they were on display — that will be remembered into eternity. We who carry within us a heart for the next generation — please remember: it is not just that we want the next generation to become good students, successes that get ahead. Because he is well-behaved, so in the future he will rake up three Ph.D.'s, he will not become a ruffian, everything will be smooth — no! What we want here is to nourish up firstfruits — to satisfy the Lord's need, and to consummate the building up of this age.
Brothers and sisters, do not take what I am saying as too high — this is our vision. If we only hope that our next generation will be very well-behaved, very obedient children — that is not yet the Lord's need. Only one thing matters: to make our own children, and the children of our neighbors, become healthy small members of the Body, for the Lord's building up.
2. Looking from the Lord's eyes
Mark 10:13 — And they brought little children to Him so that He might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. Mark 10:14 — But Jesus, seeing it, was indignant and said to them, Allow the little children to come to Me. Do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Mark 10:15 — Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall by no means enter into it. Mark 10:16 — And taking them into His arms, He fervently blessed them, laying His hands on them.
Second, we must look from the Lord's eyes. We very much treasure that our Lord is the God-man — He became man, passed through every winter-frost of human life, loved the men of every age, and He especially loved the children. One time the Lord Jesus was walking somewhere — and in a place where there were many things to attend to with the grown-ups, a group of children came to find Him, to have Him touch them, to have Him bless them; and the disciples were displeased: "Don't make a fuss! Don't you know what we are doing now?" The Lord Jesus, seeing this, was indignant and said: "Why do you forbid? — Allow the little children to come to Me; do not prevent them. I love them; and I tell you, unless you grown-ups turn and become like these children, none of you can enter the kingdom of the heavens." Anyone who would enter the kingdom must turn and become as a child. The child is the easiest to enter the kingdom of God; the child's likeness is something lived out — "Allow the little children to come to Me!"
All who serve must look up to the Lord and pray: "Lord, do not let me find the children a bother." Caring for children is not a simple thing. Looking after one's own children is still bearable, because we are accustomed: even with him dragging snot down his face every day, we are used to it. But when another family's child shows up trailing snot, you may not be so accustomed; when his shoes come off and the stink hits the ceiling, you are even less accustomed; when he comes into your home and breaks your glass bottles, you flare with anger: "Get the child away from me!" — and you cannot serve the children. We must be like the Lord Jesus: "Allow the little children to come to Me." Amen! And not only love the little ones — make friends with them; practise how to make a connection with the children.
I have a number of cross-generation friends in Taipei; gradually in Taichung also some such friends — they are most lovely. To speak with a child, get down to this height; squat down, touch his head, often praise him: "How great you are!" "Allow the little children to come to Me." If you do not love the little ones, if you have no real warm love toward them — and only want to study how to manage them — forget it! All who feel the service is too hard are unfit to manage the children; the only ones fit to manage are those who say: "Allow the little children to come to Me, do not forbid them." This is the Lord's warm love; if we would serve the children, would have the children become the firstfruits, we need to have the heart of the Lord Jesus.
3. Looking from God's commission
Exo. 13:14 — And when your son asks you in time to come, saying, What is this? you shall say to him, By strength of hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from the slave house. Exo. 13:15 — And when Pharaoh hardened himself against letting us go, Jehovah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I am one who sacrifices to Jehovah all that open the womb that are males; and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. Exo. 13:16 — So it will be as a sign upon your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand Jehovah brought us out of Egypt.
The third point is most important. In Exodus 14 — when the children of Israel had passed through the Passover — that very night, on the eve of their coming out of Egypt, they slew the lamb, smeared the blood, and ate the lamb; and at that very time God charged Moses to instruct the children of Israel: "From now onward, every year you shall keep the Passover, that you may remember how our God brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
How careful our God is! Scripture goes on: "In time to come, when, in the place where you handle the sacrifice, your child asks you, 'What is this?' — you shall tell him, 'It is Jehovah who led us out of Egypt; in the days of Pharaoh's tyranny we were oppressed, but Jehovah loved us, and as an eagle bears her young upon her back, He bore us out.'" Our children need to remember the Lord's redemption in this way.
By the time we come to Deuteronomy 6 — that is Moses' farewell exhortation — in this parting word there is one passage. Moses, representing God, charged the children of Israel: "All the words I command you today, you shall keep upon your heart." Then he said: "And you shall diligently teach them to your sons and daughters. All the words God has given you, all the words you have read, all the spiritual education you have received — you must diligently teach them to your sons and daughters."
How is the teaching done? "Whether you sit at home, or walk on the way, or lie down, or rise up" — that is, the whole of your domestic life: at home, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, at the dining table, talk about it. Not chatting about world events, not chatting about a fallen society — but speaking of all that you have experienced before the Lord, that you may diligently teach your sons and daughters.
4. Looking from the whole of Scripture
2 Tim. 1:5 — Having been reminded of the unfeigned faith in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded dwells also in you. 2 Tim. 3:15 — And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, looking at the whole of Scripture — whose responsibility is the spiritual blessing of the next generation? It is not the responsibility of the children's teacher; it is not the responsibility of the young-people's servers; it is the responsibility of the parents. Scripture has never committed the education of the next generation to the servers. Paul said to Timothy: "Having been reminded of the unfeigned faith in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded dwells also in you"; "And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings" — all this came because of the education of the mother and the grandmother. We are very concerned for our next generation.
Brothers and sisters, we are very concerned for our next generation; and so we often hand the responsibility over to the church, feeling: "I cannot do this; I have no way; please ask the church — do you not have any young-people's servers, any at all? Oh — found one! Brother Wang, here is my child; please serve him; I have no way; please serve a little, all right? (And if your service is poor, I'll come right back to you.)" Of course we do not dare say the second clause out loud; but, at the slightest mishap, we will grumble: "What's going on? — how could my child end up like this? — that server is no good! How could he have shaped him this way?"
Brothers and sisters — the server can only assist alongside; the responsibility lies on you and me. If we want our next generation to be brought up as healthy members, perfected as future firstfruits, made into the Lord's overcomers — brothers and sisters, the responsibility is wholly on you and me. From the very beginning we need to make this clear; otherwise we shall all be sitting in for Brother Wang at the judgment: "Brother Wang, did you hear me clearly? My child must become a firstfruit. Have you written it down? Brother Wang — no scolding! Be filled with love! Apart from love, no other word will do — especially with my child! Do not scold; my child cannot be scolded; please love him a little more, and touch the Lord's heart."
Brothers and sisters, that is not how it is. That is what we must say to ourselves. The best server is yourself; the most important server is you and me ourselves. The spiritual prospect of our children — including the spiritual prospect of the children near us — is not in someone else; it is on me. As we press on, we must never blame the servers: "They serve so poorly — our church is hopeless." Of course, the servers do play a part; but the most important is the parents. However well the server speaks — when the child returns home, what he sees is not a spiritual likeness, but a likeness that is of the world, of the earth.
How then can the child be moved to press on? Of course, the Lord has compassion: among thousands of children there are still some who grow up well; otherwise the Lord would have no next generation. But as for perfecting — in the Lord's recovery, forgive us, this has been a sad chapter. Lord, forgive us — among us in these decades there have been all too few homes in which the whole household loves the Lord. Either the husband loves the Lord and the wife does not; or the wife loves the Lord and the husband does not; or both parents love the Lord but the children, somehow, do not. Of course, this cannot all be blamed on the parents; for in the past the church life was not spiritual enough — once one came home, one's armor was off. As a result, many in the meetings would hear something and gladly receive it. Coming home, they would discover it was not so. Slowly, the appetite for the things of the spirit was lost. And after the parents' repeated insisting — "Go to the meeting! Go to the meeting! Loving the Lord is no loss!" — the child does not dare answer back; but quietly: "Looking at you both, loving the Lord seems quite a loss." In this state, Christ cannot be passed down to the next generation. So we exhort one another.
II. The Goal of the Children's Work in This Age — From This Sinking Generation, To Massively Rescue the Next Generation, So as to Prepare Firstfruits for the Lord's Return
1. This world is a flood of profligacy, sinking ever deeper.
2. This world has reached such a degree of evil that it is now polluting our children.
3. The only way is to swiftly and massively rescue our children, that they may receive salvation and be drawn out of the world's enticement and pollution.
III. The Importance of the Children's Work
1. To watch over and care for the children of those coming to the meeting is necessary.
This is necessary, but it is the negative side. Our care for the children should not fall to mere watching — rather, it ought to be the thousand-fold scheming for their perfecting.
2. The children are to be cultivated and nurtured for the church, that they may become those who, in the church, love the Lord, serve the Lord, and bear responsibility.
This is so important. To gain a grown-up is to gain half of him; but if we will only do well in nurturing the children, they will grow up in the Lord, and in the future they will become pillars, those who bear up the testimony of the church.
3. The salvation of the children, by stages, becomes the seeds for the gospel in junior high, senior high, and college.
You see, if you only gain the children, then with their growth you have gained the children of every age. In each age-layer, what fruit comes from his being a seed of the gospel.
(1) The children also are gospel fruit — and can be gained in great quantity.
I say it again — when we speak of the children's service, we must come out of the conception of only being concerned for our own children. To go where? — to be concerned for the next generation of mankind. Brothers and sisters, since we have been graced, we ought not to limit our heart to our own children. Today we want to make a great rescue in society; they are to become the firstfruits. For children are the least polluted; though they look so corrupted now, they are still simpler than we are, still tenderer than we are; for they are good soil. So our first great hope is to massively rescue, from this sinking generation, the next generation. Although we shall spend much labor on speaking about how to manage our children, we need to enlarge our capacity: the children's service is not only for the sake of our own children — the children's service is the door through which, through our children, we gain a great quantity of men.
The first commission of the church is the gospel; and the foremost gospel is the gospel of the children and the young people. The lower the age, the stronger the fruit-bearing of the gospel. We perhaps do not feel it: a children's meeting is opened; so many come; they are all saved. Although after being saved they all wander off, ten years later they will come back — we cannot tell. We need to receive a commission: to see a child as a cat sees a mouse (I'm not sure I should put it that way; please help me phrase it) — in any case, to see a child is to think of a firstfruit: "Another fruit — come! quickly bring him here." Lord, enlarge our capacity.
(2) Six years of children's education brings them to salvation, and so makes them the seeds of the future student gospel.
Yes — they will be the seeds in the future student gospel.
(3) In junior-high, senior-high, and college years they bring others to salvation, and there receive spiritual education and nurture.
In the past church life, those who came up out of the children's class, by the time they reached the student years, were not too burdened for souls; on the contrary, those saved in high school had a burden for men. For he himself had been saved, and so he went joyfully to spread the news. But our children, raised in the church from young, all dislike outsiders, and only like the brothers and sisters. We cannot blame them; we can only say: in our former nurture, we did not strengthen them to become healthy members, so they have not much burden for men. They prophesy well enough, speaking head-and-tail; they can tell children's stories; but they do not necessarily have the truth in them concerning men. Of course, what I am describing is the general situation; there are still some, by the Lord's keeping, who do have a continual burden for men.
(4) After college, spend two full-time years in the church learning the truth, pursuing growth in life, and coordinating in service.
This is so important. The children's work must learn from the Mormons. Often we see Mormons on the road, two of them riding bicycles back and forth — of course they are not in the way of the truth; but you must know, the reason they can come out like this for one or two years of full-time service is not a last-minute calling; the parents, while the child was small, told him: "Papa is now saving up for you, so that when you grow up, you will give two years full-time." They are all self-funded — and they have cultivated the long-term concept of saving up for the children's service. Even a heretical movement does this; we, in the Lord's recovery, are not really doing it.
Brothers and sisters, today the Lord's recovery really is glorious; but those who care broadly know — what makes us groan most is that the Lord's recovery lacks those who would, for the recovery's sake, go into the whole world; and so we have to call them up at the last minute from among the college students. Brothers and sisters, the Lord's recovery ought to come to a place where parents, while the child is yet young, tell him: "When he grows up, two years given back to the Lord — every day of it. No loss whatsoever." We need this kind of nurture. Not necessarily that we must give him an allowance for it; but we need a heart to nurture him. Up to today, forgive me to say, in our recovery there are still too few local churches and too few saints who are nurturing their own next generation to be sent forth into all the earth in the future. That is still inadequate; on the contrary, the Mormons are doing it more thoroughly. Of course I know — many parents are very eager to see somebody else's child go full-time, but cannot bear it for their own.
Forgive me to say so. What has been on my heart lately is that we are over-fed. Of course, I enjoy the love of the brothers and sisters. Today as I was looking at that pot of chicken soup that the saints sent — for the saints really do love me — I have absolutely no negative thought, only that I look at that pot of chicken and feel moved, because I cannot finish it. Truly — you'd think, in the past, when we ate a pot of chicken, we couldn't even find the bones afterwards — right? But now I look at the pot of chicken and think, Should I throw it away? It is mostly eaten already, of course; one mustn't throw out a chicken because some is left. Inside, I sigh: Lord! How has it come to this? — there is too much.
You may say: "Brother Chen, you may not be quite ordinary; can my child possibly come to your degree?" — What degree? I do not even know what degree I have come to. Every one is serving the Lord. Are you to be as feeble as I am? Do you know how feeble I am? You don't believe? — Oh! Lord, do not worry — those of you sitting here, you cannot bear to look at me at my best.
Lord! My son and daughter are dedicated to You. No matter how they end up, all full-time — and You are blessed. And those of you in employment? — In my early years I was at the provincial government, and that already was the very best unit — no overtime; an occasional outing for surveying; off work by Saturday noon; a good Lord's-Day church life. And the place where I worked was near; getting off, I'd run over to the junior-high conference (at that time I was serving the junior-high group) — watching a bit, then coming home. How comfortable.
But I could not go on this way. I felt: "Lord, if I serve You like this, I may yet become a very-experienced father in the church but I cannot find anything higher." For I had been working there along; I wanted to use my vacations to pursue the Lord properly. But because of these young people, I would use vacation time to lead them through their schoolwork, to make dumplings with them, to take them on outings — taken in by my own net. I gave my time over to them all, and thought: thus do I live, no longer reaching higher; merely an experienced father — but with no inward equipping. So I made up my mind, and resolutely resigned six times, until the last one stuck. Thanks be to the Lord — to this day I have no regret; only glory.
Brothers and sisters, look at the few in your children's meeting — they are all future full-time servers! That one is in Jerusalem; that one in the Congo, in Africa; that one in India; that one in Moscow — what glory! A few years go by, and our next generation, one by one, we know not where they have gone — they are all out there for the Lord's recovery, Hallelujah! We need vision; we need, for the Lord and the Lord's recovery, to long urgently to gain firstfruits.
(5) They become a help to the Lord's work, a blessing to the church, and a benefit to the nation and to society.
If we accompany them into being healthy members, then in the future, whether they are full-time or not, they will all become a blessing to this age.
IV. The Blueprint of the New Way for the Children's Work
- Gospel (福): Pray for classmates and neighbors; invite them to the children's meeting.
- Home (家): Morning revival, Scripture reading, evening prayer, family divine education, enjoying the Lord before the meal, and the home meeting.
- Group (排): With the community and the apartment building as the boundary of body life; the saints' home is opened, and the children's meeting is established.
- District (區): Every-member prophesying, testifying, story-telling, memorizing the Scripture.
In the practical implementation of the children's work in Gospel · Home · Group · District (福·家·排·區), there is no sharp dividing line. From small children of first grade onward, there are five years' span in the children's meeting. The children's meeting is like a carrying-pole — in the middle one shoulders it, with prayer on one side and prophesying on the other. So in our practical implementation, the children's meeting is most important. Through the children's meeting we establish the home; through the organic indication we reach the classmates, the neighbors, and their parents. To carry out God's intent is to gain more men; to carry out God's intent is to gain still more men into the church-life membership, and so to build God's house. To gain men into the home, there must be the home meeting; to prophesy, there cannot be without the small group. The moment a man is saved — if he has only the Lord's Day meeting — he can hardly have morning revival, prayer, or visiting. But once he enters into the group — morning revival, prayer, and visiting all come in. Eighty percent of the Christian life is in the group; and the crystallization of the small group is "to channel the divine love, to shine forth the divine light, and to carry out the divine righteousness." So in the new way blueprint, the children's meeting is a most important key point in the children's work. Through the home and the group, the children are brought in, and they are made to live with vitality, with momentum, and to produce influence for the Lord.
V. The Importance and Convenience of the Children's Meeting
1. The children's meeting is built on the home as the base — bringing the children of the neighborhood in, and letting the parents nourish them in warm love, that they may grow up in Christ.
A vital concept of the children's meeting is that it is not a meeting-hall meeting. Our concept must turn — from the meeting hall toward the home; from the meeting toward the persons. This is a fundamental shift of concept. The children's meeting is built on the home as the base — calling in the children to the immediate left and right, upstairs and downstairs — and together with their parents, with one heart, caring for the children; nourishing them in this warm love, that they may grow up in Christ. In many ways — living, needs, schoolwork, food, daily things, every kind of question — all can be helped within this earnest love. This is the importance, and this is the convenience.
2. In every inhabited place a community children's meeting can be established — every home opened, every person able to do it.
In the community, in the apartment block, every household can be opened; every person can serve — and the gospel reaches every inhabited place.
3. The children's meeting is the most convenient and most life-realizing way to spread the children's gospel and bring children in.
How shall the children's gospel spread? — The most convenient way is here. No need to go there; just in the community, in the park near the children's home. It is most life-realizing; if there is any difficulty, we can help right at hand.
4. The children's meeting is the most substantive way to care for and sustain the next generation.
In terms of the gospel, this is the most convenient and most life-realizing way. In terms of the many family problems, this is the most substantive way to help men. For example: when a child is being scolded and beaten at home, with the parents at their wits' end — today someone comes and invites him to do his homework at their home; helps him; accompanies him in love — and so opens to the parents. These nine years of children's-meeting work have given many testimonies: by the children, we gain their parents; and through the parents, we have gained more children. The children's meeting becomes a man-bringing meeting; the man-bringing meeting becomes a small-district meeting; and so this small district begins out of the children's meeting.
In the past, the children's class told many stories — but with no help to the parents; later, when the parents quarreled and divorced, the home was lost. But this children's-meeting practice — when difficulty comes, we can pray together. In the children's meeting we can really trust one another; here there really are men who love them — and this brings back even the spouses with the great difficulties. The most substantive path to perfecting overcomers is this — to nourish them in life, with practising of character, telephone morning revival, evening prayer; this is the most substantive path for rescuing the next generation. By opening the children's meeting — and practising the children's meeting — we serve the little lambs; one by one, helping; one by one, perfecting before the Lord — living out the normal church life, living out the small God-man, becoming overcomers, perfecting children to be firstfruits.
5. By the children's meeting, many unbelieving families can be brought in.
If you touch their child, you touch their heart; his heart opens, his home opens — truly this is the convenient way. And so many unbelieving families come in.
VI. The Goal of the Children's Meeting
1. To provide the opportunity for every man to be a priest.
1 Pet. 2:9 — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Because only in the children's meeting every person can do it; every person can serve. Even a small junior-high student can do it. A small one who has come up through the children's meeting from elementary school — by the time he is in junior high, he is able to help his mother to lead the children's meeting, because he has come up through it. He really does provide every man the opportunity to be a priest. Because of this, I want to remind brothers and sisters: we now have sixteen groups; our goal for the children's meeting this year is to reach thirty. Is reaching thirty hard? — Truly, too easy.
But if you depend on the servers, that is too hard! How could the servers cover thirty groups? — Just have every mother help another mother to open a group, and there it is. This is important; this is not hard. As long as we pay just a little attention: first, ask the mother to come over to your home — to come and watch how you do the small group; once she has watched it once or twice, then ask her to come and tell a story. Tell her: "This is what the children's meeting looks like." Then next time accompany the mother to her home; the two of you do the small group together; do it a few times, and it will succeed. We have sixteen groups now; in no time, we will have thirty groups. We cannot rely entirely on the servers — that way they will collapse. Now you have done it; now you have experience. On the basis of the opening up and the implementation you have received before the Lord, you can now help one home. So we must go out to provide every man the opportunity to be a priest.
2. To bring in great multiplication, far and wide. The children's work is the children's gospel.
3. Life-realizing perfecting, that healthy small members may be produced.
In the Lord's recovery, our greatest deficiency is the lack of a life-realized spiritual living — for spirituality has not been brought into living. So the practice of the children's meeting is to provide every man the opportunity to be a priest. In the past, the spiritual was not lived out, the function was not organic; today's new way is to provide every man the opportunity to be a priest. Peter in his epistle told us: only we are the chosen race, the royal priestly system. Today we ought all to be royal, holy priests, telling out the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. To serve the children is to carry out the priestly function — the best path, the best opportunity. We want to do the children's meeting — to come close to them, to lead them, to open up the home, to care for the children. Every man a priest, every function in operation, bringing in great multiplication far and wide. The children's work is the children's gospel; and through life-realizing perfecting, healthy small members are produced — we are not aiming to gain merely a few children who, when grown, will sit here in the meetings without moving; rather, we are aiming to gain small God-men, small members of the Body — who, grown up, will be moving, living, feeding, teaching, building. We want to gain such small God-men, and life-realizingly to perfect them, that healthy small members may be produced.
— End of Message Two —