Fellowship Concerning The Urgent Need Of The Vital Groups

“We must realize that we Christians are a meeting people. A Christian is a meeting person. Without meeting, there is no Christian life and no church life. It is rather difficult for any Christian to grow without attending the meetings. There is no way for any Christian to serve God without meetings, and it is impossible for Christians to express Christ if there are no meetings. The church life is a meeting life.” In How to Meet Witness Lee offers much precious and practical guidance related to the biblical way to meet as Christians.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the eight messages given during the 2006 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones, held March 31--April 2, 2006 in Anaheim, California. The general subject of the training was "Taking the Shepherding Way to Preach the Gospel and Revive the Church." Three important matters in the ministry will bring in a genuine revival: the high peak of the divine revelation, the God-man living, and shepherding according to God. This third matter--shepherding according to God--is the subject of this entire volume. Shepherding touches the heart, burden, and concern of the ministry. Shortly before he passed away, Brother Lee wrote down six points that were intended for the Elders' Training of April 1997. These points which all relate to shepherding include: 1) not lording it over God's allotment, 2) be willing to be a slave to the saints, 3) humble yourself under the saints, 4) elders should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body-life, 5) take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them, and 6) contact and visit the saints and invite them to your homes for meals. May the Lord grant us grace to take the shepherding way to preach the gospel and revive the church. We also include reports concerning the Lord's move in Poland and in the Czech Republic.

This two-volume publication, Lessons on the Eldership, is composed of outlines and excerpts compiled from the ministry of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee. They are intended to be used by mature workers for the training of the elders and responsible brothers among the churches in the hope that these brothers will be perfected to labor fruitfully in the carrying out of God’s economy for the fulfillment of His purpose through the churches.

Our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:5-6) Second Corinthians may be considered as an autobiography of the Apostle Paul. In it we see a portrait of a person who lived in the Spirit. For us to enjoy and experience Christ in a rich way we must be persons in the Spirit as symbolized by ten aspects in 2 Corinthians—captives, letters, mirrors, vessels, ambassadors, co-workers, a temple, a virgin, lovers of the church, and tasters of Christ. It is by all of these aspects that we can be thoroughly wrought by God and with God and be constituted the ministers of the new covenant for the building up of the church.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1991-1992, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from March 9, 1992, through April 19, 1993. Brother Lee ministered in Anaheim, California, from the beginning of 1992 until the end of the third week in May 1992. From there he traveled to Irving, Texas, for the Memorial Day weekend conference. He returned to Anaheim and remained there until the beginning of September, at which time he visited Seattle, Washington, for a weekend conference. He then returned to Anaheim and remained there until the end of the third week in November. During the last week in November he traveled to in Atlanta, Georgia, for the Thanksgiving weekend conference, after which he returned to Anaheim and remained there until early September 1993. The contents of this volume are divided into eleven sections, as follows: 1. Thirteen messages given in Anaheim, California, on March 9 through September 22, 1992. These messages are included in this volume under the title Elders' and Co-workers' Meetings in Anaheim. 2. Twenty-eight messages given in Anaheim, California, on April 5 through November 22, 1992. These messages are included in this volume under the title Various Anaheim Meetings. 3. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on May 15 and 16, 1992. These messages are included in this volume under the title Caring for the Church by Taking the God-ordained Way to Contact People. 4. Five messages given in Irving, Texas, on May 23 through 25, 1992. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation and are included in this volume under the same title. 5. A message given in Irving, Texas, on May 25, 1992. This message is included in this volume under the title The Overcomers, the Situation on the Earth Today, and the Present Need in Russia. 6. A message given in Irving, Texas, on May 26, 1992. This message is included in this volume under the title Overcoming to Conquer the Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and Accomplish the Divine Economy for the New Creation. 7. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on June 20 and August 17, 1992. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Purpose and Content of the Full-time Training. 8. A message given in Anaheim, California, on July 4, 1992. This message is included in this volume under the title Being Refined and Purified and Practicing the God-ordained Way. 9. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 6 and 7, 1992. These messages are included in this volume under the title Knowing the Ground of the Oneness of the Church to Be the Testimony of the Church's Oneness. 10. A message given in Anaheim, California, on August 2, 1992. This message is included in this volume under the title All Saints Needing to Learn to Prophesy in the Meetings. 11. Twenty-five messages given in Anaheim, California, on August 18, 1992, through April 19, 1993. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups and are included in this volume under the same title.

The moment we believe in the Lord, we should set apart the early morning for fellowshipping with God and for contacting Him. Song of Songs 7:12 shows us that the early morning is the best time to fellowship with the Lord. To fellowship means to open up our spirit and our mind to God and allow Him to enlighten us, speak to us, impress us, and touch us (Psa. 119:105, 147). During this time our hearts are drawn near to God, and we allow God to draw near to our hearts. This series of Holy Word for Morning Revival on Topics for New Believers is especially designed to help introduce newer believers to the basic principles of the Christian life, which should help them establish a solid foundation on which to build a Christian life and church life of living and loving the Lord Jesus for the building up of His Body.