[soc.religion.christian] part of a letter from Watchman Nee to a co-worker

ROBERT@kontu.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) (02/28/91)

The following is part of a letter from Watchman Nee to one of his co-workers,
K. H. Weigh.  It is dated March 10, 1950.

(1) Those who are leaders ought to learn to love others, to think on their
behalf, take care of them, to deny oneself for their sake, and to give them
all one has.  if one cannot deny hmself on account of others, it would be
impossible to guide people along the spiritual path.  Learn to give others
what you have even if you feel as if you have nothing.  Then the Lord will
start pouring down His blessing.

(2) The inner strength of a worker should measure up to the outward work.
There should not be any overstrain, overreaching, uneasiness, scantiness,
tension, lack of overflowing, human plans, or going ahead of the Lord.  
All these are undesireable conditions.  If one is inwardly abundant, whatever
is emanating from him is like the flowing of a stream, and there is no
overstrain on his part.  You must really be a spiritual man;  you should 
not merely act like one.

(3) Learn to listen to others in connection with your work.  The teaching in
Acts fifteen is to listen, that is, to listen to the views of all the
brothers because the Holy Spirit may speak through them.  Be very careful
lest in refusing to listen to the voice of the brothers you may not hear the
voice of the Holy Spirit.  All the co-workers and elders ought to sit down
to listen to them.  Give them unrestricted chances to speak.  Be gentle, be
broken, and be prepared to listen.

(4) The difficulty with many people is their being unbroken.  They may have
hear about being "broken," but its significance eludes them.  If one is
broken, he will not attempt ot arrive at his own decision regarding business
matters or teaching, will not claim to understand people or be capable of
doing things, will not venture to assume authority or to impose his own
authority upon others, and will not take the liberty to criticize brothers
or to deal with them presumptuously.  A brother who is broken will not try to
defend himself, and there is nothing he needs to look back to.

(5) There should be not tension in meetings or in the church.  Regarding 
church business, learn not to do too much yurself.  Distribute the business
among others and make them learn to use their own discretion in making
decisions.  You should first brief them on the fundamental principles to
follow and to ascertain afterwards whether they have acted accordingly.  
It is wrong to do too much personally.  Avoid showing yourself in excess
in meetings, otherwise the brothers may feel that you are monopolizing.
learn to place trust in the bothers and divide it among them.

(6) The Spirit of God cannot be coerced in the church.  You have to be 
submissive to Him; otherwise, once He stops anointing, the church will feel
tired or possibly even bored.  If your spirit is strong, it will sweep over
and overwhelm the audience within ten minutes;  if it is weak, even shouring
some threatening words and spending a longer time will not help and may even be
harmful.  

(7) In delivering a message, do not make it too long or too elaborate, 
otherwise the spirit of the saints may tend to feel bored.  Do not include
superficial thoughts or base statements in the contents of your message; 
avoid childish examples as well as those reasons which are so common that
people will consider them to be childish.  Learn to finish delivering the
essence with half an hour.  Do not think that, when you yourself enjoy your
message the words are necessarily those of God.

(8) The temptation often encountered at a prayer meeting is to deliver a 
message or to speak at length.  Aprayer meeting should be devoted to praying;
too much talking will make the conscience feel heavy with the result that the
meeting becomes a failure.

(9) Workers should learn a lot before getting into a position wher they deal
with problems or persons.  With inadequate learning, insufficient knowledge,
incomplete brokedness, and unreliable judgment, one will be incopetent to 
deal with others.  Do not jump to conclusions; even when one is about to 
do something, he should do it in fear and trembling.  Do not treat 
spiritual matters lightly.  Learn in the heart.

(10) learn not to trust your own judgements only.  What is considered
right may not be so;  what is regarded wrong may not be wrong.  If one is
determined to learn humbly, it wuld take at least a few years to complete.
Therefore for the present, you ought not to have too much confidence in 
yourself or be too definite about yur way of thinking.

(11) It would be a dangerous thing for people in the church to follow your
decisions before you reach the state of maturity.  The Lord will work on 
you to deal with your thoughts and to brek yourself before you can
understand the will of God and thus be His authority.  Authority is based
on the knowledge of the Lord's will.  Where is Lord's will and purpose is not
manifest, there is no authority.

(12) The capacity of a servant of God should constantly be expanded by 
Him.  I think He is now doing it;  you need not look inward since this will
make you disheartened.

-----
Robert W. Johnson
Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland
robert@kontu.utu.fi 	(InterNet)
robert@firien.bitnet    (BITNET)

The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer
and furthermore has nothing to do with my employment.