The four pillars in the Lord's recovery are the truth, life, the church, and the gospel. The truth brings us life, life produces the church, and the church is responsible for the preaching of the gospel.

Throughout the centuries of church history the Lord has progressively carried out His work of recovery. In this book, Witness Lee shows that the Lord's present advance is to recover the priesthood of the gospel, the organic building up of the Body of Christ, the perfecting of the believers, and the speaking of God's word for the building of the Body of Christ. He concludes with help as to how we can practice these four matters.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given during the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones, held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, October 5-7, 2006. The general subject of the training was "Shepherding the Flock of God." These messages are a continuation of the training given in the spring of 2006 (see The Ministry, Vol. 10, No. 5). The burden of these messages is not about the technique of shepherding but about what we are in our person and how we behave in the church. This is according to Paul's word to the elders in Ephesus in Acts 20. He said, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock" (v. 28). We first need to take care of ourselves, to be shepherded in our own person before we take care of all the flock. Messages 1 and 2 show us that our shepherding must be according to the plan of God and the word of God, according to the teaching of the apostles, and according to God. These form the basis of our shepherding. Messages 3, 5, and 7 show us that our shepherding is in our living by the grace of God, in an organic way according to His initiation and with our cooperation, and in dealing with peculiarity. These are the conditions of our shepherding. Messages 4, 6, and 8 show us that our goal must be to shepherd the saints into the faith of the truth, into a life of living through dying, and into a life of prayer for the organic practice of the God-ordained way in the vital groups. Finally, in Message 9, if the elders are constituted with the basis, the conditions, and the goal of shepherding, the flock of God will be shepherded to know the Body of Christ. May the Lord speak to us His light-shedding and life-imparting word. Last of all, we include letters and reports concerning the recent gospel move in the Russian-speaking world.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the International Chinese-speaking Conference held in Anaheim, California, February 12-14, 2016. The subject of the conference was “The Gospel.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the Memorial Day weekend conference webcast from Anaheim, California, on May 28-31, 2021. The general subject of the conference was “Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in the Present Evil Age.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.