Further Consideration of the Eldership, the Region of Work, and the Care for the Body of Christ

In this issue of The Ministry we conclude our series of messages entitled “Vision in God’s Economy,” comprising Brother Lee’s fellowship with the elders and co-workers in Taipei in March 1986. The present vision and practice in the Lord’s recovery are the culmination of all the visions, which God has given to men in His holy Word. Our vision and practice today are according to God’s New Testament economy to build up the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem. This is the vision, which matches the age, and it is the basis of the one accord among us. Six other messages in this issue are taken from the International Conference of Co-workers and Elders in September 1997. The subject of this conference was “Vital Factors in the Lord’s Present Move.” These vital factors are related to the apostles’ teaching, the Body of Christ, and the elders’ shepherding of the church. Caring diligently for these factors ensures that in our living and laboring we are kept in the central lane of the divine revelation with one way for one goal—the goal of God’s eternal economy—which we carry out by shepherding in cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry. These messages were spoken by twelve brothers in a blending way, and they include excerpts from Brother Lee’s written ministry. In this issue we report on our endeavor to acquire an enlarged campus for the spread of the work of God’s New Testament ministry in the Lord’s recovery. We also provide fellowship concerning the Lord’s move on the earth through letters from Ghana, France, Poland, and Romania. Lastly, we provide a report concerning the translation of the written ministry into the Spanish language.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1991-1992, volume 1, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from January 3 through December 17, 1991. In 1991 and 1992 Brother Lee spoke one hundred sixty-two messages that were published in the Life-study of Job, Life-study of the Psalms, Life-study of Isaiah, Life-study of Jeremiah, Life-study of Lamentations, Life-study of Daniel, Life-study of Hosea, Life-study of Joel, Life-study of Amos, Life-study of Obadiah, Life-study of Jonah, Life-study of Micah, Life-study of Nahum, Life-study of Habakkuk, Life-study of Zephaniah, Life-study of Haggai, Life-study of Zechariah, and Life-study of Malachi. These messages are not included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee. From January through August 1991, Brother Lee was in Anaheim, California. During that period he visited Los Angeles and Alhambra, California, in April. At the end of August he traveled to Berkeley, California. In early September he returned to Anaheim and remained there until the end of November. During that time he visited Huntington Beach, California. At the end of November Brother Lee traveled to Reston, Virginia, for the Thanksgiving weekend conference. In early December he returned to Anaheim and remained there until the end of the year. The contents of this volume are divided into ten sections, as follows: 1. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on January 3 and 4. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The God-ordained Way and the Eldership. They are included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1989, volume 4, as chapters 9 and 10 of Elders' Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2). Therefore, they are not printed in this volume. 2. Seven messages given to the full-time trainees in Anaheim, California, on February 4 through December 17. These messages are included in this volume under the title Fellowship to the Full-time Trainees in Anaheim. 3. Thirty-one messages given in Anaheim, California, on February 17 through December 15. One message was spoken in Chinese. These messages are included in this volume under the title Various Meetings in Anaheim. 4. Thirteen messages given in Anaheim, California, on February 23 through July 7. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Elders' Training, Book 11: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (3) and are included in this volume under the same title. Chapters 12 and 13 were also published in a small book entitled Further Consideration of the Eldership, the Region of Work, and the Care for the Body of Christ. 5. A message given in Los Angeles, California, on April 7. This message is included in this volume under the title A Capturing Vision of the Lord's Recovery in Three Aspects. 6. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on May 25 through 27. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord's Move and are included in this volume under the same title. 7. A message given in Anaheim, California, on June 30. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship on the Lord's Move to Spread the Gospel of the Kingdom to Europe. 8. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 6 and 7. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Further Consideration of the Eldership, the Region of Work, and the Care for the Body of Christ. They are included in this volume as chapters 12 and 13 in the section entitled Elders' Training, Book 11: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (3). Therefore, they are not included in this volume as a separate section. 9. Twenty-eight messages given in Anaheim, California, on August 27 through December 17. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Central Line of the Divine Revelation and are included in this volume under the same title. 10. Two messages given in Berkeley, California, on August 30 and September 2. These messages are included in this volume under the title Laboring Organically to Practice the God-ordained Way.

By anchoring your understanding of productivity in God's plan, What's Best Next gives you a practical approach for increasing your effectiveness in everything you do. There are a lot of myths about productivity--what it means to get things done and how to accomplish work that really matters. In our current era of innovation and information overload, it may feel harder than ever to understand the meaning of work or to have a sense of vocation or calling. So how do you get more of the right things done without confusing mere activity for actual productivity? Matt Perman has spent his career helping people learn how to do work in a gospel-centered and effective way. What's Best Next explains his approach to unlocking productivity and fulfillment in work by showing how faith relates to work, even in our everyday grind. What's Best Next is packed with biblical and theological insight and practical counsel that you can put into practice today, such as: How to create a mission statement for your life that's actually practicable. How to delegate to people in a way that really empowers them. How to overcome time killers like procrastination, interruptions, and multitasking by turning them around and making them work for you. How to process workflow efficiently and get your email inbox to zero every day. How to have peace of mind without needing to have everything under control. How generosity is actually the key to unlocking productivity. This expanded edition includes: a new chapter on productivity in a fallen world a new appendix on being more productive with work that requires creative thinking. Productivity isn't just about getting more things done. It's about getting the right things done--the things that count, make a difference, and move the world forward. You can learn how to do work that matters and how to do it well.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains a complete record of the twelve messages given as a webcast from Anaheim, California, for the June 2020 semiannual training on the crystallization-study of Jeremiah and Lamentations. The key statements in the following section embody and summarize the crucial truths and main burdens in these twelve messages. The Reports and Announcements section contains “A Mass Distri­bution Update: How to Preach the Gospel in a Time of Pandemic.” Also included is information concerning upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the six messages given during the Memorial Day weekend conference held in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 25-28, 2007. The general subject of the conference was "Caring for the Present Need in the Lord's Recovery," and the main burden of the conference can be summarized by the following four statements: (1) We must walk in the truth of the economy of God, realize the recovery of the Lord, and stay away from death and division. (2) We need to know the present truth, uphold the absoluteness of the truth, and be constituted with the truth for the church as the pillar and base of the truth. (3) The ground of oneness is the processed and consummated Triune God applied to our being, and the essence of the genuine oneness is life and light. (4) We must receive the Lord's mercy to be His overcomers who bring in a new revival to turn the age in the Lord's recovery by arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation, by living the life of a God-man, and by shepherding people according to God in the vital groups for the building up of the Body of Christ. Last of all, we include a report concerning the International Blending Conference in Buzias, Romania.

In this issue of The Ministry, we resume the series of messages concerning the present practice in God’s economy. In these messages, Brother Lee fights against the influence of Christianity in the practice of the church life in the Lord’s recovery. This influence has caused the recovery to suffer a downward trend toward religion. As the crystallization of human culture, religion was invented by man when he lost God. Today the influence of religion can be seen in the unfruitful practices of Christianity, especially the practice of a few leaders exercising control over other believers and annulling their function. We must change the system in our way to meet and serve, especially by encouraging and teaching the brothers and sisters to practice the meetings in their homes in a vital way with the word of God. The following three messages are from the evening sessions of the International Elders’ Training in October 1998 concerning our vision, which includes the one ministry, the one work, and the one accord. To build up the Body of Christ, all the elders need to enter into the one New Testament ministry. Based on the one ministry, there is only one work in the Lord’s recovery today. To carry out the one work in the one ministry, we all need to be in one accord. The one accord is the practical application of the oneness of the Body of Christ, and it is also the master key to every blessing in the New Testament. Following this is a series of messages concerning the grafted life, which were given in the full-time training in Anaheim in the fall of 1997. Message One covers the vision of the grafted life—God and man entering into an organic union through grafting. Message Two presents the clear view that the Christian life is not an exchanged life but a grafted life—the mingling of the human life with the divine life. Message Three stresses the fact that the grafted life is a life in the principle of incarnation. The principle of incarnation seen in the grafted life is that God enters into man and mingles Himself with man to make Himself one with man; thus, God is in man, and man is also in God. Lastly, we include reports from the English, Spanish, and Chinese radio sections concerning the radio broadcasts in these languages.