The Meetings and Spiritual Exercise of the Local Church

Gospel Meetings

5. Gospel Meetings

In keeping with the pattern established in the New Testament, Watchman Nee also emphasized the need for gospel meetings to be held in the local churches .

Concerning the preaching of the gospel by the local churches, Watchman Nee observes:

In order for there to be a local church, the church must preach the gospel and the church must serve. Within the next few years, I hope to repeat these two phrases ten thousand times: The church needs to preach the gospel and the church needs to serve.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 51, 82)

Watchman Nee saw the necessity for all the believers in the local churches to preach the gospel in specially designated gospel meetings:

In the four Gospels, Acts, and the beginning of church history, the gospel meeting was always a very important meeting. After the church had become degraded, by the third and fourth century, the gospel meeting gradually lost its place and was replaced by teaching meetings. In order for the church to be strong, it must recover the place of the gospel meeting.

The church exists on earth not only for the purpose of building up itself but also so that others might know Christ. As far as the building up of the church is concerned, the gift of the evangelist can be relegated the last place. However, as soon as the church starts to spread out, the gift of the evangelist becomes the first gift. Philip’s journey to Samaria in Acts 8 is a strong proof of this. God first sends evangelists out to gain people to Himself with their gifts. We must change our old habit, the habit of meeting only for listening to messages. Instead, we must pay much attention to the gospel meeting.

If a brother learns to participate in the preaching of the gospel immediately after he believes in the Lord, he will not pick up the habit of sitting in pews and listening to messages. Instead, he will pick up the habit of preaching the gospel. In the gospel meeting everyone should participate actively in the work; no one should sit passively to listen to the message with little concern for the salvation of others.

The gospel meeting is a time when the whole church is mobilized. Every brother and sister has his or her responsibility. Everyone should pray much before the meeting. Those brothers who are more advanced in life and prominent in gifts can serve as the oracles for the gospel. The rest of the saints should pray in one accord for the speaking brothers, that the latter may release the gospel with power. It is possible to have two or three brothers speaking at one meeting. But do not try to have more than three. When there are too many speakers, the audience will be confused.

(Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 3, Vol. 48, 193-194)

Main

Meetings

Lord’s Table

Prayer

Prophesying

Small Group

Gospel

Children’s

OT Type

Spiritual Exercise

Reading

Praying

Singing

Speaking

Thanksgiving

Praising

Serving

Calling

Pray-Reading

Bibliography

Links