«　WEEK 8　DAY 4　»

　　1 Tim. 1:4 Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.

　　Eph. 3:9 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God…

　　The center of the entire New Testament is God’s divine economy. God’s economy is God’s plan, His divine arrangement, to dispense Himself into His chosen people. Our going out to visit people by knocking on their doors is for this economy and should be linked with the divine economy,… linked to eternity, [and] linked to the heavenlies. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” pp. 311-312)

　　According to Ephesians 4:16, the saints in the Body of Christ are categorized into two groups: “every joint of the rich supply” and “each one part.” The joints are the gifted persons—the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers. The Body grows by being joined closely together through the joints and by being knit together through the operation in the measure of each one part….The Body of Christ is built up organically by causing itself to grow through the functions of the gifted persons and through the members who operate in their measure.

　　For this organic building to be realized, the gifted persons must do their best to perfect every saint. The co-workers and the elders who are taking care of the saints need to go to their homes …to teach them personally and directly, mouth to mouth, year round.

　　First of all, we ourselves have to dive into the Word to learn how to perfect ourselves. As we are being perfected ourselves, we can go to visit the saints house to house, day and night, in order to nourish them, cherish them, and teach them one by one, sometimes with tears. This will consummate in the perfecting of all the saints. They will all be enabled to speak. Each one part will operate in its own measure. Then all the saints will function, and there will be no clergy or laity among us. All the saints meeting with us will be perfected, equipped, and furnished to speak forth Christ. This will issue in the accomplishment of the Lord’s heart’s desire, the organic building up of the Body of Christ. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “Elders’ Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1),” pp. 119-120)

　　The church is the Body of Christ and the new man. It is not normal for only a small number of the members of a person’s body to function while all the rest are paralyzed. A normal man uses all his physical members ….Where is such a corporate man, comprising the living, active, functioning members of the Body of Christ, to fulfill the purpose of God?

　　The elders should spend time and energy to teach each one of the attendants of the group meetings. They need to go to each of the saints’ homes outside the group meeting…. Paul used both the day and the night [Acts 20:20, 31]. We mostly use our meeting time to contact the saints. We think that as long as we have attended every meeting, we have fulfilled our duty. But that is not the complete fulfilling of our duty. The fulfilling of our duty is also outside the meetings.

　　There is no way to carry out the God-ordained way except by the individual contact with people,… for their salvation, their feeding, their spiritual education, their equipping, and their perfecting. Within a period of one or two years, they should be able to do the same thing that we are doing in our service to the Lord….I hope that we would consider this fellowship seriously and have a full change in our concept and practice. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 11: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (3),” pp. 215, 218)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1987, vol. 3, “The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ,” chs. 1, 3-7, 9, 20, 22, 26-27