Ministry Digest, Vol. 02, No. 07

Book excerpt: In this issue we will continue the four lines of ministry that began in the first issue of Ministry Digest (vol. 1, no. 1). The first line--The History of the Lord's Recovery--contains the final chapter of The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord's Move, which is in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1991–1992. This chapter speaks of the way to spread the Lord's recovery in Europe. This line then continues with a new book that presents an important development in the history of the practices in the Lord's recovery--the practice of meeting according to vital groups. This issue includes chapters 1 through 3 of The Vital Groups, which are in volume 5 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997. These chapters speak of the purpose and the constituents of the vital groups. The second line--Words for New Believers--​continues with chapters 11 through 14 of Basic Lessons on Life, which are in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979. These chapters speak of the sense of life, the function of the Triune God to dispense His divine life into the three parts of man, and the sense of the Spirit and knowing the Spirit, all of which are central to the growth of a new believer. The third line--Maturing in Life--continues with chapters 9 through 12 of Knowing Life and the Church, which are in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953. These chapters speak of the mingling of God and man as the proper basis for the church; the types of the tabernacle, altar, and Ark in the church; the building up of the church as the Body of Christ; and the proper way to follow the Bible and the inner life. The fourth line--The High Peak of the Divine Revelation--continues with chapters 13 through 16 of The God-man Living, which are in volume 3 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997. These chapters continue to speak of the living of Christ, the first God-man, as a man of prayer.