The Concrete Practice and Content of the Children's Meeting

Pursuit weeks

Messages for the Perfecting of Parents — "Children's Meeting" Series

Message Three

If we are to live the New Testament life, we cannot be like the Old. The meeting life of the Old Testament was one-directional — one speaks, the rest listen. But the New Testament meeting is organic, connected, mutual, full of flow — and in such a meeting we can care for one another, stir up the divine love, stir one another to a point that the divine will is carried out. Whom you wish to save, for that one open a children's meeting (er-tong-pai); to save your sons and daughters, for them open a children's meeting. Every age-bracket of person ought, through the practice of the meeting, to become a vital member. According to the New Testament, all of them — from the smallest to the greatest — all ought to do their utmost, all ought to experience the Lord, all ought to become vital members. This is not only our faith — it is the experience of the church through many years.

Among all the meetings, the meetings of the working saints are not as lively as those of the college students; the college-students' meetings are not as lively as the high-schoolers' — but the most lively, the most chattering, the most filled with organic functioning, is the children's meeting. In the children's meeting you only need to throw out one question, and then you can rest awhile — for they have too much to say, piling up everywhere. Don't be afraid of "saying too much" or of "speaking into the world" — they have spirit, and at a certain point they will speak; they will pray. The children's spirits are the most responsive — once they touch a spiritual matter, they take it more seriously than we do.

Concerning the children's meeting, the Lord Himself has set the pattern.

First — when a great crowd carried, pulled, embraced their children, bringing them to the Lord, saying, "Lord, we want You to bless them" — it seemed always that He spoke to grown-ups — "Lord, bless our children" — and the disciples rebuked them. But the Lord was indignant and said:

Mark 10:14 — But Jesus, seeing it, was indignant and said to them, Allow the little children to come to Me. Do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God.

This is the children's meeting. The Lord earnestly blessed them — only outwardly perhaps without form, while inwardly He was filled with joy. He is the Father's beloved Son, filled with joy — and seeing these children, He earnestly blessed them; this is the flow of the divine love. When we see a child come in with a runny nose, do we earnestly embrace him, or do we worry that the snot will smear on us? We all need to practice — and we need to know that talking to grown-ups and talking to children are not the same; we need to have many forget-the-years friendships. We need to practice — letting the Lord's earnest love fill us, that we may love the children. The Lord said:

Matt. 19:14 — But Jesus said, Allow the little children and do not prevent them from coming to Me, for of such is the kingdom of the heavens.

The children are the material of the kingdom of the heavens; we ought to treat them just as the Lord did — earnestly loving them.

Second — when the Lord was a child, the meeting He carried out was truly excellent: one child surrounded by seven or eight grown-ups. So when your children's meeting has only one child, don't undervalue it — that is exactly how the Lord began: the boy Jesus, surrounded by eight teachers in the temple, sitting in the middle of the synagogue, listening on one side, asking on the other; through this He sought out the Father's will.

Third — when the Lord entered the holy city, beyond the welcoming roadside multitude, the very last group, the most superb group, was the children. They were not on the road — they knew that the most wonderful word was in the temple — so they entered the temple; and when the Lord arrived, they cried out: "Hosanna! Hosanna!" The disciples again came to stop them, but the Lord said: "If you make them be silent and not function — the very stones will function; if they do not cry out, the stones will jump up and shout."

Luke 19:40 — And He answered and said, I tell you, If these shall be silent, the stones will cry out.

All things are about to leap up — how much more the children! Lift up your heart and praise Him first — this is the children's meeting.

The intrinsic content and elements of the children's meeting are actually the same as the meeting for the working saints, the junior-high meeting, the college-student meeting, any meeting of any member-group of the Body. What differs is the topic, the depth of the truth, the length of patience required — but in the divine elements it is all the same. (You and the children must not gather together once and stretch it to two hours; they need to move — a child's cells are made to leap. To gather them and sit them for two hours — for them, that is torture.) When the children come, we are to love them; we are not centered on the church — we are centered on the person. As long as the children come — when the meeting begins, you listen to them. In this listening is the key: let them open up, by your concerned questions: "Little friend, you've come — wonderful! Have you finished your homework? Is your teacher all right with you?" And he begins to open: "My favorite class is health, and the one I dislike most is Chinese." You ask once, and he opens up — and at that point you can even invite the other children to pray with you for him.

Whether or not a child is willing to come depends on whether he feels this house is his home; whether or not a child has a sense of belonging depends on your love. The greatest power of love, the strongest of cherishings, is praying for the little friend — not your own praying alone, but bringing the other little friends along to pray for him too — and not your long, "tracing-on-the-template" prayer, but rather letting the children themselves pray, letting them spontaneously, of their own initiative, carry out the function of prayer. This is also our experience of these ten years past. At the start they may stammer; you teach them with template-style prayer — you say one line, they repeat one. After two or three times you can give them a sentence-pattern, and let them stretch their wings to pray; or give them a topic, and let them develop their own prayer — and you will discover the children's prayer is even better than yours.

The children are forever new: their prayer is sincere, their prayer has spirit, their prayer is full of yearning, their prayer is full of love. When you let the divine love stream out, leading them to be mutually concerned, they will discover that they too can care for one another and intercede for one another. There may even come a day when, before you have begun any prayer, the children themselves say: "Let us pray." Just love each one — for the meeting does not lie in some many-rules gathering; it lies in your loving each one with the Lord's love within them.

I. The Concrete Practice and Content of the Children's Meeting

1. Preparation

(i) Pray together with the children.

(ii) Encourage the children to bear a burden for people.

The children's meeting begins with prayer, and with fellowship with the children. In that fellowship we open up the children — to the Lord's love that forgives sinners, to the Lord's love that bestows grace on sinners. After this opening up, ask them which classmate they most love, and pray for that classmate. After they have prayed several times, they themselves will come to you and say they want to invite that classmate to come.

2. Inviting

(i) Encourage the child to invite his classmates.

(ii) Take the child to invite people in the neighbors' homes.

(iii) Take the child to the park to find little friends.

If the child really cannot invite anyone, you can go to the park, because the park is full of people. We have done this experiment ourselves — gathering the children together, telling them about the Lord Jesus. Going to the park at a fixed time week after week, spending time with the children — and gradually, of course, you will need to invite them into the home of one of the saints nearest by, in order to stabilize this meeting — for in the park there will sooner or later be rain. So the children's meeting must be stabilized in a home.

3. Before the Meeting

Let the children bring their homework to do, or bring outside reading-material to read, or to play. In the midst of this, the mother can give a little guidance, just touching it lightly. Children have one trait — they arrive very early. You cannot say: "Sorry, Mrs. Chang is napping; please come back later." If you do, off he goes and never comes back. The home should always be open before and after the meeting, letting the children read here, or play their games.

4. Intimate Concern — Fellowship, Looking After One Another, Shepherding; Through the Concern of Meeting Face-to-Face, the Meeting Begins Without Anyone Realizing

Try as much as possible not to swing the doors open and start telling a story right away, or trying to carry the meeting from start to finish — that needs to be adjusted. Since this is mutual, you are not a professor lecturing from beginning to end. In the small meeting every single person must have the chance to speak. When I gathered the small meeting in Russia, they were so organic — in the midst of mutual concern they came to know that one older sister had a difficulty in her house, so naturally they brought the matter into intercession, and then began to ask further. I was always sensing that those at the edges — there was so little space in that Russian living-room that some of the saints got pushed too far to the periphery; and once at the edge it is hard to feel any sense of participation. I kept trying to find a chance for that older sister to fellowship too, but from beginning to end there was no opening. Then the meeting reached its close, and she went out the door.

Afterward, we went over what had happened. If the nine of us at the heart of the meeting had pushed ourselves to the outside, letting them squeeze into this little living-room, then with us being indicated from outside as the organic guides, probably no one would have been left out. There is real care to take here.

If we care about people, we will pay attention: Who has spoken? Who has been left out? Who has been warmed? Why does the small meeting need to split? Do you know the condition for splitting? When it can no longer take care of everyone, then it must split. Once the small meeting has gathered fifteen people, at that point you cannot take care of them anymore. There will always be someone left out, always someone with no chance to speak — and then it is time to split.

If a member of the meeting says, "With our thirty people, what intimacy! We can boast — our meeting is the greatest, our meeting is the largest!" — please understand: the small meeting is not measured by size; it is measured by whether or not there is "every person" — whether each one is being cared for, whether each one is caring for others. That is the success of the small meeting.

(i) Fellowship — caring for the practical things of the children's daily life: their personal school life, their home environment, their interpersonal relationships, their living habits.

To care for the practical things of the children's daily life — for this we ought to make a little preparation. For example, what does each child like best in his elementary school? In his free-time activities, what does he like? Some like video games, some love to play with comic books, some love to play with dolls. We need, through caring for them, to come to understand them. Always have a few questions stored up for use — this is very important, especially nowadays, when sometimes children even need to be cared about concerning the home. Without realizing it, you will discover that some children seem rather distant — because Mom and Dad are out all day on social engagements; the children become "key-children" — every day with the key, opening and closing the door.

How do we care for them? Today in the schools, everywhere there is the trend of dating, the trend of taking drugs, the trend of admiring pop-stars and idol-singers. I scarcely know what these even are; I cannot make them out, but in any case none of them is good. We only want Christ; we only have Christ. Then how do we get into a conversation? — but unless we first understand them a little, how can we help them? That is why we must care for them. Especially regarding their personal school life, their home environment, their interpersonal relationships — in all these we need to give help.

(ii) Intercession — through intimate fellowship, leading into intercession; let every single child learn.

Don't think the child does not like to pray. Don't see him giggle once when he prays and conclude that he probably does not like prayer. No! Children are just like that — when they do something a little mysterious, they giggle. But once he has prayed many times, he stops giggling. No matter! Of course, you must tell him: "It is fine. Just say one sentence." Once he has said his one sentence, he will not be like that again. Let him take initiative. Don't always be the one praying for him sentence by sentence. Always be drawing the child out — let each one of them learn to pray for others. In the future you will find the result has no end. Sometimes at home he will start praying for his father, or as he walks along the road he will start praying for his mother — because he has learned to pray.

5. Mutual Teaching to Reach the Perfecting in Truth and in Life

(i) Let the children be willing to open to you, become their friends, listen to their hearts and to their perplexities.

(ii) Encourage everyone to answer questions, doing your best to use praise to replace correction.

This is connected to the first element. The aim of the concern mentioned above is to enable them to open. As one sister has shared, in her meeting the children have many questions — one question after another. Very good — that means the children are opening. But notice this: when the children are asking, we ought to practise avoiding being the answer to every question. Then how to handle it? The moment a child asks you a question, turn the question to the other children: "What do all of you think? Who knows?" — find chances for several of them to speak first, and you draw the conclusion afterward. For if you are not careful, in your "every-soldier-met-by-a-general, every-flood-met-by-earth" approach (whatever they ask, you answer), they will end up always coming to you anyway — but even so, in this practice we need to learn to praise more. Of course, you need to know that "this kind of mess" is not really speaking-mess — it is "let-him-speak." No matter! Children all learn this way; all are pure-hearted; whatever they say will not stray to evil places.

For when you answer, that itself is correction. You do not need to say, "What he said was wrong, what he said was no good — how can you make such a move?" — never make too many such moves. Such moves cause him not to dare speak again next time. No matter! As long as you give a suitable answer, the matter is settled. In the process, do your best to praise; replace correction with praise.

(iii) Sum up or adjust the children's answers, giving them a conclusion that accords with the Scripture — Psa. 119:9.

Psa. 119:9 — With what should a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word.

So leading the small meeting will not put you to sleep — for you must summarize every child's answer. But after the summary, how do you start them off again? You can say: "What our little friends said today was wonderful — overall, was your answer something like this? Mrs. Chen, please add to it a little." Or: "Today every one spoke very well — especially this little brother said the best. What did he say? Could you encourage him a bit?" Then you give a conclusion — and the conclusion must accord with the Scripture.

I would like to remind us of one point: whether for adolescents or for younger children, I have always had a dream — something I have always wanted to do but never quite had the chance — that we would gradually do research and put together a bank of topics. In other words: what are the questions the children most often ask? What is the chaos of today's society? How exactly is it influencing our children? Then we would start to study it.

(iv) Be prepared with a series of burdens, using suitable material to perfect the children — but always let every child have the chance to speak.

Although our small meeting has many of the timely organic flow, every meeting still needs a little portion for the series-style burden. For example: for these three months I will speak each time about a little point of character-practice — that is one series; for those three months I will tell the story of the Lord Jesus — that is another series. The speaking need not be very long — for a real story may take only fifteen minutes; not too long, with each time having one main point. The series-perfecting is needed. Yet within this perfecting, at the same time, we still let the children take turns speaking about the Lord. Sometimes I tell the story of the Lord Jesus three times; on the fourth, I hand out the outlines and have them take them home to prepare, and the next time we have a story-telling competition. Let them have the chance to speak — not only to be a listener, but also to learn to be a speaker.

(v) In the perfecting bring in hymns; or let hymns lead into the perfecting.

The children love hymns; we ought to nourish them to become children who sing, who praise. Not necessarily a hymn at the very beginning — that is to-fill-the-floor approach, which we should avoid. If you sense a hymn is needed at the start, sing it; that is fine. But avoid making it fixed and avoid the to-fill-the-floor style. Element four is the flowing-out of the divine love; element five is the shining-forth of the divine light; element six is the carrying-out of the divine will. The carrying-out of the divine will, for the children, means they go and find their classmates and preach the gospel to them, and invite them to come to the children's meeting.

6. Leading the Children to Bring Their Classmates to the Children's Meeting

(i) Practice releasing their function — this is the action that pleases the Lord; for great-quantity multiplication and increase:

a. Pray with them for the classmates they are about to invite.
b. Encourage them to testify to their classmates and to tell them the matters of the Lord Jesus.
c. From time to time, take the children to knock on the doors of nearby homes and invite the children there.
d. Even take the children to the park to make contact with other children.

These are all things that can be done. The children will often say: "I don't like to bring people" / "I don't want to" / "They won't come" / "They are all idol-worshippers" — when you hear these, just treat it as not having heard. For these are the children's natural reactions; but their deeper part hopes that their classmates will come to faith in the Lord. So let us not be intimidated by these words of theirs. Just keep encouraging them; just keep praying with them. Slowly, one by one, they will all come to bear a burden for people — these are all the inevitable phenomena that the Lord produces within them.

(ii) Release the children to have more chances to serve, for example: preparing snacks, setting up the living-room, drawing invitation cards, preparing Bible stories to present.

These are all organic indications — for the carrying out of the divine will. You can even commission a small brother to tell the story; perhaps he can speak a little of the revelation, perhaps he cannot; perhaps he can speak from life-experience, perhaps he cannot. But if he can speak from life-experience, the meeting can already grow — isn't that joyful?

Today we have heard two great points. The first is concerning opening a meeting. Should we open the meeting? Go home and pray earnestly; live in fellowship; in the strength of the Body, you will be able to open it. The second is concerning the perfecting of healthy family life — letting our households become healthy God-man families, that the Lord may use our home to His full.

Did you hear that? Do you want to build up your home? Should you open the meeting first, or build up your home first? Both go on together. You cannot say, "Let me build up my home first; otherwise, no meeting yet." No — the Lord is happy if we boldly open the meeting first. The moment you open the meeting, you have entered into co-operation with His heavenly ministry, and then you will discover how much your home needs to be built up. You will also discover that the moment you open the meeting, your home begins to be built up. Of course, we still need to attend the lessons on healthy family-life perfecting, that our homes may be all the more built up.

The children's function, the parents' function — when fully released — make our homes able to be opened up. Philemon was an elder; Apphia was the wife; the one who served alongside them as a fellow-soldier was the son Archippus — Paul wrote not just to the head of the house, but to father, mother, and son. May your home become such a Lord-serving home. So these two matters should go together; and if you cannot do both, open the meeting first — for the perfecting of healthy family-life takes time over winter and summer breaks, and you can practise that at home anyway. In any case: home and meeting cannot be split; they go together. May the Lord have a clear path in our home.

If the meeting has already been opened, the servants ought to follow these steps in promoting it, always laboring in earnest to help. Over about two months' time, the experienced ones should accompany them — demonstrating it for them, serving alongside them. After that, let them serve while you watch from the side; and finally you depart altogether, leaving them to do it themselves; in the evening you ring them up to greet them, that they would not feel alone. He will boldly establish the children's meeting. If a person constantly feels alone, let him find a partner — one to coordinate with him; that way his function increases.

II. How to Promote the Children's Meeting Step by Step

1. The servant ought to have a transfusion of vision into the parents — as already described.

2. Especially, break through the conceptual obstacle: let the parents see that the children's meeting is not centered on "the meeting" — it is centered on the parents establishing, through the small meeting, a life-relationship with the children.

3. To prevent the parents from carrying the burden alone, look for coordination.

4. Just as the parents nourish their own child at home, so they can nourish the neighbors' child in the small meeting.

5. Care for the children intimately: their hearts, their lives, their lessons, their leisure — and in the midst of all this, sow the spiritual seeds.

III. Inward Construction Through the Process

1. With Christ's grace, with God's love, with the flow of the Spirit — there is no fear.

2. The chief thing is to love them — then we will not, on account of their conduct or character or living-habits, cast them off.

3. Children come easily, and are easily influenced and unstable — do not be discouraged on this account; the seed of life has already been sown. Our burden is, first of all, to gain great quantities of children.

4. Take the initiative to communicate with the parents and stay in touch — that the children may stand more firmly.

5. This is the children's church life.

IV. Appendix — Q&A on Spiritual Matters

Question 1 — Can a meeting be carried out for children aged 0–6?

Answer. "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He has established strength and perfected praise." When an infant is born, his brain weighs about 260 grams; eight months later it grows to 300 grams; at two years and seven months it reaches 1,000 grams; whereas an adult brain weighs about 1,250 to 1,350 grams. So by three years old, a child's brain has reached eighty percent of an adult's. (For this reason, the years before three are called the "genius period.") By six, brain development is complete to ninety percent. Just as building a house — once you have completed ninety percent of it, to overhaul the inside-structure becomes very difficult — likewise, before brain development reaches ninety percent, the plasticity is greater. Therefore, the most plastic time of a person's life is the years before six.

This research has also developed "the Law of Diminishing Faculty," speaking of a kind of magic-like brain activity in human beings — the result of various correlated brain-cell developments — which is also called "the human brain instinct." This magic-like brain activity is lesser at five than at four, lesser at four than at three; the closer to the zero-year mark, the stronger the capacity. By six it has more or less fixed; if the child is not educated before eight, it begins to wither and fade. Therefore, the learning of children before six — they take in things not just as knowledge, but their inner latent capacity itself works to lift their underlying powers. The learning after six years is only a surface-conscious activity; it has very little impact on raising those underlying capacities. (Excerpted from a passage by an expert.)

While the field of education is gradually awakening to and emphasizing zero-to-six education, we have all the more reason to seize this golden period of the spirit. We do not wish for them to become good men or great men, but to become God-men, to become overcomers. When you take them with you to make contact, to care for the little friends, to pray for the little friends, to tell stories — even if it appears they understand nothing of Christ, even if they cannot interact with people — these spiritual supplies and skills are absorbed by them little by little, drop by drop, and lay the foundation for their character of serving the Lord. Recently one sister, every week, took her one-year-old son to the park to break through her own natural temperament and contact the little friends, to intercede for them, to tell them stories, to invite them to her home. After about a month, she found that her originally shy and introverted child became more and more interested in people, especially in his little friends, and met everyone with a smiling face.

There is another sister whose daughter from a very young age followed her older brother — caring for people in the children's meeting, interacting with one another. If a little friend did not come, after praying with the other children, she would go with them to look in on the absent one. By two and a half, every night before dinner she would name the absent little friends one by one before the Lord — over time it became, as it were, the daughter's prayer-text; the names had no particular meaning to the daughter. One day, two of the absent little friends moved house, and she asked her mother: "Why have those two children stopped coming to the children's meeting?" The mother said: "They have moved to a faraway place; they cannot come to the children's meeting anymore." The daughter said: "Then will you take me to look in on them?" — the Lord's love for people, the disposition of caring for people, was growing out of the child's body.

Second Timothy 1:5 says:

2 Tim. 1:5 — Having been reminded of the unfeigned faith in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded dwells also in you.

We see that the unfeigned faith in Timothy was transmitted from his grandmother Lois into his mother Eunice, and then from his mother into him. Second Timothy 3:15 again says:

2 Tim. 3:15 — And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

The original of "from a babe" is the infant period. From these two passages we know: Eunice, beginning from Timothy's infancy, transmitted the words of the Scripture into him; and the unfeigned faith became something within him — and when he grew up, he became Paul's fellow-worker, becoming a vessel useful to the Lord.

Young parents — when, like the writer, you are afraid that your child will lose at the starting line in the worldly education, hoping that your child will be even stronger than you — please do not forget that what he needs even more is spiritual education. Do not lose this opportunity — they will be grown soon; we are racing against time. Please pay attention: zero to six is the golden period of spiritual education. Quickly, quickly, build up the children's meeting for them. Nourish and shepherd them to become normal, accurate, healthy little God-men, becoming the overcomers of this present age.

Question 2 — What is the difference between the children's class and the children's meeting?

Answer.

1. "The children's meeting allows my classmates to come to my home, and I get to know many friends. We learn to care for people, and learn to bring people to prayer." (Second-grade girl)

2. "In the children's class, because we already know each other, we just lump together. But the children's meeting opens up a time, inviting classmates to my home — classmates whom we see every day, with whom we are too embarrassed to speak. In the meeting we can really get to understand each other, talk over things at school, intercede for each other; the classmates open up too, and the spirit is also released." (Fifth-grade boy)

3. "In the children's class we cannot meet our classmates; we cannot bring out the words of our heart. The children's meeting lets us speak the words of our heart with our classmates, and lets us intercede for one another." (Fifth-grade boy)

4. "After we had a children's meeting, at least on that day my mother and my younger brother were less likely to lose their tempers; my father gradually came under the influence too — until in the end none of us were used to losing our tempers anymore."

5. "The objects of the children's meeting are right beside you and your child; you know about his life, you can care for him according to his need, and you can bring the Lord's supply to him."

6. "The children's class is one-speaks, all-listen; very attentive to order; the audience is the children of the brothers and sisters; you need to prepare a rich set of teaching materials. From childhood I was in a denomination, and I trained in early-childhood teaching, so without preparation I dare not lead a children's class. Even with preparation, you must finish the lesson — and so you cannot really enter into the children's life. The children's meeting can be very flexible, very humanizing, cherishing the children, taking the person as the center, listening to the inner voice within them, praying for each little friend one by one — without the pressure of 'how is this meeting going to hold together?'" (A working mother)

7. "In the Lord's recovery for over twenty years, I have served from children, junior-high, high-school, and college — every ring of it. In those days, our service to the children and to the youth was vigorous; but a few years later we discovered that not many of the children stayed — because there was no household holding them up, no parental coordination. The children's-and-youth's meeting forces the parents into the children's most secret, intimate family-life; in spirit they live and walk; in spirit they understand the children's heart; in love they affirm them, and in this affirmation seek out a little space to teach." (A working father)

8. "The children's class is mainly the servant's one-directional transmission; it is weighted toward teaching, that the children may have some apprehension; but the form of the meeting and the number mean the children have less chance to function." (A homemaker)

9. "The children's class uses technique; the children's meeting uses the spirit in the organic shepherding." (A mother who grew up in the children's class and has served children for eight years)

10. "The children's meeting weights the person; the children's class weights the meeting. The children's class is our old root — without the practice of the children's class, the development of today's children's meeting would not exist. The children's class needs the meeting to be held very well, very lively, with many people, giving the child the full set of hymns, stories, crafts, games. The children's meeting is not only these — it also draws out the child's organic function: making him interested in people, going to care for people, interceding for others, and giving him a subjective experience of the Lord. But the children's meeting is mainly mothers accompanying the children's life, with no way to do the big-meeting; those who can do the big-meeting are few — once it grows large, very few can hold it together." (A father who has served the children for twenty-four years)

Question 3 — When my child invites someone to the children's meeting, the classmate says, "My mother won't let me come." Should I personally communicate with the classmate's parents? What should I say?

Answer. Children are still under the parents' guardianship, especially in the early years through the second grade; we need to respect his parent — speak with them first — that the work may continue long. When the child invites someone and the classmate's parent does not allow it, this is the first obstacle he meets in preaching the gospel. At this moment what the child most needs is the parents' help; the parents' attitude will affect the child's attitude toward people in days to come. So, you stepping forward to invite — even if rejected, still rejoicing, not discouraged, steadfastly persisting — these nourishings are what will make him a person filled with hope toward people, filled with the divine love of Christ, a healthy, fully-functioning member. The contact you have with the parents will bring you results you never anticipated.

Through the children's meeting, sisters who long had not stood firm have been recovered; some of the parents have also been saved. The increase becomes not only the fruit of our daily living, but also brings joy and comfort. These rescued homes become the object that the whole family rejoices over together; their classmates become his lifelong spiritual companions. This is the truest portrayal of family-gaining-family, family-treasuring-family, family-perfecting-family, family-building-family.

Question 4 — What should we pay attention to in the children's meeting?

Answer. What we should most be mindful of is each individual person. If your eye is on one child, you will not be concerned with how many came to the meeting today, how good or not so good the meeting was. Even if you sense that you "failed," it is still a success. For through the exposure, they all the more experience the salvation in life-organism. Based on this premise of person-centeredness, here are several points to attend to:

1. When leading children in prayer, it is best not to exceed five sentences; with words that are plain, easy to understand, and personal. That way the child senses prayer is simple, easy to understand — and it will be easy for him in everyday life to commit everything to the Lord through prayer. (For the very small ones, one or two sentences will do.)

2. During the gathering, watch the children's reactions; flexibly use the three elements of the meeting. Perhaps today's prepared material is rich, but you must adjust according to the children's situation. You might even seek out, in the spirit, another portion of the word that fits the need of a particular child today. If for the moment you cannot see how to open up, write the question down, pray, search, and open it up next time. Yet every meeting ought still to have its preparation — let prepared truths and timely truths interleave in the nourishing.

3. Lesson content should not be too long, nor have too many points; each time grasp one central point for transmission. The three elements together should be completed in fifteen-to-thirty minutes — unless the children show particular interest in continuing to discuss it; otherwise, forget about long-form transmission. When the child shows signs of impatience or distractedness, just give a gentle correction.

4. The great taboo of the children's meeting: never let the children's noise, or the things accumulated against you over the day, flare up into anger and rebuke when the child is sitting in front of you. Always be exercising — cherish, as much as you possibly can, the children's strengths (especially the strengths of your own child). For the child this is a great encouragement and will become his motivating force in practice.

Question 5 — In the small meeting, how should we lead the child to open up?

Answer.

1. Our attention must turn from the teaching material, hymn, Bible verse to a cherishing and concern for the child himself — with a joyful, earnest spirit greeting them, watching each child's expression, with appropriate attentiveness.

2. You can prepare drinks and food; while eating, take the topics from the matters of their daily life — drawing close to them. Some sample topics:

(1) "Let me tell you something that happened to me yesterday."
(2) "What pet (or sport) do you like best? Why?"
(3) "What are you most afraid of? Why?"
(4) "At school, what is your favorite subject? Why?"
(5) "What kind of toy do you like? Why?"
(6) "What pet would you most want to keep? Why?"
(7) "What sort of thing do you most struggle to put up with? Why?"
(8) "Have you ever been misunderstood? How did you feel at the time?"

3. When the child tells us his heart and his loves, do not dismiss it as childish or ordinary, and do not immediately correct or rebuke him. Listen — and use your own childhood experiences to talk back-and-forth with him. If anything is incorrect, you can let every child say what he thinks and feels about the matter; then we, taking the Scripture as our basis, draw out some stories or experiences to help the child.

Question 6 — How to inspire the child to be willing to intercede for others?

Answer.

1. First open them up to know that prayer is a privilege God has given us — God loves to listen to our prayer, and He loves even more when we make request for others.

2. Tell of how you have interceded for others, and how others have interceded for you.

3. Use Stories That Build Up (造就故事), the prayer section, items 9 to 28, to help them be able to intercede for others.

Question 7 — How do we help the child to invite his classmates?

Answer. Open up (the Lord's love and seeking-out toward man) the child's concern for the salvation of his classmates. Make beautiful invitation cards, encouraging the child to take them to school to invite his classmates. When he meets a setback — open again, accompany again, pray again. Have him list the names of his class; accompany him in praying for and inviting them one by one. You can even paste the names of that week's invited classmates on the dining table, and the whole family pray for these classmates together (recite them at every meal). Tell the child: "As long as you have prayed for and invited your classmate, even if he doesn't come, you are still an overcomer." Through the children's meeting, train him to experience, in another person's body, the work of faith, the labor of love, and the endurance of hope.

— End of Message Three —

— End of "Children's Meeting" Series, and end of the messages —

Ch. 2