Fellowshipping on How to Implement Work Arrangements With an Example

Regarding how to implement the work arrangements from the Above, let’s give a specific example. For instance, let’s say the work arrangement requires people to write experiential testimony articles. This is a specific task that covers a wide range of aspects and is a long-term, ongoing task, not a temporary work arrangement. So, after this work arrangement is issued, what should leaders and workers do first? According to the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers, which requires them to provide guidance, supervision, and urging, and inspect and follow up on the status of the implementation of the work arrangements, the first thing leaders and workers need to do is fellowship with the team leaders and supervisors on how to specifically carry out this task appropriately and in a way that yields results, ensuring that everyone has a path and principles to follow for this work. Only by fellowshipping to this extent can the work be done well. First, make sure everyone understands the standards required by the Above for writing testimony articles and what kind of testimony articles are required. First, establish the specific content, principles, and scope of these articles, and make sure all leaders and workers are aware of this. Additionally, provide specific fellowship and guidance on the length, format, subject matter, and language style of the articles—for example, let them know that the articles may be written in the form of a narrative, a diary, a personal account, a prose poem, and so on. Isn’t this providing guidance? (Yes.) After providing guidance, everyone will know the specific concept and definition of the testimony articles they need to write. Following that, determine who has the caliber and experience to write experiential testimony articles, and who lacks deep experience and can only train in writing average testimony articles. Church leaders need to be keenly aware of these situations. After the articles are written, review them to check if they are genuine and edifying. If they are up to standard, they can be used as sample articles for brothers and sisters who have not yet written articles or do not know how to write them to read and reference. If anyone has experiences and is willing to write testimony articles, they should follow the principles and requirements, share the contents of their heart and speak practical words so that they will edify readers. If some people are not good at writing articles and can only write a simple account of events, what should be done with them? Even if their articles do not meet the standards, they should still train. They should write articles about their genuine understanding and appreciation gained from experiencing God’s words. After copyediting and reviewing these articles, if the content meets the standards for testimony articles, then such articles are valid. Regardless of the writing style of the article, and regardless of its form—whether it is written as a narrative or a diary—as long as it is beneficial and edifying to the readers, it can be written. There are also some people with low educational levels who have some experiential testimonies but do not know how to write testimony articles. What should be done in such cases? They can narrate their experiences orally, and someone with more education can help them record their experiences and then express them accurately according to that person’s true meaning, copyediting it into a testimony article that is up to standard. Such articles are also valid. To begin this work, first fellowship on what a testimony article is and its format. Then, make specific requirements and arrangements for people of different educational levels, different age groups, and those with different experiences and statures. Have those with experiences write some articles first. Meanwhile, identify individuals in the church who are suitable for guiding brothers and sisters in writing articles and who are suitable for copyediting and proofreading articles to carry out these specific tasks. This provides an initial arrangement for this work. Does arranging it this way mean the work is thus fully implemented and you can leave it alone? No, this is just providing specific direction, help, and implementation plans based on the requirements of the work arrangement. What should leaders and workers do next? You should supervise the work. Should this supervision have a target? Supervision is not just random spot checks; it needs to have a primary target. You must have a clear understanding of who needs to be supervised and which work stages require supervision. For example, if a certain sister is a church leader who is usually not earnest in her work, likes to boast, aims high but is incompetent, tends to deceive her superiors and conceal things from those below her, speaks in an especially pleasant-sounding way, and tends to be perfunctory in her work, it is imperative that she be supervised in her work. You cannot fully trust her. The first step, then, is to inspect her work and see how her implementation of the work arrangements is going. Is this just arbitrarily supervising people? (No.) This is necessary for the work because this work is too important and those who carry out this kind of work must be reliable. If they do not perform specific tasks and are not trustworthy, blindly trusting them will delay the church’s work, and you will also be derelict in your duty. For such people, you cannot be swayed by how nice their words sound or how strongly they declare their commitment; in actuality they just talk well but do nothing substantive behind the scenes. Such people are precisely the targets of supervision. Through supervision, observe whether they have repented. If they have not, dismiss them immediately and stop wasting effort on them. In fact, you should practice following up, supervising, and providing direction with most leaders and workers. For those who can do real work and have a sense of responsibility, if it is work they know how to do, there is no need for supervision. However, for new or important work, follow-up, supervision, and providing direction are still necessary. It can be said that supervising and following up on work like this is the job of leaders and workers. Follow-up, supervision, and providing direction are not about distrust but ensuring the smooth progress of the work. Because people have various shortcomings and, on top of that, various corrupt dispositions, without practicing this way, it is impossible to guarantee the work is done well. Those who have just been promoted to work require even more follow-up, supervision, and direction. This is a specific task that leaders and workers must perform. If you do not practice follow-up, supervision, and providing direction, many tasks cannot be done well, and some work may even be bungled or brought to a standstill. This is an all-too-common occurrence. In particular, leaders and workers who do not pursue the truth require even more supervision. With others, the work can be implemented quite soundly, but with such people, it is uncertain whether the work can be implemented or how well it will be implemented, and whether it will be implemented according to the work arrangement is even harder to say. Such people are not very reliable in their work. If you trust them without supervising their work, this is essentially being perfunctory and irresponsible toward the work. For such people, you need to follow up and supervise, and be involved in the work of their church. If they are unwilling to let you come or do not welcome you, what should you do? You may say, “I’ll just swallow my pride and go anyway.” Are these words right? (No.) That is not their personal territory; it is a church, and it falls within the scope of your responsibility. You are not dragging out your stay in their house to freeload; you are going to a church to do work. This is not about swallowing your pride. Although they are a leader, God’s chosen people are not theirs. It is because they are irresponsible and disloyal in their work that you need to follow up and supervise their work. So, what should you do when you go there? First, ask them who in the church has life experiences and can write experiential testimony articles, who puts relatively greater focus on pursuing the truth, who puts relatively greater focus on writing diaries and spiritual devotion notes, who focuses on sharing their experiences in gatherings, and who has the most experiential testimonies. Let them point these people out first. If they provide several brothers and sisters, saying that these are the ones who put relatively greater focus on reading God’s words, have the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, often write spiritual devotion notes, focus on practicing the truth when encountering situations, and frequently share experiential testimonies that others are willing to listen to, then you should meet with these brothers and sisters and fellowship with them. Additionally, there are definitely some people in the church who have low educational levels and cannot write articles but have practical experiences. These people need guidance and training, and you can have those who know how to write articles help them for a period of time. At the same time, select a person to be responsible for implementing the specific work of God’s chosen people writing experiential testimony articles. This person will be in charge of collecting, copyediting, reviewing, and then submitting the completed articles. And what should the church leader do? Have them supervise and follow up on these tasks. Some people might say, “Since there is a church leader, why do we need to select someone to be in charge? Isn’t that redundant?” Is it redundant? (No.) Why not? It is because this church leader does not do real work and is too unreliable that you have to select another person to be specifically responsible for this work. If the church leader were reliable, they would be able to steadily carry out the work after receiving the work arrangement, and you wouldn’t need to supervise them like this. Selecting someone to be in charge is not about sidelining the church leader but about achieving better work results. If you do not select this person, the work might fall through, and when it will be completed or yield results would become an uncertainty.

The purpose of leaders and workers participating in church work is to guide God’s chosen people to practically experience God’s work. Not only should they do their own duty well, but they should also help and lead God’s chosen people to carry out all the church’s work according to the standards required by the work arrangements. Only leaders and workers who do this are aligned with God’s intentions. But if you do not specifically participate in the work, and do not practice supervising the leaders and workers who do not do real work, then the results of these church tasks may come to nothing, having been ruined by false leaders. If you clearly understand the situation of a certain church, and you know in your heart that this church’s leader is irresponsible, but you do not follow up and provide direction in a timely manner, isn’t this a dereliction of duty? For this type of work, if you have specifically followed up and participated, and arranged both the supervisor and people to do the work, can you then leave immediately? (No.) It is best to follow up for a period of time. During the follow-up, for one thing, you can urge and guide the church leaders to actively cooperate with this work. Additionally, you can have an accurate understanding of the work situation of the people you arranged, and at the same time you can give timely corrections and help for any problems they encounter at any time. If you leave too early, and then come back to handle and resolve issues when they arise, it will delay the work. In summary, for this specific work, in addition to participating in arranging the personnel and the supervisor, it is best to also follow up for a period of time to see what problems arise during their work. For one thing, supervise whether the church leaders are fulfilling their responsibility; for another, see how the personnel are performing the work. Because most people have not done this work before and the problems that may arise are unknown, you will continually discover some unknown issues while participating in this work. Of course, it is best to provide timely solutions as well. Staying on-site, supervising, and following up are the best practices. Do not just sloppily go through the motions and call it a day. This is work done for a special situation, providing some help and guidance. After solving the problems, follow up on their work for a period of time. You see that some articles have already been written, and there are many types of articles, addressing various issues and covering different topics—some are about experiences of CCP persecution, some about experiences of family persecution, some about how people come to understand the corrupt dispositions they reveal, or how the various corrupt states people exhibit while doing their duties are resolved, and so on. These testimony articles must all be reviewed to ensure they completely conform to the facts and genuinely edify people before they can be approved and made into videos. When the work reaches this level, you will have already seen the results. This proves that, in preliminary terms, the personnel and the supervisor you arranged for this work are relatively suitable. Next, if they can complete this work on their own, then it is appropriate for you to withdraw. Do leaders and workers working in this way also receive edification? Is this more rewarding than just prattling on about theories all day and wasting time? (Yes.) This kind of work has great rewards. For one thing, you learn to solve actual problems. For another, you fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers. Additionally, your understanding of the truth does not stop at the level of words and doctrines; rather, you apply the truth more in real life. This way, people gain practical experience, and their understanding of the truth becomes more concrete and practical.

After a pilot work project of a church has been guided to this extent and initial results have been achieved, what work should leaders and workers do next? Is your job done once a pilot project is completed? Is there more work for you to do? There is so much work still! After the work of this church has been guided, see which other church’s work needs focused guidance, and then go to that church and continue to provide guidance. Since you already have some work experience and have grasped some of the truth principles, it will be much easier to provide guidance work again. Of course, according to the work steps discussed earlier, you should first check whether the selected personnel are up to standard, whether they are suitable for this work, and whether their caliber, humanity, educational level, degree of pursuing the truth, attitude toward their duty, and understanding of the truth, among other aspects, are relatively ideal, and whether they are relatively top-notch individuals. Through a period of supervision and inspecting the work, you will have the opportunity to discover that some leaders and workers or supervisors are not up to standard. For example, some people have poor caliber and cannot do the work. Others have distorted comprehension, incorrect viewpoints, lack normal thinking, and don’t have spiritual understanding. They can only proofread articles based on their academic knowledge but are ignorant when it comes to the appropriateness of specific spiritual terms and the appropriateness of quoting God’s words; they are unable to see through these things at all, which shows that it was unsuitable to have selected them and that they should be promptly replaced. Still others, meanwhile, are selected to be supervisors, and although they can do some work, better results are achieved when they write articles on their own. When asked to serve as supervisors, they have no time to write when they become busy with their work, and they do not do the work of a supervisor very well. They are not adept at providing guidance, inspecting work, or rectifying problems but are better at performing a single, specific task. So, selecting such an individual to be the supervisor is not appropriate, and another candidate should be chosen. Therefore, when leaders and workers are inspecting and following up on a specific task, it is not enough to just ask questions and inquire to find out if the supervisor understands the principles. You also need to observe just what the person’s humanity is like, and whether their caliber, comprehension ability, and stature are suitable for doing this duty. If the inspection reveals personnel who are not up to standard, adjustments must be made in a timely manner. This is what inspecting the work entails.

To implement the work of writing testimony articles, leaders and workers, in addition to inspecting whether the supervisor of this work is suitable, must also learn to check the articles and provide some direction and screening for the work of writing articles. Articles that are written specifically and practically can be used as examples. Articles that are written in a hollow and impractical way, without value and not edifying to people, should be directly eliminated. This way, the brothers and sisters will know which types of articles are valuable and which types are not, and in the future, they won’t write articles without value, thus avoiding wasting energy and time. In this way, your work will be valuable. When you go to inspect the work, you need to check all kinds of experiential testimony articles they have written to see if there are any adulterations or falsehoods mixed in and whether the articles are edifying or not. You need to first screen these things. When you are screening, aren’t you also learning? (Yes.) As you learn, you will do this work better and better. Suppose you do not inspect, do not take things seriously, and are irresponsible, and just go through the motions, only aiming to get the job done and then report to those above you that it is finished, thinking, “At any rate, our church has many people who can write testimony articles. After they finish writing, I will submit all of them. Who cares whether they are up to standard or not? As long as the higher-level leaders know that I have done a lot of work, implemented the work arrangements, and kept busy, that’s enough!” Is this a responsible attitude? (No.) This is being irresponsible. If you take responsibility, you must first screen things on your end. Any article submitted through you must be up to standard; anyone who reads it should say it is edifying and be willing to read it. Only this is fulfilling the responsibility of leaders and workers. Inspecting the work is not about going through the motions, shouting slogans, preaching doctrines, or arbitrarily lecturing people. It is about inspecting the efficiency and results of the work, inspecting whether the work you have done is up to standard, whether it achieves the results of implementing the work arrangements, whether it meets God’s requirements, which areas are up to standard and which are not—these are the things to inspect. This involves doing specific work, and is related to people’s caliber, whether they have spiritual understanding, how much truth they understand, how much truth reality they possess, and their ability to view things. If you know how to inspect work, and while inspecting the work you can discover problems, grasp the crux of problems, seize upon the essence of problems, and resolve problems, and before submitting testimony articles you screen them according to principles, guaranteeing that the articles you submit are all up to standard and edifying to those who read them, then you are up to standard as a leader or worker, and you have done your work properly.

Most people can do the work of providing guidance, supervision, and urging. However, when inspection and screening are needed, it tests the caliber of leaders and workers and whether they possess the truth reality. Some people can provide guidance, supervise work, and prune or dismiss and deal with unsuitable personnel, but they do not know how to assess the efficiency and results of the work they have arranged, whether it aligns with the work arrangements, and how to resolve it if it does not. Most leaders and workers can, at most, provide guidance, supervision, and urging, but when it comes to inspecting work, they do not know what to do, have no principles, and are at a loss. They think, “The work arrangements have been implemented, so what is there to inspect? Everyone is working, no one is idle, the people causing disruptions and disturbances have been dealt with, and those who needed to be dismissed or cleansed away have been handled accordingly. What else is there to inspect?” They are just oblivious. Inspecting work requires screening. What does screening mean? It means you need to draw a conclusion. For example, the supervisor of the work of writing experiential testimony articles brings an article to you, saying that the writing style is quite good, the language is smooth, and both the language style and the article’s subject matter are good. However, they feel that it seems to lack practical content and cannot edify people, that it needs to be supplemented and improved upon, but they cannot see through this matter themselves, so they ask you to take a look. What does it mean for them to ask you to take a look? It means they need you to screen it. How you screen it and whether you screen it well tests your actual stature. What does actual stature mean? It means whether you understand the truth principles. If the supervisor does not understand the principles of writing testimony articles, cannot assess whether an article is practical and genuine, and does not know how to make a judgment, and you are the same, unable to make a judgment or decision, this proves one thing: Your caliber is about the same as theirs, and you are unable to screen articles. Is this not the case? The truth you understand is about the same as theirs, and you cannot see through the problems they cannot see through—this indicates an issue. If you can see through problems that they cannot, and you can discover problems through inspection that they cannot, this proves that you can screen articles. For example, they consider most articles to be up to standard and without significant issues, but through your inspection and screening, you find a small portion that is not up to standard. You explain the problems in these articles through dissection and fellowship; everyone agrees that your points are reasonable, align with principles, and are not nitpicking but are indeed real issues, and that these should be corrected. Some articles are hollow and lack practical experiential understanding; some articles have practical experiential understanding but are not expressed concretely enough; some articles quote God’s words inaptly, not choosing more suitable passages of God’s words, resulting in worse results; some articles have incorrect viewpoints, with a distorted comprehension and lacking fellowship on the understanding of the truth, leaving readers unedified and easily causing them to develop negativity and misunderstandings; and so on. You can detect and see through all these issues. Through your fellowship, you help them grasp the principles, enabling those with experiences to write genuine experiential testimonies. You select those articles that are edifying and valuable to people as up-to-standard experiential testimonies, so that when God’s chosen people read them, they are edified. Meanwhile, those articles lacking genuine experiential understanding or containing distorted comprehension are eliminated. If you do this, aren’t you screening? If you have such an ability to perceive matters and do work, isn’t your caliber sufficient? Aren’t you fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers? (Yes.) If they think most articles are acceptable and bring them to you for screening, and you also think most of them are good, while actually some of them have issues and need further selection, copyediting, and correction of problems, but you cannot see through them—when you submit them to the Above, and the Above finds some articles not up to standard and eliminates them—doesn’t this mean you did not screen properly? For one thing, inspecting the work tests the caliber of leaders and workers, and for another, it tests the extent of their understanding of the truth. Some people cannot screen because their caliber is poor and therefore prevents them from doing so, they do not understand the truth in this area, and they cannot see through the problems. Their inspections are just going through the motions, not knowing what to inspect. Some people have sufficient caliber, but because their understanding of the truth is shallow, they can spot problems but do not know how to resolve them. These people still have room for improvement. However, if people cannot even spot the problems, there is no way for them to make progress.

Implementing the work of writing experiential testimony articles involves an important step of inspection, which depends on whether leaders and workers possess the truth reality. Besides inspecting leaders and workers with relatively poor caliber and who are relatively weak, you should also ask about and understand those with average caliber. If the environment is not suitable, you can send someone to inquire and understand the situation, and make detailed records. If the environment permits, it is best to personally go and interact with the supervisor of this work; ask questions, inquire, and understand the specific situation of this work, and see how well the work is being implemented. In summary, once the work arrangement for writing experiential testimony articles is issued, it is not something that can be wrapped up in one or two months. This is not a temporary task but long-term work. Leaders and workers should not just provide guidance, supervision, urging, and inspection within the first one or two months after the work arrangement has been issued and consider it done. Instead, they must follow up on this work continually over the long term. For weaker church leaders, they need to go and provide personal guidance. For church leaders who can independently implement work arrangements, they should also practice regular inspections to understand the progress of the work and solve any problems that arise. This is a responsibility of leaders and workers. Therefore, one thing is certain about leaders and workers doing work: They never have idle time. Some leaders and workers always think, “The work arrangements have been issued, and I’ve fellowshipped on how to implement them. I’ve finished my job, there’s nothing else to do. So I’ll do some suitable chores, like helping with cooking and hosting, or buying some daily necessities that the brothers and sisters lack.” They become idle after issuing the work arrangements and feel they have finished their job and have nothing more to do. This shows they do not know how to do the work or take charge of specific tasks. In fact, once the various work arrangements of God’s house are issued, as long as the Above has not called for a stop, the work must continue and cannot be halted midway. For example, the work of writing experiential testimony articles—has the Above called for a stop on this? Has there been any notice saying to stop this work? (No.) So, how should leaders and workers carry out this work? Don’t be motivated only by short-lived enthusiasm. When the work arrangement is first issued, you are very enthusiastic, proactive, and eager to cooperate with this work. After a period of time, however, if the Above does not urge, does not issue new instructions, or does not give further directives for this work arrangement, you may think that since the Above has not arranged anything new, you can ignore this work. This is not acceptable; this is a dereliction of duty. No matter how long this work has been implemented, and regardless of whether the Above has inquired about, urged, or emphasized this work during that time, as long as this work has been entrusted to you, you should shoulder it and continually do it, carrying it out well. What does “continually” mean? It means that as long as the Above does not call for a stop, leaders and workers must provide uninterrupted and continual guidance, supervision, urging, inspection, and follow-up on this work. Unless you step down or are dismissed, as long as you hold your position, this work is something you must do well as a leader or worker. It is also a task that you must continually implement and follow up on. How should this be practiced? Every time you visit a church, you must ask the local leaders and the supervisor of this work: “How have the testimony articles been coming along during this period? Are there any good, relatively moving testimony articles? Are there any articles with special experiences?” If they say there are, you should look over these articles. If they indeed contain practical experiences and truly edify people, they should be quickly submitted. Every time you visit a church, you must first ask about this matter. This is a specific task you must implement, an obligation that you cannot shirk—this is your responsibility. Regardless of whether the Above urges or inquires about this matter, this task is included in what you have to do. If the brothers and sisters are busy doing their duties and have no time to write testimony articles, you must urge them, saying, “Writing good testimony articles is very beneficial for the life entry of God’s chosen people, and it is also an important duty.” However, some leaders say, “The brothers and sisters feel that they have written all their experiences and have nothing more to write.” Is this statement correct? In fact, many detailed experiences are not noticed by people and are overlooked. It is only when they read the experiential testimonies written by others that they remember they also have had similar experiences. Therefore, writing experiential testimony articles requires careful thought and contemplation. There are many experiential understandings that are worth writing about. Is not having any time to write a valid reason? This is a duty that people should do. No matter how busy they are, they should take time to write. If they do not know how to write testimony articles, they should dictate it for someone else to copyedit, thus producing a good article. In this way, through your urging and direction, another good experiential testimony article is written. Do you know how many people this article can edify? How many people can receive help and benefit from it? If you do not supervise and provide direction, and the local church leaders also do not have a sense of burden, thinking that the brothers and sisters have written all their experiential testimonies and there are no more articles to write, then this good experiential testimony article will not come into existence. Sometimes when you visit a church, some brothers and sisters chat with you and say, “I have suffered all kinds of hardships in my life. After believing in God, I have also been persecuted a lot. Every step of the way, it has been God leading me. I have seen God’s wonderful deeds, and realized that everything is ordained by God and that God truly holds sovereignty over all—this is totally true!” After they tell you their experience, you ask if they have written it down as an article, and they say, “No, I have a low level of education and can’t write. Besides, others say this experience is not valuable.” “How could such a wonderful experience be without value?” you tell them. “After each step of your experience, you deeply felt God’s sovereignty, God’s leading, and God’s ordaining. What experience could be more valuable than this? Such experiences should be written down and not missed.” You then quickly arrange for more educated brothers and sisters to help them copyedit it. Within three days, a good and excellent testimony article is written and then made into an experiential testimony video. Everyone who watches it says, “The protagonist’s experience is fantastic! It is so edifying to watch! It truly shows that God is sovereign over everything—that’s exactly how it is! This has been confirmed to an even greater extent now, and our faith in God has increased.” Others say, “This experiential testimony article is written very practically and is very moving. It would be even better if it were made into a movie!” Many brothers and sisters eagerly look forward to it being quickly made into a movie. So, because leaders and workers treated the church’s work with responsibility and loyalty, a casual conversation was able to lead to a good article and good material for a movie. This is the best testimony and the best subject matter for bearing witness to God’s sovereignty and ordination. Such stories can increase the faith of so many people and edify many as well! What do you think of leaders and workers doing work in this way? They do not adhere to any formality in their work. Wherever they go, they ask questions, inquire, and interact with the brothers and sisters, integrating themselves among them without putting on airs. They not only have a sense of burden in their hearts but also a strong sense of responsibility. By consistently doing this, they naturally achieve results. Won’t this be remembered by God? These are good deeds, no? Tell Me, is it strenuous to do this bit of work? Does it require suffering? Does it require scaling sword-tipped mountains or plunging into seas of fire? No. It isn’t difficult. It just requires putting your heart into it. With this work in your heart, wherever you go, you ask questions and inquire: “How is the work progressing? Have there been any good testimony articles during this period? For brothers and sisters who have experiences but haven’t written articles yet, do you know how to guide them to narrate their experiences? Do you know how to help them express themselves and guide them to write them out?” Wherever you go, you always have to fellowship about this matter, do things related to this work, and speak words related to this work. Doesn’t practicing this way make the work of leaders and workers more abundant? Could there be a situation where you are idle with no work to do? (No.) Can leaders and workers working this way get tired or die from exhaustion? (No.) They won’t get tired or die from exhaustion, the work will have results, and it will be remembered by God. If you work in this way, many will be edified, and the brothers and sisters will feel that writing experiential testimony articles is valuable and meaningful. Previously, they thought their experiences had no value, but through your guidance, they understood how to write experiential testimony articles. This also benefits their life entry. Only when you work in this way are you fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers.