Two Criteria for Judging Whether Leaders and Workers Are Up to Standard

We’ve now fellowshipped on eight of the responsibilities of leaders and workers in total, and with regard to these eight responsibilities we’ve dissected the various manifestations of false leaders. By dissecting them in this way, do you now have some discernment of false leaders? If you are a leader, can you avoid engaging in these practices of false leaders? Can you consciously perform work and fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers based on the responsibilities that we’ve fellowshipped on? Through the fellowship on the responsibilities of leaders and workers, you should now know in your heart how leaders and workers ought to perform their work, what details are involved in performing this work, how they ought to implement work, and how they ought to practice being up-to-standard leaders and workers. If a person’s caliber is sufficient, if they possess a certain degree of work capability, and they also bear a burden, then they should be able to avoid exhibiting these manifestations of false leaders. However, if a person has caliber and possesses a certain degree of work capability, but they do not bear a burden, are they then capable of being an up-to-standard leader and fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers? (No.) It’s a bit difficult for them to do this. Suppose that a leader bears a burden and their humanity isn’t poor, but they just don’t know how to perform their work. No matter how they’re fellowshipped with, they still don’t know how to implement and participate in specific work, and they cannot find the principles or direction. They also don’t know how to provide guidance for specific professions or work. When issues occur they can’t find the essence of those problems, and they don’t know how to solve them. Consequently, they’re always very passive and slow in any work they do or in any issue they’re handling. Can such a person fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers? (No.) What kind of problem is this? Although this kind of person is very enthusiastic, bears a burden, and want to perform their work, their caliber is too poor, they don’t possess work capability and can’t take on the work, or perform specific work or solve specific issues; they just go through the motions when they participate in any of the work, and they are very slow-witted, numb, and passive. The result of this is that many issues arise, yet they’re incapable of beginning to work on them, they don’t know where they stem from, much less do they know how to fellowship on them and solve them, and they aren’t even able to report the issues to the Above and seek from them. Therefore, they’re not capable of fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers, and even if they get selected to become a leader, they’re not a good leader—they are a false leader.

Now that we’ve fellowshipped on eight responsibilities of leaders and workers, are you able to come up with a basic definition of a false leader? How should one judge if a leader is fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers, or if they are a false leader? At the most basic level, one must look at whether they are capable of doing real work, at whether or not they have this caliber. Then, one should look at whether they have the burden to do this work well. Ignore how nice the things they say sound and how much they seem to understand the doctrines, and ignore how talented and gifted they are when they handle external matters—these things are not important. What is most crucial is whether they are able to properly carry out the most fundamental items of work of the church, whether they can solve problems using the truth, and whether they can lead people into the truth reality. This is the most fundamental and essential work. If they are incapable of doing these items of real work, then no matter how good their caliber is, how talented they are, or how much they can endure hardship and pay a price, they are still a false leader. Some people say, “Forget that they don’t do any real work now. They have good caliber and they’re capable. If they train for a while, they are bound to be able to do real work. Besides, they haven’t done anything bad and they haven’t done evil or caused disruptions or disturbances—how can You say that they are a false leader?” How can we explain this? It doesn’t matter how talented you are, what level of caliber and education you possess, how many slogans you can shout, or how many words and doctrines are in your grasp; regardless of how busy you are or how exhausted you are in a day, or how far you’ve traveled, how many churches you visit, or how much risk you take and suffering you endure—none of these matter. What matters is whether you are performing your work based on the work arrangements, whether you are accurately implementing those arrangements; whether, during your leadership, you are participating in every specific work you are responsible for, and how many real issues you have actually resolved; how many individuals have come to understand the truth principles because of your leadership and guidance, and how much the church’s work has advanced and developed—what matters is whether or not you have achieved these results. Regardless of the specific work you’re involved in, what matters is whether you are consistently following up on and directing the work rather than acting high and mighty and issuing orders. Besides this, what also matters is whether or not you have life entry while doing your duty, whether you can deal with matters according to principles, whether you possess a testimony of putting the truth into practice, and whether you can handle and resolve the real issues faced by God’s chosen people. These and other similar things are all criteria for assessing whether or not a leader or worker has fulfilled their responsibilities. Would you say that these criteria are practical? And fair toward people? (Yes.) They are fair for everyone. No matter your level of education, whether you are young or old, how many years you have believed in God, your seniority, or how much of God’s word you have read, none of this is important. What matters is how well you do the church work after being chosen as a leader, how effective and efficient you are in your work, and whether each item of work progresses in an organized and effective manner, and is not delayed. These are the main things that are evaluated when measuring whether a leader or worker has or has not fulfilled their responsibilities.

Through the fellowship we just engaged in, you now have a somewhat clear understanding and knowledge of the responsibilities of leaders and workers, as well as an accurate statement about the definition and essence of a false leader. The most basic criterion for judging whether someone is a false leader is to look at whether they are capable of performing real work, and then to look at whether they actually do real work. These are the two main criteria: One is a question of whether or not they are capable, and one is a question of whether or not they are willing. Can you remember these things? Some people say, “I’m not a leader, so why should I remember these things?” Is this remark correct? (No.) Why is it incorrect? Through understanding these truths, people can in one respect come to know themselves, and in another respect, they can come to discern other people—these are the truths people should understand and possess, and it will not do to not understand them. First of all, you must measure whether you possess the caliber and ability to be a leader according to the responsibilities of leaders and workers. If you don’t possess these things, then don’t keep wanting to be a leader. If you don’t possess the caliber to be a leader but still want to be one, then that is ambition; as soon as you become a leader, you won’t be capable of performing real work, and you will inevitably become a false leader. Some people say, “I have good caliber; among everyone, I am outstanding. I often come up with some good ideas, and some clever and good suggestions. I have a knack for everything I do, and I have relatively rich knowledge, insights, and experience. Doesn’t all this mean that I can be a leader?” They should also measure themselves to see if they have a sense of responsibility and bear a burden, then. If they only have opinions on things, and only wish to do things, and always have great ambitions but can’t follow through on them, and they don’t know how to make an effort and pay the price, and aren’t willing to pay any price—if they always want their brain and heart to be in a relaxed state, if they like to be idle and unfettered, to have a comfortable life, and don’t like to worry or be busy, and fear fatigue and hardship—then they’re not suited to being a leader, and they’ll be unable to either take on or perform the work of a leader.

We just now summarized two criteria for judging whether a leader is up to standard: Whether they are capable of performing real work and whether they do real work. If people understand these two criteria, then they should be completely clear on whether they are capable of being a leader, as well as whether they are capable of doing church work well, thoroughly fulfilling their responsibilities, and being an up-to-standard leader after becoming one. To those who are currently serving as leaders and workers, do you now have some paths and some principles for how to measure whether you’ve done some real work and fulfilled the responsibilities of leaders and workers? Through fellowshipping on these eight responsibilities of leaders and workers, you should be able to gauge what manifestations false leaders exhibit and summarize exactly how leaders and workers should perform their work, as well as where in your work you are lacking, inadequate, or not specific enough, and how you should do the work from now on—you should have these insights at the very least. If you have no conclusions or insights concerning how to be a leader or worker or how to fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers, then that means your caliber isn’t up to the task. Moreover, if you’re totally confused about how to discern false leaders, then this shows even more that your caliber is poor. There is also a special circumstance: There are some who, despite having listened to these fellowships, have no resolve to strive for the truth or to fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers, who simply don’t take the matter seriously or to heart. They think, “I don’t care about who’s a false leader. In any case, if I became a leader, I’d just do whatever the Above told me to do. I wouldn’t need to make so much of an effort or to expend so much thought.” When they listen to sermons, they are just going through the motions and killing time, and they know roughly a bit of what the sermon is specifically about, but they’re too lazy to summarize what truths and God’s requirements of man are being fellowshipped on, and they’re not willing to take these things to heart. They think, “It’s too much hassle to discern these matters. In any case, I require only one thing of myself, and that is to not do evil, to not cause disruptions and disturbances, and to not stand out from the crowd, and that’s enough. It’s so simple! This is a great way to live; I don’t make high demands of myself.” This is their only perspective no matter how they listen to sermons, and no one can change them; no matter how you fellowship on the truth, what method you use to fellowship, or what you fellowship on, you cannot touch their heart; they’re not bothered about whether they listen to these words or not, to them it makes little difference. This type of person muddles through life, and they don’t take anything seriously. To say nothing of fellowshipping on eight of the responsibilities of leaders and workers—even if we fellowship on all of them, they still won’t understand and won’t be able to summarize any principles or paths. People like this don’t love positive things, they’re not interested and can’t muster up any energy when it comes to the truth or any positive things, and instead they have a certain interest in eating, drinking, and pleasure-seeking. By fellowshipping on eight of the responsibilities of leaders and workers, in one respect, we have summarized certain responsibilities of leaders and workers, as well as how to perform work and fulfill one’s responsibilities as a leader or worker; in another respect, we have summarized certain specific manifestations exhibited by false leaders. We just now concluded two basic principles, two criteria, for discerning false leaders: One is whether someone is capable of performing real work, and the other is whether they actually do real work once they’ve understood the truth principles. Using these two criteria is the simplest and most appropriate method to date for gauging whether someone is a false leader or not.

Item Nine: Accurately Communicate, Issue, and Implement the Various Work Arrangements of the House of God in Accordance With Its Requirements, Providing Guidance, Supervision, and Urging, and Inspect and Follow Up on the Status of Their Implementation (Part One)

The Definition and Specific Items of Work Arrangements

Today, we will fellowship on the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Accurately communicate, issue, and implement the various work arrangements of the house of God in accordance with its requirements, providing guidance, supervision, and urging, and inspect and follow up on the status of their implementation.” Considering this responsibility as a whole, what are leaders and workers required to implement? (The various work arrangements of God’s house.) The focal point of this responsibility is how to implement the various work arrangements of God’s house—this is the most important work for leaders and workers. Regardless of what level of leader or worker one is, as a leader or worker, one will always encounter work arrangements as well as the specific work of implementing work arrangements. Implementing various work arrangements is relevant to the work of every leader and worker, and this is a very important, very specific, and very fundamental work. Considering this point, isn’t it necessary to first fellowship specifically on what work arrangements are? (Yes.) So, what then are work arrangements? What are the scope and definition of work arrangements? Some people say, “Doesn’t the scope of work arrangements just cover certain tasks and content related to church work? And aren’t work arrangements just arranging and issuing these tasks and content?” What do you think of this explanation? Isn’t it all words and doctrines? (Yes, it is.) And what does “words and doctrines” mean? It means that, although no word of this explanation sounds wrong, after you hear it, you still don’t understand it; it’s just the same as if this hadn’t been explained at all. Let’s first give a definition of work arrangements in terms of a written description, so that people can have a basic concept of it in order to understand and know what exactly work arrangements are. Work arrangements are the specific plans and requirements made by God’s house for a specific item of work; they need to be communicated and implemented by leaders and workers, and they are also the requirements, tasks, and methods issued to all members of the church for a specific item of work—this is the definition of work arrangements. And what items are covered by work arrangements? Everyone knows this noun “items,” but shouldn’t there be some specific content that’s covered within the scope of these items? (Yes.) What content do you know about? (There’s gospel work, and there’s film production work.) That’s two items. (There are also certain requirements related to the church life and establishing the church’s administrative organizations.) What other work is there? (There’s the work of cleansing the church, as well as certain work related to the church’s management systems.) The specific content of work arrangements are as follows: item one, the church’s administrative work. This is the biggest item of work, and if the administrative work is not done well, there will be no church work at all. Item two, personnel work. This is a big item of work. Item three, gospel work. This is a big item of work, too. Item four, various kinds of professional work. The scope of this work is somewhat large, and it includes film production, text-based work, translation, music, video production, art, and so on. Item five, church life. Item six, the work of asset management. Item seven, cleansing work. Item eight, external affairs. Item nine, church welfare. For example, how the church resolves difficulties that arise in the homes of brothers and sisters, and what the church does about them, as well as visiting brothers and sisters in prison and how their families are to be looked after, and so on—all this comes under church welfare. Item ten, emergency plans. Sometimes, the church will issue certain emergency measures. For example, when the pandemic occurred, the church adopted a corresponding isolation system. Plans such as these all come under emergency work. Work arrangements basically involve these ten items. Any other minor item or special circumstance is included within these ten—basically, church work involves these ten major items. These are basically the scope of the various work arrangements issued by God’s house, right? (Right.) Now that these items have been confirmed, all of you should now understand the work arrangements of God’s house a little, and know that these are the major items of work in God’s house. This is the scope of the requirements God’s house has regarding the responsibilities of leaders and workers. The implication of this is that, as a leader or worker, the scope of your work and the responsibilities that you must fulfill cannot be separated from these items that are included in work arrangements—all these items are necessary. Apart from these items of work, of the things you are willing to do, do a bit of whatever you can do well, and God’s house has no additional requirements for your performance of your duty. Therefore, while you’re performing your work, you should be pondering how to carry out these items of work, what is required by the work arrangements of God’s house, what specific work you must do, how to implement it, whether it is being implemented well, what the current progress is, whether you have followed up on the work, whether there is any item of work that hasn’t been done well or in which deviations and flaws exist, and whether everyone participating in that item of work is actually doing work—you must always be pondering these things. Now that you have understood the specific items of work involved in work arrangements, is it necessary for Me to give a simple explanation of each of these items? Or perhaps you are thinking: “We’ve been in contact with these items of work for so many years and we understand them all; there’s no need to explain them again—fellowship on something important instead. This subject isn’t so important, it doesn’t matter whether we know about it or not, and we don’t want to hear about it.” Is it necessary to explain this subject further? (Yes.) Since it is necessary, let’s talk about it in simple terms. I’ll choose some items that you are relatively unfamiliar with, that are not so specific, that are a little abstract, and fellowship on them.

I. Administrative Work

Let’s begin by fellowshipping on item one, administrative work. Administrative work is relatively abstract and not sufficiently concrete, and many people don’t understand it. In particular, those who have only believed in God for a short time don’t really know about the formation of the church and its administrative work, and they don’t know what administration is. This administration is not the same as the administrative decrees issued by God. This administrative work mainly involves the specific stipulations of God’s house on the work of establishing churches. And what is the content of these specific stipulations? They include how churches are divided, how many people are in each church, how churches are given names, and so on. It has been stipulated in the work arrangements that churches be divided according to their natural geographical environment, with 30 to 50 people living relatively close to each other being classified as a church. For instance, say that area A includes three or four villages; if these villages contain 50 believers, then they can be classified as a church. They’ll have their own times and locations for holding gatherings, they’ll have church leaders and deacons, as well as specific church work to do, and they’ll all be managed together by this church. This is the stipulation concerning the division of churches and the number of members in churches. At the same time, this church will fall under the responsibility of a certain district, depending on which one it is located in, and that district will be responsible for all the various pieces of work in that church, such as the church life there, whether leaders and deacons are suitable, distributing books of God’s words, implementing the various work arrangements, and communicating the Above’s requirements, and so on. God’s house has specific work arrangements for things like the number of churches that compose a district, and the number of districts that make a region, as well as regions being responsible for districts, and districts being responsible for churches, which are administrative units. In simple terms, this is called administrative work, and it falls within the scope of the responsibilities of leaders and workers. So, what are the responsibilities that leaders and workers should fulfill? They must divide churches based on their natural geographical environment and location according to the work arrangements. If the number of people in a church keeps increasing with time, then the church should be divided again based on the number of people and the geographical environment. For example, if a church grows from 50 to 80 people, it should be divided into two churches; if these two churches in total grow from 80 people to 150 people, then they should be divided into three churches. If a church grows to have 70, 80, or 100 people and hasn’t yet been divided into two churches, then doesn’t it show that the leaders and workers in this church don’t understand the administrative work of God’s house? (It does.) At times like these, the leaders and workers should read the work arrangements concerning this subject—the church’s handbook on work arrangements contains specific stipulations. If a church is divided into two new churches, then each church must elect necessary leaders and workers such as church leaders, deacons, and so on. So, what should leaders and workers do? They should know and have a grasp of the number of people in the church and the status of the church’s establishment. This is the church’s administrative work, and it is the biggest item of work. There should be a church wherever God’s chosen people are, and once a church is established, leaders and workers must take responsibility for every aspect of that church’s work, such as distributing books of God’s words, managing church members, implementing work arrangements so that they know what the content of the work arrangements are. Administrative work mainly involves establishing churches, as well as establishing the administrative organizations and personnel of churches—these are all specific tasks within administrative work. What people ordinarily encounter this item of work more? New believer churches, gospel teams, as well as regional leaders, district leaders, and church leaders in areas in which the gospel is being spread, all encounter this work more. Moreover, administrative work also includes a special job, which is to separate churches into full-time duty churches, part-time duty churches, ordinary churches, and B groups, and this is another job that should be done by leaders and workers. Leaders and workers should have a grasp on how to separate churches, and the principle of separating churches is to divide people into different churches based on differences in the duties they do, to separate people who do a duty from people who don’t, and people who do their duty full time from people who do their duty part time—this is another special and specific administrative job.

II. Personnel Work

Item two, personnel work. This item concerns the election, appointment, and dismissal of leaders and workers at all levels. Work arrangements provide specific stipulations for election systems, what kind of people to elect as leaders and workers, and the methods and specific requirements for elections. There are also certain special circumstances, for example, what should be done if the brothers and sisters have only just met each other and don’t know each other very well, and cannot select suitable leaders and workers through an election? In that case, people can be promoted and designated, checking who is relatively suited to being a leader, and then getting to know more about them, fellowshipping, and conducting simple checks, after which they can be appointed. Furthermore, when the Above arranges a large project or appoints several people as supervisors, this is a special work arrangement. There is another special circumstance, and that is when someone writes a report to the Above describing how such-and-such leader does not perform real work and walks the path of an antichrist, and the Above issues a work arrangement to dismiss the leader who was reported from their post after verifying this. This is another work arrangement related to personnel work. In short, work related to personnel involves the election, appointment, and dismissal of leaders and workers at all levels in the church. This item of work is relatively simple, and it is easy to understand.

III. Gospel Work

Item three, gospel work. Gospel work is the first big item of specific professional work after the administrative work and personnel work in God’s house. God’s house has made many work arrangements in succession for this item of work, making specific work arrangements regarding potential gospel recipients, the geographical scope for preaching the gospel, and ways and means in which the gospel is to be preached. At the same time, God’s house also has specific statements in the work arrangements concerning all the different books of God’s words, films and videos, and variety shows required for preaching the gospel, and even statements concerning the various kinds of common notions and frequently asked questions of potential gospel recipients. Some statements may not be presented specifically in writing, but there are many of them present in verbal and oral fellowship. The gospel work is always progressing and continuing, and as this work progresses, God’s house has created specific work arrangements and stipulations concerning issues that continually arise and that are continually being faced, and it has also issued certain specific requirements and tasks to gospel workers, gospel deacons, and gospel work supervisors. Although in this later stage God’s house doesn’t say much about the arrangements for the gospel work, this aspect of the truth is fellowshipped on very frequently in the church. In particular, after the gospel began to spread overseas, God’s house made specific work arrangements for translation work in different languages. Translators and gospel workers who are familiar with various foreign languages give their all to cooperate with this kind of work, and God’s house has invested many of these kinds of human resources to cooperate with the gospel work, and this accords with the work arrangements of God’s house. In short, the Above is always personally guiding, asking about, following up on, and supervising the work of spreading the gospel. So, what are the responsibilities that leaders and workers should fulfill when it comes to this item of work? Having a supervisor for gospel work doesn’t mean that leaders and workers can be completely laissez-faire, not pay the work any mind, not inquire about it, and just ignore it, thinking, “Let the work develop however it will. It has nothing to do with me, anyway. I’m responsible for the church life and the various kinds of professional work. It’s not my concern if there are problems with the gospel work.” Is this okay? (No.) This is being derelict in your duty. The most important item of work that leaders and workers should focus on, out of all the work of God’s house, is gospel work. You may not have been made directly responsible for this item of work, but you must inquire about how much it’s developing and what the status of its progress is—you must follow up on, know about, and have a handle on these things. Especially with regard to certain important personnel, such as gospel preachers and waterers in gospel teams, as well as the supervisors of gospel work, leaders and workers must always have a timely handle on their situations, and if problems arise with these personnel, they must solve them promptly—they should not wash their hands of this work after it has been assigned. Moreover, leaders and workers must regularly inspect and direct all gospel preachers involved in the work of spreading the gospel, including those in churches and first-line online gospel preachers, as well as the waterers in each team. It has long been required by the work arrangements of God’s house that all gospel preachers and waterers must undergo special training. What does special training mean? It means that it must be ensured that gospel preachers and waterers have a clear understanding of the truths of visions and that they can explain these things clearly. If there is any aspect of the truths of visions that they’re not entirely clear on, then frequent fellowship must be given on it, and the more detailed the gospel preachers’ and waterers’ understanding, the better. God’s house has work arrangements for this, right? (Right.) The work of spreading the gospel is a specific and complicated item of work that includes many separate tasks. It must be ensured that each task is done well and followed up on closely; this is God’s commission. Each task must be done well, and it must be ensured that the results of each task improve continuously—only this accords with God’s intentions. All other kinds of professional work, such as film production, text-based work, music, art, and translation, exist to support and back up the gospel work, and gospel work is the frontline work of all the work. Therefore, those who do the various duties must do their own work well and achieve the results required by God. In this way, they will have a share in the work of spreading the gospel. This is because all of these other kinds of professional work exist in service of spreading the gospel, and all this work must be centered on the work of spreading the gospel and provide a never-ending supply for it. Today, all of the materials, films, and various videos needed for preaching the gospel are created through the effort of many of God’s chosen people behind the scenes. Everything these people do behind the scenes provides powerful support for the work of spreading the gospel. In the past, God’s house didn’t have different kinds of film works, it didn’t have many songs, nor did it have very many experiential testimony videos. It just relied on gospel workers continually providing fellowship. Gospel workers would talk until their mouths went dry, and not necessarily see any significant results, and it was difficult to gain any one person. After the church produced all kinds of videos, the work of gospel teams became relatively light, and much easier than before, and work efficiency increased. Some people are stubborn and conservative in their thinking, and when you preach the gospel to them, no matter how you fellowship on the truth, it doesn’t work, and they retain their notions and refuse to accept it—what do you do then? You get them to watch one or two gospel testimony movies, and their notions undergo a transformation, and they begin to get a good feeling about the true way. When they come to seek again, there are no longer any great barriers or obstacles in their hearts, and when you fellowship on the truth with them again, they can easily accept it. That’s why the results are really apparent when you show the movies produced by God’s house to potential gospel recipients, or read God’s words to them, or show them experiential testimony videos—doing this is more effective than you saying any number of words to them. No matter who is seeking and investigating the true way, first get them to watch some movies, and then get them to read more of God’s words, thereby paving the way for them. After this, fellowship on the truth with them to resolve their notions. This makes things go much more smoothly. Nowadays, those who are investigating the true way have already watched many movies and testimony videos produced by God’s house on the internet, and in particular, they have read many of God’s words; before they come to seek and investigate they already have a good feeling about the true way, and they have basically already recognized that it is the true way. Have you discovered anything in this? These movies, these videos of recitals of God’s words, these experiential testimony videos, hymn videos, and so on that God’s house produces are so effective at bearing testimony to God! There’s no need to waste so much breath fellowshipping and debating with potential gospel recipients; once they’ve watched these videos, they’re able to accept the true way. This saves those who are preaching the gospel a lot of time and it shows that all the back-up support for preaching the gospel is so powerful! There is such an abundance of various kinds of resources for preaching the gospel! Many potential gospel recipients are astonished when they go online to investigate God’s work, as there is so much on the website of God’s house and such an abundance of content! God’s words are abundant, there is an abundance of all manner of movies and videos, and there is an abundance and everything you’d need when it comes to experiential testimonies. This is truly the result of the Holy Spirit’s work and guidance! This really has all come out of God’s work. No matter how the great red dragon and the religious world spread rumors and smear it, it’s all to no avail. In any case, the results achieved, and the fruits reaped, by all the items of work of God’s house are clear for all to see, and they are facts accomplished by God’s words.

In the work of spreading the gospel of the kingdom, all the items of work of God’s house are organized in a very methodical fashion and proceed in an orderly manner. The work of spreading the gospel is a critical, long-term, and arduous item of work. Therefore, those who take on the gospel work, no matter whether they are supervisors or ordinary gospel workers, should confirm the importance of this work in their hearts. Although you are working on the front line of the gospel and doing your duties, in your rear, which is to say, behind the scenes, there are many brothers and sisters doing various kinds of back-up work, and they are the force that supports the work of spreading the gospel. What do I mean by this? All of the work of God’s house is centered on spreading the gospel, and the duties performed by all of God’s chosen people are in service of spreading the gospel. Every brother and sister who does a duty has a share in gospel work, and every item of work is closely and intimately related to gospel work. In short, every item of work, including gospel work itself, is a duty that should be done well to testify for God’s work, any item of work is closely related to the most important work, which is testifying about God. This is completely accurate. Therefore, God’s house places the work of spreading the gospel at the top of the list of all the items of work, and it is number one out of all the various items of work of God’s house—this is entirely appropriate. It is a major, arduous, and long-term item of work, and every single one of God’s chosen people, every single person who follows God, must have stamina, patience, and sufficient faith to prepare to do this work well, and to fight this long battle. Whether you persevere for 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years, you must always be loyal to God, dedicate your life and your lifetime to the work of spreading the gospel, and be loyal to God till the end. This is an important responsibility that every person who follows God is duty-bound to shoulder, it is everyone’s duty, and it is also the commission that God entrusts to everyone.

Through this fellowship of Mine, do you all have enthusiasm in your hearts, and have you begun to regard gospel work as important? Some people have said previously, “I don’t understand any technical professions, I don’t know how to act and can’t be an actor, I don’t have a solid foundation when it comes to the use of words, so I don’t know how to write articles, I don’t understand music and I know even less about art. It’s because I’m not good at anything that I was assigned to a gospel team. Aren’t gospel teams the equivalent of a forgotten back shelf in God’s house? And since I’ve been sent to a forgotten back shelf, do I still have any hope of attaining salvation?” Is this how it is? If that’s really how you understand this situation, then you have misunderstood God: Preaching the gospel is the bounden responsibility of every single person. If you are not good at anything and don’t understand any technical profession, and all you can do is preach the gospel, then you will be arranged to do your duty in a gospel team. This is your last chance, and it is done to ensure that you are not wasted as a piece of material, and can be made use of as much as possible, so that you perform your function as a human being to the greatest extent. You are not good at anything and you are slow-witted in everything you do, but you are able to do the duty of preaching the gospel well, and even if you are asked to do gospel-recipient scouting, you can do this in a down-to-earth manner, and pass the potential gospel recipients you find to the gospel preachers. At the same time you can gradually learn how to preach about God’s words, God’s work, and God’s intentions, and bring people before God. Isn’t this your duty? Other people produce some results through engaging in text-based work, film production work, and other kinds of work, but you don’t know how to do these things, and you have no special talents or gifts, yet you dedicate your strength to the gospel work, you give your all and fulfill your duty, and you shoulder your God-given commission, aren’t these good deeds? These are also good deeds, and God will remember them. This fulfills these words: There are no distinctions of nobleness or lowliness in the duties people do; all that matters is whether you are loyal in your duty and whether you do it in an up-to-standard manner. God treats everyone fairly and equally; since you can’t do anything, you are asked to preach the gospel—this is done to enable you to perform your last possible function, under circumstances where you’re not able to take on any other duty. Through this, you are being given an opportunity and a glimmer of hope; you are not being deprived of the right to do your duty. God still has a commission for you and He is not biased against you. Therefore, those who are assigned to gospel teams are not being sent to a forgotten back shelf, nor are they being abandoned, but rather they are doing their duty in a different place. By fellowshipping on the work arrangements for gospel work, do you now look well upon gospel work and no longer have any misunderstandings about it? (Yes.) So are you going to feel smug about it? No matter what duty people do, God’s requirements of them do not change: God wants their loyalty and sincerity. If you say, “I keep a low profile, I won’t feel smug, I just do what God asks me to do,” but you have no loyalty, no sincerity, then that won’t do. Regardless of how you comprehend gospel work, in any case, if you come to possess loyalty and sincerity, then your performance of your duty will be up to standard. No matter how well you regard the duty of preaching the gospel or how positive your attitude toward it is, if you can’t endure hardship, and you have no stamina and no loyalty, then that won’t do, either. Therefore, it doesn’t matter where you are placed, what time or location you are in, what people you come into contact with and what duty you do. God will always see you and scrutinize your innermost heart. Don’t think that because you are a member of a gospel team that God pays no attention to you or that God can’t see you, and so you can do whatever you want. And don’t think that if you are assigned to a gospel team, you no longer have any hope of being saved, and then approach it negatively. These ways of thinking are both wrong. No matter where you are placed or what duty you are arranged to do, it is what you should do, and you should do it diligently and responsibly. God’s requirements of you do not change, and so your submission to God’s arrangements should not change, either. The status of gospel workers is the same as that of those who do other duties; a person’s worth is not measured by the duty they do, but rather by whether they pursue the truth and possess the truth reality. This is all that I’ll fellowship on regarding gospel work, this big and specific item of work.

IV. Various Kinds of Professional Work

Item four, various kinds of professional work. This includes film production, text-based work, music, art, translation, and so on. Some people say, “We costume-makers are also involved in film production work. Is making costumes considered a kind of work?” Making costumes is included within the kinds of work of film production and music; it is a kind of support work that collaborates with these kinds of work. At every stage, God’s house has specific work arrangements concerning the specific requirements for these kinds of professional work. Some are communicated in writing, and some are communicated verbally through fellowship at gatherings. However they are communicated, leaders and workers should shoulder the responsibility for them, record the specific requirements issued by God’s house for this item of work and tidy up these notes, and then provide concrete fellowship on them and engage in their specific implementation. This is also a large item of work, and it is the second specific item of work that comes after gospel work. In terms of this specific item of work, God’s house requires all personnel engaged in various professions to continually study professional knowledge related to their duties, as well as search for information to ascertain what things are useful for the work of God’s house. At the same time, God’s house is continually fellowshipping on the truth principles and providing concrete plans for the various kinds of professional work. Sometimes these kinds of work are fellowshipped about to supervisors and team members together, and sometimes they are fellowshipped about solely to the leaders, workers, and supervisors responsible for the item of work in question. Regardless of whether they are communicated and fellowshipped in writing or through gatherings, in any case these kinds of work are constantly being improved and standardized, and specific arrangements are constantly being made according to the needs of the gospel work. For example, say that God’s house produces a movie with a relatively new theme, and the movie is shot quite professionally. After the movie is uploaded online, it receives quite a high click rate. In such a situation as this, God’s house creates specific requirements for this type of work based on the feedback and the needs of the gospel work. In short, this item of work is constantly being summarized and improved, and it is also constantly growing.

For the various kinds of professional work, the arrangements of God’s house require people to study more, and find teachers and various kinds of resources and teaching materials to learn from. Take singing for example; finding a teacher to learn from and having them provide vocal coaching is also a specific work arrangement. After hearing this arrangement, leaders and workers should find a teacher suited to this work in accordance with the Above’s requirements and get them to tutor our singers, by helping the singers to study the correct vocal music knowledge and correct way to sing, and of course classic works must be found to learn from. Professional knowledge must always be studied regarding music composition and choir singing, and the work arrangements of God’s house always require people to continually study professional knowledge related to their duties, and learn how to use certain advanced and practical methods, and so on. These work arrangements and requirements aren’t just issued once and that’s the end of the matter, but rather leaders and workers are required to frequently fellowship on these work arrangements, guide those engaged in professional work, enabling them to continue studying, and striving to get all the kinds of professional work to develop and deepen continually and effectively, and to not stay put. Some people think, “The work arrangements have been issued to us today, so we just need to practice them this month and that’s the end of the matter. If the Above doesn’t say anything about it in the future, then we perhaps don’t need to keep practicing them.” Is this really the case? (No.) Leaders and workers must absolutely not think this way, but should keep making inquiries from time to time and ask, “How are your studies of this profession going? Are you faced with any difficulties? Is there anything that conflicts with or goes against the principles? Who has performed the best in their studies, who is the most skilled, and who has gotten the hang of it the fastest? After studying these theories, which of the things you’ve learned do you think are suited to being used for the work of God’s house?” Moreover, leaders and workers must ask those people in gospel teams who are studying foreign languages questions such as, “How many years have you been learning this foreign language? How has your studying been going recently? How many daily conversations are you able to engage in? Can you translate general spiritual terms? Can you use this foreign language to communicate these truths related to preaching the gospel? Are you currently better at speaking or writing? Do you need a teacher to help you learn? Is there anyone else who is more suited to and skilled at studying foreign languages? Has the number of these kinds of personnel increased? Does anyone feel that learning a language is too troublesome and difficult, so they don’t want to learn it anymore, and give up halfway, and want to switch to another duty?” These specific matters related to this kind of work need to be inquired about and supervised from time to time. Since the Above has made specific work arrangements, supervisors should take responsibility for these specific tasks to the very end. Don’t wait passively for the Above to make inquiries; if the Above doesn’t make any inquiries for six months or a year, you should still do all the work well, to the best of your ability, and be ready to accept the Above’s inspection and direction at all times—this is the correct mindset. This is because work arrangements have been issued and communicated, and you are responsible for following up on the work as its supervisor, and you should therefore fulfill your responsibilities. However, if you aren’t able to fulfill your responsibilities, then you’re a good-for-nothing and you should be dismissed and eliminated. So, leaders and workers should often contemplate and fellowship on these specific work arrangements or fellowships from the Above, and then implement them and follow up on the work according to the situation. They should see which kinds of work they have overlooked recently, and haven’t checked on for a long time, and which ones they’re personally not very good at and haven’t asked about lately, and whose recent status they are consequently ignorant of, and then go take a look at them. Furthermore, in terms of the various kinds of professional work, God’s house has another specific arrangement: It requires that relevant talented individuals must be continually discovered, cultivated, and promoted. So, what should leaders and workers do when they receive this work arrangement? They must pay attention to whether there is anyone suited to doing this kind of work. If some people are suited to doing this kind of work but don’t have much of a grasp on the technical profession, then they must be quickly cultivated and arranged to study and train in it. In short, the various kinds of professional work are an important item of work, too. There are a great many items included in this work, and its scope is vast as well, and God’s house has made many specific work arrangements for it. What is required for this item of work is constant studying, summarizing, and deepening, and appropriate principles must also be found to carry out continual standardization. Besides this, talented individuals who are suited to doing these duties must be constantly cultivated. This is the work arrangement for this large item of various kinds of professional work, and it is easy to understand, too.

V. Church Life

Item five, church life. God’s house has made specific arrangements and stipulations concerning the content that is eaten and drunk during the church life, the format of the church life, and the number of people who live the church life. God’s house also has corresponding work arrangements concerning the format of gatherings and the content of the church life under special circumstances and situations. These kinds of work arrangements are predominantly issued in written form. The work arrangements for the church life of newcomers in different countries—the format and frequency of their gatherings, and the content that they eat and drink during gatherings, and so on—are basically identical to the work arrangements for the church life of ethnic Chinese, aside from some special circumstances. I’ve just given you an overview of the scope of work arrangements related to the church life—it includes the content of God’s words that are eaten and drunk, and the content for fellowshipping on the truth at gatherings as they stand in recent times, and the format of fellowship at gatherings. For example, a single person not being permitted to dominate in fellowshipping at gatherings, the maximum time each person is allowed to fellowship for, how to treat and handle people who speak in a long-winded manner and express themselves unclearly, and so on—there are specific statements on all of these specific things related to the church life and gatherings in the work arrangements. Leaders and workers are, in one respect, responsible for issuing and communicating these work arrangements, and, in another respect, they are responsible for fellowshipping on them clearly with brothers and sisters, enabling all the members of the church to understand them and accept them, after which they just need to strictly execute and adhere to them. In particular, those who frequently go off topic, cause disruptions, speak words and doctrines, and shout slogans when speaking at gatherings must be restricted, and there are specific stipulations regarding these kinds of special circumstances in the work arrangements. Work arrangements concerning the church life mainly relate to all the various things to do with gatherings, they are not complicated, they are very simple, and no matter what duty a person does, they just need to adhere to the principles in these work arrangements. For instance, at gatherings, gospel teams just need to adhere to the principles in the work arrangements regarding the church life—there’s nothing special to them. Other teams just perform different work from other people, everything is the same when it comes to things such as gatherings, fellowshipping on the truth, pray-reading God’s words, and fellowshipping on personal experiences—this scope is not exceeded. They just need to practice in accordance with the current stipulations of God’s house regarding the content that is eaten and drunk during the church life, the form that fellowship takes, and the format of gatherings. If conditions allow, people can gather together in person, otherwise they can have gatherings online. This should be a very simple, clearly delineated matter. Some church members are spread across different continents and countries, with some in Europe and some in the Middle East; in this kind of situation, online gatherings are necessary. It’s up to local churches to decide the time they hold gatherings and their frequency; God’s house does not make specific stipulations concerning this matter, nor does it interfere in it. Why doesn’t God’s house interfere in this matter? Some people in the church do not perform their duties full time; they have jobs and families, their individual circumstances are different, plus the time zones in different countries are different, so they must be allowed to decide for themselves how many times a week they gather and what time each gathering takes place. God’s house does not make specific stipulations regarding this, but rather just provides a principle. God’s house has stipulated the scope for how often new believers gather together per week, and there is a difference between how many times a week those who do their duty and those who do not gather together. Is there a work arrangement that requires new believers to gather together seven times a week? (No.) So, what is the number of times that new believers are to gather together per week based on? (It’s based on the time new believers have.) Gathering together two or three times a week at most, and at least once, is entirely appropriate. Some people say, “The people in our area are very idle during the slack farming season, so everyone wants to gather every day—we’d even be fine with gathering twice a day. We really want to gather.” The hearts of new believers are filled with enthusiasm and they always want to understand more truths. If their family circumstances allow, then it’s a good thing if they ask to attend more gatherings, so long as it doesn’t impact their daily lives. The specific number of times people should gather together every week should be determined according to the family and work situations of God’s chosen people in each area—God’s house does not make specific stipulations regarding this matter. Those of God’s chosen people who have the conditions to do so may gather more, and they will then understand more truths and achieve life growth faster. This is a good thing. However, those without the appropriate conditions will not be suited to gathering in this way, and it is fine for them to attend at least one or two gatherings per week. The number of times churches in different areas hold gatherings every week is up to God’s chosen people to decide, and no one should interfere with this. The most important thing is that gatherings are held so that people can understand the truth, and not for any other reason. Therefore, the number of times each church holds gatherings is decided according to its specific circumstances. If God’s chosen people can attend an extra gathering per week, then that is more beneficial for their life growth. If there are people who don’t pursue the truth and don’t want to attend more gatherings, then this should not be imposed upon them. Especially for salaried workers who are a bit busier and don’t have the time to attend more gatherings, they should not be required to do this. Regardless of whether people are in the position to attend gatherings or how many times they gather, God’s house does not interfere or impose any restrictions. This is because the circumstances and backgrounds of individual believers are all different, and so they must not be put under any duress. Regarding the content that is eaten and drunk during the church life, God’s house has corresponding stipulations in its work arrangements, and leaders at all levels in the church and brothers and sisters are required to have a clear understanding of them. Leaders and workers must understand exactly what specific tasks and matters are required to be carried out by the Above’s work arrangements, and brothers and sisters must also supervise leaders and workers to see if they are performing this work. When it comes to the content that is eaten and drunk during the church life, and the work arrangements related to gatherings that must be understood and followed, leaders and workers must reach a consensus with God’s chosen people—variations are absolutely not permitted. The work arrangements concerning the church life work are very simple, easy for people to understand, and not abstract.

VI. Asset Management

Item six, asset management. Although the work of asset management does not have work arrangements frequently being issued like with gospel work or the various kinds of professional work, God’s house still has specific work arrangements for it. What does asset management involve? It involves how assets are kept, where they are kept, who manages them, and how they’re allocated, managed, and transferred when danger or adverse environments arise, as well as other such special circumstances. The work arrangements do in fact contain stipulations concerning all these things, and when it comes to this item of work, leaders and workers should not wait for the Above to directly give orders or issue work arrangements, and only then passively begin to manage the assets. If there are no immediate work arrangements that require leaders and workers to handle the assets in a specific way, and in special circumstances when they do not know how to handle the assets and aren’t able to receive timely responses from the Above, what should they do? Security is the number one priority, and it is their responsibility to safeguard the assets of God’s house. When it comes to the books of God’s words printed by God’s house, along with all the different kinds of machinery, foodstuffs, money, and other such assets, leaders and workers should keep them all in secure locations in accordance with the arrangements of God’s house, and not let these things get damp, moldy, or eaten by insects, much less allow them to be seized by evil people or the great red dragon. Moreover, besides managing these assets of God’s house well, leaders and workers should also maintain strict confidentiality; people who have nothing to do with these matters should uniformly be kept from knowing about them, and those who do know about them must be tight-lipped and not speak in an indiscreet manner. God’s house has specific work arrangements concerning this item of work, and it is not appropriate to issue or disclose some of them in writing. If leaders and workers come up with better ways and methods to conduct asset management, then, of course, while adhering to the principle of managing and safeguarding the assets of God’s house well to protect them from any losses, they may discuss the matter with other leaders and workers and make a decision independently. This is a special item of work, and those who are not tight-lipped, those who lack a sense of responsibility, those who have improper motives, those who have only just begun to believe and have no foundation in their faith, and those who are always eyeing the assets of God’s house covetously, must uniformly not be allowed to know about it. These things cannot be explicitly stated in the work arrangements of God’s house, but shouldn’t leaders and workers and reliable custodians be aware of this? (Yes.) There is a special circumstance here. Suppose that a newly-elected leader has believed in God for only three years, they are of good caliber, very enthusiastic, and they appear to be fine on the surface, yet it’s not known what their character is like, how they view assets, or whether or not they’re greedy. These things are unknown and uncertain, and the brothers and sisters who have believed in God for a long time don’t know this person well, they don’t know this person through and through. What should be done in such a situation? When it comes time to hand the work over to them, all of the other work gets handed over—should the assets work be handed over to them? (No.) Why not? The main work of leaders and workers is not only to manage assets; assets form only one part of their work. If there really is a suitable person managing the assets and this newly elected leader is not reliable, it’s alright to not hand this work over to them for the time being, as it remains unknown whether they will believe in God for a long time or whether they can stand firm. In the past, someone had just been elected as a church leader and, after taking up his post, the first thing he did was ask God’s chosen people for the bank account numbers and passwords for the accounts where offerings were being kept. He asked who had these bank account numbers and passwords, and he pressed them to hand over this work to him immediately. In this situation, should this work be handed over to him? He wasn’t worried or bothered about any other work, but he was especially serious and worried about this matter—was he a reliable person? Don’t think that someone is reliable because they are a leader or a worker. In reality, only custodians who are truly selected according to the principles are reliable—they are able to lay down their lives to safeguard the assets of God’s house. People like this are the most reliable. So, are all leaders and workers capable of this? Not necessarily. In the past, a regional leader was caught by the great red dragon, and he sold out all of the church’s assets, which led to an enormous amount of them being lost. If he hadn’t known where the church’s assets were, he wouldn’t have been able to reveal this even if he’d been beaten to death, and then wouldn’t the assets of God’s house not have suffered losses? It is precisely because he knew too much that he spilled everything when he couldn’t endure the torture and terrible beatings, that this money ended up in the hands of the great red dragon. If he hadn’t been allowed to know where these assets were, and if the one who was safeguarding them had been reliable, would the money of God’s house have suffered losses and been forcibly seized by the great red dragon? No, it wouldn’t have. This is a serious lesson. Therefore, the most important point when it comes to the arrangement of this work is that security comes first, losses must be kept to an absolute minimum, and the work should be done in whatever way is secure. Find someone who shows loyalty in managing the assets of God’s house to manage them—this is the most reliable course of action. Although this person can’t do anything else, they will be loyal and they will definitely be capable when it comes to safeguarding money, so using this person to safeguard assets is the right thing to do. Because this item of work is a single-task job, the arrangements for it are very simple: Find the right people to safeguard assets and find a secure place in which to keep them. Furthermore, there are also specific stipulations in the work arrangements of God’s house concerning the allocation and spending of the assets of God’s house; money can be spent on necessary expenses, but not on unnecessary ones. There is one more thing, which is that there is a strict regulatory system for expenses related to assets, and God’s house has specific stipulations in place for the various processes and procedures, requiring signatures from several individuals, and so on. There’s management, there’s safeguarding, there’s spending, and there’s also accounting—there are specific work arrangements for all these things.

VII. Cleansing Work

Item seven, cleansing work. God’s house is also continually making specific work arrangements for this item of work. The work arrangements are made, in one respect, based on the needs of the work of God’s house, and in another respect, they are made based on the separation of each after their own kind according to the classification and definition of different kinds of people, as well as the manifestations of different kinds of people once they’ve been revealed. God’s house has principles for handling all manner of antichrists, evil people, and disbelievers; some are cleansed away from the ranks of those who perform duties, some are cleansed away from full-time duty churches and sent to part-time duty churches or ordinary churches, some are cleansed away from ordinary churches and sent to B groups, and there are some who are directly cleared out or expelled. God’s house is repeatedly making work arrangements for the work of cleansing the church, and it also has specific work arrangements regarding the different kinds of people who meet the conditions for being cleansed away. Based on the attitudes people have in doing their duties and the transgressions they have committed while doing their duties, as well as the corrupt essence that is revealed in various kinds of people, God’s house ultimately creates specific plans for handling these people. Therefore, the handling of various kinds of evil people, disbelievers, and antichrists by God’s house is done entirely according to God’s words and the truth principles, and it is done entirely in line with God’s intentions. When it comes to these work arrangements, in one respect it is necessary to fellowship on the truth principles so that people understand them and learn how to discern different kinds of people, while in another respect, it is necessary to issue these work arrangements to the churches so that they can be fellowshipped on and implemented. In any case, the work of cleansing the church must be implemented as soon as possible, and it must absolutely never be interrupted. It must continue on until there are no longer any evil people left in the church. It’s not the case that leaders and workers need only perform the cleansing work for a period of time once the Above issues a work arrangement ordering that the church be cleansed, and if it’s discovered again that there are evil people causing disturbances a while after that cleansing is done, but the Above has not made any work arrangements about it, then leaders and workers don’t need to bother about those evil people or cleanse them away—that simply wouldn’t do. The cleansing work of the church must continue to be carried out in an orderly manner; as long as there are people who must be cleared out or expelled, then the cleansing work must continue. Don’t wait passively for the Above to give orders or for upper-level leaders to communicate them to you, and don’t wait passively for more brothers and sisters to report someone. As soon as God’s chosen people expose and report someone, leaders and workers should set about investigating and handling that case. If the leaders and workers withhold the report letter and do not handle the matter, they should be investigated and handled, and if they are found to be shielding an evil person, then they must be cleared out of the church along with the evil person. Any leader or worker who does not perform the work of cleansing the church is a false leader or worker and should be dismissed immediately. If they even shield and protect evil people, then they can be characterized as an antichrist and cleared out and expelled from the church. These are the specific stipulations God’s house has made regarding the work of cleansing the church. The work of cleansing the church is an urgent priority and it has profound significance. Tell Me, is cleansing the church not done to purify the church? If the church has been purified—that is, if no evil people are causing disturbances within it and there are no disbelievers mixed in among its members—it will then be a true church, and it will also see the best results for the church life. Wouldn’t this be another big step toward the realization of the kingdom of Christ? A pure church like this would be most beneficial for the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom, as everyone would possess the truth reality, everyone would be able to bear testimony to God and be made complete as God’s people, and there would no longer be any evil people causing disturbances. Naturally, a church like this would be the most blessed. Therefore, cleansing the church is a most meaningful item of work and it is done entirely to make the environment in which God’s chosen people do their duties more peaceful, and devoid of the disturbances of evil people. Moreover, God’s house does not support loafers and good-for-nothings, and it does not support parasites who indulge in comfort and eat their fill of loaves. All of those who don’t do duties at all and disturb and impact other people doing their duties, and all those who make irresponsible comments, meddle, and do not attend to their proper work in the church, are also to be cleared out. All different kinds of people have now been totally revealed, the cleansing work of the church is imperative, and it must be done thoroughly and well. All these evil people, antichrists, disbelievers, good-for-nothings, and parasites that have been revealed are those who are spurned by God, and they are beyond saving. If the church did not undertake the cleansing work, then this would impact the work of spreading the gospel. Therefore, the work of cleansing the church is an important item of work that urgently needs to be done well at present. Only those leaders and workers who can do the work of cleansing the church well are worth cultivating and can continue to be leaders and workers. Any leader or worker who obstructs the work of cleansing the church is a stumbling block and an obstacle, and God’s chosen people must expose and report them. Leaders and workers at all levels must first thoroughly clear out and resolve all of these stumbling blocks and obstacles to the church work—this accords with God’s intentions. Only this is conducive to the smooth progression of the various items of church work, and to the church carrying out God’s will so that God can gain all glory.

VIII. External Affairs

Item eight, external affairs. The work of external affairs is not a big item of work, nor is it a small one, and there are several principles within the work arrangements of God’s house regarding external affairs. One is to learn about local laws and specific local regulations. That is, no matter what the church does in a certain place, you must first learn about the local laws—this is one principle. Another principle is that, when you encounter problems related to external affairs that you don’t understand or aren’t clear about, you must consult with a lawyer and the relevant legal professionals, and not make uninformed judgments by yourself; you must create specific plans for handling matters according to the different national conditions in different countries. So, how do these plans come about? You must go by what the lawyer says and let the lawyer make the decisions—do not make arbitrary judgments or decisions on your own. The national conditions, policies, laws, and regulations are different in each country, so don’t act based on your imagination. For example, say that you see someone being mugged on the street in China. The laws in China stipulate that any passer-by who witnesses this can bravely intervene, first capturing the thief, and then handing them over to the police. If you do this, you will become a have-a-go-hero, you will not need to bear any legal responsibility, and you should be praised. This is the national situation and system in China, and it is a kind of traditional culture in China—Chinese people describe it by the pleasant-sounding name of “traditional virtue.” In the West, however, especially in countries like the U.S. and Canada, if, upon seeing a thief stealing something, you capture them immediately and wait for the police to come arrest them, then that’s wrong, it’s breaking the law. This is because you are just an ordinary citizen and not a law enforcement officer, and you have no right to arrest anyone; only the police have the right to arrest someone. When you see a thief stealing something, you can report it to the police, but you cannot arrest the thief yourself. If you randomly arrest a thief, then you are acting illegally—this is the law in the West. It’s not appropriate to practice Chinese people’s “traditional virtue” in the West; the West has its own laws. If you see someone fall over on the street in a country in the West, what does the law stipulate? You must go over and ask, “Are you okay? Do you need help?” If the person says they don’t need any help, then you can go. If you see someone fall over but you don’t ask them if they’re okay or check on them, and just keep on walking, then you’re breaking the law. If you encounter such a situation in China, it may be a scam, and nothing will happen to you if you ignore it. If you ask, “Are you okay? Do you need help?” it may be troublesome for you, the person might scam you, and then you can forget about ever living a good life again. What do these two matters tell you? The education in different countries and among different races is completely different, as are the social environments and social systems and, of course, the laws and regulations. When it comes to the work of external affairs, in one respect, people performing this work need to accurately understand the laws, regulations, and provisions related to church work, and, in another respect, they should also disseminate some common life knowledge or legal provisions that the brothers and sisters need to know. Therefore, God’s house has work arrangements concerning this item of work requiring those who perform it to always consult the relevant laws and government regulations first in anything they do. Especially when encountering issues that are difficult to resolve, they must consult with a lawyer and not blindly make their own judgments or formulate solutions according to Chinese people’s thinking and logic—this is a foolish and ignorant way to act. Once you understand these things, you should then know the significance of external affairs work, what results it is meant to achieve, as well as how necessary it is for God’s house to make these work arrangements. The scope of this item of work is not very big, so in most circumstances it is enough to just get the personnel involved in this work to have a clear understanding of its work arrangements. If it is something that the brothers and sisters need to know, then help them to understand and grasp it. External affairs work is very important, too, because it won’t do if the brothers and sisters don’t understand the laws and regulations related to them living and working abroad. God’s house has specific work arrangements concerning what is required in this respect, and it is just necessary to implement this based on the work arrangements. If special circumstances arise, God’s house will create some emergency solutions. If a job relates to external affairs work, you must consult with external affairs personnel and see what specific arrangements God’s house has regarding the job, do not blindly rely on your imagination and take uninformed action. Acting in that way will be liable to cause trouble, and the consequences will be unthinkable. External affairs work is also a single-task job, it is not complicated, and you should be able to find most specific work matters in the work arrangements. When people first begin to do external affairs work abroad, it can feel somewhat complicated, but after doing it for a while, they find patterns and methods, and it no longer seems so complicated. At first, Chinese people who went overseas were reported for littering, going to bed too late at night, getting up too early in the morning, disturbing people with their barking dogs, hanging clothes on balconies, and parking improperly—they were reported for many things. Ultimately, they got reported a lot of times, the police always came knocking on their doors to give them guidance, and only after a long time had passed did they realize that they were abroad and not in China. Bit by bit, they became alert, they came to have some awareness of the law, and they came to understand some of the rules concerning life, work, driving, and so on. When Chinese people first went overseas, they only understood some basic etiquette on how to conduct themselves and had no common sense knowledge of most legal matters; they were just like wild animals, without any awareness of the law. After a few years, they gained some knowledge and understood some rules, as though they’d been domesticated, and they improved a bit.

IX. Church Welfare

Item nine, church welfare. God’s house previously made work arrangements regarding church welfare, and if those doing their duties full time or their families need help making ends meet, church leaders must resolve this issue. Specific implementation plans and principles can be found in these work arrangements, and God’s house has provided specific statements and stipulations. Concerning brothers and sisters who have been imprisoned for their belief in God, thereby causing hardship for the day-to-day lives of their families; parents who are doing their duties for long periods away from home and don’t have anybody to look after their children; and ill brothers and sisters who have done their duties for many years, the church should provide assistance and resolution for these and other such difficulties. There is a special circumstance related to this item of work, and that is when certain families meet the conditions to host brothers and sisters in their homes, but don’t have a source of income—how then should their expenses for hosting brothers and sisters be handled? This falls under the work of church welfare. Stipulations concerning this can be found in the work arrangements, or leaders and workers can reasonably allocate church resources according to the local situation in order to carry out hosting work—the church has specific stipulations for all these things. If some special circumstances crop up outside of the scope of these specific stipulations, then leaders and workers may fellowship and discuss the matter, and make concrete, reasonable arrangements based on the normal living standards of that locality. Although this is not a large-scale item of work, nor is it a very important task, it is work that falls within the scope of the responsibilities of leaders and workers, and it cannot be overlooked. If there is no one who needs support to make ends meet or financial help, then there is no need for leaders and workers to go out of their way to find people who do. If there are such people, then leaders and workers should not avoid them, and much less should they ignore them, stand idly by, or pretend that they don’t see them. They should act according to the principles—this is their responsibility.

X. Emergency Plans

Item ten, emergency plans. Emergency plans address special issues that arise in any part of the work of God’s house. Regardless of whether problems that urgently need resolving appear in the gospel work, or the administrative work, or the professional work, or if a case involving antichrists or false leaders is being handled, or if some special situation where people have been misled is being discerned, all these belong to the category of emergency plans. For instance, if someone causes disruptions and disturbances, or if an antichrist is being arbitrary and dictatorial and trying to establish their own kingdom, and so on, as soon as God’s house discovers that it is worth creating a work arrangement for specific planning regarding one of these situations, it will make a corresponding written communication. Emergency plans are based on certain emergency situations that are occurring in the church at the time, and the Above creates specific work arrangements according to the severity of the circumstances, and then issues and communicates them. The specific plan may relate to any item of work that leaders and workers should do, as long as it is arranged by the Above and leaders and workers are required to implement it by the Above, then leaders and workers must issue it and implement it in accordance with the Above’s work arrangements. They must not be flippant about these work arrangements. When the Above makes these kinds of work arrangements, they are not second to any administrative work or any specific professional work. Although these work arrangements are only temporary, leaders and workers should still issue, communicate, implement, and follow up on them like regular work arrangements, and later provide an account and a report to the Above—this is the responsibility of leaders and workers. Emergency plans are not targeted at any particular item of work, that is, at any time the Above will assign a task, make a requirement, or give a work arrangement to leaders of all levels in all areas, and leaders and workers must not ignore this kind of work. Since they are work arrangements, and they are issued to leaders of all levels and to all areas, they’re work that falls within the scope of the responsibilities of leaders and workers. Leaders and workers should not stand idly by or classify work in terms of scope, or in terms of whether it is work that falls to them or not, or speculate on the Above’s tone and urgency in the work arrangements to determine whether to implement them in a timely manner. Such things should not happen, instead leaders and workers should carry the work out as they would a regular piece of work, and complete it while treating it as an important task and commission—this is the responsibility of leaders and workers. There are emergency plans in special circumstances, and this is work that is carried out in special contexts. When certain specific and special things happen, the Above will use these contexts and events to get leaders and workers or brothers and sisters to utilize this opportunity to come to discern people and things using the truth in a more practical way, to learn how to see through people and things, and achieve a greater understanding of the truth. The purpose of doing this is to enable people to discern false leaders and antichrists. Besides this, it is done to enable the brothers and sisters to have a quiet, appropriate, and undisturbed environment for their church life. In another respect, it is done to enable people to learn various lessons in a timely way and receive training; after being trained once in this way, people will make tremendous progress in their lives. This is a way in which the Above trains leaders and workers of all levels and brothers and sisters, in particular those brothers and sisters who pursue the truth. There is no malice to it, the Above is not tormenting people, or making a big deal out of nothing. Although they are emergency plans, which are temporary work arrangements, they are still significant and valuable, and I hope that leaders and workers of all levels and brothers and sisters can understand this and approach them correctly.

We have listed a total of 10 items of work arrangements, and I’ve basically finished fellowshipping on these 10 items now. I haven’t fellowshipped on them in much detail, but what I have fellowshipped is enough to enable you to understand and comprehend what exactly work arrangements are and what specific work God’s house does. In another respect, you have been enabled to understand just what exactly God is doing in the church and among those whom He has chosen through these specific items. The work of God’s house is not engaging in an enterprise, or in politics, or in human rights, nor is it engaging in any commercial activity; the items of work that God’s house does are those found in the work arrangements. And so, some ruling parties and social institutions are always tracking, researching, and investigating what’s going on with The Church of Almighty God, and perhaps by looking into this—through seeing the videos and websites of God’s house—they’ve confirmed that The Church of Almighty God is a true faith, and that it isn’t involved in the political activities of any country. The Church of Almighty God has suffered the frantic oppression and attacks of the CCP for many years and yet still it continues to preach the gospel and bear witness to God, and it has uploaded God’s words, the truth, and all kinds of testimonial videos online, bringing such great and numerous benefits to human society and fully substantiating that God is constantly expressing the truth and saving mankind in the last days. They keep researching and researching, and what result do they get from their research? Don’t they get horribly disappointed? They even pondered on what leverage they might find to pin the label of “cult” on our church, and label the church anti-party and anti-state. But now they see that they can’t do this—judging from the work arrangements issued by the church over the years, they have no way to pin these labels on the church, and their research has all been in vain. This is just the same as when the Jews studied the Lord Jesus back in those days. The scribes, Pharisees, and the senior government officials studied what the Lord Jesus said and did and found that nothing He did was against the law or political, that everything the Lord Jesus said and did was right, was the truth, and was entirely in conformity with the Scriptures, and in the end they were disappointed. The religious world now sees that God’s house is producing more and more movies and experiential testimony videos, and books and recitals of God’s words in particular are growing in number, and so what do they think? If they can’t see that all these things are coming from God, then they really are incredibly foolish! That which comes from God must flourish—this is the result of the Holy Spirit’s work, and no one can conceal this. God’s words have now spread across the entire world and the truths He expresses are laid in front of all mankind; God’s appearance and work stream powerfully onward, no nation or force can oppose it. The great red dragon has already been thoroughly shamed and defeated! No matter how the religious world might condemn it, they cannot resist God’s work, and in the end, they can only be eliminated and drowned by its rolling tide.

I’ve finished fellowshipping now on the items of work arrangements. Isn’t what I’ve fellowshipped on all the work that’s done by God’s house? This work is what you see with your eyes, what you hear with your ears, and what you personally experience and appreciate—there is nothing confidential about it. The great red dragon has all the church’s work arrangements from over the years—the work arrangements they possess are numerous and comprehensive. They study them every day, and they keep studying and studying them until finally they reach this conclusion: “If these people constantly spread God’s words and bear testimony to God’s work in this way, then that will be terrible! All these people must be exterminated, and they must not be spared even if they flee overseas.” You see, devils are not the same as ordinary corrupt people—they will oppose God till the bitter end. If ordinary corrupt people see the testimonies from the church, they are able to understand them, they think they’re reasonable, and they won’t engage in any persecution. Satan and devils, however, aren’t like this. When they see you following God and bearing testimony to God, they hate you, they want to kill you, and they do not permit you to live. If you don’t do what they say and don’t worship them, then they’ll never be finished with you, and they won’t let you live. They’ll hunt you to death wherever you go; even if you go to the ends of the earth, they still won’t let you go. This is what the great red dragon does. This is the wickedness of Satan, and it is different from ordinary corrupt people. You must be clear on this point.

How to Accurately Communicate and Implement Work Arrangements

I. How to Communicate Work Arrangements

These 10 items of work arrangements are the range and content of all the different work that God performs in the church and among God’s chosen people. Understanding the content and range of this work helps God’s chosen people to supervise leaders and workers in doing this work well. In another respect, it primarily helps leaders and workers to understand and grasp the scope of their responsibilities, and the work they should be doing and the responsibilities they should be fulfilling, and to have an accurate definition of the title “leaders and workers.” What are the responsibilities of leaders and workers? What likeness should they live out? Should they be like the officials of a state government? (No.) “Leaders and workers” is not an official position or title. One should understand what leaders and workers are from the duties leaders and workers do, and from the commission God entrusts to them and the standards He requires of them. In this way, one will come to have a relatively concrete understanding of the designation of “leaders and workers,” and become clearer on the definition of leaders and workers. What are the responsibilities leaders and workers should fulfill at a minimum? They should accurately communicate, issue, and implement each work arrangement in accordance with the requirements of God’s house, as mentioned in item nine. Regardless of what aspect the work arrangement relates to, so long as it is communicated through the leaders and workers, what they must do is communicate the work arrangement to the churches without delay and without stop, after they have an entirely accurate understanding of it. As for those whom the work arrangements are being communicated to, if God’s house requires the work arrangements to be communicated to all levels of leaders and workers, including people at the level of preachers, church leaders, and church deacons, then they should be communicated all the way down to people at this level, and that’s it; if the work arrangements are to be communicated to every brother and sister, then they should be communicated to every brother and sister in strict accordance with the requirements of God’s house. If the environment makes it inconvenient for work arrangements to be communicated in written form, and to do this would bring safety risks or even greater troubles, then the important and principal content of the work arrangements should be accurately communicated to each person orally. So, how must this be done for the work arrangements to be considered communicated? If the work arrangements are being communicated in writing, it must be confirmed that everyone has received them, that everyone knows about them, and that everyone is taking them seriously; if they are being communicated orally, then once they have been communicated, people must be asked repeatedly whether they understand them clearly and remember them, and they can even be asked to repeat the work arrangements back—only in this way can the work arrangements be considered to have truly been communicated. If people can repeat back and clearly state what the required principles of God’s house are, and what the specific content is, this proves that the work arrangements have already been communicated into their minds, that they have remembered them, and understand them clearly. Only then can the work arrangements be considered to have truly been communicated. If the conditions, environment, and other such factors are all appropriate for communicating the work arrangements in writing, then they must absolutely be communicated in writing; if they cannot be communicated in writing because the environment does not allow for this and must instead be communicated orally, then it must be confirmed that what’s being communicated orally is identical to the work arrangements, that they are not distorted, and no personal understanding has been added to them, and the original text is being related—only in this way can the work arrangements be considered to have been truly and accurately communicated. Work arrangements should be communicated entirely according to their specific wording; they should not be communicated in an irresponsible manner or with distorted or absurd interpretations based on people’s personal understandings and imaginings. When it comes to communicating them accurately, people should understand the level of strictness for communicating work arrangements; that is, communicating them must be done accurately. Some people say, “Do we have to communicate them precisely?” No, there’s no need for that. Precision is what’s required of devices; if people can just communicate them accurately, they’ll be doing pretty well. For example, concerning the church life, the work arrangements of God’s house require God’s chosen people to eat and drink God’s words on knowing God—is this easy to communicate? (Yes.) Work arrangements give people a scope and they can read all these relevant words of God. However, if someone misinterprets the work arrangements, adding their personal understanding and notions and imaginings and communicating some extra words, doesn’t this mean that they’ve diverged from the work arrangements? Are they accurately communicating the work arrangements? (No.) They are communicating the work arrangements with their own additions—this is pure nonsense. One must read every work arrangement that comes from the Above several times over and be clear on its correct meaning, the significance of issuing this work arrangement, and what results it’s intended to achieve, and then figure out the correct way to practice the specific items of work arranged by the Above, avoiding making any mistakes. Communicating the work arrangement after these things have been fellowshipped and understood will be entirely accurate. What must be done first is for the leaders and workers of the pastoral areas to communicate the work arrangements to all other levels of leaders and workers, finally sending them on to the supervisor of every team in every church. Then the work arrangements of God’s house must be fellowshipped on several times at gatherings so that all God’s chosen people understand them and know how to put them into practice—only when this effect is achieved can they be considered to have been communicated. Work arrangements must be communicated according to the method and scope required by God’s house. Of course, the content that is communicated must be accurate and free from error. You must not casually misinterpret them and add your own ideas—that is not communicating them accurately, and it constitutes being remiss in your duties as a leader or a worker. This is how communicating and implementing work arrangements accurately is to be understood.

What should leaders and workers do if they’re still not sure about how to accurately communicate work arrangements? There is a very simple and easy method for this. After leaders and workers receive work arrangements, they should first fellowship on the work arrangements with the other leaders and workers, take a look at how many specific items are being required by the Above for these work arrangements, and list them one by one. Then, based on these work arrangements, they should consider the actual situation of the local church, such as the circumstances of the gospel work, the various kinds of professional work, and the church life, as well as the caliber and family circumstances of all the different kinds of people, and so on, integrating all these things to see how these pieces of work are to be carried out. Through fellowship, all leaders and workers must arrive at an identical and accurate understanding of the work arrangements, and have corresponding methods for communicating them—only in this way will the work arrangements be communicated accurately. If a leader or a worker receives work arrangements, and, without knowing what they specifically entail, blindly gets the brothers and sisters together and issues and communicates them, is this appropriate? The result of this is that a month or two after the work arrangements are communicated, it’s discovered that there are deviations in how they’ve been implemented in every church, and, only when the leader or worker takes a close look at the work arrangements, do they find that the work arrangements have been communicated with deviations. If that leader or worker had conscientiously read and fellowshipped on the work arrangements back then, it would have been fine, but due to them being momentarily lazy and perfunctory, they caused many errors and deviations to appear in the church work, and afterward, they have to correct them. This adds a whole unnecessary extra step and wastes time. It would have been better if they had directly fellowshipped work arrangements clearly and then communicated and implemented them one by one. Isn’t it a mistake when work is not done well? (It is.) Therefore, there are steps to accurately communicate work arrangements. Leaders and workers must first have a genuine comprehension and an accurate understanding of the specific content of work arrangements, and then they must have concrete plans and methods for implementing them, as well as people with whom they should be implemented, in mind—only in this way can work arrangements be accurately communicated. Is it appropriate if leaders and workers blindly issue and communicate work arrangements when they only have an incomplete understanding of them, only seem to understand them, are vague and unclear on them, or simply do not understand the specific requirements and content in them? (No.) Can such leaders and workers perform work well? Obviously not. So, in situations where brothers and sisters don’t know what the specific required standards and principles in work arrangements are, or how exactly to carry them out, leaders and workers will already have an accurate understanding of the work arrangements, as well as concrete plans and steps for implementing them—only in this way can leaders and workers carry out the first step, that is, communicating the work arrangements. Once the work arrangements have been communicated, and the brothers and sisters all accurately understand the content of the work arrangements, and have some knowledge of the significance, value, and standards of God’s house doing this work, then leaders and workers should immediately fellowship on how to allocate people and specific pieces of work, and the specific plan for who is to implement and carry out this work—these are the steps for performing work. What do you think of following up on the work in this way? Can it be considered following up on the work closely? Is it following up on the work promptly? (Yes.)

II. How to Implement Work Arrangements

It’s not the case that, once leaders and workers receive a work arrangement, they just need to communicate it and issue it, and that’s it. Can the work arrangement be considered to have been implemented once God’s chosen people in every church know that it has been issued? This is not truly carrying out or implementing a work arrangement, it is not fulfilling their responsibilities, nor is it the standard that God ultimately requires. Communicating and issuing a work arrangement is not the aim—implementing it is the aim. So, how are work arrangements to be implemented specifically? Leaders and workers must call all the relevant supervisors and brothers and sisters together and fellowship with them on how the work is to be done, while at the same time selecting a primary supervisor and team members to carry out the work. The first thing leaders and workers should do when implementing work is fellowship—fellowship on how to do the work in line with principles and in conformity with this work arrangement from God’s house, and how to do it in a way that means this work arrangement from God’s house is implemented and carried out. While fellowshipping, brothers and sisters and leaders and workers should suggest various plans, and finally select a way, method, and steps that are most suitable and most in conformity with principles, deciding what to do first, and what to do next, so that the work can proceed in an orderly manner. Once this is understood in theory, when people no longer have any difficulties or imaginings, when they won’t feel any resistance toward this work, and can understand the meaning and purpose of this work arrangement of God’s house, the work still cannot be considered as having been implemented. It must also be decided who is most suited for and skilled at this work, who can shoulder the responsibility of this work, and who has the ability to complete this work. The people who will take on this work must be selected, the implementation plan and deadline for completion must be set, and the resources, materials, and other such things needed for the work to be completed must be prepared and stated clearly—only then can the work be considered as having been implemented. Of course, before implementation, it is also necessary to carry out specific communication and discussions with the people responsible for this work individually, asking if they have done this work before and what their views and thoughts on it are. If they provide some plans and thoughts that accord with principles, then these may be adopted. Moreover, in implementing every work, attention must also be paid to discovering how many problems actually exist—this step should not be neglected. After problems are discovered, ways must be thought up to resolve the problems in a timely manner, and only after thoroughly solving all existing problems will the work arrangement be actually implemented. Furthermore, mustn’t you also seek how to do this work in a way that accords with the required principles of God’s house? Moreover, whether God’s house has any requirements in terms of time for this work, within what timescale it must be completed, whether there are any concrete stipulations in terms of professional skills, and so on, are all topics leaders and workers should fellowship on with the relevant supervisors. This is implementation. Implementation doesn’t end with oral communication or with theory, but rather it involves the actual progress of the relevant work, as well as certain specific problems and difficulties that need to be resolved. These are all things leaders and workers should consider when implementing the work arrangement with supervisors. That is to say, before performing this specific work, leaders and workers should conduct this kind of fellowship, analysis, and discussion with the supervisors—this is implementation. This implementation is the responsibility of leaders and workers, and it is what leaders and workers should achieve. To practice in this way is to perform real work. Suppose that a leader says, “Right now, I don’t know how to do this work, either. In any case, I’ve handed it over to you. I’ve also communicated and issued the work arrangement to you, and I’ve told you about all related matters. As for whether you know how to do it or not, how you do it, whether you do it well or badly, and how long it takes you, that’s all up to you. These things have nothing to do with me. By doing this much work, I have fulfilled my responsibility.” Is this something leaders and workers should say? (No.) If a leader says this, what kind of person are they? They are a false leader. Whenever the Above has requirements and it is necessary to perform work according to the work arrangements, this kind of person completely pushes it onto someone else, saying, “You do it, I don’t know how. You understand it all anyway. You’re an expert, I’m a layman.” This is a “famous saying” often spoken by false leaders; they find an excuse and then sneak away.

To sum it up, false leaders are not responsible in their work. Regardless of whether their caliber is high or low, or whether they are up to the work, the main thing is that they aren’t attentive and they don’t put their heart into it, and they’re always perfunctory. These are manifestations of not being responsible. Say that a leader or worker is somewhat lacking in caliber and depth of experience, but they can work attentively and put their heart into their work. Although the results they achieve in their work are not that great, at the very least, they are a responsible person, they put their whole heart into their work, and they give it their all. It’s only because they’re somewhat lacking in caliber and small in stature that they don’t do the work well. If they will become fully competent in their work after training themselves for some time, then this kind of leader should continue to be cultivated. If a leader has not one shred of conscience or reason, and they only hold onto their position and indulge in the benefits of status, but do no real work at all, then they are a bona fide false leader and they should be dismissed immediately, and never again may they be permitted to be promoted or used. A true leader, a responsible leader, puts their all into their work—they dedicate their mind to it, they find all sorts of ways to accomplish God’s commission, and they make the greatest effort they can—in this way, they are fulfilling their responsibilities. While implementing the work arrangements of God’s house, responsible leaders will also observe and follow up on the status of the implementation. When an unexpected situation occurs, they will be able to adopt response measures and solutions instead of sneaking away and washing their hands of the matter. Implementing work in this way is called being responsible. When a work arrangement is issued, leaders and workers should regard that piece of work as the most important one at present and take charge of it; they must personally follow up on it, be responsible for it from start to finish, and only let go of the work once it gets on the right track and the leaders of each team know how to perform it. But after letting go of it, leaders and workers still need to understand the status of the work and inspect it from time to time, only in this way can it be assured that the work is done well. Leaders and workers not leaving their posts, persisting from start to finish, getting the work on the right track—this is called doing real work. During this time, leaders and workers also need to attend to and look into the progress of other items of work. No matter what difficulties or problems arise in the work, leaders and workers should quickly go to the worksite to provide direction and resolution. The primary leader must hold fast to the most critical work, and at the same time, it is also necessary for them to follow up on, understand, inspect, and supervise other work of the church and ensure that all of it proceeds normally. When it comes to the most critical work, the primary leader must personally work on-site and take command of this work, and especially when it comes to critical parts of the work, they certainly must not leave the worksite. If one person is not enough, another person should be arranged to partner with them and direct the work—this is making every effort and uniting together with a common purpose to do the critical work well. Because God’s house has a most critical piece of work in every stage and time period, if the primary leader doesn’t do the critical work well, there is a problem with their caliber and they must be dismissed. The primary leader must take charge of the most critical work while other leaders do the same for the ordinary work; leaders and workers must learn how to prioritize work in order of importance and urgency, and how to weigh up pros and cons. If leaders and workers can master these principles, then they are up-to-standard leaders and workers.

Most of the leaders and workers in God’s house are young people, they’re beginners, and they’re training to perform work, so the most crucial thing is for them to learn to master the principles. Some may say, “Aren’t the requirements God’s house has for leaders and workers too high?” Not at all, actually. How is requiring people to master the principles a high requirement? How can someone perform the church work well if they can’t master the principles? How can someone be a leader or worker if they handle matters without principles? Mastering the principles is a requirement for leaders and workers, not for ordinary people; if someone can’t master the principles, then they won’t be able to do the work well. People who are too lacking in caliber fall short of the principles, God’s house won’t cultivate them, and they’re not qualified to be leaders, either. Some people always feel that it’s hard to be a leader, and there are two reasons for this: One is that they don’t understand the truth at all and aren’t able to use the truth to solve problems; the other reason is that they’re lacking in caliber, they don’t know what it means to do work, they can’t explain the principles and path of practice for the work clearly, and they can’t even speak doctrines clearly. People like this are not suited to being leaders. Say that someone’s caliber is too poor, they don’t know how to do work, and they aren’t efficient at all in doing their duty—that is, they take several days to do a job that should take one day, and six months to do a job that should take one month—such people are useless, they’re good-for-nothings. People whose caliber is too poor can’t do any duty well. It’s both fair and reasonable for Me to have these requirements of people, and they are things leaders and workers can achieve. Some people feel that the requirements made by God’s house are too high—this shows that their caliber is too poor, that they’re not qualified to be leaders and workers, and that they should take accountability and resign. They aren’t up to taking on the responsibilities of a leader or worker, and they aren’t suited to being one, so even though they are a leader, they are a false one. If they can’t even do one piece of work well, how could they attend to other work at the same time? Are people whose caliber is too poor worthy of being leaders and workers? If they’re not even as good as a guard dog, then they aren’t worthy of being called human. When a dog watches over a home, not only does it watch over the front yard, back yard, and vegetable garden, but it can even watch over the chickens, geese, and sheep of the home. The moment it finds a stranger approaching, it lets out a bark—it won’t let anyone into the yard and it knows to alert its owner to the stranger’s approach. Even a dog’s mind is not simple. If someone’s caliber is too poor and they can’t even be compared to a dog, isn’t that kind of person useless? Some people love leisure and hate work, are gluttonous and lazy, and they want to freeload off God’s house without doing anything themselves—aren’t they parasites? By requiring leaders and workers to handle matters with principles, God’s house is cultivating and training them to be able to practice the truth and enter reality in the performance of their duties. Some leaders and workers are able to pursue the truth and submit to the arrangements of God’s house—these people are all blessed by God. Those who love leisure and hate work and who don’t do anything real must be eliminated. All those useless people who covet comfort, who fear hardship and fatigue, who always complain about hardships and difficulties and can’t endure hardship at all must be eliminated—not a single one may remain! If, when leaders and workers begin their work, they encounter various difficulties, they should search for the source of the problem, and then cleanse away those obstructive and unreasonable troublemakers—those stumbling blocks and obstacles. When those who are left are all people who can accept the truth, obey, and submit, it will be much easier to lead them. When leaders and workers work, they should first fellowship clearly on the truth so that people have a way forward after hearing them. They should not speak doctrines, shout slogans, and much less compel people to heed and obey them and to practice. If leaders and workers fellowship clearly on the truth, then most people will be willing to put it into practice. It is concerning if leaders and workers don’t explain things clearly or lucidly yet still require the brothers and sisters to practice, and the brothers and sisters don’t know how to practice and can’t find the path of practice—this will impact the results of the work. So long as leaders and workers can explain lucidly and fellowship clearly on the truth principles involved in every specific kind of work, then most people will be understanding and reasonable, and they will be willing to cooperate. Everyone is willing to listen to someone if what they say is correct, in line with the truth, and beneficial to the church work and to the life entry of the brothers and sisters. However, there is a situation where some leaders and workers only speak words and doctrines, and when someone asks them about the specific path of practice, they can’t explain it, and they instead speak some grand doctrines and shout some slogans, and then send that person on their way. That person is not convinced, and they think, “You’re asking me to go put this into practice but you haven’t explained it clearly—how can I practice it then? I have no path to follow! I asked you because I don’t understand, but it turns out that you don’t understand either, and only know how to speak doctrines and shout slogans. You’re not better than me. Why should I obey you? I obey the truth, not you speaking doctrines and shouting slogans!” This kind of situation happens. If leaders and workers can avoid speaking empty doctrines, speak truly, and fellowship the principles and path of practice clearly, then most people will be able to obey. Therefore, the work of the church is actually easy to do; as long as leaders and workers can earnestly implement work arrangements, hold to their work posts, and get involved with specific work, then they will absolutely be able to do the work well. What’s worrying is if leaders, workers, and supervisors are irresponsible and act superior, only know how to speak doctrines and shout slogans, and don’t get involved in specific work on-site—then there will surely be problems in the work. This is because those below can’t see through to these sorts of things, they need someone to show them the way, they need a mainstay, they need someone to personally lead them and tell them what to do, they need someone to provide supervision and carry out inspections, otherwise the work won’t be implemented. If you expect that you can just shout a couple of doctrines and slogans from a position of status, and then the people below will take action and do as you say, dream on. The people below are like machines: If no one activates them, they won’t take action. If those who serve as leaders and workers can’t even see through to this, then they are too lacking in insight! When false leaders work, they can’t see through anything. They don’t know what work is critical and what is general affairs work, nor are they able to prioritize tasks in order of importance and urgency. No matter what they do, they have no principles, they can’t explain clearly the path of practice, and they just speak doctrines and shout slogans, saying only some impractical things. Consequently, they aren’t able to do any work at all and can only be eliminated. Leaders and workers must know how to arrange and implement work, and they must know how to inspect and direct work, and personally solve problems that arise. Only leaders and workers like this can do real work and completely convince people. If a leader can’t direct work or discover and solve problems, if they are only able to continually lecture and prune others, and they blame others when they themselves mess things up, then this is being an incompetent leader. Such a leader is a useless person, they are a false leader, and they must be eliminated. If you don’t know how to do some specific work, you must at least find two suitable people to act as your assistants to help you do this specific work well, and you must at least first handle and clear out obstructive people who create disturbances. Isn’t this creating favorable conditions for doing this work well? If, when you find people who can do something real, you immediately promote them, and if you immediately handle and clear out those who cause disturbances and disruptions, then there will be far fewer difficulties when you continue doing this work. Leaders who are too lacking in caliber aren’t able to work like this. They’re afraid of offending people, and when they see an evil person constantly causing disturbances and disruptions, they don’t handle them. They also can’t tell who is capable of doing something real, and they don’t know who is appropriate to promote to take charge of the work. Leaders like this are blind and they aren’t capable of performing their work. If leaders and workers don’t understand the truth or professional skills, they won’t do their work well, so leaders and workers must frequently train in doing real work. So long as they master the principles, know how to prioritize tasks in order of importance and urgency, and know how to weigh up pros and cons, then they can do their work well and become up-to-standard leaders and workers.

Now that I’ve fellowshipped on this content of accurately communicating, issuing, and implementing work arrangements in accordance with the requirements of God’s house, do you leaders and workers now have some basic understanding of how to approach and implement work arrangements? And do you now have some specific understanding of the responsibilities and obligations you should fulfill when implementing work arrangements? (Yes.) Now that you have this specific understanding, you should consider what you should do and to what extent you are able to do it, and then you should be able to judge whether or not you possess the caliber to be a leader or worker, and whether or not you are up to the work of a leader or worker. As for certain leaders and workers who are of poor caliber and who don’t do real work—that is, those we call false leaders—once they’ve understood the specific content of the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers, what should they do? Some say, “I didn’t really understand the responsibilities of leaders and workers before, and after I became a leader, I just relied on my notions and imaginings to do some work for appearance’s sake, and I thought that because I was enthusiastic and willing to endure suffering, I was probably an up-to-standard leader. I feel dumbfounded after listening to God fellowshipping in this way. It turns out that I’m a false leader, my caliber is too poor, and I can’t do real work. I’m not even capable of implementing a single specific work arrangement of God’s house. I used to think that reading a work arrangement several times, passing it on to everyone, and then urging and overseeing the people below as they worked on it, meant that I was implementing that work arrangement. After a while, I discovered that the work hadn’t been done well and that many specific jobs had been overlooked, and only then did I realize that my caliber was really lacking, and that I wasn’t leader material.” So, what should a person like this do? Would it be alright if they gave up their work? (No.) Then is there a way to solve this problem? Or is this problem unsolvable? (No, it’s not unsolvable. Those people must strive to do better in accordance with God’s requirements.) This is a positive and active perspective; it is a very good perspective. They should strive to do better in accordance with God’s requirements, have faith and rely on God, and not become negative, or give up their work—this is one solution. Is it a good solution? (Yes.) But is it the only solution? (No, it’s not. If their caliber is too poor and they really can’t do any actual work, then they can take accountability for this and resign from their position.) This is the second solution. If they have tried before, and they feel they can’t do the work of a leader—that is, if it’s very strenuous and laborious for them, and they feel very anxious about it and can’t sleep well, and every day they feel as though a great mountain is pressing down on them so that they can’t lift their head or draw breath, and they even feel that their legs are heavy when they walk—and after listening to these specific requirements they feel even more that their caliber is too poor and that they simply can’t do the work, what should they do? There is something they can do, and that is to resign immediately. If they can’t do real work, then they shouldn’t impact the work of God’s house—this is the reason they should have. They shouldn’t blindly push themselves beyond their limits, insist on attempting to do something that exceeds their abilities, or do foolish things. Only those who refrain from doing these things possess reason. People with reason have self-awareness; they are clear on their own caliber, and they know their own shortcomings. Only when people clearly know their own measure can they accurately understand what they’re capable of, what they’re not capable of, and what they’re most suited to doing. Why must people know their own caliber? This helps them ascertain the duty they should do, and it also helps them to do that duty well. If you have already examined yourself and seen that you only have this caliber and know that you can’t do the work of a leader, then there’s no need for you to examine yourself again and prove it again. You should resign immediately—don’t hold onto your position and refuse to step down; don’t impact and cause hold-ups for other people while you’re not able to perform specific work. Isn’t resigning a path forward? These two paths are laid before you, and you can choose one; you’re not lacking a way forward, and there isn’t only one path. You can make practical and accurate judgments about your actual situation based on your understanding of yourself, as well as based on the evaluations made of you by the brothers and sisters around you who know you, and then make the correct choice. God’s house won’t make things difficult for you. What do you think of this? (It’s good.) Some people say, “I want to try again and strive to do better. I think I can do it. I just didn’t pay much attention to pursuing the truth during those years, and after I became a leader, I still didn’t know how to seek the truth and worked in a muddled way. I used to think being a church leader was very easy, that all it entailed was organizing people to attend gatherings, taking the lead in fellowshipping on the truth, solving problems in a timely manner when they arose, and immediately implementing any arrangements from the Above, and leaving it at that. I never imagined that, after being a leader for a while, I’d discover that there were so many problems that I couldn’t solve, that when the Above asked about the work, I didn’t know how to respond, and that when some of God’s chosen people raised real issues, I wasn’t able to provide an answer. Over these years that the brothers and sisters have believed in God, they have all read God’s words and listened to sermons frequently. They certainly all understand some truths and possess some discernment. Without the truth reality, I really cannot water or provide for them.” Now it’s clear that it’s not that simple to perform any kind of specific work in God’s house well. In one respect, people need to possess caliber, while in another respect, they need to bear a burden, as well as understand the truth—all these things are absolutely necessary. It won’t do for someone to not pursue the truth or to be lacking in caliber, nor will it do for someone to be lacking in humanity and not bear a burden. Specific work needs a specific approach, and this is not such a simple matter. Some people, however, remain unconvinced. They still want to try again, and they ask to be given another chance—should people like this be given another chance? If their work capability and caliber are both average, but they can perform some specific work, and they’re not perfunctory and focus on solving problems to achieve results in their work, and can obey and submit to any arrangement made by the Above, and basically implement work according to the work arrangements and required principles of God’s house, and even though they didn’t perform their work well before because they were young, didn’t understand the truth, and had a shallow foundation, they are right people, then they should be given another chance and continue to train themselves—don’t blindly dismiss them. It’s not that easy to be a leader or worker, nor is it that easy to elect a leader or worker. Now, most leaders and workers have some understanding of their responsibilities, and they will at least be somewhat better at their work than they were before—this is a fact.

Now that I’ve finished fellowshipping on the truth principles regarding the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers—accurately communicate, issue, and implement the various work arrangements of the house of God in accordance with its requirements, providing guidance, supervision, and urging, and inspect and follow up on the status of their implementation—your hearts are all bright, and you have a path of practice. You are not only able to fulfill your duty now and have life entry, but you should also have some knowledge or discernment of leaders and workers, and at the very least have attained clarity and understanding of the responsibilities that leaders and workers should fulfill and the work that they should do. In short, knowing whether leaders and workers are doing real work or not is helpful and beneficial to each and every one of God’s chosen people, and in this way their understanding of the responsibilities of leaders and workers will no longer be hollow, but rather will become more concrete.

April 10, 2021