No More Going in Circles—Vital Groups That Bear Fruit

Today’s Main Verses for Pray-reading

Practice diligently, and let your progress be manifest

1 Timothy 4:15

Practice these things; be in them, that your progress may be manifest to all.

Take heed to yourself and to your teaching

1 Timothy 4:16

Take heed to yourself and to your teaching.

Do the work of an evangelist; fully accomplish your ministry

2 Timothy 4:5

But you, be sober in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelist, fully accomplish your ministry.

The Lord’s word is like fire and a hammer

Jeremiah 23:29

Is not My word thus—like fire, declares Jehovah, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Our heart burning within us

Luke 24:32

Was not our heart burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening to us the Scriptures?

Bear fruit, and bear more fruit

John 15:2

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away.

Today’s Prayer Burden

Morning revival, the Life-study, prophesying, and opening our homes to contact people are all indispensable to the church life. Yet if we are busy with these things without bringing people to the Lord or gaining fruit that remains, we have still fallen short of the Lord’s desire. May the Lord shine on us so that we no longer substitute spiritual activity for bearing fruit in the gospel. May every saint enter into the vital groups to practice preaching the gospel, shepherding new ones, perfecting the saints, and building up the Body of Christ, so that the new ones also become fruitful members and the church may multiply organically.

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, speak this word into us. Morning revival, Bible reading, prophesying, meeting, and opening our homes are precious; yet, Lord, we cannot be satisfied with having been busy, gathered, and taught if no one has been brought to salvation and shepherded through us. Save us from going in circles. Show us that You want us to bear fruit, and fruit that remains.

Lord, save us from deceiving ourselves or treating the absence of fruit as a small matter. Make us honest before You as we ask: Where are the people we have contacted? Have we accompanied, shepherded, and supplied them? Lord, restore to us a burden for people and the actual practice of caring for them. May we not merely speak of preaching the gospel, but contact someone this week, pray for that person, read the Bible with him or her, and bring the new one into the church life.

Lord Jesus, gain every saint to have companions, prayer, and people to care for in the vital groups. May we preach the gospel together, nourish the new believers, perfect the saints to function, and build up the church through prophesying. May everyone gained continue to be shepherded and perfected, and then become one who cares for others. May the fruit not only be borne, but remain and multiply. Lord, burn within us and make the word we have heard our practice. Save the churches from standing still, and bring us onward and outward in life. Amen.

Ministry Fellowship

1. Practice diligently, and do the work of an evangelist

Paul charged Timothy not only to take heed to himself and to his teaching, but also to continue in these things and do the work of an evangelist. The pursuit of the Lord and the preaching of the gospel do not replace one another. We need to grow in life, and we need to bring the gospel to people. We need to enjoy the Lord’s word, and we need to let that word become our supply as we contact and shepherd people. The Lord’s word can burn within us, break through our hardness, and burden us for people’s salvation.

2. Busyness cannot take the place of fruit-bearing

In a video fellowship on March 27, 2025, Brother Lin Hong gave the saints a serious reminder: morning revival, the Life-study, healthy teaching, prophesying, and opening our homes are important, but they must not cause us to neglect the fruit of the gospel. If all our activity brings no one to salvation and does not shepherd and perfect new ones, we need to return to the Lord and examine our direction and practice. This is not a word to condemn anyone; it is a call for the Lord to save us from being occupied with many things while bearing no fruit.

John 15 speaks not only of bearing fruit, but also of fruit that remains. Brother Lin reminded us that the Lord appointed us to go forth and bear fruit. Those who serve the Lord need to ask what fruit they will bring before Him when they meet Him. Have we cared for people, accompanied them, and helped them advance? Brother Lin shared that for sixteen consecutive years he had brought people to salvation every year; this year, he had baptized one person three weeks earlier and was accompanying another open person. This testimony is not for us to compare ourselves with one another, but to stir us not to set aside the Lord’s commission to preach the gospel.

This word needs to be heard by the co-workers, elders, district-responsible brothers, and every saint. If the church life only gathers the same people repeatedly without bringing people to the Lord, shepherding them, and perfecting them, it will be difficult for the church to multiply and spread in an organic way.

3. Carry out the practice in the vital groups

The fellowship points out that the lack of fruit is often not because we have never heard the truth, but because many practical details have not been carried out consistently. A vital group is not merely a name. It is a group of saints who stir one another up in prayer and specifically contact people, preach the gospel, shepherd new ones, perfect the saints, and build up the church. May the Lord lead us not only to be touched, but to put this burden into practice in our weekly living. As one gains one, and the new ones are shepherded to care for others, the fruit of life will multiply.

4. When the Lord comes, how will we have functioned as members?

In The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, chapter 13, Witness Lee leads us to consider the kind of living for which we will give an account when the Lord comes: Have we begotten, shepherded, and perfected the members of the Body of Christ? Has our prophesying built up the Body? Thus, preaching the gospel, shepherding, and perfecting are not the work of only a few responsible brothers; they are the function of every member in the Body.

5. Let the Lord’s word become fire within us

Chapter 5 of Practical Talks to the Elders reminds those who serve to seek the Lord fervently before reading the Bible, the Life-study, and the ministry. The goal is not merely to gain doctrine or knowledge, but to receive knowledge with light and the reality of the truth. Those who take the lead must go first; if they are not fervent in seeking the Lord, what they say can become empty teaching without impact.

The Life-study helps us enter into and understand the Scriptures. When we pursue the Lord’s word in the right way, our heart should be made living by Him. The prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel were burning with the Lord’s word; Psalm 69:9 also speaks of zeal for God’s house. If our service loses its burning, it loses its impact; the same outward work may continue, but only knowledge and emptiness remain. May the Lord burn again within us, so that the gospel, shepherding, and prophesying flow from our fellowship with Him and our love for people (Luke 12:49; Psa. 69:9).

(Based on Brother Lin Hong’s video fellowship of March 27, 2025, and Witness Lee, The Exercise and Practice of the God-ordained Way, chapter 13, and Practical Talks to the Elders, chapter 5.)