I.　Introductory word:

A.　The Lord's recovery is not only the recovery of the truth but also the recovery in the practice of the church life.

B.　The practice of the vital groups is the recovery of the practice of the early Christians in Acts who met in their homes. This practice, which was fitting to God's New Testament economy, became a continual and general practice in the churches—cf. Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2.

II.　The formation of the vital groups:

A.　The vital groups cannot be formed by organization. A vital group could come into being only by a saint who is desperate and absolute for the increase of the Lord's recovery:

1.　Such a vital person is an overcomer, overcoming the deadness of Sardis, overcoming the lukewarmness of Laodicea, and overcoming oldness and unfruitfulness—Rev. 3:1-2, 14:16; John 15:2, 5.

2.　Such a vital person is a believer in Christ, a disciple of Christ, a witness of Christ, a member of Christ, a brother of Christ, and a prophet of God—John 3:15-16; Matt. 5:1; Acts 1:8; Rom. 12:5; 8:29; 1 Cor. 14:1, 31.

B.　Such as desperate saint would spontaneously contact others by the Lord's leading and gain some companion or companions for him to have a vital group:

1.　Without companions, we would not be able to start a vital group. We need to have fellowship with our companions through desperate prayer.

2.　The gatherings of the early Christians in Acts were carried out from house to house (Acts 2:46-47; 5:42). According to experience, if there is a vital family among the vital companions, the practice of the vital group will be more solid and persistent.

III.　The factors of vitality for the vital groups:

A.　Spirit—the vital companions need to have adequate and thorough prayer, intimate and thorough fellowship, repentance and confession to one another, and a corporate Nazarite consecration for the Lord (Acts 1:14-15; Eph. 6:18; 1 Cor. 5:7a; Num. 6:1-4), to release the Holy Spirit and to partake of the outpouring of the Spirit of power—Acts 2:17-18, 33; Luke 24:49.

B.　Word—the vital companions need to practice pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying every day (Eph. 6:17; Acts 17:11; Col. 3:16; 1 Cor. 14:1), holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles (Titus 1:9), so that their spirit is enlivened for them to have a God-man living and to be constituted with the truth.

C.　Love—the vital companions need to practice begetting, nourishing, teaching, and building according to the ove of God for the fallen people, and by following the steps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining the fallen people, with human cherishing and divine nourishing, because love prevails—1 Cor. 13:8.

IV.　The actions of the vital groups:

A.　Being laboring priests of the gospel of God—Rom. 15:16:

1.　Reviewing all of your acquaintances, and making a list of them.

2.　Praying over the name list, and seeking the Lord's leading to take care of the ones on the list.

3.　Visiting people by appointment every week.

4.　Inviting people to your homes for meals regularly.

5.　Fellowshipping and studying with your companions every case of your candidates to find the best way to take care of each candidate.

B.　Learning to contact people in the humanity of Jesus:

1.　The first way of the members of the vital group to contact people is by cherishing them.

2.　To cherish people is to make them happy, to comfort them, to make them feel that you are pleasant to them, easy to be contacted in everything and in very way, as Jesus did—Eph. 5:29.

C.　Learning to nourish people in the divinity of Christ:

1.　Nourishing people is to continue youor cherishing of people.

2.　To nourish people is to feed them with the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry in His three stages—Eph. 5:29; John 21:15-17.

3.　We can nourish people not only by our verbal preaching, but also by the promotion of the ministry publications.

V.　The multiplication of the vital groups:

A.　The prupose of the vital groups is for the increase, perfecting, and building of the church—Acts 2:46-47; Eph. 4:12.

B.　When the number of members in your vital group increases to ten, you can divide into two groups. Instruct each of the two groups to do the same thing as you have done with them.

C.　In this way, the vital groups will have a normal church life, overcome the degradation of the church, and constitute the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem.

VI.　Vital groups and the blending of the Body of Christ:

A.　Begetting, nourshing, and teaching are the regular procedures of the church work in the Lord's recovery today, whereas the goal of God's economy is to produce the organic Body of Christ, for which there is the need of blending.

B.　Blending is the organic building of the God-men who are perfected in life and are the representatives of the local churches (as Zion with Jerusalem) living in the reality of the Body of Christ.