2019 Bay Area Bible Camp Celebration Meeting

Brother Minoru was with us for the celebration meeting this year:

After the meeting, he asked us to pass on the following excerpt from the Collected Works of Watchman Nee:

Among believers in China, no failure is greater than the failure of parenting. I think this is due to the influence of paganism. Failure in one’s career cannot be compared to failure in parenting. Even failure in being a husband or a wife cannot be compared to failure in parenting. A husband or a wife can protect himself or herself, because both are over twenty years of age. But when a child is placed in your hands, he cannot protect himself. The Lord has entrusted a child to you. You cannot go to Him and say, “You have entrusted five children to me, and I have lost three.” You cannot say, “You have entrusted ten to them, and I have lost eight.” The church cannot go on if parents do not have a sense of being entrusted. We do not want to see our children being rescued back from the world. Suppose we beget children, lose them to the world, and then try to rescue them back. If we allow this to happen, the gospel will never be preached to the uttermost part of the earth. Our children have been taught many teachings, and we have been taking care of them for years. At least these children should be brought to the Lord. We are wrong if we do not take care of our children. Please remember that it is the parents’ responsibility to ensure that their children turn out the right way. Please give me the liberty to say this word. Throughout church history the greatest failure among Christians is the failure in parenting. This is something no one cares much about. The children are young; they are in your hands and can do nothing much themselves. If you are loose with yourself, you will also be loose with them. We must realize that parents must exercise self-control, sacrificing their own freedom. God has committed a human body, along with his soul, into our hands. If we do not exercise self-control and give up our freedom, we will have a difficult time answering to our God in the future.

Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 522-523