Publication Work in The Lord's Recovery aka The One Publication

[Koinonia]

From Church News:

How does your locality conduct an effective book service in a rented meeting place?

In order to help the saints pursue the truth and read more spiritual publications, the church in Ontario (CA) has recently started providing mobile and effective book service through a portable display stand for the saints on Lord’s Day. They rent a few rooms from a local high school each Lord’s day and because of this they are using a portable book display for convenience.

Before having this portable display, the book service in Ontario mostly consisted of distributing the Holy Word for Morning Revival to the saints. However, during the 2016 winter training, there was a burden to encourage the saints to read more of the ministry publications.

This burden was brought to the saints in Ontario to see how it can be carried out. Through prayer, fellowship and the Lord’s leading, a portable display stand was purchased along with one of the library packages offered by Living Stream Ministry (LSM). LSM offers display/library sets as packages with the purpose of providing churches or individuals with a set of Living Stream publications for physical display and sale of ministry material or to serve as a library for loaning out to individuals.

“The Lord’s word will require that we bear the responsibility to labor willingly to zealously encourage and urge everyone in all the local churches to pursue the truth and read the spiritual publications. In this way the Lord’s truth will spread widely, and there will be a real revival.” (CWWL, 1984, vol. 5, “The Faithful and Diligent Spreading of the Truth,” p. 208)

The hope is that through this book service, the saints would be encouraged to pursue the truth and read more spiritual publications. Once the Lord’s truth gets into the saints, it can easily spread and this will help bring in a real revival in the saints and among the churches in the Lord’s recovery.

[Koinonia]

The LC obsession with the sale of LSM books is truly bizarre and becoming more and more so.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

The LC obsession with the sale of LSM books is truly bizarre and becoming more and more so.

The whole idea of promoting and selling printed books is a bit dated. There's only going to be so much demand for that. I know that the LSM offers a lot of books in the electronic format, but it seems that for whatever reason, they prefer selling printed books. It could be about the money, I don't know.

As for the churches that are trying to demonstrate how to have a good "book service", I would think that the only reason for them doing so would be to demonstrate that they are in line with what the blendeds are saying, and maybe get a little bit of credit for being the first to implement something.

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Freedom

The whole idea of promoting and selling printed books is a bit dated. There's only going to be so much demand for that. I know that the LSM offers a lot of books in the electronic format, but it seems that for whatever reason, they prefer selling printed books. It could be about the money, I don't know.

Declining booksales are the very reason that LSM recently started selling special libraries and sending brothers all over the U.S. and Canada to promote people's reading them. In the LC, book sales are used as an indication of both membership numbers and membership engagement. But in my opinion they are fighting a losing battle (for a variety of reasons).

I assume that income considerations must also be a factor, though I'm not entirely certain why.

[Koinonia]

The fact of the matter is that most people, even in the LC, simply do not enjoy reading Witness Lee. Even in the FTTA, this would be admitted to each other in hushed tones like a confession. After years of trying, I got fed up with forcing myself to read so much stuff that I just did not enjoy.

Freedom made an insightful observation in another thread when he pointed out that most LCers these days collect books more than read them. Once the publication of the CWWL is finished, I'm sure it will be a rite of passage for every young brother to acquire a complete set (as well as a set from the penultimate Minister-of-the-Age). The interesting thing is that this will become LSM's nearly only actual market.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

The fact of the matter is that most people, even in the LC, simply do not enjoy reading Witness Lee. Even in the FTTA, this would be admitted to each other in hushed tones like a confession. After years of trying, I got fed up with forcing myself to read so much stuff that I just did not enjoy.

LSM has moved further and further away from God's Word. Initially the Conferences and Life Study Trainings were commentaries on scripture. Then we had Crystalization Studies based on the Life studies, and then we had the Blendeds re-speaking the Crystalizations.

Let's be honest, as much as LSM would like the truth to be different, the Lord is just not anointing their ministry any more. That's why it has no appeal. They can't just keep blaming all the readers and the hearers! The problem is with the source of their ministry, not with The Spirit of God or the children of God.

The leadership at LSM has never acknowledged nor repented of their past unrighteousness, especially how they have abused, mistreated, and slandered both former members and the Christian public.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Ohio

The leadership at LSM has never acknowledged nor repented of their past unrighteousness, especially how they have abused, mistreated, and slandered both former members and the Christian public.

I hear what you're saying Ohio, but status is a standoff. Local elders generally feel the need to "be one with the brothers". As such any historical reports are regarded as "perceived wrongdoings".

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

The fact of the matter is that most people, even in the LC, simply do not enjoy reading Witness Lee. Even in the FTTA, this would be admitted to each other in hushed tones like a confession. After years of trying, I got fed up with forcing myself to read so much stuff that I just did not enjoy.

Freedom made an insightful observation in another thread when he pointed out that most LCers these days collect books more than read them. Once the publication of the CWWL is finished, I'm sure it will be a rite of passage for every young brother to acquire a complete set (as well as a set from the penultimate Minister-of-the-Age). The interesting thing is that this will become LSM's nearly only actual market.

There's a term "early Lee" and "later Lee". Publications whose first editions came out prior to 1973 I enjoyed much more than those post-1973.

One item I cannot get over is how LSM receiving local churches can say they are not ministry churches. As soon a locality no longer receives LSM publications, it is no longer received by fellow localities. Moses Lake in Washington state and countless more in the Great lakes area.
By the way the GLA turmoil from the previous decade I feel in part was revenue based. You may say Titus had a work within a work, but from afar it didn't seem he was trying to compete against LSM.
Once the quarantine edicts were issued and lawsuits began, it was localities that had real estate were targeted. Others were passed over.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Terry

One item I cannot get over is how LSM receiving local churches can say they are not ministry churches. As soon a locality no longer receives LSM publications, it is no longer received by fellow localities. Moses Lake in Washington state and countless more in the Great lakes area.
By the way the GLA turmoil from the previous decade I feel in part was revenue based. You may say Titus had a work within a work, but from afar it didn't seem he was trying to compete against LSM.
Once the quarantine edicts were issued and lawsuits began, it was localities that had real estate were targeted. Others were passed over.

In light of an apparent inability to sell books, it makes sense why the blendeds would feel threatened by publications not produced by LSM. Was that the entire issue? Probably not, but certainly a lot of the issues they have attempted to spiritualize are really just about money.